Life Of A Bitch

5

"Hey, nerdo!" Stephanie says happily to her. Her ability to think and act quickly and flawlessly is what makes her a valuable asset to me. "How's it going?"

Callaghan looks down and smiles, shaking her head. The girl has thick and really long lashes. They're real too.

She looks up and clears her throat. "Mason was my ex-boyfriend."

I look at Stephanie. What the hell is she talking about?

The one with whom Anita texted last night, her eyes tell me.

I turn and look at Callaghan. "So?"

"Damn, Jennifer, you're really dumb. Dumber than I thought." She says, leaning against the lockers. "I was Mason's ex."

I look at her, still trying to figure out what she is getting at.

Callaghan chuckles, shaking her head again. "Most girlfriends have access to their boyfriends' Instagram accounts till the whole length of their relationship. Fortunately, I had access to his for a bit long."

My eyes widen and my stomach drops. No. Hell no.

"Last night, when Anita texted Mason, I was still logged in to his account. So the message directly came to me. Mason was probably busy at some Computer Programming course so he didn't see it. It was I who texted and flirted with Anita. I told her that my locker was 30 which is actually Brandon's, I told her that 060803 was my birthdate and also my locker combination which actually means nothing and is actually Brandon's locker combination. As for the gmail and my phone password, I created a fake one, just for this."

She laughs again. "I knew something was fishy when Anita, the beautiful and popular chick started texting Mason, a nobody. So I started texting her. My suspicions turned out to be right when Anita finally asked for my locker combination. Obviously, it had to be you, the leading bitch, under whom she was working. So I told her Brandon's locker combination. I expected to find bloody tampons stuck to his locker, yeah I read that in a novel. But... I certainly didn't expect this."

I stare at her, dumbfounded. Since when did nerds become this cunning?

She leans into me and begins to speak something when her eyes go to Stephanie. "Um, Stephanie, a moment's privacy please?"

Stephanie glares, ready to claw at her hair. I look at her and motion for her to go. She hesitates but after looking at my cold, stern eyes, she submits and walks away.

"Jennifer," Callaghan whispers, smiling as if she knew a terrible secret. "You like Brandon, don't you?"

How the hell did she know?

I curl up my lips tightly, so that they don't quiver. I glare at her, my eyes never moving from hers.

She cackles like a witch. "Ha! Knew it! Yesterday, when Brandon and I were going to kiss, I noticed you glaring at me like a mad dog. My woman's intuition told me that you certainly like him. And, I am correct again. But how in the world did you forget L.30 was Brandon's."

That's what felt wrong.

I squint at her. "You like Brandon. Then why did you do it? Why didn't you give me some other locker number?"

"Because, A. I don't know the locker combinations of my other friends.
B. You like Brandon and you think you can get him. So, I thought it would be fun to lower your image in his eyes. And to make you feel guilty for what you did to him." She laughs again.

I want to bite her, throw her down the building and feed her flesh to the dogs. Bitch.

"Don't worry," she says, moving away. "I won't tell anyone that you like him. I won't even tell Brandon that it was you who vandalised his locker. He's way too smart to figure that out on his own. Trust me. Woman to woman."

A piece of shit to a woman. Mother-

"This battle is between you and me." She glares at me now. "You think you rule the world? No, darling. Unfortunately, no. Let the better one win." Saying this, she walks away.

Stephanie rushes to me. "What did she say?"

"Usual dramatic dialogues. 'If you dare to touch my husband again, I will be your worst nightmare' and shit like that."

Stephanie looks at me angrily. "And you let her go? You let her have the last word?"

I want to run away to a desolate and deserted place and scream my lungs out.

"I didn't know nerds could be this smart," Stephanie says, leading me to my locker.

"They're nerds, Stephanie. They are born smarter than us." I reply wryly.

"Yeah, forgot about that."

I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Obviously, their eyes remain glued to me wherever I go - especially the guys- but this was different. Today, they are staring at me because they know it was either Aiden or I who trashed Brandon's locker. And they are dying too see what happens next. The next episode of this 'Good v/s Evil' series.

Stephanie takes my hand and we walk slowly to French class, not talking at all on the way.

And Brandon? He will know for sure who did this. And then, he will think that I did this just because he warned me against smoking on school campus. Which will make him despise me even more. He will think me as disgusting, cheap, and small-minded.

I wish I could drop dead instead of facing him and seeing the disgust for me in his eyes. What I simply want now is to crawl into a hole and die.

"What?" Stephanie asks.

Spoken aloud again. Shit.

"What I simply want is her crawling into a hole and dying." I say, fed up of my life. I want to cast this popular lifestyle once and for all. I am tired of being misunderstood by Brandon every time.

But you know right, my mind says, if you become your normal self, the bitches will kick you out of their gang, however loyal they might seem now, Aiden will stop being your boyfriend -ugh, who cares- you won't have a place within the nerd gang because of how you bullied them earlier, you will get bullied.

And Brandon will hate you for ever.

So much for being popular.

And then it hits me. My parents.

I will surely get detention once Brandon mentions it to the authorities -which could be any moment now- my parents will hear of it and the disappointment that I will see in their eyes would be the worst punishment in my whole life. I bullied many, many students upto this date but no one dared to complain against me so I never got detention. My parents think I am an ideal student who is a bit too modest about her high scores and who never causes or gets into trouble. Sure, they know I go to late-night parties but they did the same when they were young and I seem to manage myself quite well. But, if they hear that I got detention for trashing the student president's locker, their disappointment will make me so guilty that I might slip into depression.

"Don't worry." Stephanie smiles, squeezing my hand. "We will just get detention nothing more than that. Plus the principal hates Brandon's guts. Remember that Evan episode? So, our detention will be a small one, I think."

I smile weakly at her as we sit down at our benches in French class. Wait, what if I run to the principal now and beg for forgiveness? Chances of me getting out without being punished are pretty thin but no harm in trying, isn't it?

"Be right back," I mumble and run out of the class towards the principal's office.

Please God make him forgive me please God make him forgive me please God make him forgive me please-

I bump into someone at the office door so hard that my chest hurts.

"Are you blind?! Look where-" I stop barking as soon as I see who it is.

"Brandon?"