Chapter 14
Just before 6th period starts, I'm getting ready to open the stall door in the Drama department bathroom when I hear two people come in talking. I recognize one of the voices as Tiffani Sobhiani making me quickly duck into the stall and shut the door before she can see me.
"I can't wait for this stupid show to be finished already," she said.
"Aren't you having fun? I thought you liked the drama club?" the second voice asks.
"I do, it's just the people in it I can't stand. Do you see how they are all over each other all day? I swear to God that whole table is nothing but a bunch of whores."
I pull my feet up so they don't know I'm here and wonder what the hell has gotten her panties in a bunch this time? Who's she ripping into now?
"I don't know all of them really," the other voice said quietly, "I was mad at one of them at the beginning of the year but she's turned out to be ok I guess," the second voice said.
"Trust me, they're all a bunch of worthless skanks with their ringleader being the biggest slut. She goes after any guy with a backseat to offer," Tiffani said.
Neither voice has mentioned and specific names yet, but I'm starting to get a really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
The other person didn’t get a chance to reply before Tiffani starts up again, "You know I thought Josh was going to be different and we were getting tight in 5th period history too when we were working on this PowerPoint project. I was really into him for a while until he took up with the lot of them, now they're all thicker than thieves," she practically spits out the words.
JOSH?
She can't be talking about my Josh? She was getting tight with him? WHEN?
"I wouldn't be surprised if that whore Laurel is doing him behind Katie's back. It would serve her right, the lying little bitch."
Before I can think, I bust out of the stall screaming, "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU LYING BITCH! TAKE IT BACK!"
"What the hell are you doing in here?" she screams in alarm and fright.
"About to choke the living shit out of you with that cheap ass dollar store necklace if you don't take back every single filthy lie you just said about Laurel AND Josh!" I threaten, crossing to her in two steps. Even though I have never so much as thought of hitting another person in my whole life, somewhere in the dark part of my heart that everyone has, I know I am deadly serious. I can't think straight. I'm shaking so bad I can barely contain my rage.
The look on Cheerleader Barbie's face (the second voice) said she believes me, but my focused wrath is on Tiffani.
"I'm not kidding you lying bitch. RIGHT NOW! I start hearing the words or you're going to need a whole team of cosmetic surgeons when I'm done with you.”
My voice is deadly calm and anyone with two active brain cells would comply immediately.
I may have caught her off guard, but the look she gives me now said she is not in shock anymore.
"Every word I said was the truth," she spits back at me, "Laurel is nothing but a two bit slut and Josh and I were a hot item until you came along, or didn't he tell you about our little date in his bedroom before Halloween? We had a great time going through his CDs. He has excellent taste in music; knew just the right songs to pick out before inviting me to his bed. Who would have thought such an old quilt would be so soft.”
His grandmother's quilt. Her words cut through me like a serrated knife ripping into my guts.
The words Josh and Halloween coming from her mouth throw me for a second and my fury falters, but I make a fast recovery and lightning quick I swing my right arm out smacking her across the face leaving a perfect red outline of my hand. Son of a bitch that stings my palm. They don't show you that in the movies.
Cheerleader Barbie's screams mix with Tiffani's as I take a step closer to swing at her again, but this time my fingers curl into a fist. Tiffani tries to get out of the way but the sink is right behind her. The only option she has to avoid my swing is to lean her head back a little bit so my fist grazes her cheek but lands square in the middle of Barbie's nose as she tries to grab my arm to stop me.
Barbie screams again, in pain this time, just as a whole bunch of people burst through the bathroom door with Jaxon and Player at the front of the line.
They take about half a second to assess the fury on my face, the blood pouring out of Barbie's nose, and Tiffani cowering in the corner holding her cheek before they both jump into action racing over to me as I advance on Tiffani again.
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU YOU LYING PIECE OF SHIT! TAKE IT BACK!” I scream as Player grabs me around the waist and lifts me off the ground trying to get me to the back of the bathroom.
"A LITTLE HELP HERE JAX!" he yells, his feet slipping as I struggle throwing him off balance trying to get at Tiffani again.
It takes both of them pushing me to get my back against the far wall and keep me there, one of them holding on each of my arms using their bodies to block me.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND! YOU INSANE BITCH! KEEP HER THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Tiffani screams as she pushes to get past everyone running out of the bathroom.
I watch people lead Barbie out. She has her head tilted back while someone holds a handful of toilet paper under her nose. All I can see is red. I can't breathe.
"Fuck me," Player said under his breath, "what the hell happened in here?"
"Kat? Kat? Where are you?” Josh breaks through everyone, sees the guys holding me, and comes running over, "what the hell is going on?"
"That's the thousand dollar question dude," Player quips letting go of my arm the same time as Jaxon does, "the heavyweight here just went Mike Tyson on Sobhiani's ass taking a Cheerleader out for good measure."
"Did you fuck her?" I yell at Josh. My blood is still boiling so badly that I cannot pull back as unreleased fury holds me tight in its grip.
"Whoa," Player said taking two steps back away from me pulling Jaxon with him by the back of his shirt. No one has ever heard me use words like this, or seen me this out of control. I have no idea where it all is coming from. I can't even imagine what they think, and right now I don't care. All I want is vengeance, and a release for my rage.
"What are you talking about? Who?" Josh said shocked and confused.
"Tiffani Sobhiani, that's who! She was in your bedroom, she knows about your grandmother's quilt! And your music! She said you invited her to your bed before Halloween!"
"Kat you need to calm down, take some of your deep breaths," he told me.
"Fuck my breathing, and Fuck You! You're not even denying it you two-timing piece of shit!” I scream and push past all of them running out of the bathroom. Down the halls. Out the front doors of the school.
I keep running until I get home to my room where I slam my door throwing myself on the bed screaming the last of my rage into my pillow until my throat hurts.
Hours later, my room is dark. I wake to the sound of soft knocking at my bedroom door.
"Katie, Laurel's here, she brought your backpack," Mom said.
Don’t turn over.
Don't speak.
Stare at the back wall of my room. At this point, that’s all I’m able to do.
I feel Laurel's weight shift my bed when she sits down. Then without a word, she lays down curling up next to me and puts her arms around me. She holds me while I start crying my eyes out until all my tears are gone and my skin is tight where their trails have dried on my cheeks.
After Laurel goes home, Mom and Dad bring me downstairs. Dad puts a bag of ice on my knuckles that are still red and tender. It never looks like it hurts when someone takes a swing in the movies. Stupid false advertising.
The three of us sit there quietly for the longest time before Mom finally said, "are you ready to tell us what happened Katherine?"
Crap. The formal first name. Not a good indicator of friendly territory but rather I am deeply entrenched in an enemy camp.
"Nope."
"Young lady you better come up with a better answe
r than that for your mother. Fighting, Katie? The principal said two other students were injured when you started a fight with them in the bathroom," Dad said his voice laced with shock.
"Help us out here Katherine. We need to understand so we can help you through this. What happened?"
Mom, ever the cool psychiatrist.
What do they want me to tell them? Oh, hey no biggie, just this total bitch insulted my best friend in the world and the guy that I'm crazy about had sex with that same bitch, no he didn't admit to it, but he didn't deny it right off the bat either.
"Sorry doc, don't feel like being head-shrinked right now," my Mom's gasp of shock does not even faze me. That is how far gone off the deep end I am.
They take away almost everything fun in my life (cell phone, iPod, laptop, TV privileges, and library card) until I decide to tell them the truth of what happened. Then they send me back up to my room, which is where I wanted to be in the first place.
The next day I ditch Laurel's pretty clothes for a pair of my old jeans and one of my Dad's old long sleeve baggy college shirts I hid in the back of my closet for emergencies. I figure having to return to school and face whatever humiliation is waiting for me should qualify as an emergency. I pull my hair into a messy ponytail, skip breakfast with the parents, and get to school to find out my little act of temporary insanity has burned through the entire student body like brushfire through a bone-dry forest.
No one is sorry for Tiffani; everyone hates her guts. It seems that in the last four years she has managed to insult or piss off every single person in the school, so, to everyone I'm practically a hero for that.
Cheerleader Barbie however, is a completely different story. Apparently, she is super sweet (although in my defense, they didn't see her dirty wish-I-had-a-flamethrower look she aimed at me last fall), and everyone wants to know what the hell happened in that bathroom. Barbie isn't talking, I'm only talking to my three best friends, and Tiffani's nowhere to be seen today. Rumor is she has taken an excused leave of absence from school; possibly, for the rest of the year. Though that last part is doubtful, it is a nice fantasy to ponder for a while.
For my 'indiscretion', I get a one day in school suspension that I serve in the conference room all day today. Meals will be brought at lunch and I am allowed no visitors and permitted to go to my locker for textbooks or supplies only with a school security staff member at my heels at all times. We have our own little student prison right here on campus.
I walk into the conference room at 7.12am to find Barbie sitting at the far end of the table.
WTH?
Her face registers the same surprise as mine when I walk in, "What are you doing here?" she asks me.
"Serving my one day in school suspension, front office secretary told me to come in here," I tell her.
"Oh, me too," she said squinting up her eyes trying not cry.
"What did you get suspended for? Not getting out of the way of my fist fast enough?” I say noticing the white bandage across the bridge of her nose. A twinge of guilt nags at the back of my conscience.
She looks down at her lap where her hands are fidgeting with the edge of her skirt.
When she speaks, I can barely hear her mumbled reply, "Tiffani told them I was the one who said all those ugly things about your friends, and they believed her.” Barbie buries her face in her hands and starts crying.
Crap. Unfortunately, I know exactly what she's feeling…betrayal by someone you trusted.
I sigh before pulling out the chair next to her to sit and put my arm around her shoulder to pat her back, "It's ok. Shhh. It'll be ok. I'll happily punch her again for you if you want me to, just say the word," I tell her.
This gets a little grin from her along with a serious case of hiccups when she tries to say, "word" between sobs.
I give her a little smile and settle back in for my first long day of criminal confinement.
The first hour goes by so maddeningly slow. Constantly checking the clock every five minutes trying to count down how long I have left in this cage doesn’t help make time move faster either.
The second hour I decide to crack a book, though not a textbook. Luckily, they didn't scope out my backpack too closely so I still have my Sylvia Plath. The Bell Jar might not be the best choice with a clinically depressed protagonist but it feels apropos for me today, and I love Plath's prose.
Barbie peaks up from her textbook and sees what I'm holding, "oh, I have been wanting to read that but it keeps getting checked out at the library. It was her only novel right?”
Well, color me impressed. Cheerleaders read? Who would have thought?
"Yeah, it was her only novel, it wasn't published here in the US until long after she'd died. It's kind of dark, but I tend to grab a book based on my mood and today isn't exactly a sunshine day," I over share.
"I know what you mean. It's not exactly one of my top ten greatest moments either.” She winces lightly touching the bandage and I feel about a foot smaller.
We go back to quietly reading for a few minutes until I can't take it anymore, "I'm sorry. I…you know I wasn't aiming for you right?” I confess.
"Yeah, I'm just the collateral damage left in Hurricane Tiffani's path. Again. I just can't believe she lied to save her own ass.” The hurt in her voice gains my instant sympathy.
"If it makes you feel better, my Dad said since my knuckles are still sore, I probably hit dental work."
"Thanks, it does actually.” We share our first real smiles with each other. Bonding over a mutual dislike of a horrible human being, I'm sure there are worse foundations for new friendships.
The tightness in my shoulders beings to ease up until Barbie blows me blurting out, "I'm sorry for hating you at the beginning of the year. I never said anything ugly like Tiffani, but…I may have thought it."
"Why? What did I ever do to you?" I ask clueless.
She closes her book and just looks at me for a good solid minute before saying quietly, "Nothing on purpose really, I see that now, but the guy I have been in love with since the 9th grade was always leaving me to go talk to you."
Crap. She has the hots for Zach.
"Nothing ever happened you know. It was just this weird misunderstanding, sort of. He thought I was someone I wasn't, and once I came clean with him, he wasn't interested. He's totally not into me you know that right?" I try to explain.
"Yeah, I know. It just hurt for a while."
I ponder the possibilities of a successful jailbreak for the next hour before turning back to my cellmate.
"Hey Barbie, you know I have this brilliant friend who is absolutely the perfect person to help you bag and tag Zach before Prom if you're interested," I offer thinking of Laurel and her scheming superpower.
I take the huge smile that breaks out on her face as a yes, but then she gives me a little confused head tilt, "Barbie?"
Lunch used to be my favorite part of the day, food excluded of course, but the day after my suspension, my stomach is in knots as I head down to the cafeteria. He wouldn't dare show his face would he? It was my table first.
I breathe a sigh of relief as Laurel, Jaxon, and Player all look up with excitement on their face as if they've been waiting for me like a kid waits for his birthday present.
"There's our little heavyweight champ," Player said. They looked cozy with their heads bent close together I think, before he got up to shadowbox so I can sit between him and Laurel.
He gets my second real smile in two days. Am I feeling better?
"Ok, you know we're all DYING to hear what happened," Jaxon said. He is practically busting with anticipation.
Laurel gives my leg a quick squeeze under the table for encouragement and to tell me everything is going to be ok, though she wrinkled her nose when she saw me walk in to English this morning in jeans and one of my dad's old Sonic Youth concert t-shirts saying, "Two days of ponytail is enough already girlie."
I spilled my guts and told her everything yesterday
after school so just the guys need some blanks filled in, but I'm not sure how to start, or if I want to.
I decide to give them a quick recap, not word-for-word, only how Tiffani insulted my friends, said she slept with my guy, and wouldn't take it all back. I drop my fork having suddenly lost my appetite rehashing the whole scene again. I don't want to think about it anymore, I feel sick to my stomach and tears are starting to pool at the corners of my eyes.
I do have to think about it again though because my world just came to a screaming halt.
"Are you freaking kidding me? Go find another table, this one's full," I tell Josh before he has a chance to sit down.
"No," he said deliberately dropping his tray, "we need to talk Kat."
"We don't have anything to talk about you two-timing reptile," I hiss.
Josh abruptly gives me a look of unsuppressed anger, "can we go somewhere and talk about this in private?" he said gritting his teeth.
"Not that I am in any way condoning this whole monogamy thing you've got going," Player said to Josh then turns to me, but is interrupted with Laurel's "HA!"
"Hush you," he told her then turns to look at me, "you know Sobhiani is a lying hose bag right? Ever consider the fact that she's not exactly being truthful?"
"If she wasn't, then she must be psychic because she knew an awful lot of details about your bedroom," I say looking straight into Josh's now flashing eyes.
"Can we talk about this in private?" Josh asks me as his cheeks slowly turn from pink to red.
"No, we can talk about it right here. We talk about everything together. We don't have any secrets."
"Well, I don't know
….I wouldn't exactly say that…
….that's not always true Katie…"
Jaxon, Laurel, and Player all talk at the same time. Huh?
"Well that's not how I am. I prefer private conversations, about private things, to be said in private Kat," he told me before getting up and walking away.
We don't say another word to each other in Math and he's nowhere to be found in the halls.
Thankfully, I’m spared seeing him again until rehearsals later after school when Player is standing in for Jaxon during one of our scenes. Right before Player bends me backward pretending to lean down to kiss me, Josh ‘accidentally’ knocks over a metal ladder with a loud crash that echoes off the walls bringing the entire dress rehearsal to a silent stand still.
“Sorry,” he said. If sarcasm needed another name, we could call it Josh.