Bubble Gum Kisses
CHAPTER 47

**Kapittel 47** ***Vanessa***

**Days have passed since my community service in the school garden with Friso.** They said that time heals all wounds, but my anger hadn't subsided. Not one bit. I had been doing what I was usually supposed to be doing in school, focusing on my academics in hopes of a scholarship. The deathly scrutiny of the entire student body was hostile and bothersome at most but I kept myself mum. Of course, I was a mere peasant in their eyes, and this mere peasant hit their king. One miserable hit made me a pariah. So it wasn't surprising that every person I passed by gave me the evil eye. Thankfully, they weren't foul enough to hound at me like how the gossipmonger from last time did.

While I had a bit of time before my class, I walked to my locker with the thought of getting a textbook in mind. Crumpled papers, empty milk cartons, banana peels, and other whatchamacallit came out bursting from my locker as soon I opened it. The other students near my parameters only looked at the scraps piled up on the floor and carried on with their lives. Unfortunately, some people weren't as kind as the rest. There were people who were at their best to pester me. I should keep in mind not to be affected by this, by them. Like this. Exhibit fucking A.

"Urgh," I groaned under my breath before taking out a trashbag from my bag, kneeling down on the floor, and began picking everything up. This had been going on for days, so it wasn't a surprise anymore. I got to prepare things to clean up the litter as well. Good thing I didn't put all my things in there yesterday like how I usually did. I once had a notebook wet with sticky banana milk out of their taunting. As much as I wanted to report this to the guidance counselor, discipline committee, or whoever was responsible for handling this stuff, I couldn't. Especially after realization dawned on me what Ms. Caswell had done. Everyone in this school was clearly on Friso's side.

Finally picking up the last trash, I looked over my locker again, replaceing there were chewed gums stuck in different spots of my little storage. The one who did it was even polite to leave an untouched pack. Speaking of the devil and he doth appear, in some way. I groaned, pulled out a disposable glove, and began pulling each one out.

These past few days, Friso had been persistent in stealing my attention. He sat on seats close to me when we have classes together, he wouldn't use his own books or even bring one which forced me to share mine with him, he and the entire soccer team eat would with me at lunch and recess, he teased me like poking, holding, even softly shoving me, he'd also suddenly grab my things from me, and this too, putting his chewed gum all over the walls inside my locker. The last one was what instigated others to put their trash in their locker to taunt me. But I refuse to give him what he wanted. The more things he pulled to provoke me, the more I loathed him. Unfortunately, it did not have a good effect since it only made him pester me more, which was making things harder for me.

Trash? Gums? Pretty immature and old-school. But I was sure they'd get over it anytime soon like a fad. Not did it only his antics annoy me, but it was also not helping me understand him and the reason why he could have possibly asked Ms. Caswell to put me in community service and not put me on the record. I mean, aside from our old flame, what else did he want from me, or was this his way as a payback?

I hated being schemed on and I hated it more if I had gotten into someone's favor unjustly, and only for self-gain. But, was I in his favor to begin with when he was the one behind all it? Though I didn't have any evidence of how he could have been possibly involved with my record and penalty, I knew that he was capable of such things. I already knew what he was capable of with the power he got from his father, and I would never be surprised if he got control of absurd things occurring,

"Hey!" I was cut off from my trail of thoughts when someone snapped their fingers at me.

"Girl, you okay?" I heard Georgia's voice ask. I looked to my left only to replace her looking at me with an anxious gaze.

"Huh?" that was all I could reply to her.

"You were spacing out, I was asking i-"

"Oof!" I grunted when my locker was suddenly pushed closed with a loud clang! Fuck, it was a lucky stroke that I had already taken my hand out.

"Oops, sorry. Saw a fly and thought I should take it out," a girl with dark hair, a sharp nose, and a ridiculous gaze apologized with a smirk on her face. It was clear that she wasn't sorry at all.

This was Lana, somebody whose existence I didn't know of until days ago when she did the same stunt. She suddenly came onto me one day because I hurt her "dear" Drew. I had been ignoring her though, and just walk to class. She'd eventually stop when I get inside the classroom. As much as she'd sometimes get on my nerves, I didn't want to snap back since I might end up in CS with Friso again, or get penalized with something worse.

"Oh, you didn't just smash that door on my friend's face!" Georgia snapped at her, stepping forward to put me behind her. She had been here for me and with me in this entire farce. She would shoo away the girls who tried to make their way to me and even used her pedestal as vice-captain of the cheerleading team to keep me out of harm's way. I was thankful to her for that.

Lana raised a brow at her, crossing her arms. "You and your little friend should know your places, especially since you're just a financial advisor's daughter." They're pulling out the parent job card now?! That was a weird insult. "Like taking the trash out." She gestured her fingers at the trashbag that I was holding.

"Oh, you're really ge-" I was about to charge at her when someone spoke.

"I think you're one who should know your place, especially since you're just a public relations manager's daughter," a voice suddenly interrupted, causing the three of us to look in one direction simultaneously. It was that familiar-looking, tall brunette who was with Haley last time. I remember her name something like Maddy or something...

"Madison!" the villain of the day was elated. Oh no, was she a backup? "You're just in time. I was go-"

"Shut it," with just two words, Lana had shut up. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be following Chad or something?" Madison's voice was a combination of sultry yet raspy, with a demeaning tone was persisting. "I'm here to teach her a lesson! She should know who she's me-"

"What lesson? As far as I know, you're not involved in that 'incident', and Friso didn't ask you to do this. So I wonder why you're sticking around Vanessa recently. You're trying to make a name for yourself perhaps? A new way to get to Chad?" At her remark, Lana suddenly became a laughingstock. I looked around, seeing everyone had stopped in their tracks just to laugh at her.

The sharp-nosed femme's face peeled tomato red. "You, you're close to Drew. Why aren't you angry for him?" tomato red face pointed a manicured index finger at the brunette beauty who scoffed in response.

Madison's face winced like she just saw something incorrigibly disgusting, turning Lana's finger away with a palm."First, put that ugly nail away from me. Second, I believe it isn't any of your business," she said, her voice becoming more threatening as she inched closer towards us, particularly at Lana. "And third, why don't you go and clean up Chad's mess, like you always do, and like how your daddy does with other people's mess too." "My nail isn't ugly!" the latter shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice thick. My eye widened when I saw tears starting to stream from her eyes. I mean, I'd cry too if someone would call my nails ugly. "I'm telling Chad about this!" she cried before finally turning on her feet and running away sobbing. Wow, I didn't expect that she was one who could easily cry.

"As if he'd defend you anyway," Madison mumbled to herself nonchalantly, fishing out her phone, and began typing like she was casually responding to someone's text. The hall was now silent, yet it was still full of the flabbergasted crowd. "What are y'all looking at? Show's over," she suddenly glared at us, causing the formed crowd to finally dissipate. Though, even with her fierce scram, it didn't stop the others from gossiping and sharing whispers with each other. "Thank you," I expressed my gratitude as soon as it had gone back to normal again.

"Whatever," she retorted, putting her phone back in her pocket. "Be careful, especially since Friso's pretty tight on you. You're making an enemy out of almost half of the campus," she said, her hands on my collar running her fingers on it like she was fixing a crease. It may seem like a word of advice but it was a lethal warning. I could feel the sharp, corrosive acid on her words. Her neat and first-class manicured fingers running across my collarbone felt soft but pushed weight on me, and her sweet perfume paralyzed me like I was injected with wolfsbane.

"You seem like a tough cookie, though, I wonder how long it would take 'til you break." She patted my collar. The force was quite hard yet it didn't hurt. It felt like something else except a good luck pat. She gave one last lingering look, her eye piercing at me as she strutted away. I stared at her back helplessly, watching her shiny, glamorous hair sway effortlessly as she sashayed. She wasn't an ally, I guess.

** **

**Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my work, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**