Chapter 2 – The Devil that I know – Holly Hayfield

Black Brittney glared at me upon hearing Val’s proposition, as if I were the one at fault here. She wasn’t finished interrogating me about what I did or didn’t say to the teachers. Val’s intervention was a massive inconvenience for her. Brittney was contemplating the exchange longer than I expected she would. After all, what was I compared to her closest follower? Did Brittney want my blood that badly?

Val made the decision easier for her by yanking Candace by her hair. Candace yelped like a little girl as her head jerked towards Val. Her high-pitched cry was spine-chilling. Candace wasn’t exactly girlish, maybe with the exception of her long, unkept brown hair. It reminded me that Candace wasn’t the impervious figure she made herself out to be. When put up against someone her own size she was just a worthless punk.

“Fine, take her! I don’t care! Just let go of Candace!” Brittney said.

Val happily obliged. She haphazardly tossed Candace to the ground. Brittney’s groupies swarmed around Candace to help her up. While they were distracted, Val walked around them. Val went straight up to the now defenseless Black Brittney herself. Brittney backed away, but not fast enough. With two fingers, Val plucked the cigarette out of Brittney’s mouth and tossed it to the ground.

“Like I said,” Val said as she stomped out the cigarette. “Smoking is against the school rules.”

“Don’t think you can get away with anything you want. You’ll get what’s coming to you soon enough.” Brittney said.

“This is gold coming from you. Can you look back at Holly and repeat what you just said?” Val said.

Black Brittney looked back at me with a disgusted glare. She then showed that angry glare to Val before stomping away. The gang helped carry Candace away with Brittney following close behind. Not a single one of them looked back as they walked away in defeat. Val and I watched as they left. It was awe inspiring how intimidating Val could be, especially considering she didn’t have a gang of her own.

That wasn’t the deciding factor, however. In truth, none of those girls wanted to fight someone strong enough to put up a serious fight back, least of all Val. Brittney tried to save face in front of her flock, but in reality she ran off like a dog with its tail between its legs. For that moment, at least, I could take joy in seeing that. Now my only problem was Val herself. Val turned back to my direction and gave me her full attention. A chill went down my spine as she smiled.

“Holly! Are you hurt?” She asked.

“I’m okay.” I whispered.

“That’s good. Look at you. You’ve got dirt all over you. You can’t go inside looking like this. Make sure you wash up in the bathroom before heading back to class, okay?”

She kneeled forward as I began to sit up against the storage building wall. She patted me down to help clean the dust and dirt off of me. I tried to stand up but a sharp pain in my side forced me back down.

“Don’t force yourself. They kicked you there pretty hard, didn’t they? We can stay here a while if you need to. Take your time.” Val said.

She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a handkerchief. She brought it to my lips and began wiping away. It wasn’t until she pulled her hand back that I realized my lip was bleeding.

“When did that happen?” I wondered.

“They probably did it by mistake. Brittney and her gang aren’t very smart, are they?”

“You’ve got that right.”

She put her handkerchief away and started searching my body.

“You’re not injured anywhere else, are you?”

“No, I’m fine I think.”

“Let me see your legs.”

“No really, I’m fine.”

She ignored me and pulled my legs closer to her. She began wiping the dirt off my legs where they kicked me. Her hands made it down to my feet where she stopped abruptly. She noticed the bump beneath my sock. She carefully pulled my sock down to see what was beneath it. When she saw it, she placed a single finger on the band around my ankle.

“Is this what I think it is? How did I never notice this before?”

Val pulled the flap of my shoe back to get a better look at the ankle monitor firmly locked onto me. Val laughed at it once she saw it in full.

“I know you must’ve done something to be sent here, but I never imagined you’d have a tracking device on you! Haha! What did you even do? I can’t imagine such a cutesy girl like you doing something to get into this much trouble. Did you rob a candy store?”

I pulled my sock back over the ankle monitor.

“Please don’t tell anyone else.” I said.

Val laughed.

“They wouldn’t believe me unless they saw it themselves. The running theory about why you were sent here has something to do with skipping school because your mom was in the hospital. They say you were kicked out of school because you stayed to take care of her. Is that true?”

“I wish it were. The rumor I’ve heard about why you were sent here was because you supposedly tossed a teacher out a window. Is that true?”

“Haha, it might be. Who knows?”

She wiped the dust off her knees and stood up. She held her hand out towards me and smiled. I grabbed her hand and held it. She gradually helped me up by my hand. As I was finally on my feet again she let go of my hand. She was so gentle with me that for a moment I was glad that she was here. That moment didn’t last long.

Unexpectedly, she thrust her fist into my stomach with her full strength! I shouted and immediately dropped back to the ground in pain. The air was completely knocked out of me and I gasped for breath on the ground like a worm, like Candace did earlier. Val watched me squirm around like this was nothing, a mere accident by her standards.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hold myself back. You were just making yourself so open.” She said plainly.

Her face was blank as I continued to wretch in pain. It hurt so much more than anything Candace or Black Brittney could do. I clawed at the ground and tried to bear the pain.

“Why…” I demanded as I caught my breath, “Why are you like this?” I asked.

“Why…” She echoed distantly, “I guess it’s just because I like you.”

It was pointless to even bother asking her. On my first day of school I made the mistake of being the one to approach Val. From a distance her outward image made her look amiable. Unlike most girls at the school, the teachers actually liked her. She was admired, or feared, by the student body no matter which clique they were in. She seemed like the type of girl I’d like to get along with.

According to what I picked up from other people’s conversations it turned out that this wasn’t her first year at this school. She had a reputation for being near the top of the class academically. Everything I had learned about her back on the first day of school made me think she would be a great candidate for a new best friend. It didn’t work out. My current relationship with Val was something sick that I couldn’t describe in a single word. Maybe, if I had to, I would say I was her ‘pet’ of sorts.

“I really do like you. I’m trying to toughen you up. You realize that, right? I saw how tough you were just now when Brittney and the others were in your face. That’s all because of my training, isn’t it? I’m helping you out.” She said.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it or not, I’m still looking out for you. Now come on, I’ll help you back up.”

She reached her hand out towards me the same way she did before.

“No, you’re just going to hit me again.”

“No I won’t.”

“Why should I believe a word you say?”

“Because it’s like I said, I’m looking out for you. Quit being stubborn and take my hand.”

It was funny how she was making it sound like I was the unreasonable one here. When you’re looking out for someone you don’t abuse them and then play mind games with them. If she helped me back up only to punch me again then I was an idiot for accepting the invitation. On the other hand, she might become impatient and abuse me anyways. There really wasn’t any good way out of this.

“I’ll make you a promise. Take my hand and I promise I won’t punch you again.” She said.

Typically it was possible to gauge someone’s intentions through their expressions, tone, and choice of words. With Val it was like talking to a blank wall. She was an enigma. My only alternative was staying on the ground and that wasn’t exactly assurance that she wouldn’t hit me anyways. With a deep inhalation I took her hand. She lifted me up.

She then immediately pushed me back against the wall and trapped me in place. Her hands were planted against the wall behind me, with her arms locking me in. She had me pinned. Unless I could make an agile dash underneath her lock there was no way to escape. It might have been possible to quickly squirm my way free but after seeing what she did to Candace I wasn’t going to bet on it.

“Now that I have you I wonder how I should play with you today…”

“You just said…!”

“I said I wouldn’t punch you! I didn’t say I wouldn’t do anything else. Now let’s see… Maybe I could take you for a swim in the school swimming pool? Or maybe I could cut some of this hair off. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Your hair is getting long. Or maybe…”

She stepped closer. Her sudden advance was making me nervous. The way she stepped up to me mirrored the way Brittney did when she threatened me. For a moment I thought she would threaten me in the same manner. Instead, she hesitated mere inches away from my face suspiciously. Maybe another surprise attack was coming? I closed my eyes and braced for impact. My expectations were subverted when she did quite the opposite. Her lips landed firmly on mine.

My first thought was that this was another prank. She was always trying to get into my head. This was some sort of psychological mind game she was playing at. It wasn’t until her arms moved that I changed my assessment. Instead of holding me in place, they aggressively folded in on me and locked me in place tightly. She held me around my shoulders and pulled me into her so that I couldn’t escape. As her hands steadily slid their way down to the bottom of my back I realized that this wasn’t a prank. This was the real deal.

Her lips oppressively pushed against mine. She was savoring every second her lips came into contact with mine. Stealing a kiss like this was more than playful. This was straight-up criminal. Her kiss was so passionate that I could feel my face turning red out of embarrassment. My body felt so hot that it was like I was beginning to melt into my shoes. Was I burning up or was that heat coming from her? My weak, wavering legs could hardly keep me held up.

Before this could go any further I turned my head away. She didn’t pursue a continuation of her offensive. Instead, she went back to smiling her casual smile.

“How was that?” She asked nonchalantly.

There was no way I could answer that. My mind was blank, in a state of shock. Was this bullying? Or maybe she really had a thing for me? If this was bullying then why would she play a game like that so intimately? If she had a thing for me then why was she constantly mistreating me? All that I wanted from her right in that moment was truth and clarity.

I reluctantly turned my eyes back to hers. I stared at her in stark silence as I searched her eyes for an answer. Her eyes didn’t betray any emotion or anything that would give me the slightest insight into this charade. My mind couldn’t process what was happening well enough to feel angry. I only felt confusion. I brought my fingers to my lips.

“Why?” I asked in a whisper.

“Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve kissed anyone and so I wanted to know what you thought.”

“That’s not what I’m asking! What I want to know is why would you kiss me like that?”

She smirked, arched an eyebrow, and tilted her head, giving me an overall look like I was talking crazy.

“Didn’t I tell you before? It’s because I like you. How many times do I have to keep telling you? Do you just like hearing me say it? I like you.” She said.

Her innocent tone of voice made it impossible for me to discern if she was joking. The scary thing was that I was starting to believe her. She was so impossible to read that it was hard to make out her true intent. Was she playing with me? Would she conveniently forget about this the next day? Would she hold this over me going into the future? Was she planning to continue doing this in the future?

She blinked at me.

“Oh… Don’t tell me… That wasn’t your first kiss, was it?” She asked.

“It wasn’t.”

“Thank goodness. I would’ve felt guilty if it were.”

The school bell rang, signifying the end of lunch.

“Oh, there’s the bell. We’d better head to class before we’re late. How about we do this again tomorrow, same time, same place?” She asked.

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t know what to say. It almost felt like legitimizing that question with an answer would be an admission of surrender. She turned around and began walking away. Before turning the corner she stopped abruptly. She looked back at me, smiled, and waved at me as if we were friends.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” She said before turning back around.

As she walked away I slid down to the ground and put my hands into my hair. My brain couldn’t process what the hell was happening.

“She kissed me.” I said to myself in disbelief.

Was she toying with me? Or maybe she actually meant what she said. I wasn’t sure which prospect scared me more.