The school bell rang loud and clear over the roar of voices, the students ignored it, as they did most mornings, plus they had better things to be doing now. Below the cover of the shade cloths that failed to keep the shouting teenagers dry from the oncoming rain, more and more students ran into the square. Two voices were louder than the onlookers, both were girls and both were not happy. As the screams and shouts of the two voices became almost unbearable and as more and more students piled in to watch with eager eyes, the principal walked lazily down from the front office, not bothering to break into a run, what was he going to do anyway?
Thunderclaps echoed out around the valley, signalling long awaited rain. Birds on mass seemed to fly out of trees, barely visible against the black of the sky. The wind picked up and brought the rain closer and closer.
Below the shade cloth, surrounded by what seemed like the whole school, stood two girls, both alike in stature, but not in character.
One stood cowering in fear of the other, her eyes flitting back and forth from the mass of onlookers. Her normally black silky hair was pulled halfway out of its ponytail; the mascara that once adorned her eyelashes ran freely down her face, making little crevasses in her ivory foundation.
She tugged at her shirt in attempt to hide her shaking hands, all the while backing away from the other, more confident girl. Her eyes subtly looked for a break in the circle, somewhere to escape, but none could be found.
She momentarily lost concentration as her ankle rolled on a large rock; she stumbled, much to the pleasure of the crowd, and landed on her back.
A large cheer went up, no one daring to move from their places. It seemed that, for now, she was loosing.
She scrambled to her feet, trying to swallow back the whimper of fear that built up in her throat. Sweat trickled down her neck, half from the humidity, and half from the pressure. Her clothes and hair stuck to her back, making her feel so much more uncomfortable.
Where were the teachers?
Where were her friends?
Oh that’s right, she had none.
Well, not anymore she didn’t… Standing opposite her was her now ex best friend, Bekka.
“Emily,” her sing song voice drifted across the square.
Bekka moved to the left of the circle, all the while edging closer to her prize.
A large, almost leering smile fanned out across her perfect sun kissed skin, revealing her perfect while marble teeth. Her eyes were set straight ahead, determined on domination.
Her feet lightly skimmed the ground as she danced towards Emily, her deep gold hair flying out behind her.
The crowd started to become impatient, crude jeers came from every corner, they wanted action.
The people standing behind Emily pushed her forwards, she stumbled at first then she straightened herself in an attempt to look confident.
“Don’t be a coward, love, I’m not going to hurt you,” Bekka started, edging closer with every word.
“I just want to sort some things out” she finished, spreading her arms wide.
The crowd remained silent as Emily took a step forward, no longer looking scared.
Bekka smiled more friendly now, moving her hands slightly to beckon Emily closer.
Emily now looked completely at peace with Bekka, as if none of the events of this morning had even happened.
She walked forward until she was within reaching distance of Bekka, flattening her hair down with her hand.
“I’m s-s-sorry Bekka, I’m sorry that I’m such a bad friend” Emily spoke faster than usual, her voice coming out an octave higher.
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to forgive you, but I’ll try” Bekka looked almost hurt as she lied.
The crowd booed and hissed at the outcome as the people on the outskirts walked away. The principal nowhere near the square decided to return to his office for coffee before the rain started, by the looks of it the fights over, if there were any casualties he’d hear about it later.
Emily took the final step towards Bekka, wrapping her arms around her in a sign of peace.
Smiling now, Bekka pulled away from Emily and looked her straight in the eye.
“Did you honestly think,” she paused and glanced sideways at the small crowd.
“That I’d let you off the hook,” she smiled wider as Emily’s eyes depicted the horror she was waiting for.
“That easily?” Bekka dragged out her words, chuckling to herself.
“No, please Bekka, don’t, I’m so sorry” Emily began to cry.
Bekka’s grasp on Emily’s arm became stronger, making Emily gasp and wail.
Her weary eyes surveyed the area one last time; Emily’s time had come to learn not to mess with Bekka.
The word spread fast and the jeering crowd came back, running from all directions. Phone’s ready and poised.
Bekka let go of Emily’s arms and in one quick fluid movement upper cut with her left fist, slamming her right into Emily’s eye.
The crowd started to cheer and yell fight louder and louder.
Emily fell to the ground screaming and withering in pain; Bekka flicked her hair out of her face and bent down next to Emily.
“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” she laughed as she tried to hold Emily’s face in her hands.
The crowd laughed and continued to provoke more fighting.
Emily tried to squirm away from Bekka, refusing to look her in the eye. Her beautiful black hair now covering her face, stuck down with sweat, the redness in her cheeks evident even behind her hair.
“Look at me, Emily” Bekka cooed.
Emily withered and twisted around, still trying to escape Bekka’s grasp.
“Look at me!” Bekka shouted in Emily’s face, sending flecks of spit flying through the air.
Emily gave up her failing attempts to escape and looked Bekka angrily in the eye.
“Oh, Emily, I’m sorry” Bekka grinned at Emily.
“Am I embarrassing you?” Bekka’s eyebrows bent in sympathy.
“Fucking manipulative cunt,” Emily spat through her teeth, sending blood onto Bekka’s face.
Bekka wiped the blood from her face with Emily’s hand and smiled down at her victim before standing up to face the crowd.
“Scissors?” she asked.
“Does anyone have scissors?” her eyes bored into every spectator.
“I-I-I do” came the faint voice of Lucy Wang.
“Thank you, Lucy, you’re such a good friend to me” Bekka smiled down at the small girl stepping out from behind the front line of bodies.
She timidly scurried over to Bekka and pushed the sharp, shiny object into her hand before running off.
Bekka’s eyes quickly surveyed the square once more before returning to Emily, still on the ground.
In one quick movement Bekka had Emily on her stomach, her knee pressed against her shoulder blades.
“Get off me!” Emily screamed, her voice breaking.
“An eye for an eye, Emily” Bekka whispered.
She raised the scissors high in the air, as if to show the crowd what she was about to do.
Grabbing a fistful of Emily’s hair, Bekka violently hacked at it.
Emily’s bone chilling screams were heard throughout the school, alerting the teachers to what was happening.
With each fistful of hair raggedly cut, Emily’s scream became hoarser and was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd, Bekka’s eyes now bright with pleasure.
When she was done, Bekka lifted Emily’s frail body from the ground, throwing the scissors aside.
“Short hair suits you, love” Bekka smiled kindly.
“Fuck off” Emily spat, obviously exhausted.
“Wrong answer” Bekka mocked.
She paused for a few seconds as another thunder clap echoed out.
Bekka grabbed Emily by the back of the head and walked her over to the windowpane that looked in on the auditorium.
“Look at your self, Emily” Bekka pointed at the two figures in the reflection.
“You wont ever be the same, and I want you to remember who did this to you”
And with that, Bekka slammed Emily’s head into the window, once, twice, three times before it broke.
The screaming stopped, leaving the square eerily silent, Emily’s body went limp, Bekka, disgusted by the weakness, threw her to the ground.
All the students in the square stood extremely still, shock written on all of their faces. Bekka fixed up her uniform and danced down the steps, across the square, and into the depths of her group.
No one stopped to help Emily as the rain fell thick and fast. No one talked of it again.
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