“You OK?” Becca asked.
Scarlet’s other friend, Becca, the fourth member of their group, was tall, big-boned, slightly heavyset, with wavy blonde hair. She wasn’t quite as attractive as the others, but she had a big heart, was smart as could be, and was a champion soccer player and one of Scarlet’s closest friend on the team. She’d also had a steady boyfriend for the last two years, unlike the rest of them. Jasmin was dating someone, too, although only for a few months. Which left Scarlet and Maria—
conspicuously—without boyfriends. Maria had just broken up with hers, and Scarlet was hoping Blake would be her boyfriend—though she wasn’t sure if he felt the same.
The four of them were nearly inseparable throughout the school day, always finding each other in the hallways—and then usually hanging out at each other’s houses after school, too. Maria was her best friend, though, like a true sister, and the two of them were usually IM-ing or video-chatting when they weren’t actually together. Scarlet had other friends, too, but none as close as these three.
Their little group wasn’t the most popular in the school, but it wasn’t the least popular either. They were pretty much average, well-liked, as they were nice to everyone and never made anyone feel left out.
Which was the polar opposite of Vivian’s large group of mean girls, that definitely sat at the top of the popularity ranking in the school. Vivian, their ringleader, had at least six friends around her at all times. These girls were always the prettiest, dressed in the most expensive, designer labels, wore the nicest jewelry, carried the nicest bags, always sported the latest line of shoes—and were all cheerleaders. They all seemed to date the hottest guys, the best athletes, and to live in the biggest, nicest houses. They were also always the ones at the center of any school social event, always hosting or organizing the biggest and coolest parties, or anything social the school had to offer.
As if all this weren’t enough for them, these girls never seemed happy unless they were also picking on someone else. They had various targets, all throughout the grade, and each of the seven seemed to home in on someone else. Individually, they were annoying—but as a group, they were unbearable, always clustering together and giggling, whispering and pointing, like a pack of hyenas.
One never knew exactly what they were talking about, but from their body and facial expressions, it was pretty obvious it wasn’t nice.
And God help you if you got in their direct path, if you became a direct rival to any one of them—whether it was in sports, or social situations—or most of all, with boys. Then they would all turn on you like a pack of wolves, and be absolutely determined to make your life in school a living hell.
This was something that Scarlet was just beginning to realize, firsthand, since she had taken an interest in Blake—and especially since they’d gone to the movies the other night. Scarlet had had no idea that Vivian liked Blake, too. Now, she found out the hard way.
In the past, Vivian had always been naturally snotty to Scarlet—but now she stared her down at every turn, and made sure her girlfriends did, too. Now, Scarlet was a direct threat. Of course, it wasn’t Scarlet’s fault—Blake wasn’t dating Vivian, and as far as Scarlet could tell, he wasn’t even really that interested in her. But that didn’t stop Vivian from blaming Scarlet.
Scarlet braced herself as she spotted Vivian’s pack at the far end of the hall. She at least took comfort in her three friends surrounding her, which would shield her from some of their animosity.
But despite this, and the distance, she could already spot Vivian whispering and pointing towards Scarlet—and as she did, the group turned as one towards her.
“Hello? So like what happened?” Jasmin pressed. “We’re still waiting.” Scarlet realized she hadn’t answered their questions.
“Um, sorry…” she said. “It was really no big deal. I just like got sick, and then I went out for a while and lost my phone, and my mom freaked out. Sorry.”
“OMG, my mom does that all the time. So embarrassing,” Becca chimed in.
Scarlet was visibly relieved to hear her say that. They were buying it.
“But I heard you were like in the hospital or something?” Jasmin pressed.
“Look guys, it was really no big deal,” Scarlet said, more firmly. “I’m totally fine. Everyone just over-reacted. Please, can we just talk about something else?” Scarlet pleaded, hearing the stress in her own voice. She didn’t mean to snap, but she really wanted them to change the subject. She was also dreading one of them telling her that they spotted her somewhere yesterday, doing something that Scarlet couldn’t even remember herself. She hoped and prayed that wasn’t the case.
“Well, I’m stressing out,” Maria said, “because the dance is in like two days, and I still don’t have a date.”
Thankfully, as always, she came to Scarlet’s rescue and changed the subject. Scarlet was relieved.
Yet, at the same time, she had changed the topic to one that was even more stressful: Friday’s dance.
The big Halloween Ball. Every year, there was a big outdoor dance down on the football field, and the school had a huge bonfire and marshmallow roast. It was the kiss of death to show up without a date. You could get away with it as a freshman, or as a sophomore, but definitely not as a junior or senior. And being a junior, the pressure was really on Scarlet this year.
“Who you bringing?” Jasmin asked. “Blake?” She was clearly trying to pull information out of her. “You never told us what happened on your date!”
Scarlet sighed. This day was going from bad to worse.
“Come on, stop holding back!” Becca said.
Jasmin said Blake’s name way too loudly, and had done so at the worst possible moment—right as they were passing the cluster of mean girls. Scarlet looked at Vivian and saw her expression change to a scowl. Clearly, the mention of Blake’s name had struck her hard. She could feel the hatred coming off of her.
Scarlet looked away; at least she had safety in numbers.
“Nice shoes,” came a snarky voice behind her, followed by a chorus of giggles. It was Vivian’s voice, of course.
Scarlet looked down and realized her flats were covered in mud stains. She flushed with embarrassment. Somehow, somewhere, maybe yesterday, she must have ran in the mud. The morning had been such a blur, she hadn’t even checked.