Chapter 43

I never thought the number six to be such a huge number.  It felt like it to me.  Six classes, six hours or more... enough time to drive me crazy.  That is, if I weren't already beyond insane.  People enjoyed reminding me of that today.

After they showed me around and to my locker, it didn't leave much time until school was about to start.  Meaning Luke had to go as well as the woman that was to be Casey's wife.  It was quite strange, to be honest with you.  I could feel that we shared something, somehow.  A similar life or past, I didn't know.  But I felt close to her already for some reason without talking to her all that much.  Once this became a realization, she came up to me as we all were standing back in the classroom.  She gave me a small smile as Luke was saying something to Casey.  "If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm always here to listen.  You might be surprised to know that I understand." Her eyes were honest and though I probably wouldn't take her up on that, it was still a nice gesture.  And who knows, if I become any more soft, I just might. She was really nice and I believed that she was understanding.  Her eyes held age that the rest of her body didn't.

"Thank you," I said, nodding to her as I smiled.  After she told me goodbye, I watched as she walked back over to her fiance. She gave him a sweet kiss and said something I couldn't here before she headed down the hall to leave the school. 

After her departure, Luke caught my eye again when he came back into my sight. His face showed torment and he slightly brushed my arm at my side, his eyes telling me he wanted to comfort me.  Standing close to me, he pursed his lips and looked into my eyes.  He could seem to find anything to say.

"Don't worry, officer.  I'll be fine. I'm tough enough to last a few hours."

"You shouldn't have to even bother to be tough to get through today.  You don't deserve this."

I shrugged, knowing he was right.  It wasn't what I deserved and it would be a shitty day.  I could count on that.  But I accepted it.  "Shit happens and life's unfair. Universal rules."

He pursed his lips, looking down.  I noticed that after she left, Casey started walking towards us; we knew school was about to start.  Luke gave me a very reluctant goodbye and as I watched him hesitantly leave, I started to see more students arrive. Before any of them noticed me yet, Casey - or rather Mr. Rush - escorted me to where first hour for me was about to begin.  I was lucky nobody noticed me as the school slowly became more populated. By the time he showed me where my first hour was without any incident, he introduced me to my new math teacher.  Mr. Cox.  This would be fun.  With that name, you knew it would be.

"Albany, this is Mr. Cox," Casey said as we walked into the room, not giving too formal of an introduction.  It was nice, the fact that it was only the three of us.  In a few minutes that would change of course.  Looking into the eyes of my new math teacher, I saw him observe me in a strange way.  His lips positioned in a straight line, his eyes slowly looked me over, as if deciding whether I was the crazy chick or not.  He had short spiky brown hair and looked to be nearing the age of 40. He had olive toned skin and wrinkles that looked permanently indented on his forehead from worry or stress. By the time we reached him and we were facing each other, I noticed he wasn't much taller than me.  He had a strong build though through his khakis and yellow button up shirt.

"Miss Higgins," he stated in a deep voice, as if just realizing who I was. The only change on his face was the raising of his bushy eyebrows, which deepened the wrinkles on his forehead.  He gave me a tight smile. "I hope you will come to find this place suitable enough for your needs." I wasn't sure what to take from that. 

I gave him a tight smile myself which I knew he could read through.  "Mr. Cox," I smirked.  "It's nice to meet you too.  I look forward to obtaining as much knowledge as I can in this soon to be magnificent class, Mr. Cox," I said sarcastically but with a light tone to hopefully steer him away from that fact. Plus, it was fun saying his name.

I think Casey saw I wasn't too fond of this guy but hey, that could change.  I was just suspicious and had a right to be.  It all depends on how he treats me in class - and if he doesn't give me much homework.  Casey sighed slightly but when I looked up, I noticed he kept a straight face as best as he could. 

Mr. Cox seemed to stand straighter, as if trying to intimidate me more (as if he was in the first place).  Looking down at me, he continued speaking, eyes still in mine.  "Are you familiar with any algebra that you learned in your past?" he asked me.

I seriously thought it over for a moment and my result: it wasn't that great.  But it was enough I guess.  In math, it wasn't my worse subject.  But he didn't know that.  I decided to try to scare him.  "Well, Mr. Cox... I remember addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  I also know math involves pie plus something called slop, Mr. Cox." I said, trying to hide my smirk when I saw his expression shift and show shock.  He must think I'm stupid.  Good; it was amusing.

"...Slop?  You mean slope...?"

I smiled.  "Oh yeah, that's what I meant Mr. Cox."

I think Casey was starting to catch on to the type of person I was.  He looked down at me with a skeptical eye, keeping a hard expression.  His eyes showed a little amusement though.  He must have noticed the amount of times I've said 'Mr. Cox'.

Glancing back to him, he pursed his lips and composed his frightened face.  "Well then... I guess we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"Yup." I said to him, rocking back and forth, becoming impatient.  I just want class to start and get this shit over with.  I can just imagine everyone walking in class and seeing the famous crazy girl here.  That would be a shock that I would take pleasure in seeing on their faces.  Of course, soon that shock and fear would turn into them bullying me but like I said, that's life. 

And that didn't come any sooner after Casey wished me luck and had to leave.  Because when he did, the bell rang and I took a seat at a random desk.   This was it; the start of my first day.  I was just radiating excitement, folks!  Seeing Mr. Cox move back behind his desk to get everything ready, my eyes were nailed to the door.

I was going out swigging, I guess you could say.  I would stare them down to scare them before they tormented me.  What would it accomplish?  Well it would make me feel more in control, to see me leaving my mark on them first.

The door opened a second later and in walked in a girl.  She wore skinny jeans along with a blue, tight tee-shirt, a cami under in.  With blond straight hair resting past her shoulders, she walked with a confidence I didn't like.  Like she was better than everyone else.  Being the first one in class, besides me, she looked around the silent room.  And even before her eyes found the teacher, they landed on me. 

At first, she didn't seem to realize who I was - which I thought just made me lucky.  However, not a second later did she stop in her tracks and freeze.  Her eyes on mine, they grew and her mouth dropped open in shock.  Yeah, that's right.  I'm such a scary killer. Just stare at me in fear.

I gave her a bright smile and lightly waved at her, showing her I was open to knew hobbies besides killing people.  I can be the classroom greeter. 

"Welcome, my next victim!" I said.

She gasped loudly and immediately started to back up more. She even gave a pathetic little shriek, which made me laugh.   A few more students started to come in and noticed her reaction.  They found the source and they could only stare.  They didn't come any closer in that second but by the time there was about seven kids in the class, Mr. Cox came around and approached them with an annoyed look. 

"Kids, settle down and take your seats.  She's not going to hurt you.  Now, before I decide to send you all to detention on the first day for annoying me this early in the morning, take your seats."

I snorted as I watched them all bite their lips and take their seats.  I see Mr. Cox is a hard-ass - which I was cool with so far.  I looked to every kid that walked in.  Their eyes never left me.  Some were eyes of fear and they took the seat as far away from me.  Others were just shocked and some looked amused and curious.  I didn't like the group of boys that looked amused.  I could tell those were the type of assholes that would pick on  me.  Ones that ignored the rumors that I killed people but rather understood just that I was crazy and therefore, out of place.  And when you are someone that is out of place in high school. Naturally you are bullied. 

As the rest of the kids came in, the would stop and stare.  Some dude said when he saw me, "Holy shit, it's the crazy bitch!"  The kid sat down with his friends and instantly started talking. as did the whole class. I noticed that the seats around me were slowly and hesitantly being taken when left with no other choice.  However, nobody sat next to me yet. That was until this chick came in just before the bell could ring.  After she noticed me, her eyes grew and she just stood there at the front of the room.  Then, after a minute of looking around, she started to breath harder.  She wouldn't sit down and it got to the point where Mr. Cox was starting class and she was still up there.

"Take a seat, Miss. Krents," he told her.  Clearly, he already knew most of the students from previous years.  After all, this wasn't that big of a school no matter how much it seemed to be that way for me. 

She stared at him, eyes wide.  She shook her head quickly, glancing back to me.  "No.  I-I can't."

"Why is that?" Mr. Cox asked, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.  He and I already knew the answer. 

"Well... because it's-it's her."

After a few more minutes of that pathetic BS, she finally forced herself to take a seat next to me. She then refused to look any where in my direction, her head facing forward the whole time.  She was tense the whole time and on edge.  I knew not to let it bother me though; it wasn't my fault her head was filled with the imagination of a drama-craving teenager. 

The start of class began with a simple over view of what this class is about.  He then passed out some expectations and all that other shit that every class covers on the first day.  All it is is rules and shit we should have already learned in 2nd grade.  I was thankful that throughout the hour, not once did he point me out for introduction.

For the most part, it wasn't that bad.  I mean, the entire hour, I could hear people whisper around me.  And I don't think it's that much of a mystery as to what they were talking about. It was surprising though that nobody tried to talk to me.  But I think that was because Mr. Cox was an observant man.  He was talking the whole hour of class expectations and all that jazz and not once did he have his back turned.  He was ready for anything they might try with me and the students noticed too. 

However, that wasn't the case for my 2nd hour.  When Mr. Cox escorted me there, I kept my head down the whole time.  Teacher with me or not, it could get rough; I knew that well enough from my last school.  It didn't seem to help.  Name calling, gasps of shock, and scolding from Mr. Cox took place.  I felt pushed a few times and it resulted with me swearing at them and pushing back before he grabbed my arm and hauled me to the next classroom.

"It will get better later.  First day is hectic, especially with you," he said and gave me a quick nod with a blank face before he left me in my next classroom.  With my new chem teacher.  This would be interesting.  Mr. Cox wasn't too bad.  Compared to this bitch, he turned out to be a fucking saint. 

As a few students started to shuffle in, I went up to her desk and introduced myself.  I know right; she better give me some respect if I'm the one introducing myself.  But nope, this was where my day goes downhill.  An hour was a new record though for me.

It wasn't long before she was standing before me with a harsh look aimed at me.  She was shorter than me but stood straight and tall.  She looked to be in her fifties and had glasses sitting at the end of her nose (if anything, with her height, the glasses were at the wrong end).  She had sandy cropped blond hair and an air to her that told me right away she was mean and stubborn. 

"Hello Mrs. Dugan," I said, my eyebrows dipped in suspicion of her expression.

"Albany Higgins," she stated coldly.  "I've heard so much about you.  And enough for my ears to stand."

I raised my eyes brows at that one.  Ah.  So that's the type of bitch she was.

I waited for her to go on.  And you can bet she did more than that.  She went too far.  "I was told you would be in my class," she snapped at me as chatter erupted instantly in the classroom when students started to come in.  Her eyes narrowed on mine.  "And that I had to keep a special eye on you.  But don't think you are any better than these brilliant minds here.  As far as I'm concerned, they have minds whereas you lost yours.  It would be in your best interest to not behave as you normally would; I wont go easy on you if you try to abuse anybody for any reason.  I also will expect from you to not behave as this is a zoo; this is a school where kids are expected to behave."

By the time she was finished, I was biting the inside of my lip to keep from talking back to her.  I was use to people picking on me; I didn't think it would be this hard to just take it like this.  I guess I wasn't use to it like I thought.  Or maybe it was just because she was my teacher and not an ignorant student. I think the later.

Without saying a word to her, I just walked away from her and headed towards a seat away from where others were already seated.  Like last time, some made a fuss over seeing me in their class.  However, unlike lasting hour, people were a little more interested in me.  And I don't mean in a good way.

Mrs. Dugan went over classroom procedures but after that was over, she just let us talk for the rest of class.  She said it as 'to get to know each other a little more'.  Translation: 'I'm going to let you harass this new student here because I don't like her'.  Or at least that's what I figured from being pissed off.  Since that's what happened. 

A group of boys that were sitting behind called my name.  At the same time, one moved and sat next to me.  I tried ignoring them, staring straight ahead at nothing but the far wall.  I could feel everyone's eyes on me, talking in little groups around me.  Except for these three.  No, they were the first to try to toy with me. 

"So is it true that you got kicked out of your last school for getting caught having sex in the locker room?" The one next to me asked.  I stared blankly ahead, not doing a damn thing for his satisfaction.  I heard his friends that sat behind me snicker.  At the same time, I heard the chair next to me slide closer to me and could feel him right next to me, closer.  I pretended as if he had no effect on me.  From my side vision though, I could now tell he was taller with short blond hair. 

I saw him lean closer to me and he whispered towards my ear, "I can imagine that to be true.  What sexy ass babe like you goes without a man inside her?  I can be your next...." His words along with his friends laughter brought back freshmen year to me.  Those sort of things are what the boys said to me before they dragged me into their bathroom.  They reminded me of them.  Except, they didn't force me to give them all blow jobs.  Yet.  Who knows, sexual harassment wasn't too unusual. 

I glanced over at him.  His taunting blue eyes in mine were serious.  There was lust there as well as cruelty towards me.  That was usual too.  Most guys found me attractive.  But that didn't mean I wasn't crazy to them.  My body was all any of them ever wanted as well as humiliation from me.  Glancing to the boys behind us, I looked back to him and his lips tightened, not at all liking the way I was looking at them. 

Now, it's true that I am use to this harassment. That doesn't mean I tolerate it all the time.

I whispered back to him.  "You want to fuck me?  Why don't I shove a pole up your ass and see how 'sexy' you think I am after that.  Sound good?" I hissed at him, my eyes flaring in anger at his.  His lips dropped open, not expecting that.  I wanted to smirk.  They all knew of me.  But they didn't know me and how 'out there' I can be.  I think what I said gave them a hint.  "When we're done, I can chop you up into pieces. I bet that will turn your friends on." If he heard a rumor of me getting kicked out of my last school, it was a guarantee he heard the shit about me killing people.

He stared at me, his friends gasping under their breath and I saw them sit back in their seats a little deeper.  I saw the boy's face next to me go red and he scowled, eyes growing in anger. 

"Whoa.  You're a sick sarcastic whore," he said in disgust.  "You better watch your back.  Otherwise, it will be my pole going up your ass."

I nearly laughed.  "You're already threatening me?" I scoffed.  I really couldn't help myself.  it's easy for me to do this with people that were annoying me - talking back. "You're a fucking wimp if that's what set you off." I laughed.  "Are here's some advice: you don't threaten me by saying you're going to fuck me.  Just looking at you, I can already tell that you're not in the place - nor the size - to hope I'll be afraid of you."  Yeah, yeah I took pleasure out of taunting them like now, making fun of them.  But they deserved it!

After I said that, the bell rang.  Everybody was up and moving, heading towards the door.  But the boys around me did something else.  He roughly shoved my bag that held all me things on the floor.  Standing, all three of them, they came around towards me.  As he shoved my bag to the floor, the other boy grabbed my schedule from my hand.  Immediately after, I looked at him and before I could reach for it, he tore it up and let each little shred of paper fall to the floor.  I stared in disgust at him.  What are we in, middle school? 

The second they did that, they quickly moved with all the other students out the door.  I took a deep breath.  It wasn't that bad, could have been worse, I told myself.  As I watched them leave through narrow eyes, they shifted over to where my oh so pleasant teacher was seated behind her desk.  Her eyes were down, looking at her desk in a rather obvious way as to not look over to me.  She knew what just happened.  Bitch. 

Grabbing my bag, leaving the remains of my schedule there (she could deal with the damn mess they made), I strode up towards her desk and looked down at her small figure sitting there hard.  "You need to take me to my next class," I said, hissing somewhat, unable to help it.  But hey, she deserved it. 

She slowly looked up at me with uncaring eyes.  "Hon, what's the point?  They will all find you at some point.  According to you, you raised yourself while your mother tormented you.  If that is the case, why must you hide behind adults now?  It's time to face the real world.  No more holding hands."

I wasn't at my breaking point.  i could handle much worse.  But you see... that was my point.  I could handle a lot.  It's one thing to say I'm a lying bitch, a whore, crazy.... It was something completely different to stare into my eyes and tell me it was time to be 'a big kid'.  It was something completely different when people can't recognize the shit I've been though.  Sure, Clare abused me and no body believed me.  But she was accusing me of not at all having a hard life, as if I brought this upon myself, as if I didn't spend a year in the streets. As if I didn't live every night on the streets in fear in the cold, with nothing.  Nothing at all.   It's also clear, no matter what you believe, that something went wrong in my childhood and she didn't want to face that.  She didn't want to admit that.  Or the fact that it should be knowledge that I was harassed by reporters, students, angry parents.  It's one thing to insult me based on nothing.  It's another to go against even the most obvious factors about my life that changed me completely. 

I clenched my teeth. Like I said: I'm use to being harassed.  I don't always tolerate it.  This was a special case however; there weren't many people in my past that would have the balls to say something so ridiculous.  The people that called me names at least respected my status as the one that is messed up.  Messed up from a hard life of fucked-upness.  Those boys at least understood my position in that I lived on the streets and have been through some serious shit.  She wasn't doing that and I had an issue with that.

"'They will find me at some point' you say," I said as calmly as I could.  "Since you clearly know me better than anyone else, let me tell me a thing or two I assume of you.  I bet that when you don't teach, you spend your time shoving your highly valued religious beliefs down people's throat.  You are a religious freak and seem just like the type.  You are a hypocrite who I wouldn't be surprised spends her weekends bent over your preachers lap and dick.  You're the type that is so narrow-minded that you think there is only one way to live life and that's yours.  You are the bitch that will never be better than me because of these 'obviously true assumptions'.  And you're the bitch that wont say a word about this to anyone for the fact that I know you were given orders to walk me to my next class.  Yes, given orders by the school and not by me as if I need you too."  I took a hard and shaky breath, noticing other students start to walk in.  All the while, she just stared at me, wide eyes with her jaw dropped.  Her eyebrows raised in shock, she could only blink at me.  I didn't wait for anymore of a response.  I walked out and started heading towards my next class.  Which I knew to be World History (I was lucky I memorized my schedule for situations like what just happened).   

***

Walking the halls by myself were hell.  I mean, I could handle it but I put the blame on Mrs. Bitch.  I just had to find Mr. Harris's room.  However, that didn't happen.  A few seconds after I left her room, I was being roughly pushed around, bumped into.  Others left in fear.  Honestly, I liked those people the best.  They stayed out of my way and didn't try anything with me.  But it was clear that more and more people got over my role as 'Nutcase Killer' and gave me the title of 'Easiest Target.'

"Whore!  Killer whore!" A girl yelled at me, making the people around me erupt in laughter.  I tried to quickly make my way through them but I honestly was having a hard time since I was looking at the room numbers at the same time. 

"Ooh, newcomer killer," a boy said loudly as I passed me.  "Go home to crazy mommy and your imaginary daddy!"

Trying to look past them all towards the doors of the classrooms, too many people seemed to get in my way.  In fact, there seemed to be too many people in this one particular place. 

I started to walk quickly to get through them. However, I was jerked in the opposite direction instantly by a hard tug.  I groaned as there continued the annoying chatter and laughter around me.  Turning, I noticed a boy grabbed my bun and pulled it out, making my hair escape.  The second he did, he wrapped his hand in my long hair and gripped it hard before I could get any further down the hall. 

"Come on baby!  Crazy chicks are always the good ones in bed!" He yelled to me as I was able to jerk away from him and move ahead down the hall.  God, honestly, I just wanted to punch every single one of them.  But I was smart enough to learn from my mistakes.  Being in the halls were always the worse for me before and I remember that when I punched a kid in the jaw for talking dirty at me, everyone around me had ganged up on me.  It nearly put me in the hospital to be honest.  What was worse was that I was still blamed and suspended for making the first punch.  Yeah, don't think I'm some baby guys.  Hell no, I would take each one of them down if I could.  But I smart and I also wouldn't forget what Luke told me.  That I needed to push on, behave, get good grades.

Moving quickly down the hall of people, looking for the right room, I new I was going to right way: I was down the social studies hall.  But then I felt someone grabbed my arm and stopped me, turning me around in the mass of students.  They all seemed to have surrounded me and saw this as a huge hall-attraction.  The boy that grabbed my arm and spun me back around, I saw had a smirk on his face.  It didn't last because the next moment, he cocked his head back before he spit right in my face.  I jumped back and away from him, eyes wide and now shook up.  That was the first time someone spit in my face before at school.  Clare did it enough but just... never at school.  When I exclaimed with a disgusted squeal, everyone laughed again at me.  I tried pushing harder through them as I ran down the hall.  I felt so much resistance though, more mental than anything.  All those ugly smirks as I move quickly by, all the while I felt the burn of his saliva start to run down my face.  Repulsed and disgusted as I moved through everyone, I whipped it away with my hand and shirt and could seem to feel any better.  I could still feel it. 

"You fucking bitch; belong in a nut house!"

"Run you crazy slut!" A girl screamed at me, laughing.  "Run!"

I picked up my pace as I felt more people start to try to grab me.  Thankfully, there weren't too many kids left; class was starting.  Of course though, right when I found the right room, I felt somebody come up from behind me and pushed me down.  However, I didn't just fall.  No, I fell hard, my chin coming in contact with the hard floor, making my teeth ache instantly as well as my head swarm.  I never saw who it was that did it because they left too soon, leaving a trail of cruel laughter.  Then, as I moaned in pain, a loud ring reached my ears and I knew that I was late for class. 

I laid there for a moment in the now empty hall, going over the multiple things that just happened.  I could feel my chin was now bleeding. My hair was a mess, out of it's bun.  I still felt spit on my face too.  I honestly would have been fine just laying there on the ground.  It didn't mean continuing the day.  But I had common sense: it wouldn't be long until someone sees me and literally tries to kick me while I'm down.  So I sat up slowly, resting my back against the lockers.  Sighing in soreness, I raised my hand to my chin as could feel the cut.  Moving my hand away, I saw the red of blood and swore under my breath.  I didn't bother to do anything though about it.  This is what they did to me so that's what they will see.  I want to look like a mess for them, so they see their work.  Or so others will take notice and maybe think twice about who the bully is here. 

I ran a hand through my hair, taking a deep breath.  Out of everything that happened, the worst happen to be a fact: it was only the beginning of 3rd hour.  Yeah, the day here was just beginning.  Who the hell knows what else will happen to me by the days end.  I've had worse happen to me - so much worse.  But I never had so many things aimed at me in that amount of time before.  I honestly was having a had time and it was because this was a new school.  At my old school, I would feel more under control.  I knew everyone, every teacher, all the corners of that building.  I would be harassed less because I am already known at the school and people knew not to fuck with me.  Here, they didn't know.  What was worse was that I couldn't teach them like I did before.  This school just barely took me in out of who knows how many.  It wouldn't take much for me to get kicked out.

I haven't felt this vulnerable in school before.  The rest of the day will be very interesting.  

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Hey, I wanted it to be longer but felt that this was a good transition from the beginning of her day to the rest of it.  What do you think so far?  Hope you liked it!