k a r r i s

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School was one gigantic piece of poo. I apologize for the lack of a better description, as my brain cells would normally come up with a more creative and intellectual metaphor to describe this week of school, however the amount of suckage was at an absolute high. And for that reason alone, school was in fact, a big, stinking pile of poop.

I hated Calum Hood.

Just as much as I hated peeing in a cup for my mother to scrutinize before determining that I wasn't hydrated enough and forcing me to drink several ounces of Pedialyte. I will say, it wasn't so much that I hated the hockey playing eff-boy, I just hated his man whorish behavior. But mostly, I hated me, and how I let myself face plant into Calum's gravity with no way out.

"Whoa there Hulk! What did that orange ever do to you?"

I was distracted by the vomit-inducing scene before me that I wasn't aware of poor piece of fruit being bruised in my hands.

"Huh? What?" I snapped out of my daze to find Berkley gazing at me with a raised brow and a pointed finger to the tangerine inside my clutch.

"I wish they were Calum's balls," I grunted with ire, throwing the small fruit inside of my locker before slamming it shut.

"Damn girl. Still heartbroken I see," Berkley observed. She turned her head to glance at Calum who had Mollie pinned against a set of lockers only a few feet away. She laughed as he whispered stupid crap in her ear.

"I can't escape it," I grumbled, dropping my chin to my chest, "Calum and Mollie this; Calum and Mollie that; oh my gosh, Calum and Mollie are hashtag goals... it makes me want to drown in a cesspool."

Berkley let out a sympathetic sigh, "come on, let's get to the locker rooms early. Maybe Coach Bennet will let you sucker punch the punching bags before the wrestling team starts training."

"Like how Calum sucker punched my heart," my voice cracked, a sign that I was about to cry... again. I've been crying nonstop for the last several days and I wanted so bad for the hurt to stop. And what was worse, was that Calum had no clue he was chipping away at my heart every time I looked at him.

Berkley lead me into the girl's locker room just as I bursted into tears. My best friend sat me down on the bench in front of our gym lockers before rummaging into her backpack. She determinedly searched through her knapsack until she pulled out the one thing she could depend on when times got tough.

Snickers.

My best friend tore open the candy bar and shoved it into my hand, urging me to eat the confection. Despite my mom monitoring every meal, hand picking every little thing I ate in fear that one too many grams of fat would send me straight into the emergency room, I took a huge bite out of the chocolate.

"Thanks Remus Lupin," I mumbled, munching on the chocolatey-caramel yumminess.

"I feel proud to know that reference," Berkley chuckled, taking a seat next to me. She flung an arm around my shoulder, comforting me in the best way she knew how. Immediately I rested my head on her shoulder, continuously eating the rest of the Snickers.

"You know Karris," Berkley started, "even though you're heartbroken, you should try to put all your energy into something else. The first game against Brampcrest is coming up..."

"It's so hard coaching the team when Calum is on it," I told her sadly, "I love my job but seeing Calum in close quarters for two hours is hard. I can avoid him in the halls, in class I sit in the front, but in the rink-- it's him and I."

I heard Berkley sigh again, contemplating my statement and I felt her chest move as if she were going to speak, but her words never came. Instead, she was interrupted by a slew of giggles. The girly chit-chat and extreme high-pitched excitement came from a few of Berkley's fellow dance-mates: Tegan, Jeanine, and of course, Mollie.

"He's so cute! I can't believe he wants you to meet his family, it's so adorable!"

The girls gushed as they walked towards their lockers in the aisle next to mine. I wanted to sink into the concrete floors so they'd dismiss my presence, but because I was at the bottom of the social chain, maybe they'd just ignore me like any other day. To my dismay however, Tegan was a predator and when she smelled prey she pounced.

"Karris, sweetie, why do you look so upset?" Tegan was the queen of Two-Faced-Land. "Maybe it's that Snickers?"

Tegan's eyes drifted to the half-eaten candy bar that I clutched onto for support. A smile was plastered on her face but I knew she was judging me from the inside out.

"If you're going to coach the hockey team properly," Tegan started, taking a confident stride in my direction, "you need to be in tip-top shape," Tegan snatched the Snickers bar out of my hand, "the uniform is already heavy enough, and you don't want any extra weight to weaken your ankles, now don't you?"

"Teagn, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Berkley was my Superwoman. "You do realize that there are people smart enough to see through your propagandist words and interpret them as bullshit?!"

"Berkley, is that any way to speak to your dance captain?" Tegan looked almost shocked, as if no one was ever allowed to talk back to the Queen Bee. "Your attitude is a lot, Berkley. Not just in these locker rooms, but in the halls, and on the dance floor too. If you can't adjust your behavior to uphold the Thunderbird pride, then you're going to have to turn in your dance uniform."

The Queen Bee's best friends stood there, each with a different expression on their faces. Jeanine, who was just as vile as Tegan, smirked demonically at Berkley and I. You could feel the pride that radiated around her perfectly sculpted dancer's body-- clearly proud to be friends with a girl so powerful. But then there was Mollie, who's facial expression belonged on the other end of the spectrum.

"Tegan, come on," Mollie grabbed her friend's arm, gently tugging on it, "they don't want to be bothered right now."

The thing that I hated the most about Mollie, was that I couldn't. Even though she was girlfriend of the boy who crushed my heart, Mollie Santos was indubitably one of the kindest girls at Willowridge High. Never rude, always sincere, and very smart, Mollie couldn't be hated on-- even though I so badly wanted to.

"I'll see you at practice Berkley," Tegan smiled as she turned around, but before her back faced me, she added, "have a good day Karris."

When Tegan and her friends were out of earshot, Berkley looked at me with anger dancing in her eyes, "I'm going to drown her in a cesspool."

I eventually had to get ready for hockey practice. Like every day this week, I had dreaded stepping into the ice rink to face Calum. Normally I loved helping Coach Benson, but seeing Calum's stupid happy face made me want to punch him. Even seeing Ashton put me in a much better mood than Calum this week, but I think it was because he was less concentrated on making my life Hell, and more concentrated on practicing his skills.

With the big Brampcrest game coming up in a week, Coach Benson needed my help big time. Practices were getting more intense and I could see the struggle painted on every single player-- even Calum, which made me feel a little better. I had more confidence knowing that Coach relied on me to better the team, and trusted my insane drills. I won't lie though, part of my insanity was my own little way of punishing Calum, I just felt bad that the rest of the team had to endure it too.

Suicide sprints.

Back and forth across the rink but with an insane twist. I made the team jump over plastic steps we borrowed from the gym while shooting pucks into different nets placed around the rink. I also made the team wear wrist weights, and because I was also on my period, I decided that the team had to do every other rep backwards.

I watched each player execute the drill, their speed and strength slowing down as they progressed. I observed Michael, and while I could see the fatigue run through him, he powered through with flying colors.

"Great job, Clifford!" I yelled into the megaphone as Michael rejoiced to himself.

I caught glimpse of Ashton who struggled more so than his teammates. He was racing Calum at this point and when the two players faced the last gym step, the hockey captain struggled to leap over the equipment and strike a goal into the net. Calum had won the race, which irked me, as immature as it sounded. As for Ashton however, unfortunately he tumbled onto the ice. He stood up with anger and skated towards me as I stood behind the barricade at the player's bench.

"Karris you're a fucking big dick!" Ashton spat venomously, taking off his helmet and throwing it onto the ice.

"Irwin!" Coach Benson scolded, to which Captain ignored.

"Brampcrest will win if Willowridge has no players left! You're going to fucking kill us all!" Ashton threw a tantrum, though I didn't really blame him, practice that day was absolutely maniacal.

"Boo-hoo! Nuckin' futs! Save your tears for your mom Ashton! If you wanna win against Brampcrest, then get back in line and practice like a real man!" I was pissed to say the least. I had so much emotions built up inside of me and I was letting myself explode all over the ice rink.

"You're so God damn immature Karris!" Ashton was in my face at this point, and his hazel eyes were cold.

"I'm immature? Says the Captain who's throwing a tantrum at practice!" I seethed, narrowing in my brows. From my peripheral vision I could see the rest of the team gawk in amazement, even Luke had an amused smirk painted across his face.

I, Karris Villanueva, who had the confidence of a plastic bag, was in a heated argument with thee Ashton Irwin, who had a tenacious jurisdiction over anyone's lives.

"Quit taking your anger out on the team-- it's bullshit! I know you're just pissed off because Mollie and Calum are together," Ashton dropped a grenade at my feet and suddenly breathing became difficult. "Sorry that your stupid crush on Cal didn't work out, but newsflash Karebear, torturing him and the rest of the team isn't going to win his heart. Get that through your fucking head!"

I ran.

I turned on my heel the moment I felt the hot tears dribble down my cheeks and I sprinted out of the rink and down the tunnel. I was more than just embarrassed. I felt so exposed and degraded; hurt and mortified. Ashton outed me in front of the whole entire team, and while I could've denied his claim, I lost my words and ran away instead-- evidence that proved Ashton's allegation.

My plan was to run into the girl's locker room, grab my things, call my mom to pick me up, and tell her that Science Club ended early because the club president had an emergency. But my plot to escape school property was unfortunately thwarted, and by a person I spent all week trying to avoid.

"Karris! Hey! You okay?" Calum's voice was discernible as it echoed in the hallway.

I continued my trek towards the locker room-- I was almost there. But the stomping against the linoleum floors grew faster behind me, and before I knew it Calum's hand grasped onto my arm. He tugged it, spinning me around and forcing me to look at him.

"Ashton's a dick, not you," Calum stated.

I kept my chin to my chest, not wanting to look him in the eyes. I was ashamed of myself, and couldn't bare to face Calum, especially when only pain lingered.

"Is what Ashton said true? About you having a crush on me?" Calum questioned.

I still hadn't looked at him, and I only nodded in response.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me and not answering my texts?" Calum asked.

I nodded again.

He sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I still care about you, ya know."

I finally looked up, tears still falling, "really?"

"Always," he nodded, "you're like a little sister to me, and I hope you can understand that I just don't have the same feelings for you."

Calum could've stabbed me in the eye with a shard of glass and it would've hurt less. When he asked Mollie to be his, I knew he didn't like me the same way I liked him. But hearing the words come out of his mouth made it so much more real-- crushing any glimmer of hope I had of us ever being a thing. My mom tried so hard to protect my heart. She made sure I ate well, made me take yoga, and had me take multivitamins everyday. But even though her attempts kept my heart healthy, it still managed to shatter.

And I wasn't so sure if it would ever be mended.

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Ashton's a jerk.

And I also was craving a Snickers bar when I wrote this chapter hahaha. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. I had a good time writing it-- definitely one of my faves.  Please don't forget to vote for it, comment, and share this story with all your friends. I'm thinking about entering it into the 2016 Wattys. What do you think?