Problem Child

The next day at school I barely spoke to Jen, or rather she wasn't speaking to me. Billie was by her side constantly and shot me knowing looks at every given oppertunity. I kept my distance and distracted myself by spending time with my other good friend Tre. We sat outside at lunch beneath the shade of the big oak tree. I'd considered telling him about Billie but I'd had enough of people not believing me lately and I really didn't want to alienate myself even further. Even though I hadn't breathed a word about the goings on at home Tre knew something was up with me. As he took a bite out of his sandwich Billie and Jen breezed past us hand in hand. I eyed them up in disgust and Tre sat frowning at me.

"Sum, what's up with you and Jen? You guys have been giving each other weird looks all day." He said in confusion. I shrugged back at him.

"What kind of looks?" I asked him playing dumb. He sat bolt upright and screwed his face up and narrowed his eyes making me giggle. I pushed him playfully as he smirked back at me running his fingers through his blonde hair.

"So come on, what's your issue?" He persisted. I sat back and leant on my hands casually closing my eyes and feeling the sun on my skin.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I sighed.

"Try me." He said. It was obvious that he wasn't going to give up easily. I sat there and contemplated my next move. I could make something up, pretend that Jen and I were just having a stupid misunderstanding...or I could atempt to explain to Tre what Billie had been doing to me.

"My issue's not with Jen, it's with Billie." I admitted as I played with blades of grass.

"Yeah, no shit." Tre replied. I shot him a look of confusion. "Oh c'mon, it's pretty obvious. You've been giving him dirty looks all day and you didn't seem keen on introducing him to me earlier." Tre explained playing the detective. I shrugged once again.

"Yeah well, he's a jerk." I huffed. Tre let out a small laugh.

"Why, what's he done?" He asked. I looked at him deadly serious for a moment.

"He's been sexually abusing me." I said bluntly. Tre's smile faded.

"Shit Sum, that's not funny." He said not believing me. I shook my head but didn't continue. Tre looked a little bit sickened by my comment. I got up and began to walk back into school.

In the middle of my chemisty class I excused myself to go to the bathroom. Tre had been weird with me ever since I'd made that comment about Billie. If only he knew. Jen sat at the back of the room with some other people, thankfully Billie was in a different class. I strolled down the corridor taking my time as I wasn't keen to get back. The hallways were deserted apart from a few students who were skipping class. I knew I was probably going crazy but I could swear that I was being followed. I kept turned back around to find nobody there, I had to laugh to myself. I reached the girls bathroom and walked inside. Two girls were leaning against the sinks smoking. They immediately looked at me and then carried on. I walked past and locked myself inside a cubical. My phone vibrated inside my pocket:

*Naughty girl...why aren't you in class?* The message read. I knew instantaneously who it was from. I heard the two girls leave the bathroom and suddenly a cold shiver ran straight down my spine. I actually WISHED that I was back in class. 'He's just trying to fuck with me' I told myself trying to shake it off. Suddenly I heard the bathroom door open. I held my breath as the footsteps got closer and closer to the cubical. I sat up on the seat. They weren't like normal, innocent footsteps. They were slow and somehow threatening. 'It couldn't be him, could it?' I asked myself trying hard not to make a sound. After a few minutes I realised that the footsteps had stopped. I knew I couldn't stay in there forever and so I slowly reached for the door handle and peered out. Nobody there. I pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked out. At exactly the same time, a figure walked out of the cubical next to me. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. He grabbed me around the waist with one hand while the other covered my mouth. It was him alright.

I struggled against him as hard as I could but he was way too strong for me. I tried to tell him to let me go but found that I couldn't say anything with his hand against my mouth.

"Now now Summer. What would Mom and Dad say if they knew you were bunking off class?" He teased with his mouth right next to my ear. "I'll tell you what, I won't tell them about this little indiscretion so long as you do something for me." He smirked. I stopped struggling because I knew it was pointless. "That's better, a little co-operation goes a long way." He whispered pressing his cheek against mine. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to turn my head away. I felt his grip loosen on me slightly and decided to use this to my advantage. God knows what he had in mind. I jammed my elbow back as hard as I could into his ribs. He fell back and on to the floor clutching his side and swearing repeatedly.

"You fucking bitch! You're gonna pay for that!" He promised. I made a break for the door but he managed to catch hold of my ankle and pulled me to the ground. He put all of his weight on top of me and pinned my arms down above my head.

"If you don't let me go i'll scream!" I threatened. Suddenly the red mist began to lift. I think he knew that he had no choice. People would be coming out of class soon and just finding him in the girl's bathroom would be enough to raise some serious questions. He let me go and sat back in front of me. He pointed his finger at me.

"I swear to god this isn't over. You got off lightly before, but no more Mr nice guy." He sneered. I swallowed hard and scrambled to my feet. I hurried out of the bathroom without looking back.