Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

“Holy crap on a cracker! I can’t believe you actually got your eyebrow pierced!” Lacey squealed, closely examining the steel bar that was pierced through my skin. She reminded me of one of those hyperactive kids who desperately needed Ritalin in their system.

I laughed at my friend’s choice of words. “Crap on a cracker?”

“I’m just utterly shocked your mother let you get it!” She shook her head.

“She actually liked it when I showed her. She said it’s cute.” I smiled, stuffing a few books in my locker and taking out the ones I needed for class.

“What possessed you to do this?”

“I’ve always wanted one.” I shrugged. “I just didn’t realize how much I really wanted it until Andy came along.”

She leaned the right side of her body on the locker beside mine. “Who’s Andy?”

“That new guy at work,” I answered, shutting my locker.

“You mean Mr. Blue-eyed-black-haired-boy?”

I nodded. “Yeah. He has snakebites, remember?”

“Ooohhh yeah. I forgot you told me that.” She slapped her forehead.

“He was actually with me when I got this,” I stated, leaning my back against my locker.

“He was? But I thought you said he was all quiet and mysterious and kept to himself.”

“Yeah, he used to be. But one day I kind of got him to talk and I found out how cool he was. I mean, our taste in music is basically the same and we get along pretty well.”

Lacey smirked. “Do I detect a crush?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Of course not.”

“Farrah, you are totally crushing on this guy!” She laughed.

“I am not!” I argued. “Lace, we’re just friends.”

“Yeah, I’m not buying it. You like this boy but you just won’t admit it.”

“I don’t like him, Lacey,” I muttered, as I began walking along the hallway. Lacey skipped to match my pace.

“Okay, so maybe you’re too stupid to see it, but deep down you do,” she pointed.

“Nope.”

“Deep deep down?” She raised her brow.

“Andy and I are friends,” I repeated, annoyed.

“That is so cliché,” she laughed.

I merely rolled my eyes.

“Oh! I almost forgot. I saw Aaron the other day at Starbucks and he asked about you,” she said while poking my arm with her elbow.

“Really, what’d he say?”

She pursed her lips. “Not much. He just asked how you were and he assumed you were taking good care of your car since you haven’t been to his shop in a long time.”

I smiled crookedly. “I’ll have to drop by the shop one of these days and say hi.”

“Yeah, you should. But how are you gonna do that now that Andy’s in the picture?” She teased, smirking.

“Shut up.” I hit her arm playfully.

“Argh, not so hard. What are you, the Hulk?!” She rubbed the spot where I hit her.

I laughed.

“Hey, Farrah, you got a piercing?” A girl suddenly popped up in front us, blocking our path. It was Lilith Bishop, one of the girls from the Goth clique. She was a really nice girl, but her niceness was only limited to her friends, Lacey and I. She hated everybody else. We had Calculus together and I think the only reason she took a liking to me was because we both grandly sucked at it.

“Yeah, I did,” I answered with a smile.

“It looks fucking awesome. It totally suits you,” she said with a grin. “Why don’t you get one, Lacey?”

“Because I’m not as brave as she is,” Lacey said with a laugh. “Needles terrify me.”

Lilith laughed as her long raven hair fell over her eyes. “It doesn’t hurt at all. Where’d you get yours?” She asked me.

“A place called Hellastic.”

“Oh, no shit. I’ve been there a thousand times. Who pierced you?”

“Gwen.”

She grinned. “Gwen’s cool. She pierced my navel.”

“Yeah, she’s awesome,” I replied with a smile.

Lilith grinned. “Well, I gotta go. My friends are waiting for me. See you later, guys.” She gave us a small wave before spinning around and walking away, with her long black skirt flowing behind her.

“Bye,” I called.

“I don’t know why people hate the Goths so much. They’re so cool,” Lacey mused, shaking her head.

“It’s called stereotyping.” I scoffed. “God, I hate high school.”

Lacey nodded in agreement as we continued to walk down the hallway and made our way outside where we were gonna study for an upcoming History test. Well, Lacey was gonna study. I was only going to pretend to study and do what I normally did. Doodle.

As we were walking, a foot suddenly stuck out in front of me from behind a wall, which caused me to automatically trip and make an ugly landing on the concrete. My books flew everywhere and I could hear a few snickers coming from the nearby students. I groaned and looked down at my arm, noticing the blood. “Shit.”

“Oh my God, are you okay?!” Lacey frantically crouched down beside me, pulling me up in a sitting position.

“I’m bleeding,” I muttered, showing her my arm.

“Oh crap,” she said.

Suddenly, an evil laugh sounded off in our ears, which made Lacey and I look up.

Serena. Of course.

I glared murderously at her.

“Oops. I did not see you there,” she gasped, faking a surprised look.

“Fuck you,” I spat as I began to stand while Lacey tried to help.

“Farrah, we gotta get you to the nurse’s office. There’s blood all over your arm,” Lacey stated in worry.

“Hmph. That’s what you get for almost running me over,” Serena said as smirk appeared on her lips.

I narrowed my eyes. “I should’ve just finished the job that day.”

She scoffed, flipping her hair back. “Your ugly ass car could never kill me.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You know, if you disappeared off the face of the planet, no one would care. If you died, no one would come to your funeral,” she said angrily, balling her hands into fists.

I laughed humorlessly. “Was that supposed to make me sad?”

“You deserve all the bad things that come to you, bitch.”

“Serena, back off!” Lacey shot, still holding onto me. “Come on, Farrah.”

“Sticking up for your girlfriend, Weber?” She snorted. “Lesbos.”

“Alright, bitch! Let’s see how well you put up with my foot shoved up your fat ass!” I spat, as I lunged forward. Serena’s eyes widened as she jumped back with a high-pitched squeal. Unfortunately, Lacey caught me just before I could grab the bitches’ hair.

“Lacey!” I complained.

She pulled me back so that I couldn’t get Serena, who looked seriously frightened.

“Farrah, come on. She’s not worth it. Do you wanna get suspended?” My friend hissed, struggling to keep me away from the fake blondie.

I grunted in frustration. “No. But she fucking deserves a good beatdown, don’t you think?”

Serena scoffed, straightening her posture.

“What are you scoffing at, skank? I can kick your ass with the snap of a finger,” I growled, which had Serena looking scared again.

“Come on,” Lacey urged. “Nurse.”

I sighed defeatedly and bent down to pick up my bag as Lacey helped with my books. She then escorted me back into the school building. I hadn’t even noticed the amount of students that were watching us, expecting a fight or something. They seemed pretty disappointed that there was no show.

“Farrah, you could’ve totally taken the bitch down!” A kid named Rodney Dennings said as I passed him.

“Yeah, you probably would’ve sent her to the hospital! We’d all love to see that!” Spencer Mitchell squealed, high-fiving Rodney.

“Damn right!”

I forced a smile at both of them. “Maybe if we weren’t on school grounds, I would’ve.”

“Just know we’re on your side!” Rodney stated with a grin.

“Yeah, dude. We’re on Team Farrah!” Spencer added, nodding wildly while punching Rodney on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” I said with a small laugh as Lacey continued to lead me to the nurse’s room.

“Oh my God!” Lilith suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of us, causing me to stumble in surprise. “I saw what happened!”

“Lilith, she’s bleeding. I have to take her to Nurse Dolores,” Lacey spoke quickly.

“Oh,okay. But hey, Farrah. If you want, I can perform a little ritual on the blonde she devil,” Lilith said with a wide devious grin.

I gave her a funny look. “What kind of ritual?”

“Oh, nothing too serious. It’s merely for entertaining purposes only.” She waved her hand like it was no big deal.

“Uh…..yeah, sure. Go ahead.” I shrugged.

“Great!” She clapped. “Shit, I’m really sorry about your arm.”

“Oh, I’m alright. It doesn’t hurt that bad. No worries.”

“Okay, good.” She laughed a little. “See ya, Hanley,” she said with a smile before walking away from us.

“Bye.”

“Man, you’ve got everyone on your side,” Lacey laughed as she ushered me towards the nurse’s office. “I can’t believe Lilith Bishop offered to do a ritual on Serena for you. That’s amazing.”

I laughed a little, looking down at my bloody arm. It did feel nice to have people rooting for me for once.