Daisy in a Meadow

22 - Eavesdropping

After drying my pants off from Heather's little accident, I'd decided to spend the remainder of lunch in the washroom, as I had a bit of a headache and enjoyed the peace and quiet of it all.

And so, I remained in a little washroom stall until the lunch bell rang. Just as I was about to exit the stall, the sound of a familiar voice caused me to freeze in place.

"Holy shit, did you guys see her face? Goodness, that's really cold!" Heather mocked, erupting into a fit of malicious laughter.

"She looked so shocked, I almost felt bad for her," the sound of Ruby's giggle filled my ears.

My stomach dropped as I realized that they were talking about me. Slowly standing up, I peeked through the crack of the stall. Heather was facing the mirror, reapplying her red lipgloss. Ruby was eagerly holding onto Heather's bag for her. Meanwhile, Chelsea was crossing her arms, looking oddly... upset?

"Well, I had to do something to get her to leave," Heather shamelessly replied, fluffing up her bleached hair. "I couldn't exactly fake another allergy again."

I slapped my hand over my mouth to conceal my gasp, as I realized that Heather's reaction to my cashmere sweater the other day was not actually an allergy, but instead a tactic to get me to leave. I knew it—she couldn't be trusted!

Although, I didn't fully understand. Why did she want me gone so badly?

"I thought the allergy thing was a little extreme," Chelsea quietly said, much to my surprise.

"No one asked you for your opinion, Chelsea," Heather snapped. "Anyways, things are better when she's not there. Those boys clearly just feel sorry for her, they don't know what she's really like. There's a reason we used to call her Crazy Daisy."

Ruby laughed, causing Heather to confidently smirk. I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fists. She had no right saying such horrible things about me. I'd never done anything to her!

"Anyways, did you guys see how Elias gave Daisy his food?" Heather said.

"Yeah, what was with that?" Ruby asked.

"She must have an eating disorder or something," Heather chortled. "It'd make sense—she's practically a walking twig with poofy hair."

Admittedly, I was quite small for my age, but living in poverty meant that I couldn't always afford to eat three meals a day. As a result, it was common for other girls my age to have bigger assets—girls like Heather. I frowned and looked down at myself, suddenly feeling quite self conscious.

My heart began to race. My clothes were suffocating me. The walls of the stall seemed to be closing. A wave of claustrophobia flooded me, and I desperately urged to exit the tight confines of the washroom. However, I froze when one of them actually came to my defence.

"That's not funny," Chelsea barked. "It's not alright to comment on other girls' bodies."

"I-I thought it was kinda funny," Ruby timidly spoke.

"Yeah, stop acting so sensitive, Chelsea," Heather snapped.

"I'll stop acting sensitive when you stop acting like a bitch," Chelsea snapped back.

Heather emitted a dramatic scoff. "What the hell has gotten into you lately? You should know better than to go against me. And for the record, I'm not just acting like a bitch—I am one. And this bitch always gets what she wants."

"And what's that?"

"It's simple," Heather's voice darkened. "Anthony's no longer captain of the football team. Elias dethroned him. And now that I broke up with Anthony—"