Daisy in a Meadow

28 - Distance

After spending the entirety of PE class sitting on the sidelines, I tiredly made my way over to the locker room.

The moment I walked in, the air felt off. A few girls were whispering while shooting me judgmental looks, and in the center of them all was Heather, who smirked once she noticed my presence. My intuition told me that something was not right, although I decided to ignore it and head over to my bag. I quickly changed into my hoodie, and frowned when I heard someone laugh.

"See, what'd I tell you guys? She's always hiding her body with those hideous baggy clothes," Heather commented in her snobbish voice.

From her spot next to me, Chelsea's mouth dropped open and we shared equal looks of disbelief. Surely, Heather wasn't talking about me while I was standing right across from her. Was she?

"Why do you think that is?" one of the cheerleaders next to her poorly whispered.

"Not sure, but I don't exactly blame her. I'd do the same if I was that flat," Heather said, her voice laced in fake sympathy.

My cheeks heated, because now, I was almost certain she was talking about me. The timid, shy part of me begged me to walk away. However, I was tired of letting people bully me and doing absolutely nothing to defend myself. Slamming the locker shut, I swiveled around so quickly that my hair flung past my shoulders.

"Are your lives really so boring that the only way you can have fun is by gossiping about other people?" I calmly asked.

Ruby and a few of the other cheerleaders blushed in embarrassment. One became angry and opened her mouth to argue, although Heather swiftly lifted up a tanned, manicured hand to shush her.

"We never once mentioned your name, Crazy, although if the shoe fits..." Heather shrugged, gazing at me with a challenging look.

By now, we had the attention of the entire locker room. On one side stood Chelsea and I. She was directly behind me, ready to jump in at my defense. Meanwhile, Heather and her posse of mindless cheerleaders were on the other side. I could practically cut the tension with a knife. Just then, the bell rang, disrupting everyone's thoughts.

"Whatever, I'm leaving," I chose the high road, mainly because the inner nerd in me knew this wasn't worth missing class for. "Some of us have classes to attend—y'know, because we've actually got futures."

"Yeah, and because we don't spend the entirety of math class in the janitor's closet blowing Brian Davidson," Chelsea casually pointed out while inspecting her French tips.

Heather's cheeks turned violently red.

"Wait, Brian Davidson, as in my boyfriend?" one of the cheerleaders squealed.

"N-No, off course not!" Heather stammered, looking flustered. "She's obviously just lying because she's mad I kicked her off the cheer team!"

"Sure," Chelsea rolled her eyes, flicking her long, jet black hair behind her shoulder. "You coming, Daisy?"

"Yeah, I just wanna talk to Heather for a sec."

Chelsea frowned. Even Heather looked decently surprised. Nonetheless, she was quick to oblige.

"Everyone out. Now." Heather sharply ordered. Everyone in the changeroom went scat. It was sad to see how quickly everyone listened to her—how much power she had over the people at this school, merely due to the fear she'd instilled in everyone.

Chelsea looked at me doubtfully. After I gave her a reassuring nod, she said, "I'll wait outside. Call if you need me."

With that, she gave Heather a nasty glare before exiting. Now, it was just Heather and me.