Lions Pride: Mean Girls Next Generation

5

Being rolled through the hallways in a wheelchair was a level of embarrassing...but oddly enough fun, that Clara wasn't prepared for. Sure, it was during a class period so most people weren't around, but for those few who had to use the restroom at just the right time, got an eye full.

"Should we call a hold in place?" Clara heard someone ask. Oh please no. It's bad enough passing out in class...she knew she was already going to be #1 in gossip for at least until something else happens. Don't make it worse by shutting the whole school down because of her...

"No, we'll just get her to the nurses office."

Even if Clara wasn't entirely aware of who was speaking, she was unfortunately conscious enough to hear everything. This was unfortunate, due to the lovely assumptions being made by the staff who thought she was knocked out.

"Why'd she faint? Any idea?"

"Probably over that new kid, Ethan O'Connor. Have to say, I've seen people get giggly or embarrassed, but never seen anyone actually faint over someone they thought was attractive." The voice laughed sarcastically. "Remember being that obsessed over dating?"

"Ah..to be a teenager again."

If Clara could open her eyes, she would've been rolling them. They don't understand. Even seeing Ethan's face again was enough to cause her body to curl in on itself. How was she supposed to deal with him the rest of the year? And next?!

"Let me through! That's my best friend!" Clara could hear from the distance.

"Oh so you're allowed to say it?!" Charlotte scoffed playfully

"Shepherd Hubbard...Charlotte Sarkisian...where are you two supposed to be?" The nurse asked bringing the wheelchair to a stop.

"By our best friend's side as she's dying!" Shepherd declared dramatically

"Nobody's dying.." Charlotte whispered, "But yeah, we're not leaving her side. Sorry."

The nurse stood there and watched them for a moment. As much as she knew she shouldn't allow them to come along, she didn't exactly have time to stand there and argue.

"Alright, if you're coming then hurry."

The two teens picked up their pace to walk by Clara's side.

"Oh dear lord! She is so dead!" Shepherd gasped covering his eyes.

"She's not dead! She passed out..." The nurse chuckled amused. "Once we get her back to my office, we'll call for an ambulance and her parents. Then, you two are to go back to class, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Charlotte waved her off

Cady had been in the middle of a class when the call came to her.

"The length of each cathetus of an isosceles right triangle is equal to the square root of half of the square of the length of the hypotenuse—" Cady pointed to a marker board with a long stick. Half of her students nodded their heads understanding, the other half looked to be as lost an orange in an apple orchard.

A phone ringing cut Cady off. Usually she was pretty strict about cell phones. So much so that she looked out at her lecture hall of college students with impatient expectancy. She grew increasingly embarrassed once she realized it wasn't a students phone, but her own she forgot to silence.

"Ah..excuse me." Cady mumbled looking down at her cell phone. Seeing the school's number sent her slightly aggravated mood into one of concern. "Um..can you all look at equations 45-50." Cady told her class before fumbling to answer the call. "Hello? This is Cady Heron-George."

Her blue eyes widened as the nurse explained the situation, that her daughter had passed out in the middle of her AP History class and hit her head really hard. That she was unconscious and was currently sitting in a wheelchair awaiting the arrival of an ambulance.

"Of course, thank you for letting me know...I'll be right there." Cady clicked off her cell phone and with a shaky sigh with her eyes tightly shut, she announced her need to leave prematurely due to a family emergency.

Regina had been fumbling through the overflowing tower of paperwork on her desk. She expertly signed, stamped, and spoke on the phone all at once. When her personal cell phone went off, her heart dropped upon seeing the caller ID that still said 🦁Cady-Cat🦁 just as it has since high school. Knowing how Cady should be in a class, it was clear...something was wrong.

Dropping the papers, and as the confident business woman she was, hung up skillfully with a client.

"Hey Cads?" Regina answered still looking through requests on her computer. "Everything okay?"

"Regina. Clara passed out at school today." Her words were shaky, clearly she had been starting to cry. Cady struggled with keeping her fear inside. It always came out one way or another...usually through tears.

"Passed out? Is she okay?" Regina asked bringing her full undivided attention to her wife on the other end.

"They didn't say. The school called me and said she passed out during history. She apparently hit her head really bad and is still unconscious. They had to call an ambulance for her. I'm on my way to pick up the boys from school and then we're going to meet them at the hospital."

"I'll meet you there. Just..hang in there, okay?" Regina attempted to sooth.

"I'm trying...I'll try."

Clara's hearing and awareness did eventually fade away again. When it happened exactly, she wasn't sure. All she knew is it was before the ambulance ever arrived at the school.

The echos came first, like a million different movies being played all at once in her head. At first, they sounded far off, as if in a tunnel. Then, the volume grew louder and louder until Clara's head pounded like a stereo speaker at full blast.

Thump...

Thump....

Thump........

She wanted to clamp her hands over her ears. The noise was to much. Way to loud. Her ears actually ached. Then, they all just...stopped, leaving her in her own now empty mind. Then it came into view. His face. Ethan's stupid face.

His dark hair, dark eyes, tall structure that other girls swooned at, but Clara felt as if it loomed.

The memory of those eyes...were enough to cause her whole body to shutter. They were so dark that Clara illogically wondered how it was possible he could even see. She could remember looking into them...but only seeing herself being mirrored back. Those eyes hid secrets, oh how she wished she would've known exactly what those secrets were before she ever got involved with him.

She may have been a horrible person...but she didn't deserve that...