Page 27

Story: From the Ashes

“Miss Hayes, please take your seat. The bell hasn’t rung,” Ms. Barrens calls after her.
“Yeah, fully aware.” Phoenix doesn’t even turn around; she just pushes through the door and out into the hallway.
My dick is now rock-hard. Fuck.
nine
PHOENIX
Jesus fucking Christ!Can I not just have a single moment without one of those assholes up my ass? They are constantly around me. It’s been what, not even a full week of school, and everywhere I turn, there they are.
Colton’s a brooding silent asshole. Well, except for the few words he did actually speak. Daxon’s a stuck-up douche who sits on his throne while the girls throw themselves on his dick.
And Mason never shuts the fuck up! I don’t understand how he gets laid. Does he talk during sex? Maybe that’s the only time he shuts up.
I let out an exhausted sigh and head into the nearest restroom. I needed to march over to the office and find out about this locker nonsense. It would be nice to drop stuff off; my back has been killing me lugging all this around.
As I round the corner, I find the women’s restroom and pull open the door. Even the restrooms are high-end. There’s a little waiting area with a couch, the floor is all a beautiful dark tile, and the stalls have that glass that blurs when you lock it.
It’s a fucking school. This shit is in a school.
Rich people.
At Baybridge High, we had to just hope we had a bathroom that actually worked. This here is ridiculous.
Walking over to the stalls, I stopped dead in my tracks as I see one of the queens fixing her caked-on face.
Shit. I do not need any more bullshit today.
“Since when do they let the trash in these bathrooms?” Tiffany Ives crinkles her face in disgust.
“Well, I guess that would be the day you stepped foot on campus,” I retort.
“You better watch yourself, whore.” Her fists are at her sides now, her eyes in thin slits.
I cross my arms over my chest. “Wow, how original. Call me a whore. Please, hit me with more of your amazing insults.”
“You better watch yourself. You’re not welcome here.” She pushes past me, shoulder checking me as she walks towards the door. “And stay away from the kings. They’re ours. They don’t want any of your STDs.”
“You can have them!” I sing-song. She’s gone before I can get out any more.
God, these people are so frustrating. I just want to be left alone. That’s it. Yet for some reason, they have it in their money-filled brains that I want to be part of them or need them bothering me. I don’t want any of this.
The one thing I do want, I can never get back. My family. My hand immediately goes to where my locket was, and my heart breaks when I remember I don’t have it. I checked with my gym teacher and the campus lost and found. No one has turned it in. And I’m positive I took it off and placed it in my bag as I was changing for the pool on Tuesday. I tore apart my room and eventually gave into the fact that one of those bitches took it. I should’ve asked Barbie number two about it, but she had me distracted.
My heart starts to beat a little faster, and I can feel a knot form in my throat as I try to keep the tears from breaking through. It was the one thing tying my mom to me.
Why? Why did you leave me, Mom? Why wasn’t I enough to keep you here?
Images of her body in the tub flash through my head, and I have to shut them down immediately. The bloody water, the blank stare in her eyes.
A small sob escapes my lips, and I lean against the counter and try to breathe through the heartache. Once I have myself calm, I head into the stall and handle business.
Looking at my phone, I see that I have a text message. I pull up my beat-up phone with the cracked screen and unlock it.
Unknown: You ok, Red?
Are you fucking serious? How the hell does he have my number?