The building itself wasn’t awful, she supposed; the exterior was made of brick and resembled the structure of a government building. But the student body was small, very small. There were only roughly a hundred teenagers in her senior class. This was much different from the large institution Lunette attended in New Orleans. Although, it was interesting to see how fast news spread among the students here.

On Lunette’s first day of class, she ignored everyone who greeted her. Quickly, the students realized the outsider wasn’t keen on small chit-chat and forming bonds. This seemed to anger some, a sort of shot to their ego. And while most eventually went on with their lives, the current valedictorian, Erica Riley, began to grow abhorrence towards Lunette.

Every so often, Erica would walk past Lunette in the hall and mutter something loud enough for her to hear, essentially begging for validation. It was pathetic, and Lunette generally ignored her. Sometimes, she was even so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice Erica had passed. It was a childish game, and Lunette didn’t want to get wrapped up in it. However, despite her efforts to not antagonize Erica in any way or feed into the ploy, Lunette’s silence and general disregard only spurned Erica to try harder.

Today, Erica strode down the hall with a friend, Amber Houston, talking about their upcoming test. Erica flipped some pieces of her sorrel hair from her face. She glanced away from Amber and smirked as her baby blue eyes caught sight of Lunette by her locker. She returned her attention back to Amber, a shorter girl with chin-length golden hair, and spoke loud enough for Lunette to hear just as they passed by.

An obvious, purposeful gambit, albeit an immature one.

“I heard that woman from the hippy store is a lesbian, better cover up if you ever go down there!” She joked, pointing a finger at her friend’s chest and snickering. Amber laughed along, completely unfazed by the jape; already half the school was talking about it, the product of someone starting a rumor.

Lunette, who normally ignored the pestering of Erica, couldn’t believe what she had heard. The woman from the hippy store was none other than Tatiana, and her personal life had nothing to do with the public. The comment came from such an egocentric standpoint it appeared foreign to originate from such a successful student. Lunette gripped the metal door of her locker, hesitating for only a moment before she whipped her entire body to face the direction the two friends ventured down.

“You-” Her mouth was open, ready to verbally beat Erica down, but her attention was immediately shifted away to the heavy clang that reverberated through her. Her sloe-eyed gaze widened when she looked down.

In midst of her sudden rage, Lunette had propelled her necklace into the seafoam-colored locker, sending a deep crack through the obsidian as it slammed into the metal edge; An ever-so-small piece of the stone flying away towards the ground.

“Whoops.” Erica giggled and continued to walk along with Amber.

Lunette rose the necklace to her face, the center stone had been broken sporting a small hole where the chipped piece was missing. She clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth with disapproval as her anger fell away into sadness. Her mother had given her this necklace right before she passed away. And whenever she thought of her mother, she thought of her sister alongside.

Lunette dropped the jewelry from her hand, letting it fall back to her chest, and slammed her locker shut. She didn’t want to be reminded of her mother or her sister. It wasn’t that she had a bad relationship with either of them, rather the opposite. But it was for this reason that it was too painful to conjure up fond memories of either; she didn’t want to relive that grief.

Lunette gripped her books tightly to her chest and rushed off to class, clearly upset. Even more so as her grandmother’s words from earlier came ringing back to her, almost mockingly. Lunette hadn’t heeded the warning, and her gut twisted.

All this just reminded Lunette that she hated being here. Though, today, in particular, proved to be one of the worst she had yet to experience.

“Clumsy today Miss Mayora?” A teacher snickered as she passed Lunette. After homeroom, Lunette began tripping every time she walked between classes. It was amusing for some of the students who watched her tumble her way through the day, but it was embarrassing for her. She wasn’t typically clumsy, and no matter how cautious she traversed the school, it became inevitable that she would slip and tumble. And despite any attempt to uncover foul play, she saw no hidden wires, bumps, or slick floors.

Nothing.

When lunch came around, Lunette examined her knees and shins for the bruises she collected. On any normal day, Lunette would have come to the cafeteria last and found a table that wasn’t occupied. But today, she was one of the first to enter the lunchroom, asserting herself as she claimed one of the rounded surfaces for herself—foot propped up on one of the seats. Though faint, color had sprouted on top of the lifted mounds of her swelled skin.

This is crazy, Lunette thought bitterly, grumbling to herself about how more horrendous her day had become.

She sighed, removing her foot and swinging her bag onto the table. Laughter carried over from directly behind her as she rose to get a drink. Wading through the sea of students, Lunette took note of the laughing table’s occupants.

Erica, Amber, and a few of their other friends sat with their lunch trays filled. They snickered amongst themselves as they glanced up and watched Lunette walk past them. She was sure their amusement was at her pitiful state and felt her stomach churn in response. It was like every classic high school cliché, there was an overly pretentious antagonist with a band of followers, and the odd girl out.

Lunette remained unscathed as she approached the vending machine, pressing her fingers to the dial pad, wanting some ginger ale to soothe her stomach. She had let out a breath of relief when the machine dropped the can and returned to her seat. After taking a few simple bites of her prepped food she began to lose her appetite. No longer feeling hungry, Lunette grabbed her chemistry homework and reading glasses from her bag and began to work, stuffing her premade lunch back in her black knapsack. It was boring and slightly hard, but the work had to be done. Feeling her stomach continue to grow uneasy, Lunette pushed down the tab of her drink can, and then let out a sharp yelp.

The soda, as if it had just been shaken nonstop for several minutes, exploded as she opened it. The sugary liquid coated Lunette’s homework and her lap, leaving her feeling gross and sticky. She lifted her hands and shook them, her eyes watching as the drink absorbed into her jeans and paper. Her eyes flew upwards when she realized the familiar sounds of the lunchroom had hushed. A great deal of the lunchroom was now watching her.
She felt her stomach wrench violently and heat rise to her face. Quickly, she stood up and shoved her things into her bag. The sounds of students murmuring and giggling filled Lunette’s ears as she threw the can away and sped to the bathroom.

Today was officially a disaster.