RYOT GRL

Chapter 18

After class I avoided Stella and Georgina, since word would have spread by now that I’ve been in trouble with the principal. I’ve been in trouble loads of times before, but no one has made me feel as worthless as he just did. I was sitting on the bleachers when the boy who Castle was beating up on my first day came and sat by me. “Hi”, he murmured. “Hi back”, I smile. “Good to see your still alive”, I laugh, and I watch as he tenses looking around him cautiously. “It hasn’t been easy”, he mutters which makes me laugh harder. “Thanks for saving me Dodo”. I look at him surprised. “How do you know my name?”, I ask quizzically. “With a name like Dodo. How could I not know it? Plus, you’re pretty much famous now for throwing a book through Castle Maddox’s window”, he praises, clearly impressed. “He was bullying my friends. I wasn’t going to sit back and watch it happen”, I seethe. “That’s what he is. A big bully”, he retorts back bitterly, and I can’t help thinking that there’s more to Castle than that. He may be cruel to those around him, but there is a moment however brief they may be that he shows kindness. “What’s your name?”, I ask realising I ditched him the first time we met too quickly before he could tell me. “Monroe”, he mutters.

“Monroe Price. I’m a freshman”, and my guilt for him intensifies. “What did he do to make you beat him up?”, I ask, and I watch how he quickly shifts his eyes away from him. “I got in his way. He doesn’t really need an excuse. He would hurt anyone with a pulse”, he claims and my shoulders sag in defeat at the realisation that he’s right. Castle is the most feared boy in the school and for good reason. I’ve seen him push and trip over kids all over the school for no reason other to get a kick out of it. “You don’t sound like you’re from America”, he observes, his brows furrowed as if he’s trying to figure something out. “I've got cousins in England and you sound just like them”, and I’m surprised he picked up on my accent. I thought I had nailed the American one because I’ve been putting one on since I moved here. Imitating phrases from the tv and from other people in school. My clothes give people a reason to stop and stare enough in fear, about who I am. My accent makes me a walking target.

“I am originally”, I say, and he smirks. “How did you get to the states? Smugglers?”, he asks seriously, and I stifle a laugh. “No. I moved here with my Mum”, I mutter rolling my eyes. “Do you prefer it over here?”, he asks seriously, and I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t really prefer it anywhere”. Moving around so much has me confused about the future. All I want to do is settle down, but with my secret I’ll never be able to do that. Unless I know someone, who could fill out forms for me and I get a job that doesn’t require me to read or write. But I know jobs like that are limited. “Hey are you ok?”. Monroe waves his hand in front of me, snapping me away from my thoughts.

“You keep spacing out. I hope I’m not boring you”, he mumbles. “No. I just had a long day”, I muse, and he nods in understanding, “I feel you”, he says. “Shouldn’t you be in class. You’re a freshman”, I ask, and he looks towards the school grimacing. “I felt like skipping”, he shrugs his shoulders, and I can tell he’s putting it on, because it’s me. If I wasn’t sitting here now, I bet he would have run back to class by now. “What are you even missing?”, I ask, and I watch how his face falls. “Geometry”, he groans, and I laugh. “I don’t blame you for skipping”, I chuckle, and he smiles with me. I watch how his eyes flicker to my lips, and I scoot slightly away from him. After a few moments waiting for him to get the hint and leave me alone, he speaks again. “What are you doing later?”, he asks, and I burst out laughing at his forwardness. “No offence Monroe. But you’re a little young for me”, I deadpan, trying to contain my laughter. His face falls, his shoulders sagging in defeat. “I’m not that much younger”, and I roll my eyes. Some people really don’t know when to take a hint. “Please Dodo. Just give me a chance”, he says, practically begging me. I ignore him, hoping he will eventually go away if I show I’m not interested. After a couple minutes of him begging to go on a date with me, I turn to him. “Go away Monroe”, I say, and my tone is deadly. He stands up, almost straight away. “I should get to class”, he trembles, his face red and flustered as he runs down the end of the bleachers back to the main building. I watch his distant running figure laughing.

I’m not surprised Castle bullied him, he’s far too cocky for his own good thinking he had a chance with me. I look out to the sky. The sun is shining and I’m burning up in my black clothes, but I enjoy the heat on my skin, soaking in the sun’s rays. I close my eyes, leaning back slightly. For a moment, I don’t worry about anything, pushing all my overbearing thoughts out of my brain. I forget all about English, and the principal, and my mum. The only thing I can’t push away is my thoughts about Castle and how I feel when he’s near me. How I feel like I’ve been zapped with electricity when we’re close and that I’m constantly looking around for him when I can’t see him. How I can’t stop looking at my sketches of him and trace his picture of his fingertips. Whatever he’s done to get under my skin, I would do anything to make it go away.

“Dodo”, I hear my name being called in the distance, and I shoot up from my relaxed position praying it’s not the principal ready for round 2 to discipline me. “Dodo”, I recognise Stella’s voice and I drop my shoulders in relief. “What are you doing out here? We’ve been looking for you everywhere”, the two girls are by my side in an instant, portraying faces of concern. “We heard about what happened in English”, Georgina pronounces. “Who told you?”, I order. “It’s going around with the seniors that the principal called you out for never contributing in English”, she says and her eyes flicker to Stella in alarm. “There’s more you’re not telling me”, I press and her face falls.

“Dodo. They’re not worth it. You taught me that”, she says gently but for once I don’t want to heed my own advice. “Tell me Georgina. I want to know what they're saying behind my back”, and I watch as her face contorts clearly battling whether to tell me or not. She sighs. “They’re calling you retarded”, she mutters. I hate the word, it’s such an ugly insult and a discriminative one too. “They should say it to my face. See what happens then”, I spit in fury. “I didn’t want to tell you”, she says gently.

“Who said it?”, I say. “Castle?”, and she frowns. “No not them. The cheerleaders”, she mutters apologetically, and I shouldn’t be surprised they could hardly come up with an intelligent insult. I laugh, but it sounds forced. “Don’t listen to them Dodo”, Stella whispers and I smile at her gratefully. “I wouldn’t waste my time worrying about what they think of me”, I say holding my head straight and confident. We fall into a silence, like the typical teenagers we are, all on our phones. Except unlike Stella and Georgina who are cruising through their social media, I’m reading the new Stephanie Meyer book. “That dog is in Hames’s story again?”, she says, and I lift my eyes to her. “You follow Hames, even though he bullies you”, I say astounded, and she shrugs like it’s completely normal. “It’s not like he follows me back. Besides his account. He’s followed by thousands”. And she holds up her phone showing me his profile. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to be amazed by his 16k followers. “He doesn’t follow anyone except for Jordan and Castle”, she mutters clicking on the following bottom and both profiles come up. “Let me see Castle”, and I watch as her lips lift in a smirk. “Really?”, her voice high pitched sharing a knowing look with Georgina. “Gross and no I just want to see what kind of things that douchebag posts”, I say. She clicks on his profile and I see he’s got almost 300k followers. I suck in my breathe, even I know that’s impressive. She scrolls down his profile showing me most of his pictures are of him topless or at parties, sometimes smiling and other times not. “He should be bully in his bio”, I seethe. He’s made himself look like such a sweet boy on social media it sickens me.

“This is his story”. She clicks on his profile icon and no surprise there’s pictures of him at a party, a girl grinding on his lap as he swings shots with Hames and Jordan. “What a show-off”, I drop my eyes whilst she flicks through them, until I hear the familiar bark I’ve been longing to hear ever since I lost him. “What was that?”, I shoot my eyes to Georgina. “Oh, it’s a video of his dog. Look”. She flicks back and I feel my heart drop out of my chest when I see Ruben in the video, running around a field and barking, and she flicks through more him trying to get Ruben to do tricks.

I run off the bleachers my blood boiling. I’ve never felt so angry. To take my dog, how low could he stoop. He’s got no conscious; I’ve been crying over him for weeks and Castle had him this whole time. I hear Georgina and Stella calling me, but I keep running, the anger flowing through my whole body. I see him, by the lockers chatting up a girl and I make a beeline for him. His eyes flick up to mine, noticing the dark expression I’m holding towards him. He excuses himself from the girl striding for me. “Dodo can’t stay away.”. He doesn’t get to finish that sentence because no sooner had he opened his mouth I raised my fist and punched him straight in the face.