treatment had blown over…
Apparently not.
I grabbed a small bag of barbeque chips and a bottle of water and then took a seat beside Lily. I wouldn’t say we were friends, exactly, but she was the only person I liked so far, and I seemed to be the only person she talked to, as well.
I popped my bag and grabbed a chip while she munched on an apple. We sat there in comfortable silence for a bit.
“Did I miss something?” I wondered out loud.
“Hmm?” Lily mumbled, keeping her mouth closed as she chewed the last of her apple.
“Those Barbies over there seem to have a problem with me,” I muttered, nodding in their direction.
Lily looked over, catching them glaring at me as they waited in line.
“Actually, everyone has a problem with me today, it seems. Is there something on my face or..?” I asked curiously.
“No, there isn’t anything on your face...” Lily replied, a bit hesitant.
“Then what is it?” I whined, resting my chin on my palm as I placed my elbow on the table.
“Well…” Lily started, but stopped herself.
I arched my eyebrow and lifted my head up.
“Lily…” I said, giving her a look that said ‘please just tell me’.
“They know about health class, my best guess,” she said, looking back at her plate of food.
“…Health? Today?” I asked.
What was so epic about health today?
She nodded, wincing. “News spreads at the speed of light at this school.”
“I’m lost,” I shrugged, laughing sheepishly and taking another bite of a chip.
The Barbies walk past our table again and I hear one of them whisper, “She eats chips, too. What a loser.”
Lily leaned over the table and murmured, “They all think you’re a virgin.”
“But… I am.”
Her jaw dropped and she stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Really?” she managed.
I nodded, feeling my cheeks flush.
Oh, God. That’s why everyone has been staring me down?
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about Em…” she said quietly after a while.
“Well they all seem to have a different opinion,” I crush up my half-eaten bag of chips and downed my water.
***
I sat on the counter, legs crossed, singing the lyrics to ‘Untouched’ by The Veronicas while Nina had a word or two with Fox regarding his no-show on Friday.
This made me smile.
However, as soon as Nina pulled the door open and Fox stepped out, my smile faded.
“Emery. Off the counter,” Nina said sternly, and I hopped off before she had the chance to finish that short sentence.
“ Em, you and Fox will be doing inventory today. Stock the storage, since… Carlos is …out,” she informed me awkwardly.
“What about the classes?” I asked, hoping I could get out of being in the little room with Fox.
“I’ll teach them.”
I’d never seen her this stressed before.
I resisted the urge to run out and beg the Daycare center to give me a few extra days of work, but I couldn’t just abandon Nina with the wild animal. Plus, I couldn’t let Fox run me out of my own haven.
I trudged into the storage room, and my felt my hands get clammy as he followed me in and closed the door.
“So, that was a nice song you were singing,” he smirked.
“Yeah?” I asked, picking up a blow up doll and shoving it at him.
His smirk remained as he stared at it.
“I wonder what this is for,” he laughed. The perve. “You can relate to it, right?” he asked innocently.
“Excuse me?” I asked dropping a box of baby dolls and glaring at him.
“I meant the song. Untouched .” He grinned now.
I blushed deep crimson, and bent over to pick up the box of plastic babies.
“You’re really a