Chapter 196: Unwanted Attention
Nina
“Nina,” Justin said, shaking my arm. What are you doing?” I blinked, shaking my head as I returned to my senses. “S-Sorry,” I said. “Just zoned out.”
Justin was silent. When I looked at him, he looked angry and jealous, and his lips were pressed into a thin line. “Did you enjoy your dance?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
I wanted to correct him and remind him that we weren’t together as a couple, but for some reason, I was too dazed by my encounter with Eli to speak up. So I simply shook my head and stared at the floor. “Not really,” I replied. “I wouldn’t have danced with him if it weren’t for the social pressure.”
Justin seemed satisfied by this, and before I could stop him, he suddenly grabbed me by the wrist a little too hard and pulled me in. In an instant, he pressed his lips firmly against mine, so hard it almost hurt. Then, when he finally pulled away, he leaned in close to me and whispered something in my ear.
“Come back to my place later,” he whispered, planting a kiss on my neck. “I think it’s time we finally take our relationship further.”
As Justin spoke, I felt myself shudder. And in an odd way, I almost felt scared of him at that moment. I couldn’t explain it, but his sudden shift in demeanor was a bit frightening, and I didn’t know what to say.
“Um… I’m going to use the restroom,” I said suddenly, I just needed to get away. Justin stared at me for a moment before letting me go. Without a word, I quickly scurried past him and out of the auditorium, into the quiet hallway. As I made my way to the bathroom, I could already feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes and I picked up my pace, just barely making it into the bathroom before the tears began to flow.
I didn’t like the way that Justin was trying to coerce me into sleeping with him. It felt deliberate, as though he knew I was vulnerable right now, and I was more drunk than I should have been that night. My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and started to text Lori and Jessica that I was going to go home early by myself so as not to ruin their night, but before I could hit send, the bathroom door suddenly swung open.
I quickly jerked my head up to see who had come in; my first instinct was that Justin had followed me, but it wasn’t him.
Instead, it was the new girl. Sadie. She had a dark scowl on her face, and I instantly knew that she was deliberately looking for me.
“H-Hey,” I said, backing up against the wall as she suddenly charged toward me, her hands balled up into fists at her sides. “I-I didn’t ask for any of that to happen. It was only a coincidence-”
“Coincidence?” she snarled, coming too close for comfort, so close I could feel her hot breath on my face as she breathed heavily through her nose.” You’ve been staring at him ever since we got here, Nina. I know what you’re after, and I’ll tell you what; he’s not interested.
I’m at the end of my rope with you. I should’ve killed you when I had the-” My eyes widened as the girl spoke. She suddenly stopped herself, her face turning an even deeper shade of red. She knew my name? And what did she mean when she said that she should have killed me?
“Selena?” I whispered.
The girl didn’t answer. Suddenly, the door swung open again and in stepped Lori and Jessica. They both had concern drawn across their faces, as though they were looking for me, but that look turned to anger when they saw that the new girl had cornered me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Lori snarled. The new girl spun around to face Lori. ” Get out of here,” she growled. “This doesn’t concern you, bitch.”
“Um… I think it does concern us!” Jessica shouted. “That’s our friend! What’s wrong with you, seriously? You’re acting like a high school bully over a stupid dance!”
I stood frozen. The new girl chuckled, and her laugh… I swore it sounded too familiar. It really did sound just like Selena’s evil laugh. It was uncanny, and I was certain at that moment that it really was Selena. And if she wasn’t actually Selena, she was certainly connected somehow.
“You’re all pathetic,” the new girl said in a condescending tone of voice. “You three think you’re so special because you saved this rinky-dink little backwater town. But I’ll tell you what -” she turned back then to face me and grimaced as she roughly poked her index finger into my sternum, causing me to wince.
“You don’t know even half of how powerful I am. You’re lucky I haven’t destroyed your precious little campus. In fact, when I leave, I might just do exactly that now that I’ve learned what I came here to learn.”
Everything that the girl said made no sense. What did she mean when she said she was so powerful she could have destroyed our campus? What did she come here to learn? Who would say all of these awful things over something as innocent as a coincidental dance with a boy?
But I wouldn’t be getting any answers, because all of a sudden, Lori’s face went beet red behind the new girl. She suddenly stormed up behind her and reached out, grabbing a handful of the new girl’s hair.
“Lori, dont-” I began, but it was too late. Lori yanked on the girl’s hair, hard, causing her head to jerk back. The new girl shrieked and spun around. -And in that one swift motion, suddenly Her hair came off in Lori’s hand. It was a wig.
“You bitch!” the girl shrieked. She yanked the wig out of Lori’s hand, as Lori was too stunned to react, then brushed past Lori and Jessica in a flurry of anger and disappeared from the bathroom.
Lori, Jessica and I all slowly turned to face each other. There was a long, shocked silence at what just happened before a low, amused laugh began to rumble in Jessica’s throat.
The laugh began to rise in volume, and it was infectious; soon, we were all doubled over laughing there in the bathroom at the complete absurdity of everything that just happened. “You don’t know how powerful I am!” Jessica mocked, imitating the girl’s.
