Shatter Me

It’s been a few weeks since I became friends with the boys. Things have been a bit…rough, to say the least. Kurt and Jason told everyone in school about the altercation, causing me to receive a type of quarantine treatment at first. No one approached me anymore. They just stood from afar, murmuring to their friends about how Veronica the Cheerleader was suddenly hanging out with the emo kids.

Their words, not mine.

It started to spiral downward when Jason gained the courage to face me again. Well, if you want to call shoving me out of his way facing me. From then on, it slowly built into what it was now. I was being called a traitor and a slut every day. At first, it didn’t affect me that much. I knew this was going to happen if I stood by the boys. But at this point…it was really starting to hurt me, not that I would ever tell anyone.

My parents were completely unaware of what was going on at school. The only people who knew about the-dare I say-bullying was the boys and my brother. My brother was the only one who knew that it was starting to wear me down. He noticed that I was smoking more, and I was sleeping less. I wondered why my parents weren’t noticing the change in their daughter, but I remembered that they are trapped as well. They want to believe that everything is okay with our family, so they turn a blind eye to problems that arise.

I didn’t want to tell the boys about the pain I was beginning to feel, especially not Frank or Mikey. Frank would feel guilty for tempting me away from the security I had. And Mikey…I was getting closer to Mikey lately. He was a major dork that I found attractive. I like those type of people, I realized. He always listened to the most boring things that I ranted about and even asked me questions about it. In return, I did the same. I eventually found out about Gerard’s alcohol addiction one day when he didn’t come to school and Mikey had to explain why. He became a shoulder, but I couldn’t tell him about how the bullying was getting to me.

If there was anything the Way brothers shared besides their looks, it was their temper. I had only ever seen Mikey blow up once, and that was good enough for me. He would go off on the people hurting me, I know it, and that would result in worse bullying for all of us. So, I opted to keep it to myself for the time being.

I knew today was going to be worse though. To keep up pretenses with my parents for the time being, I stayed in cheer. The coach couldn’t kick me out just because my social status had fallen, but that didn’t mean that my fellow girls couldn’t make my life hell.

It was the first football game of the season and I was asked to lead for tonight. I tried to turn it down, but seeing as the only senior was Amelia and she had mono, I was the only choice. I begrudgingly accepted.

It was at warmups when I realized that this was going to be hell on Earth. As I was stretching, I felt a push on my back and seeing that I was bent over reaching to the floor, I tumbled forward, using my hands to make sure I didn’t break my neck. I ended up on my hands and knees, hearing a choir of giggles from the other girls around me. Suddenly, I was yanked off the floor by one of the boy cheerleaders as he snapped at them, “Hey, that could’ve broken her neck. Watch it!”

His voice was flamboyant, making me know instantly who he was. “Thanks Ram,” I mumble, pulling myself from his grasp.

Ram Terry was probably the gayest of the gays and unafraid to show it. The only reason he was on the squad because he was the only guy who auditioned who could lift the flyers. His curly brown hair flopped over his forehead, giving him a boyish look, paired with brown eyes and a splatter of freckles. He shot me a lopsided grin, “No problem princess.”

“Not a princess,” I mutter as he ran towards the other girls.

I hated being referred to as a princess, especially now. I was more like a pauper now, despite what I wore on the outside. Money does not equal royalty at this school I realized. It’s who you associate with.

Finally, after dealing with the murmurs of the girls I once called friends, the game started. The whole school hated me right now, but they couldn’t show it in front of our opponent. We had to appear united and strong. A façade so they would be intimidated. There was no way anything was going to happen during this game.

Or so I thought.

It was towards the end of the fourth quarter, the game nearing a close. I was exhausted and ready for a nap at this point. Our school was behind by six points. I knew that if we got a touchdown and tied, we would go into overtime. I really hoped that wouldn’t happen. No matter how I felt though, I had to get the squad to cheer with all they had. I turned around to call for one last cheer and noticed that we were missing a girl. “Hey!” I shouted. “Who are we missing?”

This last cheer required all the girls we rehearse with. My temper started to flare. So, this is what they were going to do? Make me down a girl so I would be humiliated? Please. I am about to call a substitute cheer when I am suddenly drenched by something thick.

Gasping, I stared down at myself. Black. That’s all I could see. The crowd was silent as I looked up. I turned slowly, seeing the missing girl, Hadley, and Amelia, who seemed to be quite well. “Since you want to be emo so bad,” Amelia cooed. “We thought we’d make you look the part!”

That was when the laughter started. My heart sank deeper and deeper as tears welled in my eyes. Without thinking, I ran away, not even stopping at the locker room. There was only one person I wanted to see, and I didn’t even realize I was at his house until I was on the doorstep. I started knocking repeatedly on the door, ignoring someone telling me that they were coming. I only stopped when the door opened to reveal Mikey. His eyes were wide behind his glasses as he got a good look at me, “Veronica? What happened?”

Tears were still pouring down my face as I fell into his body, shaking from the sobs that ripped through me. I suddenly remembered why I was crying in the first place, stepping away, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry-“

He cuts me off by pulling me into his chest. “It’s okay,” he murmurs into my ear. “It’s okay.”

Notes