[TAM: Evening the Odds] Chapters 32 & 33. (Patreon)

Chapter 32: Things take a turn for the worse.

It had to happen eventually. Things were going too well. I still look back on that day and think about what I could’ve done differently. Laugh at me if you want, but the bottom line is that I was simply too weak.

It happened during lunch break. I was mostly trying to avoid Emily and Megan until the tutoring session, and I think they were doing the same with me, so I was having lunch alone on the rooftop. That was when Olivia and Lilian, two of my bestest friends in the world, showed up in front of me. Their steps were firm and full of confidence, and their grins made my stomach turn. As much as it was starting to feel like it, the rooftop wasn’t my safe haven.

“Come with us,” Olivia ordered in a tone that left no room for argument. I didn’t even have a bad feeling, I just KNEW something bad was about to happen. Olivia’s attitude and Lilian trying and mostly failing to hold back her laughter said enough. I just didn’t know what they had planned.

“...” Of course I didn’t want to go. I stayed in my spot, looking up at them.

“You know I can just go to the headmistress and tell her you tried to hit me, right?” Olivia said. The way she stood with a straight back and a hand on her hip as she looked down on me made my blood boil, but it was primarily because of how confident she was. She could do as she said, she WOULD do as she said and I’d get expelled in a second.

Maybe it was for the best that I did get expelled. Get out of this place and…

…

And what?

Go back to my family? My dad would brand me a disappointment for not being able to handle this much. Not to mention I’d be leaving Emma behind, and just as I was getting closer to Emily and Megan. As crazy as it was, I didn’t want to leave. Not yet.

I stood up. Whatever they wanted to do, I’d just suck it up. Let them do whatever, brush myself up and move along to the parts of my days I still looked forward to.

They led me down from the roof to the fourth floor of the main building, the last floor, and walked me to the restroom. I looked around the hallways and saw no one else, unsurprisingly. The fourth floor was used to house most club rooms, so no one came here at this hour. Again, there were no restrooms for men. My stomach turned again and I briefly glanced away from the entrance to the restroom and towards the long hallway.

“I hope you’re not thinking of running away,” Olivia said. “You’re really better off coming quietly, you know?”

The fake friendly tone was upsetting. Somehow she really made it sound like she was doing me a favor, even if I didn’t believe it for a second.

I got that to mean that, if I ran away now, they’d just do something else later. Maybe it was worth it to take my chances, but I felt so… resigned, so exhausted. Almost like a dentist appointment, I just wanted to get it over with.

Wordlessly, I went inside with them. That’s when I saw her standing at the end of the corridor formed by the rows of toilet stalls at either side. Jessica Ramirez, the sexy, busty Latina with her shirt open, revealing her black lace bra, some of her shirt’s buttons lay on the floor along with her blazer. Her hair was a mess, as if she had just gotten out of a struggle with someone, yet the smile on her face told me none of that had happened.

“Hi,” she greeted me, playfully moving her fingers, then calmly sat on the floor, looking as if she had been pushed back and had fallen.

Realization struck. I turned away and was about to make a run for it, only for Olivia to trip me and push me down with a sadistic grin on her face. I fell close to the lightly dressed Jessica. I looked back, a cold feeling seeping into my chest.

Snap.

It was a perfect picture and Lilian looked proud of it. The look of terror on Jessica’s face appeared only in that photo and disappeared the moment after it was taken. My own face of terror could be taken as fear of being caught, when in reality it was nothing but realization and fear over what would happen in the next few hours. Jessica stood up nonchalantly, took her blazer and began to put it back on.

“You’ve been getting pretty friendly with people around here. We don’t like that,” Olivia said, arms crossed and with that grin on her face that spoke volumes of how much she was enjoying this. She chuckled. “It’s time you went back to your place, right at the very bottom of the garbage can.”

“I wonder if this’ll get you expelled,” Lilian asked herself, getting giddy at the thought. “Oh! He might even get thrown into prison!”

Now fully dressed, Jessica walked over to her friends. “A new purse. That was the deal,” she casually told Lilian.

“Of course! I’ll buy it for you! Black, right?” Lilian answered in an extremely good mood. Jessica nodded with disinterest. She didn’t care about what she’d just been a part of.

“Let me be very clear here, Monkey,” Olivia says, kneeling down to my level and looking me straight in the eyes with a condescending smile. “You were always our plaything, and we got bored of you. We have other people to do our homework, other people that we can have fun with. You were just the newest toy, and we’re not the only ones that want you gone. This is goodbye, Monkey. You’re not getting out of this one. It’s been fun. Try not to drop the soap in your new home.”

The three girls left, laughing at Olivia’s comment.

I wasn’t getting out of this one? Why so confident? Was it true? Would this really be the end? Just like that, they’d show that picture and tell everyone I tried to rape Jessica. Everyone would believe it because everyone wanted to believe it. It would make for great gossip and excellent validation of their prejudice against me.

I should’ve ran away, but… Even if it happened in a different way or a different place, they would’ve done the same eventually.

I sat there on the floor of the restroom. My heart was racing but my face and my arms felt numb. I sat there because I couldn’t find the strength to stand up.

It was my lowest low. I’d never felt so pathetically helpless in my life.

************

Chapter 33: Analyzing the situation.

It took a while for my mind to start working properly again.

The odds were against me here, but there had to be something I could do. I had to review the situation. Take a deep breath, David. Staying cool in situations like these is key.

As far as I knew, there were no witnesses to vouch for me. The school didn’t have cameras in the restrooms, either. The headmistress was looking for an excuse, any excuse, to kick me out. She’d gladly take this one. What did I have to fight back? The teachers? Emma and Ms. Owens would back me up, I was sure, but what could they do against that kind of ‘evidence’?

…

I had the app, too. The AMA. I tried to remain coolheaded, but this one was 100% an impulse purchase.

[No More Enemies (150): People can’t seem to hate you. Friendly interactions are even more effective on people with negative scores and red progress bars deplete slowly over time until they reach a score of zero (0).]

It was in the following seconds after I bought the trait that I truly began to think its effects through. On its own it would work slowly, but if I took a more active approach, I might be able to get on their good side before they tell anyone or show the picture.

No, that was useless. They had shared the picture already. They weren’t trying to blackmail me. The truth was the new trait wouldn’t be of any immediate help. Didn’t regret buying it, but I’d have to solve this issue some other way.

The purchase left me at 120 friendship points. I stood up, brushed myself off and walked out of the restroom. I looked for the trio of wolves in sheep's clothing as I walked the hallway and went down to the third floor.

Yet as I suspected, it was already too late. Girls all around  looked at me with eyes full of disgust, retreating or outright running away as I passed by. My chest hurt. I stopped walking, seeing those faces of utter loathing. My face felt numb.

I turned around and went back to the rooftop, sat there leaning against a wall in silence, letting lunch break go by and not even considering getting up for Spanish class. I wondered what would happen from now on, tried to predict the school’s course of action, and time passed as I did. 

Too late to stop it, so better not to rush to my own defense. I’d only make myself look worse. Would I be given a chance to defend yourself? Likely, if only out of protocol, but… will I have any support?

The door to the rooftop opened with a sudden bang as it slammed against the wall, and I saw the figure of my literature teacher running towards me. She dropped to her knees and held me tightly against her. She didn’t say anything. For the moment, she didn’t need to. The fact that Emma was there, holding me, made me feel a bit better. But it also broke me. 

Couldn’t pretend to keep a cool head anymore. I hugged her back, hiding my face on her shoulder, biting your lip in frustration and shutting my eyes tight to hold back tears.

“I swear I’ll fix this,” she whispered into my ear. “I swear. I don’t believe that picture for a second and I’ll make sure to find everyone else who feels the same. I will show your high school records to the headmistress to prove you wouldn’t do something like this. I will do everything I have to and more to clear your name. I’m not letting you deal with this alone.” Emma cried. Tears rolled freely down Emma’s cheeks as she spoke. She held my cheeks, forced me to face her and pressed her lips against mine.

“You’re still in school. Be careful where you do those things.” The voice coming from behind Emma made me freeze, but Emma seemed unsurprised. That was a relief.

“I don’t care right now,” Emma said, sobbing.

Ms. Owens walked into view. She had a frustrated, tired frown on her face. “What on earth is going through the heads of those girls? This is too much for a simple prank.”

I swallowed hard, feeling like there was a knot in my throat. “You mean…?”

“Come on, Mr. Walker. Do you really think I believe their story? This isn’t the first time those girls are involved in something of this nature.” She sighed and rubbed her temple. “What worries me is that the headmistress is actively looking for an excuse to expel you. It’s obvious they’re taking advantage of that.”

“She won’t be able to. That’s happening over my cold, dead bod,.” Emma seethed, her eyes never leaving mine and her hands still holding my face.

“Calm down, dear. If we want to fix this, we need cool heads, not cold, dead bodies.” Ms. Owens smiled wryly. “Tell us exactly what happened.”

It was hard to do it. Felt like an idiot. I WAS an idiot. Letting them drag me like that, falling into that stupid trap… But there was no judgement coming from Emma and Ms. Owens.

“Well, good thing I sent Ms. Ramirez to the nurse immediately. She’ll tell us if there are signs of a struggle of any kind, which I’d bet anything there are not.” Ms. Owens then gave me a pitying look. That also hurt, but in a different way. “I’m sorry, but you’ll need to go talk to the headmistress now. And before you say anything,” she stops Emma as she’s about to talk, “I’ll go with him. It’d only be more trouble if you suddenly had an outburst about him in front of the boss.”

“…” Emma breathed deep before giving her friend a thankful look. “You’re right. Thanks.”

As much as I love Emma and how much her support means to me, I also thought this was the right course of action. Ms. Owen’s cold analysis would work better against the headmistress than Emma’s emotional approach.

I stood up, gave Emma a thankful kiss on the cheek and followed Ms. Owens to the headmistress’ office.