Chapter 5: Why Me?

Aurora’s P.O.V

“Are you fucking blind?!” she lashed out, and the area within our vicinity quietened immediately. “Can you not what where you’re going, you whore! Do you have any idea what you just did?”

“I-I’m sor…” I started to say, but the next instant, my head whipped to the side as pain exploded on my cheek, my head throbbed from the pain from earlier. I saw dark spots dancing in my vision for a split second before Mia’s shrill voice cut through the haze.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, freak,” she sneered, stepping closer to me. “You think your sorry is gonna take care of my LV bag?” She lifted her hand again and I flinched, thinking she was going for another hit, but she stopped mid-air, a smirk tilting up her lips as she looked me up from head to toe. “You know what? I don’t want to get my hands dirty by touching you a second time. Pay me back the money you own me for ruining my designer bag. Twenty thousand dollars.”

Shit!

Where was I going to get that kind of money?!

My eyes widened in horror as I looked at Mia to see if she was joking, but from the look on her face, I knew she wasn’t. And she knew very well that I was incapable of paying such a sum, so she was enjoying this torment even more.

“What, you’re not gonna do it?” she demanded. “Pay me back what you owe me for destroying my custom bag, freak!”

At this point, her voice was loud enough to silence the entire cafeteria, and now everyone was watching the drama unfold, glad that they weren’t the one at the other end of Mia’s wrath. I felt my palms grow damp with cold sweat, my heart thrashing against my ribcage as I looked around nervously, hoping that by some miracle…someone would feel pity for me and come to my rescue.

But no one did. And as I looked down at my shoes, biting my lower lip as I tried to come up with some excuse to get out of this situation, I felt her jab her finger into my shoulder, causing me to wince from the probing of her manicured nails.

“Hey,” she spat, “look at me when I talk to you.” When I didn't respond, she yanked me by the hair, forcing me to look up, even as I yelped in pain. “I said, look at me when I talk to you.” She pushed my forehead with her forefinger, nudging me backward. “Are you deaf or just stupid?”

That earned her a couple laughs as I felt my entire world spinning around me. My eyes wandered around the room, and I saw that the only person who seemed to be uninterested in our situation was Caleb, who was eating his lunch in peace, as if nothing note-worthy was happening.

I met Mia’s eye, deciding that I didn’t have anything to lose anyway, so I told her the truth. “I…I don’t have that kind o-of money.”

“Oh! How interesting!” Mia scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. “So how do you expect me to buy a new purse after you spilled your cheap food on it?”

I bit my lip once again, swallowing my words. Mia was one of the wealthiest girls in school, and she expected someone like me would be carrying around twenty grand in my pocket?

But no matter how incredulous that sounded, I didn’t have the guts to say it to her face.

Slap!

My head whipped to the side once again, this time on a different cheek, and for a second, I just stared into space, unsure of what was going on.

“Since you can’t pay me twenty grand, I’ll reward you with twenty slaps.” Mia spoke menacingly, stepping closer to me as my lips trembled from her menacing presence. “One slap shouldn’t even be worth a thousand for a beggar like you, but what can I say? I need to think about my poor hands too.”

“What-AHH!”

Slap!

This time, I couldn’t stop the yelp that left my lips as she once again attacked my bruised cheek.

She raised her hand one more time, but before she could slap me, a hand shot out to grab Mia as they jerked her away, the force causing Mia to stumble backwards.

Mia looked at the woman who stood between us in astonishment, her expression telling me that she hadn't expected this at all. “Caroline?”

“That's enough, Mia,” Caroline said gently; however there was something in her voice that made the hair on my nape stand on end. “She didn't do anything wrong; it was just an accident. Calm yourself and go get your lunch.”

Mia looked at Caroline for a few more seconds and I didn’t know what was going on between them because Caroline had her back to me, but whatever it was, it seemed like she had won this unspoken battle because ultimately, Mia lowered her eyes and scoffed.

Mia turned to me with a sneer, “You’re lucky you got saved this time. But if you get in my way again, you won't be getting off so easily.”

As Mia left, I saw Caroline turn to face me, but even before she could do that, I felt tears threatening to spill down and cheeks and I knew I couldn’t let everyone in the cafeteria see me like this.

Without thinking twice, I turned on my heels and fled the place, my head hung as I passed people who laughed and pointed at me like I was a clown at a circus.

But none of that mattered to me at that moment. All I wanted to do was to get to the washroom before the tears spilled and only then will I be able to save myself this humiliation.

As I ran down the near empty hallways, all I could do was ask the same question that I had been asking myself since my mother died.

Why me?