What's Going On?

"Alina Latif Wind, please come to the office," The voice of the school secretary speaks over the P.A. I perk my head up from the sound of her name. What's going on? Is she okay?

I immediately raise my hand and the teacher calls on me, "May I please go to the washroom?"

"Are you going to see Alina?" Ms. Ridge asks with one hand on her hip. I hesitate for a moment and she waves me away. "She might need you, I heard something bad happened." My heart sinks in my chest as I get up from my seat. "Go ahead."

I walk out of the room and begin to sprint the second I enter the hall. I hope she's okay. I swear, if Zack did anything to her. I don't- I don't know what I would do. My breathing becomes heavy as I continue to run down the hallway and skip steps on the stairs. Damn, I'm out of shape. I should join Alina on some of her workouts once I've finally fixed the gap between us. Once she's away from him, I won't let there be a moment of negativity between us ever again.

I get close to the office and start walking again, trying to keep my huffing to a minimum. I see Alina and some girl walking together, Alina looks like a mess. What the hell did Zack do? As I get closer to them, I feel like I recognize the girl. I squint and study her features. Finally realizing it, I hope back my gasp. That's one of the girls that are always hanging out with Zack!

I run up and place my hand on Alina's shoulder, she looks at me with terror for a moment then her features appear heartbroken. "Alina, are you okay?"

"Leave her alone," The girl says, yanking my arm off from her shoulder and standing between Alina and I. "Stop trying to steal Zack's girl!"

My mouth is gaping open in shock, I glance between the two of them for a few moments. "I- I'm not."

"Come on," Alina places her hand on the girl's shoulder and speaks weakly, completely broken. She reeks of vomit and her face is red and swollen.

A boiling rage blows up within me, "What the fuck did Zack do to you?"

"Go away!" The girl yells once more as they walk into the office. Leaving me seeming like a crazy person in the middle of the hallway where several groups of people stand, stare, and point at me with venomous whispers.

Embarrassment, heartache and anger burns my entire body- mainly heartache and anger though. I stand frozen in place for what feels like a painful eternity. As people begin to continue on with their days and walk past me, staring, I still stand in place, staring at the closed office door. What has gotten into me? I would never have the balls to act out like this. Why now? Why am I willing to act like this now of all times? I never even acted this way when I used to get bullied everyday. Though, I guess that I've alway had Alina by my side, so I never really needed to defend myself.

I slowly make my way back to class, an emptiness in my chest making me want to stop where I am and collapse. I want to scream and hit things, break everything in sight. I want Alina, I want her in my arms, I want to see her bright smile facing towards me again. Why did I have to speak to her like that? Why couldn't I have just kept my mouth shut and at least faked being happy for her? Why did I yell at her like that earlier? If Zack did something then clearly it's a stupid fucking idea for me to scream at her like that.

I tread slowly back to my seat, the teacher takes one look at my face and knows to not talk to me. I slump down into my seat and go back to the darkness of my arms as I rest my head on my desk. I bet she would never want to talk to me again after how I yelled at her. I start to cry and hide my face further into my arms. I'm such an asshole. Fuck… I hate myself.

*****

It's been about five minutes since Knox finally left from his place in the middle of the hallway. He looked so hurt and genuinely concerned for me. What have I done? I've made a huge mistake. I should've believed Knox from the beginning. But now I have to play along with Adelle for a bit in order to get payback on Zack. Fuck I hate how I treated him, I just wanted to grab him and pull him into a huge hug. I just want to cry in his arms and apologize for everything. I want to tell him how right he was and how stupid I am. I want to be with him, laughing, smiling, like we have ever since we became friends. I-

"Alina? Alina!" The principal snapped his fingers in front of me, snapping me back to reality.

"Huh? What?" I ask as I look around the room.

He sits back in his seat and sighs loudly, I can hear the disappointment in his voice. "Mind telling me what happened? Why did you run out of class?"

"I was about to throw up," I say without hesitation. Hopefully the sudden response doesn't make him think that I was lying.

His face softens, and he speaks in a calmer tone, "Oh, are you feeling alright? I'm sorry, I didn't know."

I nod slowly and force out a weak smile, "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Want me to call your parents?" He offers, gesturing to the office phone on the desk.

Adelle discreetly pinches my leg, meaning for me to say 'no'. I shake my head and smile a little bigger, "I should be alright, it was probably just something in the moment."

He stares at me with concern for a few moments then nods, "Well alright. If you feel like you may need to go home then I'll allow it."

I smile wider and nod, "Thank you very much."

He gestures to his office door, "Now, head on back to class. I'm sure that your teacher must be worried about you."

I thank him once more and Adelle and I leave the office slowly making our way back to our classes. "I'm surprised he didn't ask why you were with me," I mention as we get to the stairwell.

"I think he just assumed that I was helping you," She smiles at me. I notice her nose scrunch, most likely from my puke breath. She suddenly swings her bag in front of her and hands me a piece of gum. I laugh slightly and take it. "So, all of us are hanging out with Zack after school today, I'll tell him that I invited you to come along."

"Are you sure that that's a good idea?" I ask, looking sidelong at her. "I mean, I don't fit in with you guys. I'm not into the kind of stuff that you guys do."

She smiles and places her hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, you don't have to be around when we're smoking, we all made plans to play video games all night at Aiden's place. You can go on a snack run while we smoke." Aiden is Zack's best friend, the guy that opened the door a few days ago.

"Do I have to stick around all night?" I ask as we reach our floor. "Like, my mom is kind of a bitch and I don't think she'll be fine with that."

Adelle nods and we stop outside of my classroom, "Don't worry, just a few hours. Make him think that you are willing to be around people like us."

"Do you think everything will work?" I ask her, as I slowly face back into the classroom.

"I know it will," She smiles brightly and hands me another piece of gum. I giggle and take it, my breath must be really bad. She turns around and waves me goodbye, "See you after school!"

I wave back and enter the classroom, Zack it going down. Then, suddenly, the memory of Knox takes priority in my mind. I can't risk talking to him and explaining everything because I might get caught. So, I have to keep on treating him this way. I hate this. I'm such a bitch, I don't deserve someone as caring as Knox. Fuck… I hate myself.