CHAPTER THREE

"I sent out my application to Stanford and I'm a hundred percent sure I'm going to get in." Miley was talking to the whole class, at least those who bothered to listen about the colleges she applied to. The teachers were in a meeting with the school board so they had a free period. Farik sat at the back of the class with her head on her desk and her grey dinosaur hoodie covering her face. She tried to not pay attention to what Miley was saying but her voice was so loud, students in the next class could hear her.

"Which other colleges did you apply to?" Sally asked. She was one of the girls who worshipped the ground Miley and Miranda walked on.

Miley whipped her hair behind her head before answering.

"Only NYU. I figured there was no point in applying to others when I will get into Stanford. If I don't, I'd kill myself." Farik's head shot up when she heard that. She stared at the chestnut haired girl with makeup that was not appropriate for school.

I really hope you don't get accepted, she thought to herself. I'd love to hear of your death.

Farik was a little too late in putting her head down because Miley caught her staring and her evil smile showed.

"There's one person in this whole school who wouldn't get accepted even to a community college. She is so weird and freaky that not even the Salvation Army can help her. Freak Morgan would have to spend the rest of her years on earth as a school dropout working for a low class retail store." Everyone laughed-well, everyone but Farik. And Orion. He was glaring daggers at Miley but she didn't notice because she was laughing and staring mockingly at Farik.

Farik snickered and rolled her eyes. Her head was back on her desk with the hood strewn up covering every part of her face that it could reach.

"Listen everyone, our graduation gowns would be released later next week. The yearbook is coming out on Friday. We still need to make some finishing touches on it so I'm gonna ask each and every one of you to prepare your votes by lunch time." The students started talking animatedly about the yearbook and graduation that was coming up. Farik was excited about it too because it just meant she had ten days left with these annoying sorry excuses for human beings. She planned on not attending graduation-she didn't exactly need the certificate they were handing out but her father would make her get it either ways. She'd do that after the ceremony though.

The talk about the yearbook didn't excite her as much though. It was just another means for students to portray how mean and cold hearted they were. Those votes that Miley was talking about were yet another mean stunt of theirs and she knew she would be on the receiving end of that mean joke.

Home was the same as always. Her mother was too busy with her life to notice her daughter's. Her father was still not back from whatever meeting he had. Farik spent the rest of the day watching yet another murder series. Her eyes were glued to the screen as she watched the killer strip his victim of her clothes and begin the incision of her stomach. After he was done with that, he moved to her throat and cut of her head. As Farik watched him dispose of her carcass in a river far from his home, she couldn't help but imagine that body to be Miley's. She slept with a huge smile on her face that night.

The next day during lunch, Miley and her crew with the rest of the students were gathered in the cafeteria. She had dragged Farik there to listen to the votes of students. Farik stood close to her table with her head bowed and covered with the same grey hoodie she wore the day before and waited for the mean comments and insults to start.

"What I'm about to read out is what all of you would like to happen, right?" Miley's smile grew wider when all of them chorused, "Yes!" She eyed Farik before making a show of clearing her throat and reading what was written in the piece of paper she was holding.

"This is the most likely to commit suicide category." Farik sucked in a sharp breath and clenched her fists, closing her eyes as she counted in her head. That category didn't even exist in high school yearbooks but she guessed Avindale was different. She didn't want to hear any of it. It might just give her ideas.

"Most likely to jump off a bridge…" Miley gave a dramatic pause before finishing her sentence. "Freak Morgan." All the students started cheering and banging the tables. They were laughing and pointing at her, throwing derogatory terms at her as they did so. The noise was loud and Farik couldn't keep it out. She had no choice but to listen to it.

On the other side of the table Miley was standing on, Orion was sitting still, staring at Farik with worried eyes. He hated Miley for making his former best friend feel like shit but he hated himself more because of what he did. If he hadn't betrayed her just for a stupid popular party, maybe Farik's life wouldn't have been this miserable.

"This was suggested by Arianna Maxwell." Miley waved at Arianna and she waved back before high fiving Miranda and Suzanne. Orion glared at Arianna and she managed to catch just a whiff of his anger before being interrupted by Miley's voice.

"Next up, most likely to jump in front of a moving car…" Another dramatic pause, another icy stare.

"Freak Morgan." Another uproar from the crowd. Farik was trying her best to hold in her tears. She already cried a few nights ago because of Miley, she didn't want to cry again. Shutting her eyes tight, she started to count again, louder this time. It managed to drown out some of the noise but she still heard the next words that Miley spoke.

"Most likely to hang herself. Oops," she said and placed her palm over her lips. "I guess I gave that one away already." Miley giggled and turned to face Farik. Her head was still down so she didn't see the wicked look in her eyes.

"Miley, that's enough." The smile on her face faded as she looked at Orion. She raised one perfect brow at him and cocked her head to the side.

"Relax, Rio. There's no harm being done here. It's not like I'm actually killing her." When Orion didn't back down from the hard glare he was giving her, she whipped her head forward and waved him off, going on with her announcement.

"Most likely to drink poison, Freak Morgan. Given to you by Isabella Garcia."

The rest of the votes were called, all about Farik killing herself. Most of them were given by girls and that pained Farik more. Well, not that she liked any of them; she just felt like girls should have each other's backs. Seeing that her main tormentor was a female, she guessed she must have been mistaken.

There were ten suicide options written on that paper. Miley said all ten of them. After that, food was thrown at Farik as they all chanted, "Freak! Freak!" Farik looked up at Miley on the table, her eyes red from squeezing them too much-or holding back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Can I go now?" she asked in her robot voice. Miley smiled and eyed her before moving her gaze away from her. Farik took that as a 'yes' and left the cafeteria to the girls' bathroom were she was supposed to be in the first place.

She cleaned off the red stains that were on her cheek from the spaghetti that one kid had thrown at her.

"It's just nine more days. You can handle this," she muttered to herself. She went on cleaning the food debris.

"At least the stains aren't that hard to come off. You wouldn't have to throw this shirt away." That little thought made her to cheer up. The door to the bathroom opened and Farik jumped a little when she thought that it was Miley who had come back for more. Seeing that it wasn't her, she relaxed a bit and faced the mirror.

"Why do you let Miley treat you like that?" Farik was stunned by the question. She recognized the girl from one of her classes but she couldn't pinpoint which one. She knew her name though, Sandra Lee.

"I know you can fight back. You just choose not to. Why?" Farik shrugged and leaned against the counter.

"If I interfere, Karma wouldn't do what it's supposed to." Sandra raised a brow at her in confusion.

"You're waiting for Karma to fight your battles for you when you could just yank her by her extensions and do it yourself?" Farik did something with her lips that kinda looked like a smile.

"You might not believe it, but I believe in Karma. And the Karma that is waiting for Miley Sanderson, her twin sister and the rest of those people out there will be worse than what the 9/11 casualties felt." Farik picked up her bag she had dropped on the counter and patted Sandra's cheek. The bewildered expression on the other girl's face was comical.

"You'll see," Farik said and left. On her way out, she bumped into Orion. All the anger from earlier suddenly came engulfing her with full force. Not wanting to engage in any form of discussion with him, she started walking away.

"Farik, hold on. I just wanna talk." But she didn't listen. Instead she increased her pace, taking long strides along the hallway to the back of the school building where she sat during free periods.

"Farik!" He grabbed hold of her hand and spun her around. She lost her cool then and slapped him across his cheek.

"Don't you ever touch me again, Orion. I mean it." That was the first time Orion was hearing her talk like that. Her tone was icy and it sent chills down his spine.

"Farik, please." He sounded desperate-looked it even. Farik stopped walking and turned to face him, her blue eyes dark and looking like slits.

"Don't you mean Freak? Last time I checked, that was my new name given to me by yours truly," she said and pointed at him. Shame filled him immediately and he bowed his head.

"Look, Farik…" She exhaled sharply and started walking away from him. She wasn't in the mood to listen to whatever bullshit lies he had to tell her again. And whether he was going to lie or not, she didn't want to find out either. Farik had planned to leave high school with no friends or acquaintances whatsoever and that was exactly what she was going to do. The worst mistake she could make was trusting someone that went to this school especially if that someone happened to be in Miley's clique.