CHAPTER TWO

The recess bell went off and all the students started filing out into the cafeteria. Farik waited for all of them to be out of the hallway before she gingerly walked to the bathroom where she was planning on having her lunch. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Orion waiting outside the door. His green eyes grew dark when he saw her before softening. Farik's fists were clenched and her whole body went rigid as soon as she saw him.

For a while now, she had felt nothing for anyone. No emotions lived within her. That just meant she didn't hate Miley and her group and she most definitely didn't love them. She didn't even have any feelings towards her parents. Her heart was black and rock solid and she liked it that way.

Staring up at Orion now, she realized there was one person she exempted from her no feelings life. Everything that she was meant to be feeling-love, anger, hate, sadness, whatever-was molded into one gigantic ball and was kept beside Orion in her heart. He was the only one she actually felt something for and that something wasn't in the least bit thrilling.

Her hatred for him grew with each passing day. She ignored the fact that he never once bullied her with the rest of his so called friends and just only stood behind and watched the drama unfold with the rest of the school. She didn't hate Miley for being such a terrible human being; neither did she hate the rest of the school for picking on her just because Miley said it was alright. She did hate Orion however because he was the reason why all these extreme hate started in the first place.

Growing up, Farik had only one friend-Orion Sullivan. The both of them were inseparable as kids. Orion loved everything she did-from her weird fondness of dinosaurs to all the weird documentaries she watched. Farik never minded the fact that they made fun of her because of her name or her hobbies as long as Orion didn't hate her. But everything changed when they entered middle school.

Orion was one of those boys who looked like they ate fertilizers day and night. He was taller and bigger than most of the boys in his class and because of that, he became popular. He didn't let the attention get to him at first because he still remembered when they used to pick on him and Farik in preschool, but after Miley walked up to him in the middle of lunch period and asked him to hang at their table, he couldn't say no. Miley was one of those pretty girls that only talked to boys she thought was cool enough to hang with her and since she spoke to him, he figured he was good enough. He started hanging with her and her friends and that meant he had to set Farik aside. At first he told her it was just temporary, that he was going to try and see if she could join them, but after Miley asked him to be her boyfriend, that plan flew out the window. He started seeing himself as someone that was way too cool to be hanging with a weirdo like Farik Morgan. She hadn't cared at first; she understood where he was coming from. But all that understanding died down when he betrayed her just so he could get invited to one of those cool senior parties.

Farik had this journal where she wrote down everything that happened in her life-and I mean everything. The only person that knew about that was Orion and he knew where she kept it. He had used the guise of him wanting to apologize to her and hang out again to come into her room and steal it from her desk drawer where she locked it with a key that she kept inside the right foot of her favorite shoe. When she was downstairs getting them snacks, Orion had snuck into her closet and carried the key from her shoe. Then he opened the drawer and took out her journal.

The next morning, the walls of the school were filled with embarrassing secrets of Farik-from when she had her first period to when she threw up all over a boy she had a crush on in fifth grade after she had eaten a bowl of ice cream. That was when she found out she was lactose intolerant.

Orion hadn't even been remorseful at all about all he did. He had smiled at her and waved when she saw it and hurried over to meet him about how it got out. That was the day she experienced heartbreak and rage for the first time. After that it was just plain anger she felt and it was towards him.

"This is the girls' bathroom," she said in a low monotonous voice. That was how she resorted to speaking, like a freaking robot.

"I emm…" he scratched the back of his neck nervously and shuffled about on his feet. Orion had been trying to make conversation with her for a while now but Farik hadn't been giving him the time of the day. She didn't see why she should.

"Can you please move?" she asked when he didn't look like he was going to say or do anything else. He stared at her, his face sad and eyes watery, but Farik wasn't moved. She didn't feel pity for anyone or anything anymore.

The door to the bathroom opened and Miley, Miranda and Suzanne stepped out. They looked like people out of a catalogue with their milky skin and silk shinny hair.

Miley eyed Farik and she bent her head, waiting for the backlash to come. But Miley didn't say anything. She just scoffed and walked away with the rest of her gang behind her, including Orion.

The bathroom air was clouded with the smell of their perfume and Farik found herself flushing down her sandwich because she had lost her appetite.

The teachers left as soon as the closing bell went off but the students waited behind to see Farik get drenched in expired mayonnaise that Miley had somehow managed to gather from the cafeteria. Since she came late to school this morning, she wasn't harassed.

As soon as she stepped on the quad, expired mayonnaise started flying towards her from all directions. It was like the students had held a meeting about this and were now executing their plans. Farik just stood there, taking in all the mayo. Some went in her nose, some got in her mouth but she didn't care. Her eyes were wide opened and even when the mayonnaise spluttered into it, she ignored the burning feeling and left her eyes opened so she could see the faces of her tormentors. Her blue eyes were fixed on a particular person.

Orion was leaning against the wall, watching the whole thing come undone. His facial expression was neutral and he just stared back at Farik when she glared at him.

"Freak!"

"Nobody!"

"Why don't you just give up already!?"

Farik listened to all their insults and at the same time didn't hear them. She was used to them and hearing them again did nothing to break her already hardened soul.

After the whole splutter party, Miley walked up to her, her high heels echoing in the now quiet quad, and leaned in so only Farik would hear her.

"If I were you, I'd kill myself." She smiled like she just said the cleverest thing ever and walked slowly away from Farik with the rest of the school backing out as well. Farik gulped thickly as she struggled to hold back her tears. That was the first time Miley's words were affecting her that bad. Usually she ignored it and moved on like nothing happened but today it was different. Today she felt like she should do what Miley suggested. When she was sure that the quad was empty, she picked up her bag and went to the girl's locker room to shower and change. She threw away the mayonnaise clothes and bag as soon as she got home. That night, Farik did something she vowed she would never do again because of high school.

She cried.