Chapter 2 Take That Bitch
Nova's
The gravel bit deep into my palms, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the blinding, white-hot fury that erupted in my chest.
"Oh my god, Nova! Are you okay?" Maya was on her knees beside me, her hands hovering over my shoulders in panic.
"I'm fine," I whispered, my voice sounding dangerously calm. I looked down at the blood dripping from my scraped skin onto the dirt. Then, I looked up.
Chloe was standing there, her hands on her hips, looking down at me like I was a bug she had just squashed under her expensive sneakers. Britney and Jessica were practically vibrating with malicious glee behind her.
"Look at her," Chloe laughed, turning to a couple of passing freshmen who had stopped to watch. "She looks like a stranded whale. Someone get a bucket of water before she dries up!"
"That’s it," I muttered.
"Nova, don't—" Maya started, but it was too late.
The sassy, sarcastic shields I usually wore were completely gone. I didn't want to use my words anymore. I wanted to use my hands.
With a burst of adrenaline, I pushed myself off the ground. I didn’t just stand up—I lunged. Before Chloe could even register that the 'fat girl' could move fast, I slammed my weight right into her.
"What the—!" Chloe shrieked as we both went flying backward onto the dirt path.
We hit the ground in a tangle of limbs, but I made sure I landed right on top of her. I grabbed a fistful of her perfect, bouncy blonde ponytail and yanked it hard.
"Ow! Let go of me, you psycho!" Chloe screamed, her manicured nails clawing wildly at my arms.
"You want to talk about wildlife, Chloe?" I yelled, dodging a slap and pinning her shoulders down with my knees. "Let's get wild! How does the dirt taste? Does it match your personality?"
"Get her off me! Britney! Jessica! Do something!" Chloe wailed, her face turning bright red as her expensive makeup got smeared with mud.
Britney lunged forward to grab my hair, but Maya tackled her out of nowhere. "Don't you dare touch her!" Maya yelled, and suddenly it was a full-scale war on the jogging trail.
I turned my attention back to Chloe, who managed to get one hand free and scratch my cheek. The sting only made me angrier. I grabbed her designer jacket and shook her.
"You think because your daddy bought half the buildings on this campus, you can treat people like garbage? Push me again. I dare you!"
"Break it up! BREAK IT UP RIGHT NOW!"
A booming voice shattered the chaos. Before I could punch Chloe's smirking face, two heavy hands grabbed my waist and lifted me clean off her.
I thrashed around, but a campus security guard held me tight. Another guard pulled Maya away from Britney.
Chloe scrambled to her feet, sobbing hysterically, covered in dirt, twigs sticking out of her ruined hair. "She attacked me! She's a monster! Look at what she did to my hair! I want her expelled!"
"All of you," the head guard growled, looking between my bleeding hands and Chloe's disheveled state. "Office of the Administrator. Right now."
Ten minutes later, we were standing inside the plush, mahogany-lined office of Dean Sterling, the head campus administrator. The air conditioning was blasting, but I was still sweating and boiling with rage.
Dean Sterling sat behind his massive desk, rubbing his temples. He looked at Chloe, who was sitting in a velvet chair, sniffing into a tissue while Britney patted her back. Then he looked at me and Maya, who were forced to stand.
"Well?" Dean Sterling barked. "Who wants to explain why four elite academy students were rolling around in the dirt like feral animals at six-thirty in the morning?"
"Dean Sterling, it was awful," Chloe whimpered, her voice suddenly transforming into that of a fragile, innocent victim. "I was just out for a morning jog, trying to stay healthy, when Nova blocked the path. When I politely asked her to move, she completely snapped. She called me horrible names and then threw her entire... massive weight onto me! I thought she was going to crush my ribs!"
I let out a loud, mocking snort. "Politely asked me to move? Is that what we're calling a violent shove from behind now? Because last time I checked, gravity doesn't come with a designer logo, Chloe."
"Silence, Miss Vernice!" Dean Sterling snapped, pointing a finger at me.
"It's Nova," I corrected, my sarcasm slipping right back on like a comfortable pair of shoes. "And if you're going to yell at me, at least use the correct name. Prejudiced yelling loses its flair when you get the details wrong."
Dean Sterling’s face flushed a deep, angry purple. "Watch your tone, young lady. Chloe Vance is a top-tier student whose family has contributed significantly to the new sports complex."
"Ah, there it is," I smiled, though my heart was breaking with frustration inside. "The golden passport. So, because her daddy paid for the rugby field, she gets a free pass to assault people on the trail?"
"She shoved Nova first!" Maya chimed in defensively. "Nova has scraped hands and a cut on her cheek to prove it! We were just defending ourselves."
Dean Sterling didn't even look at Maya. He kept his eyes locked on me, his gaze dripping with judgment as he took in my messy hair, my stained t-shirt, and my size.
"I have seen the security footage from the trail cameras," Dean Sterling lied smoothly, clearing his throat. "It is clear to me that Miss Vance simply tripped, and you, Nova, took it as an invitation to initiate a brutal physical assault. We have a zero-tolerance policy for violence at this academy."
I stared at him, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "Tripped? She had her hands planted squarely on my shoulder blades! Are the cameras blind, or just the man looking at them?"
"That is enough!" Dean Sterling slammed his hand on the desk. "Chloe, Britney, you are dismissed. Go to the clinic and get cleaned up."
Chloe stood up, wiping her fake tears away. As she walked past me, she let out a tiny, triumphant smirk that made my fists clench all over again.
Once the door clicked shut, Dean Sterling leaned back in his leather chair, looking at me like I was a piece of trash left out in the sun.
"You have a very large mouth for someone who barely maintains her scholarship, Nova," he said coldly.
"And you have a very large bank account where your morals should be, Dean," I shot back, crossing my arms. "But please, let’s get to the part where you punish the victim to protect the donor."
He narrowed his eyes. "Since you have so much energy to fight and argue, clearly you haven't been working hard enough on your physical fitness. Maybe a little extra cardio will bring you to your senses. And help you see how your... unique physical choices affect your behavior."
The insult hung in the air, heavy and cruel. He was calling me fat and aggressive without using the exact words.
"You are to go straight to the main sports field," Dean Sterling ordered, flashing a sadistic smile. "You will jog ten laps around the track. Right now. If I hear from the coach that you skipped a single lap, you will be suspended."
"Ten laps?" Maya gasped. "Dean Sterling, she's bleeding! Her hands are cut up!"
"Then she can run with her hands in her pockets," the Dean replied coldly. "Dismissed."
I didn't say another word. I turned on my heel and marched out of the office, the leather doors swinging shut behind me.
"Nova, wait!" Maya called out, jogging to catch up with me in the hallway. "You can't actually do it. It's profiling! It's bullying! We should report him to the board!"
"The board is made up of Chloe’s dad’s golf buddies, Maya," I said, my voice tight as I walked toward the exit doors. The white-hot anger was starting to cool, leaving behind a heavy, painful ache in my chest.
"So what are you going to do?"
I pushed the heavy glass doors open, the bright morning sun blinding me for a second. I looked out toward the massive, pristine green rugby field in the distance.
"I'm going to run the laps," I said, wiping a rogue tear from my eye before Maya could see it. "I'm going to run every single one of them. Because if I don't, they win. But I promise you one thing, Maya."
"What?"
I looked down at my bleeding palms, my jaw setting into a hard line. "The next time Chloe Vance tries to pull something like this, I won't just pull her hair. I'll take her whole damn head."
