"Hey Alexis," Kendra greeted as she saw her friend approach the bus stop Monday morning. "Are you ready for the student council meeting today?"
Alexis looked at Kendra and rolled her eyes in response. Making it obvious to everyone at the bus stop how she felt, Alexis walked a wide circle away from where Kendra stood with Lamar and Malcolm as they waited for the bus.
"Dang, you just got dissed by Alexis!" Lamar yelled.
Kendra felt her body growing warm with embarrassment at how Alexis snubbed her in front of their entire bus stop. Everyone else might have overlooked what Alexis did if Lamar had not made such a big deal about it, but since Lamar was around this incident was not going to be ignored.
"What did you do to her?" Lamar asked Kendra. "Y’all don’t have on the same outfit or nothing like that. Did you tell her that her breath stinks? Come on, girl. Tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened," Kendra replied with some heat in her voice. Truthfully, her anger was meant for Alexis and Kendra knew it but Lamar didn’t make it any better.
"Something happened. You should send her an e-card to make it all better," Lamar suggested.
"Shut up, Lamar," Kendra seethed as the bus pulled up to the corner where the kids stood waiting.
Destiny entered the front hallway Tuesday morning feeling frustrated. She hated riding the school bus! Her parents refused to allow Margaret to drive her to school every morning. They had also vetoed limousine rides to school. Riding the bus was so common! Every morning after getting off of the bus, Destiny went to the bathroom and washed her face free from the bus fumes and air. She was adamant in her belief that the air on the bus was filled with filthy germs that were bad for her skin.
Destiny headed to the bathroom on the first floor. She kept her beauty supplies in her book bag so she could cleanse herself as soon as she arrived at school each morning. She also kept a comb and brush with her to make sure that she was absolutely perfect in her appearance.
Destiny stood at the sink rubbing her face with her facial cleanser. She heard someone else approach but continued to rub her face.
"Look at you, Miss Priss," a voice taunted from behind.
Destiny turned toward the voice. Seeing Veronica, Destiny smiled a greeting.
"Why are you smiling at me?" Veronica asked.
"Hi, Veronica," Destiny replied in an attempt to defuse Veronica’s hostile attitude.
"Miss Priss, I would advise you to watch your back," Veronica warned with a menacing smile. Destiny stared back at Veronica in utter fear. Destiny could hear the soap bubbles pop on her face. There had been two other people in the bathroom when she arrived. Where were they now? "Do you understand?"
Destiny nodded.
Satisfied, Veronica turned and left the bathroom.
Destiny turned back toward the sink. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. All she saw was soap on her face and fear in her eyes. Destiny bent to rinse the soap off of her face. All of a sudden, Destiny felt a hand grab the back of her head and hold it down under the water. Destiny felt her hair getting wet. She tried to resist the hand holding her head under the water, but whoever it was had a strong hold on her.
After what seemed like minutes, the hand released her. Destiny pulled her head out from the sink and looked in the mirror. Her hair and her shirt were soaked. She couldn’t tell the difference between her tears and water from the sink.
Destiny went inside a bathroom stall and put the toilet seat down. She took a seat and began to cry. She cried until she heard the 7:20 bell ring. She exited the bathroom stall and grabbed some paper towels. She rubbed her hair with the paper towels at a rapid pace. She had about ten minutes to fix her hair and get to first period.