Chapter 5: Let's do each other's revenge.
"If you all could just take your seats," a teacher said, tapping the mic.
"Do we just sit anywhere, or are they assigned chairs?" Stephen said, looking around and seeing everyone already seated. The hall was huge, everyone smiling as they walked in.
"Cell phones are not allowed," the teacher said, looking at some students still pressing their phones as they walked.
Stephen sighed. "Where should I sit?"
"Stephen?" Priea said, looking at the girl standing in front of her.
Stephen looked up, a flash of shock crossing her face, then looked down. "It's actually Stephen now," she said, trying to avoid Priea's gaze.
Priea smiled, gently pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Woah, I almost didn't recognize you."
Stephen offered a tight smile. "Yeah. Wow, I didn't know you went here now."
Priea smiled awkwardly. "I do. I um..."
Hannah, sitting across the hall, watched them curiously.
Stephen smiled at Priea. "I'll go find my seat, okay?"
Priea smiled, her green eyes briefly scanning Stephen up and down. "Okay."
Then Priea excused herself and walked away.
"Hello, hello, if everyone could please take their seats," the teacher said.
"Who was that?" a boy with blue hair walked sideways with Priea.
"A girl I used to camp with," Priea said.
"You guys, I can't believe she actually came back," Clowe said, looking at Sofia and Sage, who was sitting in front of her.
Sofia scoffed. "I know. She actually looks cute, though."
Clowe glared at her. "Shut up, Sofia."
Sofia shrugged. "She does. Sorry, Clowe."
"I think it's pretty sick. I had no idea that she was that twisted." The girls turned to a boy at the back.
Clowe nodded. "Nick is right."
Sage just kept quiet, then turned to see Hannah sitting in the other part of the hall.
"We have an announcement from your Senior class President, NK Broussard," the teacher said, making way for NK.
The students clapped enthusiastically. NK stood on the mini stage, smiling broadly. "Sara's High!" The students cheered louder. "Thank you, thank you." Hannah just looked at him, her expression unreadable.
"Wow, it feels so good to be back," NK said, looking around.
"We love you, NK!" a girl screamed.
NK chuckled. "Oh, come on. Stop, stop. Thank you, though. I appreciate you."
"Um..." he continued, "now this year, uh... uh, this is gonna be such a great year."
Sage smiled at him. He glanced at her, then turned back to the crowd. "But before we start, I was hoping we could get personal for a minute."
"Get personal, man!" someone shouted.
"Last year, my intimate exchange made its way into the world. It was a violation of my privacy," he said, glancing at the crowd, his blue eyes dropping for a second. "To be honest, I'm still recovering." Hannah just glared at him, her jaw tight. "And it really made me get in touch with myself, and I realized that that... actually..."
"Hannah Lipitin, could you stand please? Please, could you stand please?" NK said, his tone shifting. Hannah glared at him. "Please stand." Everyone turned to her. Sage looked astonished, while Sofia and Clowe giggled.
"Where are you?" NK said.
Hannah stood up, her aura calm despite the tension.
The crowd murmured.
NK looked at her. "Hannah, I just want to say how sorry I am for what happened to you last year."
Then he turned to the crowd. "And to any of you who watched or shared that video, I sincerely hope you take the time to examine why you did that."
Then he turned back to Hannah. "So, Hannah, it's in your honor that I'm founding a new club."
Two boys came from behind, holding up a banner. He then continued, "The Six Hetero Men Championing Female Identifying Students League."
"Wow," the crowd cheered.
He smiled. "Now it's for all the men in Sara's High who want to do better."
"Woah," the male students cheered. He raised his hands. "Be Allies!" Hannah just stood there, speechless, her anger simmering beneath a calm surface.
Then the crowd cheered and applauded. "I want to be an ally!" someone shouted.
Stephen just glanced at the crowd with shock, looking at Hannah, who left the hall with barely contained anger.
Stephen followed her immediately.
"F**k!" Hannah said, hitting the wall with a frustrated cry.
Stephen gently entered the quiet, mostly empty room. "Hannah?" she called softly.
Hannah whispered, sitting heavily on a chair, the room painted a stark blue and yellow.
Stephen walked further into the room, not lingering at the doorway. "Just checking on you," Stephen said, walking closer. "Are you alright?"
"He is like way worse than you described," Stephen added, a look of disbelief on her face.
"I don't know how I'm going to spend an entire year in this school," Hannah stated, her voice laced with despair.
"I feel you," Stephen said. "I talked to Priea for like a minute, and it felt like dipping my toe into Dante's eighth circle of hell. It was awful."
"This sucks shit," Hannah said loudly, her voice raw with anger.
"Yeah," Stephen said, watching Hannah as she moved to sit on a wooden chair built into the wall.
"I think we could, like, hire people to take them down," Stephen said in a near whisper.
Hannah looked at her, a flicker of something unexpected in her eyes. "What? Like a fucked-up TaskRabbit?"
"Yeah," Stephen replied, then continued, "Someone completely unconnected to us. A high school hitman or woman or NB."
Hannah looked at her with shock, then a slow smile spread across her face. She stood up. "You're right."
Stephen looked at her, surprised.
"You're absolutely right. They deserve to pay for what they did to us." She looked intently at Stephen. "But we can't go after them ourselves."
"We should team up and do each other's revenge."