Chapter Twenty-Eight: Withdraw

                                    

                                          
I tried getting a hold of Brie but she wasn't picking up. I sent her a text but it was never read. What is going on? What is she sorry for? Not only did I have Alexa to stress about, now I have a surprise waiting for me come school. By the end of the day, I was restless. Alexa wouldn't be here to help me through Sasha. It was just me and they could focus all of their attention on me alone. The thought made my heart race but I remembered what Alexa said. Isolation, they are nothing individually. Carmella flashed through my brain. She was raised in a city, I was raised in nature. They are all city sluts, I am pure. I was strong, they were brittle. They can throw their punches when my arms are held back. They can have their way with me when it's all of them versus me. But when it's one on one, the fear turns around. I'm not gonna back down. Alexa will not leave to see me fall. I am winning this fight for her.
* * *
I don't know what is going on. As I walked my way through the hallways, the majority of people had given some attention towards my presence. They all tried to hide laughter from escaping their lips. What was going on? Is this in relation to what Brie apologized for? Now that I was aware of everyone's glances, I became very self-conscious. Was I looking okay? I didn't have my hair in a pony tail off to the side like my first day. God did I ever look stupid. Everything about me seemed fine. What was the laughter about? At this point, I was going to meet up with Alexa before first period but as I approached her locker, she wasn't there. Alexa wasn't here. I hung my head in sorrow as I reminded myself that she moved away.  Approaching her locker, I slowly dragged my hands down the metal resting my head on the locker. 
"What am I going to do without you?" I thought to myself.
Crumbling to my knees, I rested against her locker wishing she was here. 
"Get yourself together Bayley," I told myself. "Alexa wouldn't want you like this! Get up!"
I stared down the hallway, it was empty. Where was everybody? Two minutes later, I had handed Mr. Dobson a late slip. He didn't say a word to me. However, everyone was laughing at me. With a quick huff, I tried to hide the fact that I was upset over Alexa. Ever since the rape, I had kept myself at the opposite side of the room from Finn and Seth. But due to being late, I didn't have a choice but to sit in the empty desk beside them. Trying to keep my existence out of their heads, Seth was the most notable when it came to chuckling a storm. He was having quite the hard time containing himself. I rolled my eyes and did my best to ignore him. Whatever happened, the whole school was aware. 
"I knew you and Alexa were close but damn!" he chuckled.
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly raising an eyebrow at him.
"Oh," he replied raising his hands in defence, "you know what I mean," he nodded while pretending to jack off.
I turned my head away confused. What is going on? Seth carried on with his fun.
"Hey, hey Finn," he bothered slapping the back of his hand on his back. "Bayley seems to have it for more than you."
Finn didn't budge. He just shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay," he replied blankly while flipping the page of a book.
Lord Loss by Darren Shan. I never imagined Finn as a reader. Seth fell flat without Finn joining in and turned back to me. I shook my head in annoyance and paid attention to the notes Mr. Dobson was writing on the whiteboard.
* * * 
My eyes filled with horror as I learned what all the ruckus was about. After Science, lunch had began and I checked my phone to see a bunch of notifications. My Instagram had countless message requests and Alexa had spammed me freaking out. Someone posted a video on social media of Alexa and I kissing during that stupid party! 
"Bayley seems to have it for more than you."  
My eyes widened after realizing that everyone who has seen the video thinks that our kiss was genuine. Not a single person knows that we were forced to! Looking down the hallway at everyone in sight, I wondered how many of them saw the video. I walked through the halls with anxiety taking control of me. Everywhere I went, I looked at every face, every photo, every teacher, every model on an advertisement and wondered if they saw the video. What were people thinking of me? Were they even thinking about me? As far as I'm concerned, everyone thinks I'm a lesbian!  What about Alexa?! Has the people at her new school seen the video?! How is that going to effect her?!
A highly familiar group of girls circled the corner and met me face to face. Sasha. She had this smirk on her face. Of course! It was her who posted the video! That doesn't surprise me. My fists clenched and my face tightened in rage.
"Not so fast," Sasha spoke holding her hand out loosely. "You wouldn't want the situation any worse now would you?"
I shook my head in hesitation. So bad did I just want to dive right into Sasha and tear her apart limb by limb. But all five were in front of me. That was a suicide mission. 
"Go on. Hit me. See where it gets you."
"Together, they are strong. Separate them and it's your show."  
I let go of my fists and backed down.
"That's right," Sasha gritted grabbing my jaw and pressing me against the wall. "There is five of us and only one of you."
I tried looking away but Sasha made sure I stared directly into her eyes. Aggression filled my face as Sasha smirked.
"You better watch yourself Bayley. If you thought kissing Alexa was bad," her grip got tighter and tighter, "just wait and see what everyone thinks of you when they see you covered in the juiced of four different men."
The aggression turned into fear as my knees began to tremble. With the mention of the four, I could feel exactly what Sasha described. The taste tainting my mouth. I felt sick and I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. A tear escaped the corner of my eye and I tried to fight my emotions.
"You can't cry in front of her, Bayley!" I scolded at myself in my head.
"Aw, Bayley crying for us again?"
As I closed my eyes, my bottom lip trembled. 
"Pathetic," she spat letting go of me.
I fell to my hands and knees emotionally defeated. The girls had laughed at my humiliation leaving me a wreck. Suddenly, a pair of hands gently grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. Working through my blurry vision of tears, it was Brie.
"What are you doing?" Nikki blurted.
Brie paid no attention to her sister as she turned me around and guided me to the school doors.
"What are you doing?" I sobbed.
"I can't stand by no longer," she explained. "I won't."