Time's Up

You stare at the front of your new school, making sure that the stare didn’t turn into a glare. It was weird to return to school as this new person; a kind person. You pull out your phone and check your reflection. The blonde wig didn’t fit you at all and the clean uniform felt off. The white button up shirt was buttoned up all the way and the plaid bow fit right in the center of the collar. The plaid skirt was far too loose and long for your preference and the white stockings ended at an awkward position. Not to mention the simple black sneakers that have been bothering you since you left the house. 

You knew it was better for you to look this way and walked inside. You find the office and the secretary greets you happily. 

“My, you must be the new student!” She smiled. Her eyes were brown like yours but hers were light and soft while yours were a shade too close to black.

“Oh, yes. I’m Sophie Kimberly.” You respond in a voice too soft to be considered yours. The name felt strange on your tongue too, although you supposed that was the point. 

“Mmmm, found you! Here’s your ID and make sure to make new friends!” She says as she hands you your ID card. 

You smile a small smile, not the usual smirk that you wore, and tell her, “Of course.” 

You walk out and continue down the hallway. You open your phone to view the map so you could find your locker. You walk down the hallway keeping track of every single student that passed by you. Some habits can’t be fixed. 

You find your locker and open it quickly. You scold yourself, reminding yourself that people weren’t going to be trying to copy your locker code anymore. You neatly insert your books and you take a second to remember that this was still your locker. A high pitched voice interrupts her thoughts.

“Hi!” A friendly girl appears and just like you, she wears her uniform perfectly. Her red hair is even tied up using a matching plaid ribbon and her bangs were perfectly cut with not a single strand out of place. “I’m Olivia Sefurm, president of the student council!”

You stop yourself from grimacing and tell yourself to be nice, one of the rare skills that you never bothered to learn. “Hi, I’m Sophie Kimberly!”

“Hi Sophie!” Another voice interrupts as a girl with caramel hair appears. She has freckles dotting her face and her hair is pulled into two identical dutch braids. “I’m the treasurer of the student council. My name’s Victoria but you can call me Vicky!”

“Nice to meet you!” You say, trying to sound sincere. “Do you mind showing me to my classes?” You can’t believe that you actually asked two student council members to help you nicely. Maybe you were better at being nice, or at least pretending to be nice, that you thought. 

“We’d love to.” Olivia chirps. She hooked her arm through yours and pulled you along with Vicky right by your side. “You’re going to love this school so much.”

They lead you to your homeroom class and you sit right next to both of their seats. Two guys appear and walk up to you three. 

“Hey guys. Who’s she?” The taller one says. His hair is a grayish blonde that’s tousled in the perfect way. His uniform, you notice, is also immaculate. 

“This is Sophie. She’s nice! Maybe she could join our friend group!” Vicky states boldly. You wonder how someone could trust someone so easily. 

“I’m fine with it.” Another voice enters the conversation. You look up to see a guy with  wavy black hair and his uniform is identical to his friend. “I’m Evan, vice president.”

“I’m Jackson, secretary.” 

“Do I have to be on the student council too to join?” You ask, trying a safe joke. 

They all laugh and Olivia responds, “Nope, that’s too much to ask for. We’ve been trying to find a new friend and when Vicky and I saw you, we hoped it would be a perfect fit. So far it seems like you’re a perfect fit!” 

Everyone smiles and continues the conversation about grades and festivals that were going to take place soon. You joined in but it was too easy to lose focus. The only thing that snapped you back into reality was when Jackson mentioned something about neighboring schools. 

“Ugh, rumor has it that those people from last week are coming to visit.” Jackson grumbles. 

“Who?” You ask. 

“We don’t know exactly. There’s just these three people that keep coming to our school and neighboring ones as if they’re looking for something. They look like students too.” Vicky explains. 

“Have they been hurting anyone?”

“Of course not. If they were, we would have reported it already.” 

You exhale a breath of relief. You know your friends would have hit someone by now especially since you’ve been gone for so long. You talk more and your act continues on. The teachers love you and all of the students seem to accept you. No one shrinks as you walk and everyone gets along with everyone. By the time school finishes you realize that maybe you can keep up this charade for longer. 

You arrive home and you see your brother waiting for you at the front. 

“How was it?”

“Fine.”

“Did you get into a fight?”

“No.” 

“Who did you befriend?”

“Student council kids.” You answer. He raises his eyebrows, impressed. “I did what you wanted.”

“I doubt you know what I want.”

“You wanted me to be mature right?”

He leaves before he says anything. 

Next Day

You arrive at school to see a crowd of people at the entrance. You slink in and find Olivia, Vicky, Jackson, and Evan in the middle of the crowd. “What’s going on?”

“The students are preparing to stop those three people from entering our school. They don’t have the right to just barge on to our campus. Look they’re here!” Evan points. 

You turn around to see three students approaching the school. Their faces are ones you’ve seen too many times. 

“Huh, all I see are preppy kids Lin. Do we need to get on campus?” Kai asks. His white hair still stands out against his light brown skin. 

“I don’t wanna but it’s clear that they think they can just push us off their territory. I think we should just get on campus for fun.” Lin responds. Her blonde roots have clearly not been redyed since the last time you saw her. Half of her hair was only black now. 

“Sounds like a blast.” Lex grins. His hair was the plainest for sure out of all three, but you knew he was just as dangerous with brown hair. All three of them had a swagger that made you realize that whatever they were about to do was dangerous. You scan and see that none of these students would be able to handle just one of them. How were they going to handle all three? You take one more look at Olivia and Vicky’s terrified faces and make your decision. You’re still not sure if you’re going to regret it. 

“Stop.” You say softly as you step up. You knew they wouldn’t recognize you if you looked this way. 

“Would you look at that Lin. We have a victim-I mean volunteer.” Lex says, happily. Lin raises one of her eyebrows and looks down on you as if you were another one of them. 

“Pft, what’s another brat going to do?” Lin grins, confidently. 

You make sure your eyes don’t look at theirs so they can’t figure out who you were. You respond softly, “I wouldn’t recommend saying that.” 

“What?” Kai asks. 

You take off your blonde wig revealing your actual hair rolled up in an immaculate bun. You untie it and your black hair dyed silver at the bottom half rolls down. You remove the bow from your collar and unbutton your shirt at the top for some room. You hike your skirt up and roll down your stockings to reveal a new person. Or you supposed the old person. 

“I told you you shouldn’t say that.” As my eyes finally meet Lin’s. Judging by Lin’s cautious step back, the cold glare is back. Kai runs up to you and hugs you tightly. You push him back coldly. 

Kai seems hurt but he quickly gains his composure. “Sorry. It just took us so long to find you.”

“We thought you disappeared or something. Lin told us what happened by the way.” Lex adds. 

Your gaze snaps back to Lin. “You told them?”

“I had to. They were wondering why you didn’t come back. It was Rebecca’s fault for ratting you out. I told you to not let her in our friend group. She ended up telling your brother what you were doing at school.” Lin responds. “Don’t worry, we took care of her by the way. The school is ready for you to come back.”

The bitterness in her voice was what made you rethink everything. Lin introduced Rebecca into their friend group but she was the first to let her go. She wanted you to drop her but she should have known that you can’t because she already knows too much. You thought Lin was being stupid but what if she wasn’t? The day before her brother figured out, Rebecca and Lin had a talk. You thought Lin was trying to get Rebecca to leave but that doesn’t make sense. Lin would have told everyone that she wants Rebecca to leave if she desperately wanted her to. That’s when it snapped. Or Lin was telling Rebecca to tell your brother because Lin knew Rebecca was soft, fragile. With enough pushing, Rebecca would do anything you asked. That’s what allowed her into the friend group in the first place but maybe that’s what made her leave too. 

“You seriously forced Rebecca to tell him?” 

“What do you mean? You know I’m more loyal to this group than anyone else.”

“You made Rebecca tell, forcing me and her out of the friend group so you could snatch our spot. It all adds up now. Why you let Rebecca in, then dropped her out, and why you’re so bitter.”

Anger fumes out of Lin. “I’m not bitter.”

“You know my best ability is to listen to someone’s voice to figure out if the person is lying. To do that, you need to listen to the tone of the voice. It’s easy to see that you’re bitter.”

“Well it doesn’t matter anyway. You’re brother’s going to send you to another school for revealing your identity and you’ll be far away from here.” Lin says coldly, although that was your forte. 

“I don’t think so.” My brother’s calm voice interjects. We both look at him in shock. And that's when more pieces fell into place. 

“You knew.” You say. You’re shocked beyond possible belief. 

“I didn’t mean for you to be mature in the way you thought I said it. You know I’ve always loved you getting in trouble. Shows that you’re different from the mold mom and dad put you in. I guess it’s time to go back to school.” He points to the empty yard where most of the students used to be. You wonder how Olivia is going to explain the situation to them.

You stare at her straight in the eyes making sure to not be distracted. “You heard him; I’m back Lin. And this time, I’m here to stay.”

“No you can’t be. No after all that I’ve worked for.” Lin says, trembling. 

“Sorry Lin.” I say, not feeling an ounce of regret. Kai and Lex join my side as we face Lin. “Your time is up.