76 - The chapter with the Attack

ROSE CAMPBELL

There were still twenty minutes to go, and we were both going to wait in the hall anyway, so I didn't mind, saying goodbye to my friend before going up to the class room. That's when I remembered my promise to talk to my mom, sending her a message to check if she could get a call back at that time, since she was in the middle of her workday.

Sorry, I forgot to call you, can you answer now?

It took a few seconds for her to answer.

That's what every mother wants to hear, that the daughter she was in labor for eighteen hours to deliver forgot about her.

A small smile appeared on my lips as I typed the answer.

First of all, that dramatic tone suits my father more than it does you. Secondly, Skyller spent the night in Liam's room and I needed all the details

I was walking absent mindedly through the halls, waiting for a new message from my mother when a song began to sound somewhere behind me.

A song that I knew all too well.

" I'm not perfect, I'm not Snitch....”

I turned toward the sound, surprised to see the group of girls who used to pick on Cam standing behind me, three of them with glasses in their hands and the fourth holding her cell phone, pointing in my direction.

" But I Can Tell you she is a BITCH.”

I realized a little too late what they intended, closed my mouth and eyes and tried to bring my hand to my face to protect myself, letting the cell phone and the jacket that was hanging from my arm fall in the process. But that didn't stop the icy liquid from hitting me full on from three different angles.

I could hear the laughter around me with my eyes still closed as the girls continued their teasing.

" I bet she doesn't want to be a controlling slut anymore.” One of them sneered

" She's not a controlling slut, she's an insane bitch," the other corrected, ending any doubt I might have had about whose idea that was.

I opened my eyes slowly, seeing several people gathered in the hallway, some amused by the situation, some disgusted, but no one seemed willing to get involved. I lowered my gaze to my clothes ruined by the violet liquid and my own hands that were stained.

"Hey Rose, say hello to the camera” The one holding the cell phone caught my attention.

That's when two girls approached, one reached down and grabbed my jacket and cell phone off the floor, and the other pulled me in the opposite direction, dragging me away from those laughing and shouting things like "bitch" or humming the rhythm of the music.

My mind seemed anesthetized by what had just happened. Once again this hell! What the hell, why did I have to come to the same college as that bitch?

A few meters ahead there was a women's restroom and that's where the two of them took me, turning to me only when we were already safely there.

" Hey, are you okay? " One of them, a black girl with thick curly hair, stared at me.

" I can't believe what they did, in the twenty first century and women still call each other bitches and put on this kind of show to humiliate them," the second girl with flaming red hair snapped back.

But I couldn't answer, my gaze was locked on the mirror, and my heart raced when I saw what I had already imagined. I went to the sink, starting to wash my hands and face, trying in vain to get rid of the violet hue that dominated all my exposed skin.

This can't be happening!

" Look, it won't come off like that. It's gentian violet," the black girl approached.

I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned on the sink as I realized that I was going to have to walk across campus like that.

" THOSE BIG SLUTS" I shouted, slamming angrily against the stone of the sink.

" I know it sucks, but you need to calm down," the second girl tried to console me.

" CALM DOWN? THEY TURNED ME INTO A FUCKING SMURF! " I pointed to the mirror, thinking how humiliating it would be to leave the bathroom at that moment, and from the noise outside, they were waiting for me to come out.

" Actually, smurfs are blue and....”

I closed my eyes as the red haired girl was elbowed by her friend, thinking of all the people waiting outside, and felt panic threaten to overwhelm me.

Calm down, Rose. CALM DOWN. You can handle it.

" Look, you can just stay here and wait," she suggested.

Great, hiding like a cockroach after something like that? That will never happen. I opened my eyes, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I'm going to come out of this, and I'm going to come out of this with my head held high.

I took one last deep breath, straightened myself, brought my hand up to my bun, loosened my hair, and began to fix my hair as best I could.

" What are you…”

" I'm not hiding here, I'm going to face this," I replied with a haughty look.

" Are you going to attend class like this? " They stared at me through the mirror.

" No! I'm going back to the dorm! " I returned the soaked sweater and tossed it in the trash when I saw my jacket in one of their hands, ignoring the violet stains all over my body.

" Are you going to walk across campus like that?

My eyes threatened to water, but I took the jacket, putting it on before ruffling my hair once more.

" Of course. I'm awesome and look good even if I'm painted purple, so I'll leave now and go back to the dorm, even if I do look like one of the hot aliens from Guardians of the Galaxy.” I tried to convince myself of this, putting my cell phone in my pocket before leaving the restroom.

The hallway was still very busy, and although I hoped to leave in a discreet manner, all eyes came in my direction, some laughed openly, others pretended to laugh, others looked at me with pity, and there were also some who took the opportunity to film my misfortune.

Don't put your head down, Rose!

" Hey, purple bitch, kiss me," a male voice called out as I walked down the hall.

I glanced in the direction raising both eyebrows before giving him the middle finger, then resuming my path.

It's okay, Rose. It's all right. They won't see you duck your head!

I tried to ignore the shivering from the cold that came over me in my wet clothes, every look, every laugh, and every joke I heard until I reached the dorm, which was empty at that time. Taking advantage of the deserted hallways, I finally allowed myself to hurry my steps, almost running to my room, locking myself in.

I felt devastated, humiliated, but I would never give them the chance to see me down. As much as at that moment I wanted to crawl into a hole.

I reached for my cell phone in my pocket, remembering that I was talking to my mother, only to see the case all smudged and the screen cracked. Everything improved when I tried to turn it on, and all that appeared on the screen were colored stripes.

It's official, today is not my day.

I hugged my knee still sitting on the bedroom floor, hiding my face there, allowing myself to feel sorry for myself for a few minutes before getting up.

My first action was to take a shower in an attempt to get rid of my new skin color, but obviously that didn't work, causing me to lock myself in my room once again.

Some time later a knock sounded on my door, but I didn't get up to answer it, so the knock became insistent.

" Rose, it's Liam, open the door! Rose…”

" She moved the extra key " Theo complained.

Somewhere in my mind this didn't make sense, because I hadn't changed the place of that key, but I should have, since they invaded my room whenever they felt like it.

But at that moment I didn't care, I remained sitting on the floor beside the bed trying to forget everything that had happened.

" Okay, I'll take your silence as a desire to be alone, but if we don't have any news in the next hour, I'll come back here and break this door down.” Liam warned and soon I heard the footsteps of the two of them walking away.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stand up, opening my notebook to send a message to them asking them to leave me alone.

That's when an email notification from the university's social service caught my attention. I opened it only to see that I had a meeting scheduled for the next day and that they assured me that they were doing everything possible to find whoever had done this. Below it was an email with a note of condemnation from the university, but I didn't bother to open it. I closed the notebook and sat down on my bed, not bothering to turn on the light or anything, and as the afternoon progressed the room became darker and darker with the cloudy winter weather.