Blood Red

## **Blood Red** *by LunarExplosion*

I looked in the mirror on the first day of school. I was starting my third year at Oak Middle School, and so were my two best friends Hannah Moore and Jacob Barkley. We had known each other since kindergarten, and fortunately we all lived in the same neighborhood.

Hannah was always in the clouds, dreaming about a new design or pattern. She had the worst grades of the three of us, and she always had her phone or sketchbook on hand, just in case she saw an outfit she liked. The cool thing about Hannah is that she's from India, and speaks some Panjabi.

On the contrary, Jacob has the best grades. Hannah and I gave him the nickname "Good King of Homework" in fourth grade, and Hannah still sometimes uses it. He's pretty tall and lanky for a 13-year-old, and I'm only about half his size. He looks more like a tenth grader.

And me, Robyn Wells... Well, I'm pretty short. My most common nickname is "midget", which is mainly used by my friends. I look more like a seventh grader, a common subject of insult for Jesse Greene and his goons.

As I put on some mascara, I think about how awesome the first day is. You see old friends, probably see new teachers, and best of all... Basketball tryouts. I've always loved basketball, but didn't play; I was too short. So I mainly just watched everyone else.

As I reached the bus stop, Jacob took a seat next to me. We started chatting about who we thought would try out. I always go with the jocks, since they play every sport in existence. Hannah reaches us, and she joins our conversation.

After several minutes, the bus pulled up, and we climbed on. We take the seats at the back to avoid the Jesse Greene Fan Club. As soon as we enter the school building, we make a beeline for the bulletin board. "Hmm... Robyn, you're in 6-A, Hannah's in 6-B, and I'm in 6-D," Jacob reads off the paper.

Catching us off guard, Jesse comes up. "Awww, still friends with the midget," he taunts. "Shut the fuck up, son of a bitch," Jacob replies. He tends to be kind of protective of me, which I find both embarrassing and cool. Hannah glares at Jesse and his posse.

"Bug off," she says, annoyed. Honestly, this is embarrassing... Until Jesse says something shocking. "Doesn't Midget have a weird brother?" he asks his posse, who all agree. I can feel the tears spilling over, but Jesse smirks at me. "Maybe this'll help!" The next thing I know, I'm blacking out, and Hannah is shrieking my name.

When I come to, Nurse Ganner, Jacob, and Hannah are looking at me intently. I'm a little dazed, and for half a minute I have no idea where in the world I am. As I leave the nurse's office, I start crying. Jacob lays a protective hand on my shoulder.

"He's a bitch for doing that," he says. "I thought he was always a bitch," Hannah replies, causing all of us to stifle laughter. Finally, after hours of boredom, we head over to my house and straight up to my bedroom, which is a mess. No one cares as Jacob and I flop onto the bed and Hannah into a nearby beanbag.

"We have to do something," Jacob says. Everyone agrees, and we all vote between hurting him or killing him. By this point, we were all so angry with him that we all agreed to kill him. Hannah had a carving knife, I had a gun from my dad, and Jacob had brains. We leave a note for him from his girlfriend Cassie Sloam.

It says to meet him by the old barn by Jacob's house. We all know he's dumb enough to do it and wait. Eventually, he comes, and Hannah jumps out and stabs him. I shoot him in the chest and put the gun in his hand to make it seem like suicide. Finally, Hannah cut him in a few places and runs her finger over one.

She lifts the blood soaked finger and stares at it. "Y'know... This would make a nice nail polish color," she says loftily, as if nothing had happened. "Blood Red?" I reply, as Hannah nods.