Kendall sighed and picked up her glasses from the floor, checking to make sure they were intact. Luckily, they hadn't broken this time, but it was a miracle.
"Kendyyy!"
The blonde girl with a malicious smile grabbed the brunette's arm and looked her dead in the eye, hauling her to her feet and straightening her tie and uniform.
"You should be careful to always look presentable and neat!"
A teacher walked down the hallway right at that moment, and the three girls surrounding Kendall greeted the man politely, smiling and watching him until he turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Kendall kept her gaze fixed on the floor, chewing on her already ruined lip. She reopened an old wound and felt the familiar sting of broken skin: she was used to it by now.
"Kendy, because of your mere existence, we risk getting suspended! You should pay!"
The blonde girl next to her shoved her back to the ground and glared at her furiously, preparing to slap her yet again while she remained silent and motionless, as always. But before she could, someone stopped her.
"Sabrina, enough."
Kendall looked up, admiring Alex's beauty—the queen bee of the school and, above all, the leader of the squad of girls who had been tormenting her for months. Kendall swallowed hard when she saw Alex's hand approach her face.
"Don't touch her face... you risk getting caught."
She smiled coldly at Kendall and looked at her friends, taking a step back.
"Let's go, don't waste time with this loser."
Kendall was used to those words and that treatment, but for some reason, Alex's rejection hurt her. She continued to glare at her with resentment until the bully noticed.
"What do you want?"
"You'll all regret this..." Kendall said softly, bringing her thumb to her bleeding lip and wiping away the drop of blood staining it.
"Excuse me?!"
The blonde frowned, ready to strike her again, but Alex demanded the girl on the floor speak up, this time clearly.
"You're the losers! Especially you, Alex Riviera, who does nothing but watch your little minions beat up and torment students who don't fit your standards of beauty or intelligence! You're no better than anyone else, you're not the queen bee, you're even worse than the ones throwing the punches! People like you only deserve to be discriminated against, just like you d—!"
Kendall didn't finish her sentence: Alex had slapped her across the face, silencing her out of both pain and shock. Alex had never done anything like that before; she had always stood still on the sidelines. Her anger was so tangible and intense that it made poor Kendall tremble, but she didn't give up, tired of the abuse, the beatings, the insults, and especially the bullying of that horrible school.
"You'll pay for this, sooner or later!"
She screamed at her, surprising Alex, who stepped back. The queen bee of the school looked at her friends, who were astonished by her actions, then looked at the red hand that had just slapped the bespectacled girl's face, feeling a suffocating nausea rising in her throat.
What had she done?
That day, Kendall walked away from the group of bullies with tears of anger streaming down her face, with that final warning, and with the physical mark of the pain she had suffered on her skin.
Alex, on the other hand, lost herself that day, unable to understand how she had ended up becoming a bad person—someone who would go so far as to ignore innocent people being bullied, or even strike someone who had done nothing wrong.
Three Years Later
"Alex Riviera? The girl with dark hair and blue eyes? She is definitely the most beautiful girl on campus—no, wait, in the whole city!"
"Did you hear? She rejected yet another poor guy who hit on her! Even some girls have tried, but no one can get close to the ice queen!"
"And yet she's so beautiful! I would love to meet her! Her personality doesn't matter, her looks make up for everything!"
Alex ignored the usual comments passersby exchanged when they saw her walking through the university hallways or the campus gardens. She was used to the attention, even though she hated it. And she hated the people who thought they knew her.
"Alex, what's wrong?"
Her friend, Ilaria, smiled at her, hoping to cheer her up somehow. But since the day before, the dark-haired girl's behavior had completely changed, almost as if she wasn't herself anymore, but someone else entirely. What had happened to her?
In reality, Alex hadn't been able to control her emotions and her guilt since that fateful encounter the day before, which had brought back too many painful memories and pressed on wounds that were still open.
"Alex! How's it going?"
"Mark, I'm good, you? You're looking in great shape!"
Alex smiled at her friend, noticing his workout gear and gathering that he was training just like any other day. They continued to chat as usual until, while walking through the campus gardens, they bumped into a girl who was picking up some papers she had dropped on the ground.
Alex and Mark stepped closer to help her and were both stunned by the enchanting appearance of the unknown girl. The woman had stood back up, brushing the brown strands of hair from her face and thanking the two students who were helping her. Mark was left speechless by the brunette's beauty, so Alex spoke for him, though she actually found herself struggling just as much as her friend. She had never felt attracted to a woman, but this student was captivating with her green eyes, her flawless face, and her attractive body.
"Don't mention it..."
But when the student locked eyes on Alex, she seemed to turn pale.
"Y-you...!"
Alex stepped back as the young woman stood before her, her gaze reignited with anger.
"You don't even recognize me? Alex Riviera, you should easily remember the faces of your victims, but especially the face of the girl you slapped!"
Alex swallowed hard, starting to panic, realizing she was about to have an anxiety attack. Luckily, Mark noticed and separated the two women, apologizing to the girl and grabbing Alex, dragging her away from there.
"Calm down, Alex, breathe with me..."
Mark slowly managed to bring Alex back, stopping the panic attack they were both used to by now. Mark had met Alex two years ago and knew the best technique to help her during those moments of suffering, but he still didn't know why she had so many panic attacks. Maybe it was because of some trauma?
"She... she hates me! She has to hate me... it's only right!" she cried, unable to hold back her suffering.
"What are you talking about? You don't even know h—!"
"I hurt her..."
"Alex, you're a good person, why would you ever hurt anyone?"
"She's right, she did hurt me."
Kendall had followed them, keeping an eye on Alex.
"But I will never be like you... here."
The brunette stepped closer to her former bully and handed her a bottle of water and a tissue, turning to leave. Alex stopped her, grabbing her wrist, and stared into her suffering green eyes.
"I..."
"Forget it," Kendall cut her off, pulling away to leave.
Alex couldn't do anything but stare as the girl she had hurt three years ago walked away. How was she going to pay for her sins? She had to accept all the hatred Kendall directed at her, it was only right.
"Alex? You okay? You're scaring me... I've been calling your name for three minutes!"
"I'm sorry, Ilaria... I got lost thinking about some things."
She smiled coldly at her, pretending to tune back into what she was saying.
"I was saying... oh right! Erik took me to the movies yesterday and it was wonderful!"
Alex's thoughts drifted back to the day before, but her memories stopped at the exact moment she saw Kendall walking down the hallway under everyone's astonished gaze. Many guys quietly commented on her appearance, mesmerized to see a gorgeous, sexy new girl walking through their part of the university, while some girls glared at her with envy.
Kendall was truly beautiful, Alex thought, and she couldn't explain how she hadn't noticed it three years ago too. Not that it changed anything. She had stood frozen, watching the woman who hated her walk right past her without even glancing her way. Alex hadn't said anything and had kept walking with her friend, her eyes fixed on the floor and a heavy weight on her chest. Then she decided to act. She ditched what she had to do, and especially her boring conversation with Ilaria, to run after Kendall and talk to her once and for all. If she wanted to make amends, she had to try.
"Kendall? Can I talk to you just for a moment?"
"No."
They kept going like this for another ten minutes: Kendall walking toward her destination, while Alex chased after her, begging her to stop. At a certain point they found themselves alone, outside the university department, facing each other. Kendall had finally stopped and turned around, but she was giving her former high school classmate a cold, hard look.
"I don't have time for you, and I never will."
She turned to leave again, but Alex grabbed her arm and looked at her with a desperate expression, confessing through her tears what she was feeling.
"Kendall, I'm so sorry! I hate myself for what I did and for what I could have done to help you and many others... I deserve all this hate, I know, I'm not asking you to forgive me. But I want you to know you were never a loser, you didn't deserve anything that happened... you were right! I was the loser, the one who should have been slapped... only me!"
Kendall pulled away sharply, wiping her own tears.
"It's too late now! What do you think you're doing? You want to fix your mistakes with a pathetic apology?!"
"I'll do whatever you want to make up for the pain I caused you, I swear, anything... please... save me from this suffering. It's suffocating me..."
Alex collapsed to the ground sobbing, clinging to the tips of Kendall's fingers, begging for mercy. Everything that happened three years ago had scarred her, along with the wounds she had received in the years after, making her so vulnerable and tormented. She felt like a monster, she felt guilty, and she couldn't stand living like that anymore, drowning in the guilt of her actions. It was as if everything she did only brought suffering to herself and the people around her. She felt like a monster.
"Really? You'll do whatever I want?"
"Yes... please..."
Alex's glossy blue eyes locked onto Kendall's, who had crouched down to her level to look her in the face. Kendall wiped the dark-haired girl's tears away with her index finger, observing with curiosity the signs of suffering on the face of the woman she no longer recognized. She hated herself for what was happening, but she couldn't stand seeing people suffer and just standing by watching without helping somehow. She hated herself for the compassion she was feeling in that moment, but at the end of the day, it was how her parents had raised her: to help those in need, even if it wasn't easy, or even if they were an enemy.
"Alright."
"W-what?" Alex stammered in disbelief, standing back up when she saw Kendall do the same.
"I will forgive you..."
She turned toward the dark-haired girl, biting her lip, and finished her sentence after thinking it over one last time.
"...but in exchange, you must become mine."
She smiled, stunning her former bully with words she never would have expected to hear.
What did she mean by that?