Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 22: Laughingstock

'Great, I'm already late for class...' Onyx thought as he looked up at the clock in the school hallway. He had overslept and now he was going to pay for it. 'The teacher's going to kill me...'

"Onyx!" a familiar voice called. 

He turned to face it, a look of confusion evident on his face.

"What are you doing? We're not supposed to be together here!"

 "I know, but I wanted to see you. Besides, there's no one else in the hall... no one will know." Amelia grinned. "Since we're the only two late for class."

"Amelia," Onyx sighed. "I want to see you, too, but if someone catches us--"

"You worry too much," she said and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, neither of them noticing the sound of footsteps quietly approaching.

It was the typical duo of Vance and Dominic, accompanied by Vance's girlfriend, a more recent addition. "The only two late for class, huh?" Vance cackled. "You're sadly mistaken, Amelia."

Amelia quickly turned to face them, her heart pounding in her chest as she realized they weren't alone. Onyx looked over at them and frowned, already feeling the tension begin to rise.

 "So you and the freak, huh? Why does it not surprise me?" Vance teased.

"Doesn't surprise me, either!" Dominic laughed. "She's always been kind of a freak, too!"

"Of course she has," he replied. "I didn't expect her to get a normal person like I did..."

The girl beside him smiled playfully. "Oh, I'm glad to know that you think I'm a normal person!" 

"Of course I do, Brynn," Vance said. "You're much better than that freak over there."

"He's not a freak!" Amelia exclaimed. "You're the freak!"

"Just you wait, Amelia Wesley, you're going to be the laughingstock of the whole school!" 

Amelia rolled her eyes and looked away. "I'm not wasting my time on you."

The group snickered among themselves. "Yeah, well, speaking of time," Vance began sarcastically, "shouldn't you be in class? I'd hate for you guys to get detention. It'll look really bad if you're even more late than I am..."

"Yeah, too bad they didn't teach you in school not to date freaks like Onyx!" Dominic said. "Would've saved you a whole lot of trouble..."

Amelia turned away and walked toward the classroom without another word.

"Amelia?" Onyx called after her. 

 "Come on, Onyx, let's just get to class..."

---

Somehow, she powered through class. Once it was over, she noticed the students in the hallway all staring at her as she left the classroom. 'He couldn't have possibly had time to...'

Whispers and snickers rang through the hall, flooding her ears with mindless gossip.

"Hey, Nigel!" a girl whispered loudly to the boy next to her. "There's that girl... the one Vance said was dating that vampire freak!"

"Yeah, I heard about that," Nigel replied. "What a weirdo."

"Hey, Amelia!" the student across from her called. "Be careful! Your boyfriend might bite your lip off next time you kiss him!"

"Where's your creep boyfriend, Amelia?" asked the boy behind her. "Out hunting down lunch?"

'I can't listen to this anymore!' Amelia thought and turned to race into the girls' bathroom, blinking back tears. 'This day can't get any worse...!' 

But as she entered the bathroom, she quickly realized that it could.

"ALEXANDER!?"