As Lea was about to go back to the classroom three girls approached her,''Well,well,well look who is here…Leaky
Lea,''the one who was in the middle,Chloe West said and the other two Maya and Zoey bursted into laughter.Chloe then took a step forward and said,''What's wrong Lea?Can't find someone to sit with you?Or too busy being a weirdo?''Lea's breathe hitched and she instinctively pulled her arms closer to her body,her heart beginning to race.
It had been only three weeks since the first year of senior high school started and Chloe had already started bullying Lea.Lea and Chloe have always been schoolmates since preschool and whatever school Lea attended,be it primary school or high school,Chloe always found a new crew to bully her.To make matters worse this time the two were put in the same class.
Lea didn't know much about Chloe but from what she heard from other people,Chloe was born into an affluent family,with her parents running a fashion boutique and jewellery store in China so she could do whatever she
wanted.Chloe was a beautiful girl with a flawless porcelain skin.Golden blonde-hair flowed in soft waves,framing her sharp cheekbones and delicate features.Her piercing blue eyes sparkled with mischief
and a touch of superiority.Standing at an elegant,statuesque height,she had a slender,toned figure that radiated confidence and grace.
The three girls took Lea to the rooftop.The rooftop was quiet,only the howling of soft wind could be heard and there was only the four of them.
''Come on Lea smile,your fans are waiting for you,''Maya sneered,her voice sugary and sharp,like venomin candy shell whilst Zoey was holding her phone up,already recording.Chloe leaned against the wall,arms folded,expression smug-like she was watching her favourite show.''Come on Leaky Lea,''Chloe drawled,''just do as we practiced.Don't waste our time.''
Leaky Lea-that name again.It followed her since primary school suggesting how weak she was.To them it was a joke but to Lea it was a chain she couldn't break.
''Enough,I have had enough,''Lea thought,fists clenched at her sides.''Not today.I won't let them.''
But before she could speak,she stumbled-Chloe had stepped forward and shoved her.Lea's shoulder slammed against the cold metal railing with dull thud.Pain shot her arm.Chloe's eyes lit with delight."Oops,clumsy aren't you?"she cooed mockingly.
Lea tried to turn away,to head back to the classroom,but Maya grabbed her hair and yanked her backward with a hard snap.Lea cried out,struggling but Maya slapped her once,twice-before shoving her to the ground.
Then kicking started.One to her ribs,another to her leg.She curled up,crying,trying to shield herself.Then Chloe knelt down,finger digging into Lea's scalp as she wrenched her head back.
''You like being the centre of attention,don't you?Now go on-do what we practiced.''They gragged her to her feet and shoved her in front of the camera.
''Now action,''Zoey said her voice as cold as steel.
The camera starts rolling.
Lea's lips trembled.''H-hi..my name is D-D..''She couldn't finish.The shame clogged her throat.''I am Doggy Lea,''she whispered,then forced bark,''ruff…ruff…''They laughed harder.Maya pushed dog food into her hands.Cold,sticky,reeky.She stared at it.Her stomach twisted but when she hesitated,Chloe's voice snapped like a whip:''Eat it.''She obeyed
The mush hit her tongue like sludgesalty,gritty,foul.Every instinct in her body screamed to spit it out but she couldn't,not with Chloe watching.Each bite was worse than the previous one.They then took all her pocket money and the last words that Chloe said before they left were,''you should just disappear no one will even care.''
Later…
Lea sat silently in the girl's bathroom,knees pulled to her chest,her eyes red and hollow.Her whole body ached-not just from bruises,but from something deeper.Something that could't heal.
When the final bell rang,she didn't go to class.She drifted through the hall like a ghost.
Then she heard it.
Laughter.A phone screen held up.Her face.Her video.The barks.The bites.The tears.
It has been posted.It had gone viral.She had became the joke of the school.
The hallway became a tunnel,closing in around her.She turned and ran,ignoring the stares,the smirks,the whispers'Doggy Lea' that followed her like a curse.Lea hated herself even more,I mean Chloe has always took videos of her doing strange things like eating human hair,eating sand and so on but has never posted them.This time she had gone too far.
Lea just walked.With each step she took,the world around her grew quieter-until only her thoughts remained.
''Everyone has seen it.There is nothing left for me hide.''
THAT NIGHT…
The cold night air bit at her as she reached Graybrook,the old stone bridge that curved over the river like a spine in the dark.The water below was black,endless.The same river she had stared at in passing hundred times.Tonight,it stared back.
She gripped the railing,the metal freezing against her fingers.The voices of her classmates,their laughter,the word doggy-it all echoed in her skull' louder than the wind.
She had tried to be strong,to survive but tonight…the weight was too much.
A sob escaped her lips as she climbed the railing.
''Maybe…maybe the river will finally let me rest.''
The moon flickered behind the clouds.The water swirled in silence.
And then-she let go.