Words 4
"Cruelty is fed, not weakened, by tears" Publilius Syrus
The first day of school was cold and snowy. As she walked towards the entrance, Rachel Berry could feel a wintry wind shard the skin of her uncovered legs. How ironic, she thought, was it that winter seemed so beautifully romantic to one who was happy, but so painfully cold and lonely to one who was sad.
Categorizing herself as an optimistic, Rachel was usually one to be part of the first group. Winter was to her the most wonderful season of the year. She associated it with stunning sceneries of sparkling white nature. As a child, she used to consider the wind as a friend whispering its secrets to her curious ears. Sometimes she would lay under the night sky in her winter suit after a day of building snowmen or skating and her eyes would shine as much as the shimmering stars over her head. She would stay still letting the soundless night fill up her senses until one of her fathers called her from the backyard's door. Then, she would run towards the house with her heart beating as fast as the rhythm of her life running excitedly through her veins. She had tried more than once to share one of those moments with Finn. She tried to explain him exhaustively the beauty of her feelings in those briefly perfect instants, but he didn't understand. He was probably not even listening to her. He barely ever did. She could lie to herself and pretend that it was because he wasn't much of a listener, but, when she thought of it, no matter to whom she talked she was always alone with her own blabbering.
It was painful, wasn't it? How people could be surrounded by others, but always lonesome. Rachel would go through the halls of her school as a figurant to other people's life. She was as meaningless to them as the paint on the walls or the chair on which they sat as they let their teachers' word fly above their heads similarly to mosquitoes they were trying their best to ignore, but even those words were more important to them than her presence.
It was depressing how winter had now turned into the cold reminder of Rachel Berry's loneliness. Before opening the door that would lead her to the warm interior of her school, the small brunette took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She relished for an instant the excruciating pain of the icy temperature enveloping her almost frozen limbs. A small, sad, smile crept on her lips as she thought of how similar this sensation was to the one stabbing her heart. They seemed to complement one another perfectly and for a moment the tiny brunette felt whole.
"Just open the freaking door, Dwarf!" Santana hissed from behind her.
Rachel blinked a few times.
"Santana, the way you speak to me is entirely ina-"she started.
"If you're not going to open it, at least, move out of the way. We're not all stupid enough to stay in the fucking cold."
Rachel's hand slid off the door's handle as Santana pushed her to the side. The raging Latina gave her a scornful side glance before entering the school in a hasty way leaving the smaller brunette sadly standing outside.
The singer fidgeted and tears gathered to her eyes. Her hands nervously ran up in down the fabric of her white scarf.
"Hey you!" Meredith called her from behind.
Rachel quickly wiped her tears away and smiled at the Cheerio. Meredith was, in her opinion, a very plain-looking girl. Her hair was red and curly. Her face was covered in freckles. Her eyes were large and of a very pale shade of greyish blue. They frightened Rachel because they seemed expressionless most of the time. She couldn't tell if it was out of idiocy or of indifference. It was as if people around her could act nicely or cruelly without it making any difference to her. She secretly believed that the red-headed girl could witness a horrifying event occur right in front of her eyes without having any kind of feelings whatsoever. She would be happy to follow the lead of anyone, in good or in bad, because she was similar to an unquestioning sheep. She was as clueless as she was cold-blooded. She was a blade who belonged to any manipulative tongue that cared to use her. People like her were terribly dangerous because they seemed harmless to the inattentive eye, but through the hand of a skilful and ruthless mastermind they were the most important weapons one could have.
"Hey!" Rachel repeated forcing joy into her voice. "Guess who I just saw entering the school; she was alone as usual."
"Santana?" Meredith snickered.
Rachel nodded fervently.
"What a loser. That girl has seriously lost it. It's like she's trying to commit social suicide or something." The redhead snorted while pulling the door opened."What class do you have?"
"History, I find it fascinating how-"Rachel began.
"History? Me too!"Meredith squealed. "I think we're together."
The brunette smiled half-heartedly. It was the second time someone had interrupted her today. One was an enemy, the other one was a friend, but, strangely, she could hardly tell the difference between the two of them. Obviously, her new friend was one of those people who didn't want to hear what she had to say unless it was in her small range of interests.
They walked down the hallway. Rachel tried her best to measure up to the redhead's confidence and held her head up high. People seemed to be looking in her direction more than usual. Guys and girls parted in front of them. Rachel knew it was due more to Meredith's presence than hers. She enjoyed it nonetheless. It reminded her of that day where she had dressed similarly to Britney Spears in her Baby One More Time video, but this time it was filled with a new form of respect that wasn't there at the time.
Quinn raised an intrigued eyebrow as Rachel and Meredith passed by her locker. Mercedes gasped and started frantically typing a text message to whom the small brunette suspected to be Kurt. Brittany waved at her before hoping unto her boyfriend's laps. Finn frowned and Rachel smiled tentatively at him. He shrugged his shoulder and turned his head towards the opposite way.
When she saw them, Kelly ran in their direction her red skirt flying up and down as she did so. Rachel detected a few guys roaming their eyes up the oblivious girl's legs. She was about to sighed, annoyed by how innocent the Cheerio was, when she noticed the small smirk creeping on her face.
She knew.
The small brunette scoffed. The cheerleader wasn't the naive one, it was her. Kelly seemed to enjoy pretending being completely inoffensive while she was as calculating as any other popular girl. A bit more intelligent than her partner in crime, she had mastered the art of gossiping to hide the fact that she had nothing to say. Her beauty was an unusual one. She was half-Vietnamese and half-Caucasian. Her body was tall and her frame very fragile. Her features were an exquisite mix of sensuality and delicacy. Her hair was long, straight, and black. She moved with distinguished grace. Rachel had had a few classes with her in the past and she knew that the dark haired beauty dedicated more time to texting rumours than to listening to what her teachers had to say. Her tongue was as dangerously sneaky as a snake. She could ruin someone's reputation and less time than it took her victims to readjust a loose strand of hair.
"Apparently, Azimio slept with Karen. I was in the bathroom and I heard her telling Jennifer that he's a premature ejaculator. It's like the funniest thing ever." She said waving her hands in graceful motions in front of Meredith's greedy expression.
Trying to sound amused, Rachel exploded in a very loud laugh.
"That is incredibly hilarious!" She said and Kelly beamed at her.
At that very moment, Santana passed by the group of girls. Following the sound of their laughter, her head violently spun. She squinted and eyed her fellow Glee club member with suspicion.
"What's so funny?" She said. A polite smile was plastered on her face, but her tone had a hint of anger in it.
Meredith gulped.
Kelly's lashes fluttered.
"I you really want to know, Santana, Kelly was telling us about Azimio's recent erectile difficulties." Rachel replied in a sugar coated tone of voice. "Isn't funny?"
The Latina crossed her arms over her chest. Without breaking her bloodcurdling stare, she spoke harshly to the two other cheerleaders.
"Why are you two hanging out with that loser? She's in Glee club. You do realize how bad it is for your rep, don't you? "
Kelly snorted and glanced at her redheaded friend.
"You're in Glee club too, Santana. Does that mean talking to you might bring down my rep too?"
The fierce Latina glared at her. She seemed about to say something, but instead she bit her tongue and scowled. A brief emotion flickered across her clouded stare. Rachel eyes grew wide as she recognized it to be fear, but Santana was fast to get back on her feet.
"Ha! Ha! You're such a funny bitch, Kelly." She snarled. "You should watch what you say. You wouldn't like piss off the wrong person, would you?"
Then, she gave her a dark warning look and walked away. Rachel noticed that her hips were swaying in a more abrupt way than usual and that her hand was clenched tightly around the handle of her bag.
"I hope she wasn't talking about her. I'm so scared" Meredith whispered sarcastically into her friend's ear, but it was loud enough for Rachel to hear.
Kelly's blood painted lips smiled at her new friend.
It was vicious smile.
It was a cruel smile.
And Rachel smiled back.
part5