"Nice tattoo, Persephone." I sighed, looking at Jade in irritation. We were sitting at our usual lunch table, so things were back to normal with us. She arched an eyebrow, biting into an apple. "Where'd you get it?" "I didn't get it, exactly…" "So. You're saying a tattoo randomly appeared on your skin?" "…yeah?" Jade laughed at me, and I groaned, tapping my fingers on the table, my nails making a sharp click against the glazed wooden surface. "I swear, you're going crazy." she snickered. "I think I am…" I muttered, and I leaned back in my chair. Jade smirked, and glanced up, looking at another table in amusement. "Desperate guy and clueless rebound, twelve o'clock." she whispered to me. I turned and saw David, with some blonde sitting on his lap. "Remind me who she is?" "Dahlia Simmons. Cheerleading captain, and from what I've heard, her number's written on the stalls in the guy's bathroom." I rolled my eyes. Typical. He usually went for the stereotypes in school, and that girl was no excuse. But, then why'd he want me? That was confusing. I wasn't a stereotype, anything but. Could I even label myself? "Speaking of bathroom stalls, come with me." Jade took my hand, and pulled me from my seat. I got up unwillingly, and she dragged me past the table David sat at, and I swore I heard him flirt with her in a louder voice than neccesary. Jealousy, huh? I wasn't the jealous type. That pathetic attempt wouldn't work on me. We entered the bathroom, and I inwardly started to shout every swear under the sun. Leah was leaning against the sinks with her friends, all of them applying concealer and foundation to her face. "Uh…" Jade coughed, and they all looked up in surprise, paling immediately. Leah spun around to face me, and I knew what the make up was for. She had bruises on her face, and even a black eye… what did I do to her? The more I thought about David's party, the hazier the events that took place there became in my mind. "Do you mind?" I asked. Leah squeaked, and ran out with her friends, leaving a powdering of tan foundation in their wake. Jade arched an eyebrow, looking at me. "I have yet to find out what you did to her." "I… we got into a fight… well, it wasn't much of a fight, really." I said, struggling to hold back a smile. Jade smirked, and lightly kicked open a bathroom stall, holding it open. The handicapped stall was where everyone wrote the most random things, or spilled their friend's secrets to get a rung higher on the social ladder. Newer entries were added on the bottom of the door, and I had to slightly crouch down to read them. "It starts here." Jade said, pointing about ten lines up from where I was reading. Persephone Stathis? Written hastily in red Sharpie, I could immediately tell it was Leah's handiwork. She always dotted her i's with obnoxious loopy hearts, and I could recognize it anywhere. I looked directly under the question, to see she answered it herself, but in a different color. That made me laugh to myself. She tried to be stealthy, she really wasn't, though. I think she's a stupid attention hog. I read through the others, and felt a involuntary smile spread across my face. She's different… Tattoos? She has this mysterious thing about her. She definitely changed from pre-school. I heard David has a thing for her! I heard she kicked his a**! The list went on and on. Apparently I couldn't label myself. But the whole school did. As a rebel. No… as a- "Badass." Jade smirked at me, giving me a high five. I grinned, and walked out the stall with her, slamming it shut. Badass… I could get used to that. --------------------------------------------------- Au contraire, Persephone! Methinks the title of badass will be too much for you, dear.