— Cassie —

I was holding my breath as the doors gently pressed themselves open. The grandeur of the old building had quickly been lost on me last year. This hallway had become my hell. I skittered quickly past the room, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, as if that would make me invisible. It's funny how sometimes a smell - the smell of linoleum in my case - can bring you strong visuals. As I passed the corridor, the memory was in the forefront of my mind. Being forced against the wall, having comments made about my clothes. How it's not cool to be "cottage-core". I hadn't even tried to be any kind of aesthetic, I just wore a sweater and skirt to class one day. I don't even have a tiktok account. Maybe that's why she didn't like me. I was different.

I peered up. Nobody around. I'd arrived to campus an hour early to avoid being caught on the first day back. I paced up the stairs, through another corridor and opened the door to the computer lab. It was a long room - pretty thin with rows of monitors, back to back. I began scuttling over to one of the back rows, pushing my headphones down to my neck as I rounded the corner. My heart jumped when I saw her. She was sat, cross-legged, blonde hair rolling down each side of her shoulders and settling above her chest. Make-up made her look far more fresh than I. Green eyeshadow and lovely winged eyeliner with a thick pencil round the rest of her eye. She wore a white blouse, undone at the top and looked pretty loose, with a maroon blazer over the top. Dana. Dana the girl who had made my life hell. Dana who preaches about womanhood and feminism - then brings me down at every opportunity.

She saw me and gave me a smirk. More than that. It was a sly smile, like she could heart my heart beating out of my chest from across the room. Nobody else was here.

"Hey, Cassie. You excited for the new year?"

She stood up and sauntered over to me, hands in pockets.

"Yeah. You?"

I kept my head down, trying not to look at her. She was taller than me by a good few inches. Her legs were thin, she had some black jeans on. Her face was so angular and pretty.

"Yes, I'm happy to see you again. You're my favourite subject, you know?"

I didn't say anything. She was just messing with me, trying to get me emotional. It was working.

"It's funny. I can't remember a lot of things I've done. But I remember the things I did to you. I remember you're a slut, Cassie. A pathetic slut. Are you a virgin, Cassie? You know what a slut is, right?"

There was a redness in my cheeks, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I remember being pinned against the wall, my skirt being forced up and being called a slut in front of her friends. I supposed this is how the next year would go. Running into my nightmares whilst trying to keep check of myself constantly. I heard the door open behind me, at least we weren't alone anymore...

**

It was 6pm when I made my way to the bus. I knew the pretty-glitter society (which was secretly an alcohol society) was hosted at the end of classes, so she was unlikely to catch me on the bus home, since she was the president and it was the first session of the semester. Covering my ears with my headphones worked two fold; keeping my ears warm against the bitter cold and giving me some comfort in music. I tapped on my phone whilst sitting on the bus. Battery was low. 7%. The phone was glitching, fuzzing all over. I didn't get chance to continue playing my game before it flashed on and off. A new app had popped up in its place, one I hadn't seen before and I was pretty sure I hadn't installed. "Ferocity".

It was a pretty basic interface. Pink background, standard android buttons. A few indicators and textboxes. A graph. There was a prompt waiting for me "What do you desire?". This had to be some kind of prank. Walking into a computer science lab this morning against a bitch I hated and now my phone is giving me strange prompts? Who will be sat laughing at me but her? I closed my phone down and left it.

**

I woke early the next morning, looked at the window and saw small glimmers of sunlight poking through. My phone was on the shelf above my head so I reached and checked the time. 6:45am. I swiped open - not that I would have any messages at this hour. Maybe by some miracle class would be cancelled. The phone glitched out again and returned with the same prompt. "What do you desire?". What do I desire? I desire to punch your teeth out, Dana.

I had a few other thoughts that nearly brought a tear to me. [I desire to have your legs, height and chest you fuckface]. I wrote the words in a little rage inside me, but it came out a little more envious than I intended. Before thinking I'd hit send. My phone glitched out again and the app disappeared, when I flicked across to the new apps section I couldn't see anything. Well, it's not like life could get any worse. I put my phone back and tried to catch a few more hours of sleep.

**

830am.

The alarm went off and I couldn't hide away in my bed any longer. My feet had been sitting outside the bottom of the covers, I could feel the tingling cold setting into them. I swung them out and quickly stood up, stretching out. My pyjamas felt a little tight, which is strange because I ate nothing but a yogurt yesterday. My neck cracked, I opened the wardrobe and picked out a pair of jeans and a punkGirl t-shirt. I pulled it down but it was holding too high on my midriff. My hand went up and I felt my tit. My tit. I didn't have anything worth feeling yesterday, I nearly tripped as I moved to the mirror and was shook by what I saw. Perky, full breasts stared back at me in the place of my previous less-than-a-handfuls. I swiped my hand along my chest just to see if I was imagining them or whether I'd really sprung up some chest overnight.

My eyes weren't deceiving - but I didn't own anything to cover this up and I had half an hour to get to class. I grabbed a pullover hoodie and forced it over my new assets, tied back my brunette hair into a ponytail, rushed to brush my teeth and made for the door. I caught my head on the top of it. Ow. I brushed it off and ran down the stairs from my dorm towards the bus stop.

**

The doors gently pressed themselves open. I walked in, my breath was shallow as I remembered the fear. The events and discoveries of the morning not registering much in my mind. I rounded the corner to head up the stairs towards the lab. Waiting on the first stair with her group was Dana, waiting no doubt for me. She was stood one stair up and blocked me as I walked towards it. She towered over me, the sick feeling returned to my stomach. Her hand gestured to her group who was waiting for a show, giggling to each other as they looked at me. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I could have made an easy bet.

Dana dismissed her friends and turned to me, smirking.

"Hey, slut." Her words were dripping with malice. I could hear the spit in her voice, like she really looked down on me, like I'd wronged her so much in a previous life and this was her revenge.

"Hi Dana". I tried to be neutral as possible, not giving a reaction was something a counselor had told me. Not that it had ever done me any good, but perhaps agitation only made things worse?

She didn't like my lack of response and leaned down to me, grabbing my face and pinching it.

"You look tired. Did you stay up late playing with yourself last night? Fucking dirty slut." I shrugged back and stepped behind me. I had found the back wall. She giggled at her intimidation, moved off the first step and walked towards me. My eyes widened a little, I looked at her. She wasn't towering above me with her usual few inches in height - she wasn't even level eyed with me. I was... looking down at her.

She stopped just short, not quite under me. She didn't know what was happening. Neither did I.

"What's the matter, slut? Don't tell me you're afraid of me now?"

I was nervous. Was she seeing what I was?

"Oh, nothing. Just... a little tired." I said, my voice quivering.

I could see the cogs turning in her head as she realised she was looking up, her head twisted to my feet. I gulped and wondered what was coming. A cheap shot? My shoes gone? My skirt hiked? I wasn't even wearing a bloody skirt. I hadn't in the few months since it happened last. I felt dirty, she had made me feel dirty.

"So... You've got taller, huh? How about that?"

I said nothing. I looked at her. She didn't say anything else, she just spun and headed up the stairs. I heard her friends burst out with laughter at the top of the stairs above me. All I could think was what was so funny? She hadn't managed to humiliate me for once. I felt a little bit of pride, a feeling that had been lost inside me for a while. I headed on up the stairs and to class.