Pencils & Polaroids

05: fancy watermelon?

After pouring watermelon juice on Rainer, I couldn't possibly walk around like a free bird. I knew there were consequences, I just didn't expect them to be this severe. 

Or this quick.

Why is it a bad idea to take showers after gym class? Because (a) you can go home instead and take a shower in your own bathroom peacefully, (b) you won't be interrupted or rushed, and (c) you don't have to worry about your clothes being stolen. 

But you see, I wasn't clean enough to go home. A very talented Hannah Baker, who didn't kill herself in our school but shot amazing baskets in gym class, made us do the mud pit training. And because she's a zealous member of Bark's fandom, she made me stay back for thirty minutes to make me do "Hannah's special routine" as a consequence of sloshing her dearest hero in my watermelon juice. 

At this point, I highly doubt if Rainer can take his own revenge without sending his puppets to do all of his dirty work. 

Why did I let Hannah Baker make me run extra routines on the field? Because when I assessed the consequence, who wouldn't want an unpaid personal trainer that indirectly helps me maintain my body shape.

Hannah didn't realize I took advantage of her. Most of Rainer's minions don't use their brains so he might have an army but what's the point if all of them are so dumb, they'd self-destruct? 

Perhaps it was my mistake that I let my guard down when I waltzed into the shower singing Titanium. I didn't sound like Anna Kendrick but my focus was to match at least one pitch perfectly. Amidst the singing, I saw my yellow top being pulled away from the hook on the back of the door just as I clung it on. 

Before realizing someone had actually stolen my top, a bucket full of water descended on me from the same door I was looking up at. So much for thinking the consequences are over. 

I should not have allowed Sam to hitch a ride with her lab partner. Her being here would've given me strength. And protection. And she probably could have talked her "new friend" out of these never-ending pranks. 

I heard footsteps--hard, stomping shoe steps. Definitely not belonging to a fellow female and since everyone from my class dispersed to their houses thirty minutes ago, I'm certain this was the doings of a man. No wait, let me revise, men. I hear two voices. 

"Mellon, if you need your shirt, step out of the locker room." I match the voice to Hannah's boyfriend Zach Fell, another fellow basketball player. 

"And do a ramp walk." Charlie Brown adds. 

Yes, the same Charlie who got his calf muscle kicked by me at lunch. 

When I look down at my soaking skin, I realize I'm in a shower cabin with a pair of yellow gym shorts and a black bra. The link to why they wanted me to ramp walk suddenly clicks. I grab the hand shower out of its fixed slot and steady it like a rifle. 

By slowly unlocking the cabin door and peeping outside, I see both Charlie and Zach leaning near the locker room door. Their smirk brightens when they see just my head and the fall of the strands of my hair, hoping more of me would unfold in seconds. 

Instead, I turn the shower controlling valve with my foot and direct the gush of cold water at both of their faces. First, they yell shutting their eyes. Then, they freak out because their blind eyes cannot get a hold of the doorknob. Lastly, they lose their balance with all the water collected under their expensive white sneakers and fall to the ground, with my shirt in their hand. 

"Bitch, do you know how expensive these shoes are?" Zach screams with both his palms covering his face. "It's a Nike original for god's sake." 

"No worries, Zachy," I coo amusedly. "Daddy will buy you a new pair."