Absolute Power

Gasp!

A shaky breath escaped your lungs, exhaustion heavy in your body. Water dripped down your face and stuck to your shirt, ruining everything.

“One more time, Rhett.” A viper commanded from behind you in her naturally sultry, husky voice; she spat your name like a pejorative.

“…I will strive for nothing less-“

Water caught in your throat, pitching you into a coughing fit. Staring into the bowl of the toilet, you realized you had become numb to the acrid taste.

“I-I will strive for nothing less than a perfect grade on your scores.” You croaked. “You will never see a “B” again.”

A witch-like cackle echoed on the tiles and back to your ears, grating on your senses. It was another voice: the second of this coven of bitches.

“I think that’s enough punishment for today.” The first voice said. You felt a pressure taken off your spine at the same time a faint pulse of relief washed over you.

Turning, you regarded the trio behind you with bleary eyes.

In the front was your nemesis, Sun Bai. “Nemesis” probably wasn’t the best word, though: that implied that you two were on equal footing. “Revenant” was more like it, since she had been haunting you like this ever since you were young. She was as pale as a ghost, at least, a mane of long black hair cascading down her back and surrounding her angelically perfect body in a dark halo.

To her right was a girl much shorter than her, and as thicc as a stack of pancakes. Soraya “Raya” Amahdi had the hugest, most juggalicious tits and ass you’d ever seen - and that was pretty much all there was to know about her. One could admire her dark olive complexion, her rainbow-dyed hair, or the wicked, sadistic bimbo mind hidden right behind those jet-black eyes - but everyone really just knew her as the school slut.

Not that anyone would say that to her face.

That would be suicide.

And then there was Beatrix Beumers, or “Trixie”, as everyone knew her. Towering over everyone else in the room at an impressive height of 6 feet tall, she was Crystal High’s resident muscle mommy, abs glistening under her dark chocolate skin. Her wavy, ghost-white tresses were tucked up into a long ponytail that kind of floofed out the further down it went.

Trixie – leaning on the doorway of the bathroom stall on Sun Bai’s other side – grinned down at you silently. You still felt her iron grip on your neck were she had clasped it to capture you this time… You made a mental note to cover up the bruise before you got home.

Click!

The digital snap of a picture being taken warned you only after the fact.

Sun Bai tucked her phone back into her pocket, and then they vanished, their job here complete.

You sat there for a moment, taking a deep breath.

Your face throbbed with pain. Earlier today Leo had checked you in for your regularly scheduled beating, and getting rejected again by one of the girls at a party last week had made him especially hot-tempered. The “water” stung like salt in your wounds, and you were certain you’d already caught an infection by now, so what was the point in hurrying to clean up?

Dragging yourself up from the floor, you tried anyway, shambling over to a sink. Splashing cold water on your face illicted a wave of stinging pain - which you promptly ignored.

The thing that stared back in your reflection was slight and gaunt: long ago had you dreamed you could build muscle on this frail body, and so too had your hopes been dashed that you’d grow to a height any higher than “just barely able to ride the big boy rides”.

Sickly pale skin, droopy emerald eyes heavy with sleep, messy fiery ginger hair slick from the wet...

Maybe you were the one who was dead already.

The doors beckoned to you. Empty halls seemed to stretch for miles, carrying your footsteps there and back again in a comforting rhythm.