Walking down the dark hallways, there was a figure. The figure wasn’t listening, wasn’t looking where they were going, wasn’t even there, mentally.

   With a small flinch, the figure snapped into place. A bell could be heard, and a mutter came from the figure.

   The figure flashed through the sight of everyone looking, the dark hood falling off to reveal a feminine face. The reflective tiles underneath her feet vibrated silently with impact.
Her jade colored eyes narrowed in determination as she ran in the direction of a particular door in the school.

   “I’m here.” Fleur said, with the harsh ringing of the bell echoing as she said it. Ms. Holly, the teacher, nodded.

   “I trust you, Fleur, but this is the third time this month. I’ll have to make you get a tardy if you keep this up. I don’t want to, but-”

   “That’s not fair and you know it…” Fleur whispered, continuing with indecipherable words.

   She could tell the teacher heard, but no one said anything as Fleur sat down softly in the one open desk left in the room.

   “And take off that hood, you know it’s against dress code.”

   Fleur grumbled, but took it off slowly, her blonde hair dim and cold in the artificial lighting of the room.

   It wasn’t held back like usual, instead falling limply around her face in almost unseen waves. She tried to focus on the lesson, but she could feel the fire of someone’s eyes burning into her skin.

   She glanced in Maxine’s direction, giving her a blank look. The other girl whispered back,

   “Dumb as a cow. Well, it fits. You have the looks of one too, you know.” The girls around them snickered in response.

   Their laughs burned, but Fleur wasn’t about to do anything. She’d learned far before to just pretend it wasn’t going on. She felt like a stubborn war hero, stoic beyond reason.

   “No silly response today, huh, Weed? Guess you’re as weak as your name.” Maxine went on. She was trying to get under Fleur’s skin, that much was evident, but Fleur wasn’t going to play along. She sighed, pretending Maxine had said nothing. Turning her head back to the front of the room, she allowed a small smile to grace her otherwise blank features.

   She listened to the lesson quietly, ignoring the stares still coming from the classmates around her. When the bell finally rang again, signalling the end of the school day, a tiny glimmer of hope appeared.

   The small blonde walked slowly out of the school, the soft green grass tickling her sandaled feet. She walked slowly past the group of girls previously in her class, ignoring their insults as she noticed someone walking ahead. 

   She shook her head slowly, trying to rid herself of the smile now shining bright on her face. She ran home and quickly shut the door behind her.

   “How was school today, sweetie?”

   “It was okay. We learned about grammar in English, but that was easy.” Fleur walked slowly into the kitchen, sitting down at the bar in front of her mother, who seemed to be cooking dinner.

   “Can I help?” She asked, gesturing to the pot of boiling water.

   “As soon as you tell me how the rest of your day went.” Fleur’s mother replied slyly.

   “Mo-om!” Fleur exclaimed, exasperated. Her mother shook her head softly, smiling. “Fine. Then in math class we had to learn about quadratics and that was a bit confusing but you know how I am with math. In science, we did some biology stuff, which was really interesting. It was the oxygen cycle and the nitrogen cycle, I think. Then in history class we learned about the Battle of Yorktown in in the Revolutionary War, the American Revolutionary War, that is. It was nice to see how France helped, and we just moved from there so...I don’t know. It’s just interesting. How was Babette?” Fleur asked, referring to the small pekingese puppy the family owned.

   “She was fine. She’s still getting used to this new house. In France everything was much smaller.” Fleur’s mother replied. “I think she’s finally getting it.”

   “That’s good.” Fleur nodded. “I was worried whenever school started, because we’d only been here a couple weeks, but it’s good that’s she’s gotten used to it over the past month.”

   “She definitely has. She’s on the couch now, sleeping. She was trying to get up the stairs all day.”

   “Awwww.” Fleur cooed, walking over to the puppy's form. She pet the small black dog slowly, trying not to wake her up. Babette snorted softly, before sleeping again. Fleur gingerly picked her up and put Babette on her lap.

   “You’re going to love it here, sweet puppy. Maryland is where I lived before moving to France and adopting you.” Fleur whispered softly, letting the dog’s soft breaths turn into a rhythm of strokes on Babette’s fur.
- - -
   Fleur walked to school silently, begging the very grass not to move. She was trying beyond all reason not to be noticed by the group of girls just in front of her. Her black hood was up, being her only line of defense, so she silently walked ahead, stepping to the side to avoid them.

   “What do you think you’re doing, loser?”

   Her eyes snapped open as the adrenaline suddenly rushing through her veins forced her to run like her life depended on it. It did, really, in a way. Unless she wanted these girls’ boyfriends punching the life out of her, she was going to run.

   Her hood managed to fall off of her head again, revealing her long blonde braid shining in the sun’s light. She’d tucked flowers into it that morning, somewhat out of habit, and she hoped and prayed they wouldn’t fall out. Someone would notice something, and they’d more than likely put two and two together.

   Not on her watch. She was in too deep to fully get away, but she was going to try as hard as possible.

   She might’ve given up all hope of being accepted, but she wasn’t giving up hope of being equal.

   Throughout the day, she found when she wasn’t worrying about them noticing her, she did a lot better at focusing. She thought maybe it would be a good day for once in a lifetime, until she walked out of the school to find an entire crowd waiting for her.

   “Well, well. Look who we have. We’ve been waiting for you, weed.” Maxine. Obviously she was behind all this.

   “Two can play at that game, rat.” Fleur found herself answering, out of her control. She could feel her face overflowing with warmth, but it wasn’t just about embarrassment. She found rage, somewhere deep inside her. And she welcomed it.

   “The mute finally speaks. And I thought she was actually starting to understand the rules. A shame.” One of Maxine’s minions, a girl who Fleur thought actually had potential. She was named Erynn, and was smart too. She just had molded into the ‘perfect’ girl before Fleur had a chance to stop it. They could’ve been friends…

   A voice interrupted her thoughts. “What, exactly, is so bad about letting a girl be who she wants to? We’ve been standing here for too long, waiting for no reason other than letting someone else do what we know needs to be done. Fleur is a good person, and that’s why Maxine is targeting her. Everyone knows, yet we’ve said nothing? Why?” Was that...Milada? One of Maxine’s minions, her right hand? Fleur gave a thankful smile, then decided she was going to say something to complement Milada’s arguments.

   “Thank you, Milada. I...I feel too grateful to have someone finally say something. I know something, or someone has to change. It’s either going to be me, or Maxine. But I know for sure that I will not let her triumph. You say you are happy, but how can that be? She has made this school into a food chain, never letting anyone be an apex predator unless they side with her. Too long you’ve been dodging her strikes, but nevermore! I will not stop this fight until it has been won by someone who is worthy of leading.” Fleur stopped herself, hoping she wasn’t rambling, like she had a tendency to do. She forced herself to go on with a louder volume.

   “In order to stop her, we need only to do small things. Like this.” The small blonde put one foot in front of the other, her face burning, until she was walking down the street back to her own home.
- - -
   Fleur rid herself of the wretched hoodie with a sigh of relief. She hated that thing more than she’d previously thought humanly possible, much preferring the light colored floral blouses she wore underneath. Flowers were her namesake, after all.

   She collapsed on her small bed, wondering for about the billionth time, What had gone wrong? Had she done something that made everyone so disgusted with her? Was it how she looked, her personality? No one had ever hated her before.

   She grimaced. New school, new set of “rules” that made the girls popular. Instead of being nice and smart, it was whoever wore the most expensive skirt. Whoever wore the prettiest makeup. Whoever’s boyfriend was the most feared.

   Her parents had moved specifically here for the reputation of the schools. And yeah, she had good grades, but she didn’t feel welcome anymore. The main cliques hated her. She was a loner, literally had no one to trust.

   What next? What else could possibly go wrong?

   She glanced at her green wallpaper, the same color as her eyes. It reflected in the sunlight, shining throughout the room and highlighting the glass lamp in the corner.

   Maybe this could work out after all. Maybe things could go right again, like they had today. She’d finally stood up for herself, and everyone else.

   She wasn’t going to fail this time.