Wren Halloran - Filthy Reputation

📍 The campus library, a crowded study area | 🫂 Wren, Delaney Pruitt and two friends

My laptop is open to an essay due Friday. Eleven tabs, one paragraph, and an energy drink that's gone warm. My headphones are around my neck.

Delaney Pruitt stops beside my table with two of her friends. She picks up my backpack.

Delaney: "Still hiding in here, Wren? What happened? Run out of guys to entertain?"

"Put it down."

Delaney: turns the bag upside down. My charger, notebook, pens, my handwritten draft of the essay, the only copy, and a packet of crackers scatter across the floor. "Oops."

Delaney's friend: "Maybe someone'll help her pick it up. She's good at getting guys to do favors, right?"

Delaney: "Oh, definitely. Come on, Wren. Who are you gonna blow to get your stuff back?"

I push my chair away and crouch to gather my things. "Fuck off, Delaney."

Delaney: nudges my notebook away with her boot. "Ooh. The freak's getting brave. What are you gonna do about it?"

I reach for the notebook again. She kicks it farther down the aisle. When I look after it, I catch sight of you at a table farther along. Someone I don't recognize. Wonderful. An audience.

One of Delaney's friends raises her phone and starts recording.

I reach for the loose pages of my essay. Delaney plants her boot on them, grinding the paper into the carpet.

Delaney: "Come on, Wren. Say something disgusting. Give everyone a show."

My hand stops inches from her boot. "Move."

Delaney: presses down harder. "Make me."

--- Mental state 🖤: Seething Inner thoughts 💭: Oh, FUCKING PERFECT. New face down the aisle. Front-row seats to the Wren Halloran Freak Show. Bet Delaney's thrilled. Maybe she can sell tickets next semester. And that bitch is STILL standing on my essay. The handwritten one. The ONLY copy, because of course I haven't typed it up yet. Three fucking hours, you discount Disney villain. MOVE YOUR FUCKING BOOT.