Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

as Mr. Mahr didn’t tell anyone, neither would she. And maybe she could avoid telling Josie and Randy, also. Because the last thing she wanted in her senior year, was to become a walking zombie again.
    So she’d just keep today’s episode to herself, and hope she didn’t have another incident that would get her locked up.

    **

    Though she might be able to keep the biology class freakout from her family, the school was another story.
    As she went from class to class, whispers grew louder and the pointing more obvious. People gave her a wide berth in the hallway, and she could practically hear them thinking, “Oh no, Noella’s gonna blow.”

    Gym was mercifully quiet, and as Noella was changing from her gym shorts to her jeans, she began to think that maybe people would just drop the matter. Then the unique cruelty of locker room laughter slapped her in the face.
    The echoing giggles came from a clustered circle at the end of her row of lockers, half the girls in the class gathered, staring at something Noella couldn’t see. The other half were looking up, staring at her as she approached the circle, some pointing and all of them laughing.  
    It was Vicky in the middle – Becca’s new B.F.F., a bleach blonde cheerleader who was as vicious as she was beautiful – passing her cell phone from girl to girl. Noella knew what was on the video, even before she heard herself screaming. Funny, she hadn’t even noticed Vicky recording her when she had her little episode during Biology.
    That bitch!
    Noella had no idea how long the video was, but one of the girls, Jenny, had it in her hands and was scrubbing the player back and forth and filling the locker room with Noella’s screaming on repeat.  
    Mako was rounding the opposite row of lockers, coming from the restroom. Vicky turned toward her, took the phone back from Jenny, then held it up for Mako to see.  
    “Look, Mako, your best friend is on YouTube!” Vicky held the phone up and pressed play.  
    The Noella in the video screamed.  
    “You delete that!” Mako shouted, stepping into the huddle until she was just inches from Vicky’s face.
    “Or what?” Vicky said, taking a step forward. She was easily six inches taller than Mako, and athletic while Mako was petite. The number of girls swelled around them at the prospect of a fight.  
    Noella ran to Mako. “Forget about it,” she said, pulling Mako from the crowd. “This bitch isn’t worth it.”  
    Noella turned and walked back to her locker, holding Mako’s hand behind her. They made it halfway there when Vicky said, “I bet they’re gonna sneak back to the showers together. Boys don’t want them, but at least they have each other! She love her long time!”  
      Vicky laughed hysterically. The chorus of sheeple echoed her mania, and the cork finally popped from years of Noella’s bottled rage.
    Noella’s fists curled into balls, her lip twitched, and she could feel the rage stirring deep in her gut. An inhuman growl fled her lips as she turned toward Vicky, then ran at her screaming, knocking her cell phone to the floor, and punching her hard in the face.
    “Becca’s not here to save you this time,” Vicky screamed, rubbing the splotch of crimson on her left cheek for a second before shoving Noella back and into the lockers. As Noella fell back, Vicky jumped her.
    They fell to the ground, swinging, scratching, and kicking as the girls around them shouted, “ FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!”
    The crowd receded, giving the girls room to roll around on the floor,   as an evil trinity of Vicky’s girls held Mako’s arms and kept her from jumping in or stopping the fight.
    But no one was holding Coach Carla, who rushed at the girls and pulled them off one another and split them apart. Coach Carla tossed them each toward opposite lockers, and yelled at the other girls to get to class.
    Vicky had a nasty bruise on her left cheek, and a good scratch right next to it. The back of Noella’s head throbbed where Vicky had landed two punches, but other than some hair pulling, Vicky hadn’t hurt her too bad. If there was a winner of this fight, it was Noella by a landslide.
    Though, whatever pride she felt at getting a few good hits in faded when she saw Coach Carla’s eyes.
    Coach Carla gave Noella a sympathetic look, and Noella wasn’t sure which stung worse — the look of pity, or the look of disappointment which followed. Coach Carla sent them both to the dean’s office.  

    **

    Noella