Two-Faced by Mandasue Heller

fooling herself if she believed that she was good enough to get into the big league.
    Drifting through her lessons that morning, Mia barely heard a word that any of the teachers said. She was too busy mentally rehearsing her poses for the photo session and fantasising about being launched onto the world in a blaze of publicity.
    If she’d been more alert, she might have picked up on the whispering that was going on all around her. But she didn’t realise anything was wrong until it was too late to avoid it.
    Noticing that people were giving her funny looks when she walked into the canteen at lunchtime, she assumed that Lisa must have been slagging her off about the Page Three crap. She knew she’d done nothing wrong so she held her head up and joined the slow-moving queue. Turning to see what was going on when she felt a charge of excitement in the air a few minutes later, her heart lurched when she saw Sandra Bishop stalking in. She sensed that Sandra was coming for her and started pushing her way through the queue.
    ‘Get back here, you little slag!’ Sandra snarled. ‘I want a word with you.’
    Prevented from escaping when some girls shoved her back, Mia glanced helplessly around. As usual, there were no teachers or dinner ladies in sight and it was obvious from the excitement on their faces that none of the other pupils were going to step in.
    ‘What’s this I’ve been hearing about you saying you’re seeing my boyfriend?’ Sandra demanded, punching Mia in the chest and knocking her back against the counter.
    Her face scarlet with humiliation as everyone crowded around, Mia tried to walk away. But Sandra grabbed her by the hair and kneed her in the stomach, taking her breath away.
    ‘I’m still waiting to hear what you’ve got to say!’ Sandra yelled, dragging her out into the open.
    ‘I haven’t done anything wrong!’ Mia squealed. ‘It’s not my fault Darren’s finished with you!’
    ‘Don’t even say his fucking name !’ Sandra roared, landing a glancing punch off the side of Mia’s head. ‘And what do you mean, finished with me? Has he hell!’
    Pushing her way forward, Laura said, ‘It’s not her fault, Sandra. He told her he wasn’t with you any more; I heard him.’
    ‘Oh, yeah?’ Sandra spat, tugging the collar of her shirt aside to reveal a large fresh lovebite on her neck. ‘So how come he give me this last night, then?’
    Crying out when Sandra started laying into her again, Mia covered her face with her arms.
    ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Mr Ainsley, the deputy head barked, pushing his way through the crowd. ‘Bishop! Pack that in!’
    Forced to let go, Sandra aimed one last kick at Mia as she lay sobbing on the floor.
    ‘Enough!’ Mr Ainsley snapped, shoving her away. ‘Go to my office. And you lot go and find something better to do,’ he ordered, turning his glare on the onlookers.
    Michelle walked in just as Sandra and her friend Tina reached the door. Stopping dead, Sandra frowned, wondering how the girl had got round there so fast – and why she didn’t have a mark on her.
    ‘I thought I told you to go to my office?’ Mr Ainsley said, coming up behind her. ‘Or would you rather I skipped the formalities and went straight to calling the police?’
    Sucking her teeth, unimpressed by his threat, Sandra turned to give him a dirty look. But when she saw the face of the girl whose arm he was holding, she did a comical double take.
    ‘They’re twins,’ Tina hissed, pulling on her arm. ‘Come on, just leave it.’
    ‘Fuckin’ freaks,’ Sandra spat.
    ‘Get moving,’ Mr Ainsley ordered. ‘And if I hear any more bad language you’ll be getting an extended suspension.’
    Sandra muttered, ‘Big wow !’ and stomped off down the corridor.
    ‘Take your sister to the nurse to get her checked over,’ Mr Ainsley told Michelle, his mouth set in a tight line as he went after Sandra.
    Instinctively reaching out to Mia when she saw the clumps of hair that had