Angelia looked at herself in the mirror, psyching herself up for what she was about to do. She could feel the syringe pressing against her inner arm, held in place by a long-sleeved sweater. A plastic cap sheathed over the needle protected her from any unfortunate accidents. Today was finally going to be the day. She wasn't going to let that bitch Sylvia walk all over her anymore.

Gathering her nerve, Angelia left the bathroom and walked outside and looked to where she knew her rival would be. There she was, sitting on some bleachers, surrounded by four of her posse. She didn't have much time to make this work; their classes were starting soon, and she needed this to be done now.

“Hey there, Angie!” Sylvia called out once she noticed the younger girl marching towards her. Both of them knew that she hated being called Angie. “What're you doing over here? Finally get tired of being a loser?”

Not the quickest on her feet, Angelia shot back with a hesitant, “No!” She came to a stop a few meters away from the girls. There was a beat of silence, then the five upperclassmen burst into laughter. Angelia's face turned bright red and she balled her fists, biting her bottom lip to keep tears from coming to her eyes.

“Oh, Angie, you're so precious.” Sylvia stood up, stepping carefully down the bleachers. “Tell me, do you have to practice being such a little nerd?”

“N-” she began, but stopped herself. Sylvia's crew tittered to themselves. “Shut up! This isn't about me! This is about you, and the future I've got planned for you!” Angelia had spent hours practicing this monologue the night before, and it was going to go off without a hitch. It had to.

“Oh? You've planned my future, have you?”

“Yes! I've got this nice little aquarium all ready for you in my room. It's got sticks and leaves, so you'll feel right at home, and have plenty to eat, too!”

Sylvia looked down her nose at Angelia like she was a madwoman. “You've really lost it, haven't you? You've descended into some fantasy to make it okay that you're a runty little bitch, and that's all you'll ever be. Isn't that right?”

“I'll show you how fantasy it is.” Angelia pulled the syringe from her arm, quickly yanked off the cap, then dove at Sylvia. The older girl raised her arms defensively, grabbing Angelia's wrist, and the two wrestled each other to the ground.

“What the fuck?” Sylvia screamed, her eyes fixated on the needle. “F-fucking help me! Jesus Christ!” Her four friends descended quickly from the bleachers, surrounding the two struggling girls. Angelia had the tip of the needle aimed at Sylvia's throat, and with her boundless rage was slowly overpowering the older girl until several sets of hands tugged at her, ripping her away from her goal.

“No! No! Get the fuck off me! Get off me you bitches!” Angelia tore against them, and for a moment everyone involved was sure she would break free and plunge the needle into Sylvia's throat. Fortunately for the girl on her back, her friends held the maniacal girl's arm, and pulled enough of her weight up that she was able to slip out from underneath her.

“Pin her the fuck down! All of you, fucking sit on her!” Sylvia was more than shaken up. Her arms were trembling and there were tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath, keeping her back to the commotion behind her, then spun around.

“You filthy little psychopath. You come at me with a fucking needle?” Sylvia spat, looking down at her restrained enemy on the ground. She still clenched the syringe in her right hand. Sylvia brought her foot down on Angelia's wrist, her converse pressing the joint painfully against the dirt. Angelia loosened her grip on the syringe despite herself, and Sylvia swiftly snatched it up.

“Well, it was nice of you to deliver yourself to me like this.” She looked around, confirming that nobody but the six of them were anywhere nearby. “Let's just see what this shit does, shall we? And remember, when people ask what happened we just say that she came at me, tripped and fell on her own syringe, like the idiot that she is.”

“No! Sylvia, no, please! Don't inject me, please! Don't do it!” Angelia struggled like a wild animal, but even she was no match for four people. Sylvia crouched beside her, holding the needle dangerously close to her arm. Angelia drew in deep, loud breaths, staring fearfully at the syringe.

“Please... Sylvia, please, I'm sorry... d-don't do this...” It was clear from her tone that she was utterly terrified. Tears slowly rolled down her face, and her eyes darted between the needle and Sylvia's own cold glare.

“Is this going to kill you, Angie?” the upperclassman asked. Her tone was carefully neutral; Sylvia didn't want to betray how she might feel about either answer to that question, partially because she herself wasn't certain. The two looked into each other's eyes for a long, silent moment.

“Y-yes, Sylvia... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, b-but please, don't kill me...” she begged. Sylvia took a long breath in, only allowing a smile to play across her lips as she exhaled.

“This... was a really tragic accident.” With that, she forced the needle into Angelia's upper arm. Angelia let out a pained gasp, her eyes going wide as Sylvia pressed the plunger down. When the solution was completely drained from the syringe the taller girl removed the needle and cast it aside.

“You can let her up. We'll let her have her last moments as a free woman,” Sylvia said. Her friends stood up, and Angelia immediately began clawing at her own flesh, shrieking desperately as she tried to dig out the poison.

“N-no! Oh god, no, Sylvia, what have you done!?” she cried, watching as her flesh started to turn grey and mottled. Sylvia noticed she was also shrinking into her own clothes and watched the transformation take place with rapt fascination and confusion.

Angelia's fingers were the first to change, the webbing crawling up the sides and slowly fusing the digits together. Then down her arms, starting from her armpits. Where her shirt got in the way of the growth of flesh it was simply torn aside, allowing Angelia's transformation to continue unabated.

“Help!” The poor girl screamed, turning towards the school. She started to run, but quickly tripped on her oversized jeans, falling flat on her face. The girls moved forward to watch her better, but still made sure to keep their distance.

“S-Sylvia, please! You can reverse this! There's still time, please go get Mister Haverton! Please!” She looked over at her rival who stared back with a smug grin on her face, her arms folded across her chest.

“Angie, I don't want to reverse it. You've done this to yourself, and now you're paying the... the horrible price.” She shuddered, giving Angelia's diminishing body a glance over.

“Please! This is sick, please! Don't let me change! Pleeeeeeuuuughhhhh-” Her face began to dramatically contort, with most of the features receding or melding together. Her eyes became beady and black, sliding up her skull and growing out on two thin stalks, and her nose completely vanished.

The change was nearing its final steps, and Sylvia dared to approach further. Angelia began shrinking rapidly, her body having gone through most other conversions. Within seconds, what had once been an attractive young woman was now a grey, slimy slug resting atop a shirt. Sylvia's friends crowded around, looking down at what Angelia had become.

“Oh my god, is that her?”

“It's so gross!”

“I know, can you even imagine being that?”

“Ugh, I don't even want to think about it.”

“Shush.” Sylvia's voice silenced them all. She reached down and reluctantly plucked the slug up by the tail, letting it dangle miserably between her fingers. Its eyes wriggled around, and Sylvia idly wondered if she could still recognize things, if she understood where and what she was now. “Gather up her clothes and put them in your bags. We'll burn them later tonight.”

The girls did as they were told, removing the evidence that Angelia had ever been there. Sylvia continued to hold the slug in front of her face, watching it twist back and forth in her grip. When her friends were done they circled around Sylvia again. The five girls watched as she dropped the slug back to the Earth where it landed with a soft thud, writhing in the dirt at their feet.

“What should we do with it?”

“Didn't she say she was going to keep you in an aquarium?”

“What a fucking psycho. We should just salt the bitch and be done with her.”

“No, I don't think we need to do that,” Sylvia said, shaking her head. “Live and let live, after all.” She slid her foot forward, the toe of her converse resting on top of the slimy creature's body. She started to roll the slug back and forth across the ground, coating its sticky body in dirt. The other girls snickered as Sylvia subjected the thing that was once her rival to such a humiliating act.

Suddenly a bell rang through the air, signaling the beginning of the next period. Sylvia took her foot off the filthy creature. “Well, we should probably go.”

“Are we just gonna leave it here?”

“Of course. We're not monsters.” Sylvia looked down at the defeated girl. “But... we should make sure we can identify it again. You know, just in case we ever run across a slug, we can see if it used to be Angie or not.” The slug was still on its side when Sylvia moved her foot forward again, this time lowering it on top of one of the eye stalks. She pressed her foot into the ground and dragged it back, tearing the stalk away from the body. She wasn't sure if this caused any pain; the slug began to twist and bend, but it was slow and seemingly purposeful, not the jerking spasms she would expect from a human. She shrugged.

“Good enough. See ya, Angie.” She gave a little wave with her fingers and the five girls started walking towards the school, talking and laughing amongst themselves about what had just occurred.

And there, in the dirt where they had left it, the slug continued to writhe.