Kelly shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, her body shivering slightly from the cool breeze.
She pulled her bag closer to bring warmth to her body. It wasn't so cold out but she felt cold. The rest of her classes had been a blur as she didn't concentrate in any of them. Her scholarship was slowly going down the drain, she sighed.
"Hey Kelly!" She heard someone call. She sighed again before turning around.
It was the boy from Literature class.
"Hi." She managed a small smile.
"What's wrong?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing..." She drawled. "Why do you ask?"
"You weren't concentrating in Biology today." He said falling into step with her.
"And how would you know? I was 100 percent focused." She retorted. He gave her a challenging look.
"What topic did we do today?"
"Umm well...." She looked at him. "Fine, you've proved your point. I wasn't focused but how is that your concern?". It wasn't meant to come out harshly but she didn't feel like conversing with anyone.
" 'Cause I'm a friend and I care." He shrugged and she just nodded at him.
No one had wanted to be her friend in her former school and if they ever wanted to, it was because of her money. But no one knew that here.
"I'm James by the way." He smiled at her. He was on braces, she noticed for the first time.
"James Bond. Nice to meet you." She smiled, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear.
He chuckled. "So um, I should get going now." He said smiling.
"Yeah, bye James." She gave him a kind smile before walking the other way to catch the bus.
******************
The hospital walls had begun to annoy her. Everything about the hospital annoyed her. Her brother had been in it for five days and still no improvement.
She got her visitors' tag and walked to his room. Hoping again that he would be awake.
After saying a quick prayer, she pushed open the door and sighed when she was met with the same view. He was laying still on the bed, everything was still connected, the machines and the IV.
"Will you just wake up?!" She yelled angrily before kneeling beside him and breaking down into a crying mess.
"Kevin please, pleaseeeee just wake up. Respond to treatments, give us an hint that you're coming back. I don't want to lose you Kev, don't you get it? Don't make me come pull your ear and drag you away from whatever dream you're having."
"Kev please, just please." She pleaded holding his hands tightly and crying so bad that the sheets she lay her head against was wet. She sat on the floor beside his bed still holding his hand and before she knew it, she was asleep.
After an hour of a dreamless sleep, she got her homework out of her bag and began working on it, tears dropping down every now and then onto the page.
When it was 5: 30 pm, she packed her books, kissed him on the forehead before walking out.
She hugged herself tightly as the house came to view. Slipping into the house, she took off her shoes and went into her room to shower and change into something more comfy.
"Hi." She said to Paris who was lounging on the couch in the sitting room.
With a burning glare, Paris turned to her before averting her eyes back to the TV.
"What's wrong?" She asked her.
"Bitch take a hint." Paris snapped and Kelly was shocked.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly but Paris was already leaving the sitting room. At that point, Kelly was beyond confused.
She turned off the TV and went back to her room.
"Hey, what's wrong with Paris?" Asher asked her when they met on the stairs.
"I don't know." She said shrugging and Asher shook his head.
"I'm going over to a friend's." He said walking out the door.
"Wait. When will you be back?"
"A bit late." He said and shut the door.
"Wow." Kelly breathed. She was beginning to feel unwelcome.
She curled into bed and before long, she was knocked out.
But as usual, she woke up sweating and totally scared from a nightmare.
****************
Kelly felt like shit. That's putting it lightly. She had woken up around 2: 30 am this time around and wasn't able to get a wink of sleep after. She had had her bath, dressed up, read and watched the sunrise during her wait.
James had come to meet her at the entrance of the school and it felt good to Kelly knowing that someone was waiting for her. Paris was still not talking to her and just eyed her when she greeted James.
"How was your night?" He asked.
It was bad, I had a nightmare. I cried and got tempted to end it all.
But she settled with a 'fine thanks. How was yours?'.
"It was okay." He said smiling. His blue eyes were practically smiling with him and she shook her head.
Was she the only one with a sad life? Everyone seemed so happy.
She smiled back at him and they continued walking to their lockers.
When they got there, Ian was waiting at Kelly's locker, hands crossed across his chest. He smiled at her and shoved a paper into her hands before mouthing a 'We'll talk later'.
James turned to her with a raised eyebrow but she just shrugged him off and changed the subject.
"What do you have first period?" He gave her a sigh before replying.
"Economics."
"I've got Algebra." She said stuffing her books in her bag before looking over at him. He was staring at her. "What?" She raised an eyebrow which she couldn't do and just ended up raising both eyebrows.
"Nothing." He smiled.
"Alright then, let's get to class."
"And try to focus this time." He said and she gave him a scowl but she knew she really had to focus. She gave him a wave as they parted ways but immediately fell forward. She looked down at the shoe of the person that had tripped her.
It was a girl's.
Jacqueline.
She raised her head and picked up her bag.
"What do you want Jacqueline?" She gritted out.
"Oh! Nothing, it was a mistake. I didn't see you coming." She replied in a high pitched voice that sounded like a screeching squirrel.
Kelly shook her head and began to walk away but someone yanked on her hair, pulling her back.
"It's not a wig!" She heard Lauretta murmur.
Duh. She thought it was a wig??
"What do you want?" She asked, eyes blazing especially since Paris stood there not even trying to defend her.
Paris feared for Kelly, she was their new target and that was not a good thing. Jacqueline hated her with everything and the last person Jacqueline hated that much almost committed suicide and got transferred to another school.
"What is your problem Jacqueline?" She heard Kelly ask, anger displayed on her features. A crowd was forming around them and there was whispers coming from them.
"My problem darling, is you." Jacqueline sighed dramatically and placed a hand on her hip. "Ever since you walked into this school, you've been my problem." Her face turned serious. "You are my problem."
That simply meant Jacqueline wanted Kelly out of the school. And she would do anything, literally anything. She's dangerous like that.
"Well that's good 'cause you're my problem too." Kelly said and walked away only to be yanked back by Rihanna but with a surprising force, Kelly pushed Rihanna off her and she fell to the floor.
"Now listen, if any of you come near me. Or as much as lay a finger on me." Kelly began, pointing her finger angrily. "I'll make sure you go home handicapped." She said before walking off.
Jacqueline turned to face Paris.
"Your cousin just threatened us."
"That bitch should watch out for me." Rihanna added.
"Shut up, I'm not done talking." Jacqueline yelled at her and the dispersing crowd roared in laughter making Rihanna go red at once.
"Just to give you a heads up Paris, I'm gonna make her life miserable. She's gonna regret every word she said and she'll realise who makes the rules here." Jacqueline said before strutting away and they joined her.
"What did she do to you Jac?" Paris asked.
"We've gone through this so many times, she is trying to steal my boyfriend."
"Your boyfriend is her cousin. She's not into incest." Paris rolled her eyes.
"Not Asher." She waved her hands dismissively. "I mean Ian. They've been talking too much lately."
"Freedom of speech. And since when did you dump Asher?" Jacqueline shrugged that question off.
"You're on her side now? Fine, go follow her."
"I'm not on her side. I'm just trying to sort things out."
"Look Paris, I don't care if she's your cousin. She is trying to turn the boys against us. Ian no longer comes to the the Cafeteria, Lloyd gives me the cold shoulder and Liam glares at me. I can't let her do all that and leave her to parade around the school like she's a queen. No way." She said stomping her feet and walking away angrily.
Paris was stunned, she didn't know what to say. A simple but very disturbing sentence kept on running around in her mind:
Kelly is dead.
******************
~EnnyWrites 💕💕