Willow's P.O.V.
Ugh school. Why do we have to go!?!?! I mean most of this stuff is useless anywaysâŚ. Right? I mean it's not like we're going to be blurting out history facts like a disease. I just wish I could stay home in my bed away from bullies and other school craziness. I don't want to have to put my blue contacts in because they're uncomfortable. I want to wear clothes that show my scars, but I can't do that because teachers will think I'm being abused. Which actually makes sense because I am. But nooooo, I have to go to school just because my parents don't want to watch me.
"Willow! Hurry up! You're going to be late for school!" My mother yells at me. Yet I get in trouble for yelling in the house?
"Okay mom!" I scream back just to prove a point.
Now, what to wear? Eh I don't care so I'll just be lazy today with a band tee and black ripped jeans. Oh and my all black converse sneakers. Then to cover up my scars I'll wear a bunch of wrist bands from concerts. Then I get my black sweater which has a bunch of pins on it. On my way to the bathroom I get a text from my best friend actually my only friend.
Lindsey: yo hurry up I'm 5 min away from ur house!
Me: God do u always have to say yo before everything?
Lindsey: yes ;)
Me: smh
After I put my phone down, I go to the bathroom and get my blue prescription contacts. I mostly wear these because people would judge my normal eye color even Lindsey has never seen my normal eye color. After I'm done in the bathroom, I grab my stuff and go downstairs for breakfast. I sit down at the table and my mother puts a bagel in front of me.
"Thanks mom." I say because even though I'm abused I still treat my parents how any adult should be treated.
"Yeah whatever. Hurry up and don't be late to school. Don't do anything stupid that'll get you in trouble. You know. The usual." She says and I nod my head.
Yeah, she says it all every morning. I hope they never find out what I'm doing to myself they would probably hurt me even more so than they usually do. After I'm done with my bagel, I hear Lindsey honk the horn at me. I put on my glasses because the contacts have a low prescription in them and go outside.
"Finally! Took you long enough." Lindsey mutters as I get in the car.
"Well I'm sorry if I don't want to get out of bed in the morning!" I shout to no one in particular.
"Well you could be faster about getting ready." She states driving to school.
"I'm sorry that I am forced to get up so early! There should be a law stating that school shouldn't start until at least 8:30! At least!" I protest loudly.
"Shut up we're here and I don't want to look stupid again." She says trying to quiet me.
Once we get a space we get out and walk inside. I say my goodbyes to Lindsey because our lockers are far away from each other. Once I get to my locker and put in my combo, I open it and see a pink envelope taped to the back of my locker, but I��m used to these things because of my bullies. So I just get my books and put my bag away.
On my way to class I see Lindsey because we have first together this year which I am really happy about. So I stop and we start talking about who we think will be in our classes. Turns out we have all our classes together except fourth and seventh and I'm glad for that. Then I notice how quiet the halls have gotten.
I turn my head to see four boys walking the halls but unsure of why everyone thinks they're so important. So I grab Lindsey's arm and make her walk with me to first. I hear other students gasp at my action because these guys apparently didn't finish their 'entrance'. I roll my eyes and keep walking to class. When we're like halfway there I'm pushed by one of the newbies.
"Watch where you're going freak!" He yells at me.
"Oh so sorry I was walking to class." I mutter picking up my stuff.
As I'm about to start walking the rest of the way to class the same boy grabs me and slams me against the lockers causing me to drop my things and several people, including Lindsey, to gasp in shock. Or maybe its excitement. Because to tell you the truth nothing exciting really ever happens here.
"What was that nerd? Or should I stick with calling you freak?" He asks so only I can hear him.
"I was sarcastically apologizing for just walking to class. Next time I'll speak louder so you can hear me. Is that okay?" I ask feigning sweetness.
"Excuse me?" He asks incredulously.
"You know what it's the first day back and you're new, so I'll just repeat myself because I'm feeling generous and you seem to be hard of hearing. You ready? I said sorry for just walking to class and I'll speak up next time. You got that? Good. Now if you'll be so kind as to let me go, I'd like to get to class." I say because I am fed up with his attitude right now.
But does he let me go? Of course not! Instead he just tells everyone to scram and they do as told except his friendsâŚ. And mine. Lindsey is going to get hurt if she doesn't leave.
"Lindz just go to first I'll meet you there. Okay?" I try even though it's pointless, but I have to try.
"What?! But you're my best friend I can't let them hurt you!" She says in a worried tone.
"Lindz you know I'm grateful for your protectiveness but, I can handle this you know that I go through worse things than this." I say gesturing to the current situation.
She looks just about ready to give in when the guy pinning me says, "You should listen to your friend or you might get in trouble along with her."
She looks to me for assurance, and I nod my head telling her to go and she does. Then when she's out of hearing range the boy drops me, and I fall to my hands and knees. Then he tells his friends to grab me and I start hyperventilating and reach for my inhaler in my bag, but they don't let me. I start panicking because I really need my inhaler.
"What's wrong with her dude?" One guy asks the other three.
"I don't know why you don't ask her?" Their 'leader' says.
"Okay," he says and turns and crouches in front of me. "What's happening to you?" he asks.
I try to do charades to show them I need my inhaler and point to my bag. The guy in front of me is confused as is their leader. But the other two get it and one reaches into my bag looking for my inhaler. I think.
"Found it!" He said.
"Found what exactly?" The leader asks impatiently.
"This." He says taking my inhaler out of my bag. He walks over to me and puts it in my mouth and helps me use it because my hands were shaking too much. He then puts it back in my bag and helps me up.
"You okay? That looked like it was pretty bad." He asks concerned and I nod still shaking slightly.
"Well, I'm apparently really stupid what was that?" The leader of their group asks.
"One of my asthma attacks." I respond quietly.
We all stand there in silence for a minute before I grab my bag and run off to first period. With them shouting after me. But do I turn around. Hell no! I'm about to go into the classroom when someone grabs my arm making me jump.
"You forgot these." He says holding out my glasses. Wait. I don't even know these kids name yet. That's just sad. I mean he did help me with my asthma attack back there.
I take my glasses and put them on. "Thank you. I'm Willow." I introduce myself not because I want to but because I was raised to be polite.
"No prob. Hey don't let Jackson scare you okay. He's not that scary once you know him." He tells me and when he sees the confused look on my face he explains further.
"Jackson. He's what you would call the 'leader' of our little group." He says and my confusion is all gone, and it turns to anger. I turn and walk into the classroom with my head down.
"Ms. Wilson. Mr. Sanders. So nice of you to join us. Mind telling me why you're late exactly?" The teacher asks us.
I immediately give the truth of why we were late. Besides the abuse I was given. "I had an asthma attack and he helped me out and walked me to class to make sure I was alright." I said gesturing to the boy next to me.
"Why didn't you just go to the nurse Ms. Wilson?" The teacher seems actually confused by my choice.
"I didn't want to I wanted to come to class." I stated hearing a few people snort at my statement.
"Well both of you go sit down" She says on a sigh.
***
Classes went by pretty well but now I have lunch. Yay. Note my heavy sarcasm. I hate lunch on the first day of school because no one wants to sit with me except Lindsey. We usually end up sitting outside or something. I put my stuff in my locker and walk with Lindsey to the cafeteria.
After we get our lunch, I hear someone call my name and turn my head in that direction. Guess who I see. If you guessed the guy that helped me out in the hall⌠ding ding ding! You're right! I wish you were wrong. He waves us over to his table and we sit down.
"Hey Willow. HeyâŚ. Lindsey, right?" He asks, and she nods her head looking kind of nervous to be sitting here of all places. I think she would have preferred outside.
"H-hi. Umm I don't know your name sorry." She stammers and I mentally face palm myself for bringing her with me.
"Oh that's okay. My name is Dylan. And my friends should be here soon. They can introduce themselves like big boys." He says with a tone that says he does everything or something.
We eat our food in silence. When we finish Lindsey gives me her tray and I take it and bring them to the garbage. After I throw out our trash someone pours their milk on my head and I squeeze my eyes shut.
"What the FUCK?!" I scream at whoever dumped it on my head. Who would have the audacity to do something like that?! My answer is given to me when I turn around and him laughing at me.
"WHAT THE ACCTUAL FUCK JACKSON?!?!?!" I yell at him and storm out of the cafeteria. Little did I know that Lindsey followed me I think she's too soft if people weren't bullying me, they would bully her. And I don't want that to happen. Kids here are cruel.
"Willow! Are you okay?" She asks concerned. That is when I literally breakdown and slide down to the floor.
"NoâŚ. I'm notâŚ. okay Lindsey." I say in between my crying. She helps me up and holds my arm.
"Come on I always come prepared remember? You'll just wear the extra clothes I bring for these types of scenarios. And besides, we have gym right now. You'll just change into your gym clothes." She always has a backup for me. She's the greatest friend I could ever ask for.
We are currently playing soccer in gym right now and I'm not complaining because I'm pretty good at it. It's Lindsey I'm worried about. Mostly because she sucks at it and we play defense together. She sucks so I basically have to play two positions, so we don't lose badly. But guess what. You wanna know who else is in my gym class this year? The three stooges. Oh and their little good guy. Yeah and guess what else. They're all on the other team. Well, Dylan is on offense with the good players.
Defense is just me, Lindsey and the queen bee of the school, Alexis. Or should I say queen bitch. So I'm basically the only one playing defense but, at least Lindsey tries. I mean all Alexis does is scream when the ball goes past her or she orders us around like she knows what she's doing or gets somebody else injured. **cough me and Lindsey cough**. What? It's true! I mean the only reason she's playing right now is because when others were playing, she distracted them so she could play.
The whistle goes off and we start playing. We're actually off to a good start which is weird. And then one of the three stooges kicks the ball, and it hits Alexis in the stomach. Oh no. I'm going to have to play her position now. While two kids help her to the nurse the coach comes over to me and is all like you're going to have to play for her blah blah blah don't get injured blah blah blah. I got it I got it. Heard it all before. Halfway through the game Jackson gets the ball and looks at me with angry eyes. Oh no. That can't be good. Then he kicks the ball full force atâŚ. Wait Lindsey?! I run over to my bestest friend to see if she's okay.
"Lindz? Are you okay?" I ask quietly. She nods and I help her up. I look at coach and he nod meaning take her. I see Jackson and he's looking at me with an unreadable expression. I just glare at him.
***
It's raining. Great. And Lindsey was my ride but since she had to go home early due to Jackson's kick, I'm stuck walking in the rain. Like I said great. The thing is I wouldn't mind walking if I didn't walk past an alley way to get home. The alleys scare me. I feel like I'll get kidnapped or something. Well here I am. The alley way. It looks all gross and smells disgusting. Don't people live in the alleys too? Shut up just go Willow. As I'm walking past it someone grabs me from behind and covers my mouth. Is it bad all I'm thinking right now is, I told you so!