The Hood Next Door

I don't like her.

We walked through the lunch room doors. Some people look at us with an annoyed look on their faces as they covered their nose while we passed by. She led me straight to a table with Kayden, Chris, the blonde boy and Kaycee. The blonde boy rolled his eyes look away irritated at me, while Chris and Kayden struggled to not gag and the Kaycee pressed her lips together until they disappeared. Amelia sat us down in two empty seats as she smiled at her friends. The people sitting around their lunch table covered their noses as the stood up from their seats, taking their food with them and left.

"Guys, look who I found." She smiled.

"You went to look for here." The blonde guy said irritated.

"Oh come on. Remember how I was on my first day?"

"That's different."

"How?"

"You didn't hide your face, smell like depression and draw creepy shit in your spare time." He shrugged glaring at me.

"What do you know about Gwen? She just got here."

"Thank God not a lot." He rolled his blue eyes at me.

I bowed my head in shame. I did do wrong. I don't know why I listened to the voice in my head and did such a thing.

"Stop being such a dick, Eathan." Kaycee said. "What's your problem?"

Eathan? That's his name? I got his name.

"I don't like her."

"You just met her."

"I've seen enough to not like her."

"You've been an asshole the whole weekend and yesterday. Don't take it out on Gwen." Kaycee snapped at him.

"You don't know what happened the weekend so stay out of it." He snapped back narrowing his eyes at her.

She smiled at him before getting up from the table and leaving.

"Wait!" He yelled back as she walked away. He turned back to me angrily. "This is your fault." He growled at me.

"Eath." Amelia said sternly as she widened her eyes, shaking her head at him.

"You should leave." He spat at me, making me flinch.

"Stop." Chris snapped at him.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I put my sketchbook book on the table. I flipped to the sketch I just finished, ripping it out of my book and handing it to him upside down.

He flicked his gaze warily between the paper and I.

"Eathan, I'm sorry about the first one I drew earlier. I just wanted you to see what happens when people are around me." I said as I turned my gaze to Kayden and Chris as well. "I'm very sorry." I said. "I can't express it enough."

Eathan took the paper cautiously from my hand and flipes so he could see. It was just a tonal sketch of them laughing in class during English. They were laughing about something during class and I decided to capture the moment because that was as close as I could get to having my own. I laid my book and hand on my lap as I watched them stare at the sketch, amazement clear in their eyes.

Or so I thought.

I watched in horror as Eathan crumpled the paper in his fist.

"Eathan." Kayden yelled.

"Dude." Chris yelled as well as he tried to take the drawing in time but missed. Eathan scrapped his chair on the floor as he stood up. He threw the paper into the rubbish as he left out the same exit Kaycee did. Chris scraped his chair as well as he followed after him.

I bowed my head in shame once again. I quickly wiped my tears away before they could see any of them. The whole room was staring at us now as the drama had left the room.

"What the fuck just happened?" Amelia said under her breath but not quiet enough for me not to here. I felt a pair of eyes piercing into my skull as looked at my dry flakey hands.

"You shouldn't have had to see that." Kayden's voice mumbled.

"No." I sniffed looking up at him. His intense stare on my hood made me feel worse because I could see the pain in them. "I'm sorry." I turned to Amelia who looked at me confused. "I told you. People get annoyed when I'm in the room and bad things happen." I said standing up. "Please don't look for me anymore." I bowed my head as I walked toward the exit.

As I did, I didn't notice the person in front of me until I felt a cold liquid pour onto my clothes as I fell to the ground. I grimaced, wiping the sweet liquid off my lips as I stared down at the mess on my hoodie.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" I looked up at the person who knocked me down. It was the girl who tripped me earlier. She grabbed my arms and yanked me up to my feet. "It's all my fault." She said covering her mouth with her hand. "Here. Let me help you." She reached for the zipper of my hoodie and my eyes widened as I retracted from her. She grabbed onto my arm forcefully and tried to yanked my hood off with her other hand. I hit her hand away from me and stepped back from her as she lost her grip on my arm. I quickly picked up my pencil and sketchbook and hurried towards the exit as apologies came tumbling out of my mouth.

"At least you don't smell so strongly of shit any more!" She yelled over my shoulder with a laugh as I pushed through the door, tears trailing down my face. I bumped into another person hard and fell back again but they caught me. I regained my balance again and distanced myself from them, looking up.

It was Eathan with Chris and Kaycee at his sides. They all stared at me in shock. I noticed some of the brown liquid on me had spread to Eathan's shirt and my eyes widened. I wiped my cleanest sleeve on his chest, attempting to get as much as I could off as I apologised repeatedly. As I looked up to his face, he had a look of pity on his face as he pushed my hand away from him. I swallowed the lump lodged in my throat once again and excuse myself, running past them.