The Social Outcast

Chapter Five

THE SONG THAT HALLIE SINGS IS ABOVE ^^^

Hallie's POV

"Hallie, why don't you sing us a song?" Ms. Greene asked. I was sitting in chorus class when the teacher asked me to sing. I can't sing, I'm a terrible singer.

It's been a week since Calum agreed to let me stay with him for the domestic exchange program. It's been one and a half weeks since I found out that my parents had signed me up for the domestic exchange program.

"Uh, I'm a pretty bad singer," I said. Snickers echoed throughout the classroom and Ms. Greene sent glares.

"Oh c'mon. You're old chorus teacher said you had the voice of an angel. Just one song," Ms. Green asked. I gave in, going to the front of the classroom. I was going to sing 'Shadows,' by Sabrina Carpenter.

After the song was over, all of them had shocked looks on their faces. Was I that bad? It surprised me when the vast majority of them started to clap.

"That was perfect. Your old teacher was right about you singing like an angel," Ms. Greene said.

I began to think about my old chorus teacher. She was a woman in her twenties, and was my best friend. She also knew about the fact that my parents weren't the best. Technically it was against the law not to tell social services, but I begged her not to.

I went to my next class, which was jazz dance. It was one of my favorite classes so far, because I loved dancing. As usual, I didn't think I was that good, but the teacher said I was. We were doing a dance to some Ella Fitzgerald song.

When the teacher walked out of the room, Lucy, the girl that's been tormenting me, took that opportunity to insult me in every single way.

"Wow, have you gotten fatter? I know what I said about you being really skinny, but you shouldn't go on a food rampage. You should really pace yourself," She smirked.

Why did she always win these games? When was I ever going to fight back?

"Why don't you just go back to where you belong? Where all the country hicks are? That accent is the stupidest and most annoying sound I've ever heard. Your so worthless," She scoffed, walking away.

'The words didn't hurt,' I said internally, trying to convince myself.

**************************************

We were sitting at dinner, Ashton talking about a baby he delivered.

"Oh my gosh, it was the prettiest baby girl ever. Her cries were so precious," Ashton gushed.

I just sat there, picking at my pasta. I couldn't stop thinking about the words that Lucy called me. No matter how much I tried to convince myself, the words did hurt.

"Hallie, you've been picking at your food for five minutes now. Is something wrong?" Calum asked.

Man, was I that obvious?

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. I just got caught up in my thoughts," I took a bite of my pasta. The gave each other weird looks, as if communicating with their eyes. It was kind of creepy.

"Okay, just know that you can talk to us if you need to. I know we've only known each other for a week, but you can. By the way, I've set a doctors appointment for Friday," Calum slowly told me.

Doctors appointment?

I haven't had a doctors appointment in years, and I was terrified. They were all up in your business, and touched you often. The thought alone was enough to make me feel sick.

I tried not to let my fear show, and thankfully, they didn't question anything.

This lifestyle was so much different from the one I had in Georgia, and I didn't know which one was better.