Dipping Into Together

Ch 1

A headache was already coming on, I could feel it. It was pounding behind my eyes. I sighed and looked back down at my book. Maybe if I just ignored them, they’d disappear, I thought to myself in regards to the table of popular girls sitting at the table next to me. I was in the library. No one likes the library in my school, which is precisely why I was in here. Because, guess what? No one in my school likes me, period. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t go home and cry about it. Been there, done that, not going back again. I have moved on from them. I only have one and a half years left and then I’m out of here. 

“Can I sit here?” someone asked.

Looking up again, I saw an overweight girl with blonde and purple hair glancing nervously between me and the empty seat across from me. I sighed inwardly. I nodded and she sat down.

“It’s beautiful outside, isn’t it?” she asked excitedly.

I looked up at her with a blank expression on my face, trying to get her to understand that I was not up for conversation.

She kept grinning at me, her smile not wavering.

“Sure,” I muttered flatly. Now, I wasn’t a bitch, don’t get the wrong idea. But I usually kept to myself, and I liked it like that. I was okay by myself. I didn’t have any friends, and that was okay. I was fine with that. I wasn’t horrible or ugly or anything and I liked to think myself as mildly approachable. However, the student body seemed to think otherwise. I got hit on by plenty of boys, none of them popular or attractive, but still. But other than that I had no real human contact other than my teachers, which was fine with me. I had curly black hair that sometimes was just way too out of control. I was on the shorter side, standing at five three. I liked to think myself as pretty, however unusually pretty. I had bright green eyes, which stood out against my black hair.

She sighed heavily and I could feel her watching me. “So,” she said, leaning across the table, “why don’t you have any friends?”

I glanced up at her, surprised. I didn’t respond, just raised my eyebrows. Had she really just asked that? Looking back down at my book, I didn’t justify her dumb question with an answer.

“Do you not like people?” she pressed on.

Pointedly ignoring her, I continued to read.

“Do they annoy you?”

I continued to be silent.

“Do you think you’re better than everyone else or something?” she said, a hint of frustration in her voice.

She did not just say that. Shoving my book into my book bag, I stood up. “You know,” I said, glaring at her, “I think next time you should maybe mind your own business.” Rolling my eyes at her gasp that followed my comment, I turned on my heel and walked away from her. Pushing through the library doors, I step out into the hall. I roll my shoulders and then head into the lunchroom. Still having not eaten, I’m pretty hungry. After buying a chicken sandwich, I survey the cafeteria. I don’t usually sit with anyone. I don’t even know why I bothered looking around to see if there was an open spot, there never is. It’s December, no one wants to sit out in the cold. Walking out of the cafeteria, I make my way outside. No one’s outside. Perfect. I walked over to a bench and sat myself down. I immediately began eating my sandwich.

Without thinking, I glanced up, sensing the presence of someone else. Across the school parking lot, there was a form sitting on a bench, hunched over. His head slightly bobbing up and down, he seemed oblivious to the world. He was probably listening to his iPod or something. I didn’t recognize him, didn’t even know who he was. Shrugging, I went back to my sandwich.

By the time I finished eating, it was almost time for the next class. Glancing around again, I realized that the guy was gone. Without giving him another thought, I shoved my empty lunch bag into the trashcan and made my way back into the school.

At the end of the day I was already beyond tired. I hadn’t slept well that night, and it had been a long day. Stepping onto the bus, I quickly looked around for an empty seat. When I found one, I slipped into it silently, not making eye contact with anyone. Putting in my ear buds, I put on a random song and slowly let myself drift into a thoughtless place somewhere between the bus and my music. Letting my head rest against the window, I stared off into nothing.

Suddenly, I felt someone sit down beside me. I didn’t move, didn’t bat an eyelash. Ignoring them altogether, I continued to stare out the window. After a couple of stops, they got off. I was in my own little world, though, so I didn’t even realized that they had left until my stop, when I looked over at the seat next to me and found it empty. Hopping off the bus, I started walking home.

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