Normal

A Weird Lunch

"Pahahaha!" I opened my eyes in a dark place, floating in the nothingness. "Rahahaha!" Persephone's head was slowly getting closer and bigger than me. "You're so bad at being normal that you must be a figment of my imagination, hehehe!" Her cackle was growing louder. And louder. And louder. And louder! She opened her mouth and I felt as though I was being sucked inside. I was going to die to my worst nightmare! I paddled helplessly at the air hoping I could escape but it was no use. So I just closed my eyes and waited to die. But that didn't happen. Instead I landed in a grassy area. My head was spinning wildly. But it wasn't over yet. A black smoky hand picked me up and spun me around at a breakneck speed and thousands of my own voice began to yell at me:

"Be a normal person!"

"It's not that hard to be normal!"

"Remind yourself of the consequences!"

"Remember, you can't tell anyone about this. And if you do, I will win."

"Just do it!"

"Why can't you just be normal?"

"Normal Normal Normal Normal NORMAL!!!!!!!!"

Beep Beep! Beep Beep! Beep Beep! I shoot awake, gripping my hair tightly, feeling sweat covering my face. I turn to the side to see my alarm clock going off, and I press the OFF button. It's fine. It wasn't real. But those words lingered inside my ears. It hurt so, so much. Otherwise, the morning was pretty much the same as yesterday.

The beginning of the school day went well, with only a few angry glares at one another. Lunchtime however, went exactly not to plan. Naledi and I sat down to eat our lunch, and we saw Persephone and her posse of friends walk towards us, with of course, Persephone in the lead with an angry smirk on her face. And before anyone could react, Naledi put her foot in their path, causing Persephone to fall onto the ground. Her friends looked on with terror in their eyes as two of them rushed to help her up.

"Mistress, are you ok?"

"OF COURSE NOT! This insolent jerk made me fall on this disgusting floor! You two! Go to my locker and get my spare clothes!" I look at her in shock, I still can't believe Naledi did that. And her foot is swiftly back under the table, probably so Persephone doesn't have evidence of being tripped.

"Of course lady Persephone!" The two bow quickly before hastily scurrying to the exit before the lunch teachers can stop them. As Persephone got her mirror out, she touched her head and her eyes grew wide. She opened her mirror to see her previously perfect bun now slightly tilted and flopping a bit. She was furious. Growling audibly she whipped around to Naledi and raised her fist. I braced for impact - but it never came.

Was I dead? I peaked my eyes out to see one of her pawns holding her shoulder and whispering something in her ear. Naledi was stanced to stand at a moment's notice but Persephone stood down. She still looked furious but she just walked away to the empty table and signaled her pawns to come with her. We were both pretty sure that she had scared off everyone else who tried to sit there. Shortly after, a girl stopped by and left a note: You two got lucky this time, but that won't be the case for much longer. MARK MY WORDS.

Naledi looked at this note in confusion, but I knew exactly what it meant. I knew it meant that I was for sure getting a beating afterschool. And I knew it meant that Naledi might have just gotten herself roped in it with me. "Let's just eat our lunch." I say bluntly. I think Naledi knows that note affected me more than it should've, especially since I'm not the person who tripped Persephone.

"I know you're hiding something about Persephone. I don't know what it is, but I know you're hiding something. You were more scared of Persephone than me, even though I was the one who tripped her. So please, can we talk about it?" I knew that she would find out some day, I'm not a very good liar. I look into her pleading night eyes and ran through the possible outcomes in my head. I came to the conclusion that she would almost definitely get into this, via either her investigating, me telling her everything, or the worst way, her getting beaten up after school with me.

"Afterschool, at my house." is all I mutter out. I can hear a slight crack in my voice. I can see a look on her face that I can't quite read. Maybe a mix between concern and confusion. We eat lunch in silence, and when the bell rings we head off towards our classes. I don't pay much attention in my remaining 3 classes, just worrying about how I'm going to tell Naledi about what's been going on.

I told my art teacher that I need to leave class five minutes early, due to personal reasons. I did this so that I hopefully didn't get a beating today, and I could meet up with Naledi outside her class when we leave for the bus. Luckily, my art teacher is super chill and agreed. I spent the rest of class -whilst doing my work- dithering on how I was going to tell her everything. I decided that I wasn't going to tell her. I was going to show her.

"Nova, you can go now. It's five minutes from class over." I forgot for a moment what he was talking about, but then I remembered what I had asked him at the start of class. I grab my backpack and swiftly get up and leave the classroom. I start heading to Naledi's classroom, which is on the other side of the school. I get to it just seconds before the bell rings. I see Naledi walk out of the classroom, and when she sees me, she looks shocked. probably because I don't normally wait for her.

"H-hey." Stop stuttering Nova. I awkwardly wave at her. "Don't ask why I'm here waiting for you, I'll explain later. She looked even more confused, but it didn't matter. She would know everything in thirty minutes anyway. She just shrugged and put her arm around me, and I winced from her hand putting pressure on a bruise. But I didn't move her hand, because it felt comforting in a way. We got on the bus and sat next to each other. I stayed silent, and if she was trying to talk to me, my brain filtered her out.

We walked to my house in silence, and I could tell that Naledi was worried about it. As soon as we arrived, I tossed my backpack on the couch, gesturing for her to do the same, (and again we don't have any homework) so I greeted my mom and we headed upstairs. "I h-have to go change." I tell Naledi. She looks very confused, but waits outside my bedroom for me. I close the door and grab a crop-top I forgot I had, and some shorts. I put them on carefully, making sure not to put too much pressure on my bruises, and just look in the mirror at my colorful body. "Okay, you can come in now..."