The Sister Of Popular

Chapter Three

"Look, there's the girl who trashed Francis Kartinson with Sprite!"

"What a loser!"

"Stay away from her!"

I strode into school casually after Levi abandoned me by the gates. He abandoned me to tackle the world!

Well, actually, Dowerling Secondary School was only a very small section of the world, but same difference.

Ignoring all the whispering and giggling that was directed at me, I headed towards my form-room. I tried to hide the embarrassment that was threatening to flow into my skin. I had to be confident and not let them get to me. They were all stupid. They were all idiots. They were all people who weren't worth thinking about. All of this over me ruining Francis' skirt? Big deal!

Although I was a bit lonely. And the things they were saying were a bit hurtful. And I missed Levi – the evening before, he barely talked to me. Everyone I had come across was keeping away from me as if I had some contagious disease. I just hoped there was someone who would see sense.

But three days later, I was losing hope.

Opening the door to 10E, I saw an empty classroom. All that was there were various educational supplies, furniture and bags thrown untidily onto the scratched desks. I quickly found my own desk among the dozens in the middle of the room, and dumped my rucksack on top. Then I stood up in the isolated classroom. There was nobody here to keep me company, nobody to chat to. It wasn't as if anyone wanted to chat with me, but being in a still-unfamiliar room by myself (well, it was Thursday and I had only joined on Monday), you would excuse me for feeling lonely and scared. New schools were freaky. The thing was, everyone was here, but somewhere else. Probably Levi's form-room. As much as I wanted to go and join the crowd and socialise, especially with Levi, I wasn't going to set foot in 10G again. Not in the foreseeable future. Not after what had happened with Francis. I didn't want any more embarrassment. At least, if I kept to myself a bit, people may leave me alone.

Climbing on the desk, I sat down and started reading a random book that was stuffed into my bag, upside-down and the front page half-torn.  Even if it turned out to be Shakespeare, it was something I could do. To be fair, A Midsummer Night's Dream wasn't that bad. You had to give credit to Shakespeare for the interesting base-plot. The only things that made it boring were the awkward language and the unrealistic storyline. Puck! Love-potions! 

A door slammed into the lockers abruptly, making me jump. I looked up to see a girl called Florence coming in. If being close to someone counted being on speaking terms (which was an achievement for me), I was close to Florence. Sure, we weren't best friends yet, but she wasn't a snotty popular person like Ashley. She hadn't teased me yet, and she seemed sweet. She was somebody who I could actually be friendly with. Unlike Ashley and her friends, who I seemed to have no chance with.

But I’d been best friends with Levi for my whole life, and he was a popular. It couldn’t be that hard to get on their good side, could it?

"Hi, Florence!" I grinned cheerfully at her as she started taking off her coat.

Florence stared at me for a while until she gave me a little nod. A shy one, I thought.

"Um...so, how's life?" I tried to start a conversation.

Florence gave me a funny look, and then seemed to scan the empty room around us. I saw her eyes rest on the sign ‘10G’ for a moment.

"You don't have to be shy. I don't bite! Well, at least, I don't think I do." I let out a nervous chuckle at my pathetic joke.