The Wallflower of Parkview High

Chapter Six

"So, did anything happen with that Zander boy yesterday?" Charlotte asked.

"He called me 'weak' and 'annoying' and got annoyed because I can't run fast." I responded, avoiding her look and instead watching cars drive by in the darkness.

"Did he really?"

"Yes"

"Did he do anything else?"

"Yesterday he helped me up when we had to run and I tripped over a stick." I told her. She snorted and I glared at her.

"It's not funny!" I whined. Right now, my nose hurt more than ever no matter what I tried to do with it.

"Sorry." Charlotte said, between fits of laughter. I sniffed lightly, picked up a stick that was on the ground and began to doodle some random shapes in the dirt with it.

"Did he do anything else that was nice?"

"Well, he helped me go to Mr. Greene and sat with me until we had to go back to school."

"Awww, that's nice of him." Charlotte cooed.

" I don't understand though!" I huffed, throwing the stick back on the ground. "One minute he's all nice and the next minute he's laughing at me and teasing me for my ability to run slow!"

"Maybe you should run more so that he doesn't tease you."

"Maybe." I murmured. A huge gust of wind blew towards our house porch and I wrapped my arms around myself to keep warm; my hoodie was upstairs in my room and I was too lazy to go back in and get it. Suddenly the front door opened.

"Charlotte, Noah, it's dinner time." dad told us. I sighed and stood up, Charlotte doing the same.

"Coming..." I muttered.

~~~~~~~~

The second I stepped into the school, I saw that it was packed, just like my first day of school, but worse. I realized how many students really attended this school until now. And as if to make it even worse, the nasally bell rang, signaling everyone to go to their first class. It was just my luck that PE was all the way on the other end of the school, meaning I would have to navigate through this huge crowd of people.

"Um, excuse me." I said to a tall and slightly scary looking boy who was blocking the stairway.

"What do you want, you dipshit?" he demanded, glaring at me.

"I-I need to get to class-"

"Get out of my face, sissy." the boy said, shoving me. I gasped as I fell backwards, onto the ground. I could hear the nasally bell again and a few people around me laugh as I tried to hold back my tears,. Eventually I managed to get myself up off of the ground, maneuvered myself around the tall, scary boy and made my way to PE. Mr. Greene instantly stopped teaching the second he saw me.

"Why are you late?" he demanded

"I-I-I-"

"Stop stuttering and being a baby."

"I was going to the bathroom." I lied.

"Well don't be- Where are you going?!" he asked as I made my way to my spot next to Zander.

"I'm going to sit down-"

"No you're not. Instead, you're going to be walking around the track until the end of the period and are going to get a fail in the class today."

"W-What?!" I gasped.

"Go walk the track or else I'll make you run The Mile."

"Yes, Mr. Greene." I said quietly, and then began making my way towards the track, my backpack still on. As I walked, I tried my best not to cry.

Why does this school hate me so much? Why do people not like me? Why does my teacher hate me? Why am I teased for not being athletic enough? Most importantly, how will I survive at this school?

A half an hour later, that nasally bell rang, signaling the end of first period. Still numb, I began to make my way to my next class (language arts), looking down at the ground the whole time. I jumped when I felt myself bump into something - or someone.

"Oh!" I gasped, turning around to see who I had bumped into. It was a girl with dirty blonde hair who was wearing a white hoodie.

"I-I'm so sorry!" I stuttered, looking at her as she adjusted the straps on her backpack. Once she was done, she looked at me.

"It's fine." she said, waving a dismissive hand.

"No, I completely understand if you're upset-"

"Why would I be upset?" she asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"I don't know."

"Hey, what class are you heading to?"

"Language arts with Mrs. Johnson."

"Oh, me too!" the girl exclaimed. "Do you want to walk there together?"

"Sure." I said, and couldn't help but smile softly.