Four Years Later

Chapter 1

NOTE FROM AUTHOR: Guys I wrote this story when I was 14-15 and I never completed it. I unpublished it because I was embarrassed of it haha, but I'm trying to own the cringe now 😂 So now, at age 22, I've decided to put it back up. The author's notes at the end of the chapters are all from when I was a kid. It's a silly story but I hope someone out there enjoys it.
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I woke up with a start. Blinking dazedly, I looked at my wristwatch, letting out a relieved sigh when I saw that I wasn't late for school. I hated school, but being late would only get me in trouble with the teachers, which I really didn't need.

"Kate! Are you up?", my mom yelled through my bedroom door.

"Yeah.", I replied groggily. I reluctantly rolled out of bed and looked into my dusty full length mirror. My blonde hair was frizzy and tangled, my stomach looked bloated and fat, and my blue eyes were surrounded by dark circles from sleep deprivation. I grimaced at my reflection before going to the closet.

Rummaging through my neatly piled clothes, I pulled on a baggy black shirt to hide my flabby stomach and some sweatpants to cover my tree trunk legs. I also wore my usual black sneakers.

After attempting to finger comb the tangles out of my hair for a minute, I gave up and went to the bathroom to freshen up. I never bothered with makeup; I knew it wouldn't make me any less ugly.

When I got out of the bathroom, I shoved my glasses on my face, picked up my backpack and made my way to the kitchen. My mom was cooking some eggs, so I sat down at the table.

"So, how's school going, sweetie?", she asked as she cooked.

"Oh, fine.", I lied. My mom had no idea about how much I dreaded school.

"Uh huh.", mom said absently. She turned the stove off before putting some scrambled eggs on my plate.

"Thanks.", I mumbled before digging in. I thought about my school as I ate.

I was thirteen and in the eighth grade. I absolutely despised school.

Not because of studying, or the teachers. I hated school because of three boys who constantly bullied me. They made fun of me, insulted me...and sometimes they even hit me.

One of them was Jay. He was tall and bulky, with spiky blonde hair and beady eyes.

The other was Blake, who was six feet tall and really skinny. He had greasy hair and was always scowling.

Their "leader" was John. He didn't look like your typical bully. In fact, a bunch of girls had crushes on him, and the guys thought he was cool. He was older than the rest of the eighth grade,at fifteen. He had brown curls, blue eyes and a bright smile. I was the only one who knew just how ugly he was on the inside.

Well, me and one other person.

I only had one friend : Eric. We'd been best friends for as long as I could remember, and he was the only person who liked me even though I was chubby, geeky and boring. He was also the only person who knew that Jay, Blake and John bullied me. He didn't know that they hit me, though. He would freak out if I told him that.

He didn't even know that I was bullied outside the school. If he did, he'd probably never leave my side.

It was because of Eric that those guys didn't usually hit me at school. Eric practically acted like a guard dog, but he couldn't be with me all the time at school. Eric was always begging me to tell the principal about the bullying, but I couldn't, and I'd made Eric promise not to either.

John had threatened to do horrible things to me if I told on him and his minions...

Mom snapped her fingers in front of my face, bringing me back to the present. "You'll be late for school, Kate. Get going", she said. "Right.", I muttered, grabbing my backpack and heading out the door. Praying that I wouldn't meet Jay, Blake or John on the way, I started walking to school.

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My heart rate slowed down when I finally reached the school. I made my way to English class, relaxing when I saw Eric waiting outside the classroom. He shot me a dazzling smile when he caught sight of me, and I grinned back.

Pretty much every girl in our grade had a crush on Eric, and I could see why. He had silky black hair, a tall frame and warm brown eyes. What I didn't understand was why he only hung out with me when there were so many popular girls and guys who wanted to be friends with him.

I walked up to Eric, and he placed a quick kiss on the top of my head before asking, "Hey, Katie. How was your weekend?"

"It was great.", I lied. I'd spent the entire weekend at home in order to avoid the bullies.

Eric frowned at me, noticing the lie, but he let it go.

"Cool.", he said. "Listen, do you wanna go to the cinema after school today?"

"Sure.", I said excitedly. I always felt safe with Eric, so I liked getting out of the house if I was with him.

Eric grinned and opened his mouth to say something, but the bell rang, signaling that it was time for class.

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A/N: yayyy, a new story! I've been thinking about writing this story for a while,so I hope you liked the first chapter. I'll try to get the second one up tomorrow :) Commeeeeeent!