Everything Has Changed

15

10 years ago

I wiped the tears escaping my eyes, trying to stop them before I got to my house. I walked onto my porch, exhaling as I closed my eyes. Only opening them back up when I was ready to go back into my house.

I pulled the sleeves of my sweatshirt down, so they covered my hands that were covered in scrapes, some of them close to bleeding through the Band-Aids my teacher had given me. I opened up the door, hearing my mom argue with someone over the phone.

"My answer is no Andrew, and the answer will always be no. You were the one that le-"My mom stopped her sentence when she saw me standing at the kitchen entrance, she hung up the phone and walked towards me. "Hey baby how was school today?"

She looks down at me worriedly. She knows that I didn't want to move schools, but she has no choice. She told me that sometimes it was best for families to move to smaller houses, and this is something that she had to do.

I was upset at first but then remembered all the time that my mom would get upset whenever she saw those papers in the envelopes.

I never really understood why it made her so sad, but I did understand that my mom wasn't happy. I just wanted her to be happy, so I stopped the tantrums and started to show her that I was excited for the move even though I wasn't.

At my old school, I had so many friends, that I was scared I wouldn't make any here. And this fear ended up becoming true. I haven't made a single friend since I got here.

She made sure of it.

She's Maddie Hope. Ever since I got to this school, she's hated me. Hated me so much that she's been mean to me every single day since. She's been getting others to join in on her fun too. Making me one of the most hated people in school.

She's the worst out of all the people there. Today she has pushed me off the playset, causing my scrapes as well as several other bruises on my body. She just laughed at me as I started to cry from the pain and embarrassment.

I hated Maddie Hope.

"Aria?" My mom asked and I looked up at her with a smile. "It was good" She furrowed her eyebrows looking down at me, then she frowned as she looked down at me with a worried look on her face.

"you're lying, you always play with your hands when you're lying."

I frowned as I put my hands to my sides. "Are you okay?" She asked and immediately I felt tears fall down my face.

"Oh baby-"She pulled me into a hug as I started sobbing, crying into her shirt. She started rubbing my back as I opened my mouth to tell her what happened.

"She... she..." I couldn't finish my sentence as a sob left my body. "Shh it's okay you're okay. Give yourself a second, okay?" I nodded my head and she smiled. "Good now deep breath in" I inhaled, closing my eyes.

"Now exhale"  I did so and opened my eyes back up to look at her. "This girl Maddie Hope, she's been being mean to me" My mom nodded her head as she motioned for me to continue.

"She's been making everyone else hate me too and today she pushed me off the playground." Her eyebrows raised as she nodded.

"Don't worry baby I'll handle it okay?" she says, and I nod my head. She kisses the top of my head then gives me a reassuring smile.

"Let me see your hands I can fix those" I frowned looking down to see my hands were officially bleeding through the Band-Aids as one of them started to fall off. I nodded my head and put my hands out. She grabbed onto our first aid kit and helped take care of it. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would've when she put something on it. It had stung a lot but she said it'll help me feel better sooner.

When she finished, I ended up going outside in the backyard to play while my mom started to call someone, only coming back out a few minutes later with a smile on her face. I didn't know why but I didn't ask. Despite me wanting to know I also just desperately wanted to climb the tree in my backyard that I had named Randy.

I climbed up the tree as my mother watched me from the ground. "Be careful" she shouts at me. I looked down at her and smiled nodding my head.

***

It had been a few months after Maddie had pushed me off the playground. She hasn't said anything to me since then. Actually, she's done nothing at all. Everyone else joined her too. No one is mean to me, but I still haven't made any friends.

I looked over to the empty desk beside me. Then I looked all around the classroom seeing everyone talk to their friends. I sighed looking down at my desk as I waited for my teacher to come in.

She walked in a few minutes later, with a girl following along behind her. Instantly the class got quiet, and I saw as the teacher smiled proudly. "Hey guys"

Everyone greeted her back as she looked down at the girl besides her. "This is Olivia, she's new here so make sure you all help her out if she needs it" The class all nodded their heads and my teacher put her hand on Olivia's shoulder, pointing towards the seat next to me.

She leaned down and whispered something into her ear. Olivia nods her head as she walks towards the desk beside me and smiles. "Hello, what's your name?" She asked me and I smiled back at her. "Aria" She purses her lips as she nods, looking as if she was thinking. "I like it" She sits in her seat and looks towards the front of the class towards the teacher as she smiles nodding her head.

I looked towards her with a confused look, and she laughed. "She's my aunt and she was telling me about how she thought you and I would be friends" Oh-

"And she was definitely right, I like you, I think we're gonna be the best of friends" she leans towards me and pulls me into a hug. She pulled away from me and I felt as I started blushing. I looked back down towards my desk as she started to laugh.

***

A few months later and just as Olivia had thought we became best friends. She was sleeping over at my house tonight but currently we were at school.

People started liking me a lot more since I became friends with Olivia, but I haven't really talked to them much. All I needed was Olivia and I would be happy.

Maddie however has been getting back to being mean once again. But this time more to Olivia than me. I'm not really sure why but I've been trying to keep her away from Olivia as much as possible.

"Here's the blue" I handed Olivia the blue marker and she smiled while grabbing it from me. "Thank you" I looked back down at my drawing that I was making of Olivia, smiling down at it.

I really like drawing and I've been trying to get better at it.

"I'm done" I tell her, and she looks down at her own paper and frowns. "Mine doesn't look good" she tells me, and I shrugged my shoulders giving her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure it looks good" She shakes her head at me then tilts her head down.

"You go first" she told me, and I turned my paper towards her, watching as her jaw dropped. "That looks exactly like me" I smiled, thanking her. "Now you go" I tell her, and she purses her lips as she turns her paper towards me.

Oh-

"It looks really good" I tell her, and she raises her eyebrows at me. "you're not telling the truth" I shake my head at her furrowing my eyebrows. "no, I'm telling the truth" She hummed shaking her head as she looked down at my drawing once again.

"You should become an artist..."