The Art Of Giving Up

Chapter One

I felt like I was going to throw up. In a good way though. I mean, it was my very first day of school ever. I was bound to feel nervous, right? I'm sure everyone felt this way on their first day of school. To be fair, most of those kids were about 4 to 5 years old and I'm 15. God, why am I so nervous? Ugh. I need to get out of my head. It'll be fine. School would be amazing!   I'm sure everyone at school would accept me just fine. Having friends would be nice for a change. Maybe I'll be popular.

"Bye mama. Bye Papa. I'm heading out. I'll see you after school," I told my parents. I walked out the door, feeling really nervous about my first day of school despite my excitement. It would be lots of fun! Right?

I got on the bus and looked around at all the seats. The bus was completely full except for a few empty seats. I sat down in an empty spot next to some random kid that I didn't know. They looked over at me, rolled their eyes, and put in some earbuds. I tried to smile at them, but at that point I was non-existent in their eyes. They seemed like a jerk. Maybe I'll just avoid them.

When the bus entered the school parking lot, I had started regret my decision to come to school. It was giant and it was overflowing with kids. I could already feel tears brimming over my eyes, threatening to pour, at just the thought of just standing in that crowd. I have social anxiety, which definitely isn't helpful in this type of situation. Already off to a great start, I thought sarcastically. I swallowed my tears and started to head off to my first class.

*** (IN EDITING FROM THIS PLACE ON. TELL ME OF ANY MISTAKES)

I looked closely at my schedule and scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion. My spirit for the school was already beginning to break, and I hadn't even made it to my first class yet. I had to hold out though. If I could hold out for the rest of the day, then I could hold out for the rest for the week, then month, then year. Of course I knew it was a stupid thought, but I hoped it was true.

"Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Holly! Do you need help with your schedule?" a girl behind me made me jump as she spoke. She giggled.

"Um I'm Ary and yeah. I guess I could use a little help," I looked at the girl in front of me and plastered a nervous smile on my face. She wore all pink. She had a pink cardigan with strawberries scattered over it and a short pink skirt with lace lining the bottom. Even her hair was pink. I loved it. She was really pretty. I blushed bright furiously at the sight of her. Pretty girls never talked to me.

"Okie dokie! I can help with that! No problemo," Holly said. She giggled at her words and smiled widely at me. "Oh! You're in the same homeroom as me! We're almost late though, so we better hurry! The teacher will murder us if we're late," she shouted over her shoulder at me as she ran towards the classroom, giggling as she went.

We made it just on time.  Although I admit we were panting hard. Thank heavens that the teacher was late.

Our teacher was a large man who seemed to be as grumpy as can be. He was rude, especially to me, Holly and a couple others who had trouble reading when they were called on. There were constant glares toward us for no reason. We were in English right now, and the teacher seemed to hate us just because we had trouble reading. He seemed like the type to just hate everything and everyone.

After that class, my spirit really had broken.

The students were mean, the teachers were mean, even the principle, who had come to check on our class in English because the teacher was new and this was his first day, was mean. School was horrible.

Everything in this school was absolute bullsh- keep the thoughts clean Ary. Bullcrap. Everything but one thing. Well... one person. Holly was really nice. She had been homeschooled until last year, so she understood me pretty well, and she could guide me through school because she knew where everything was from the year prior.

I really hoped she could lift my spirits back to the stars where they were before I had left home. She might be the only one capable of doing that.

Even my own parents wouldn't really understand. They were amazing parents, don't get me wrong, they just.... well sometimes they just didn't really care about me.

They did have 6 kids to take care of in total. I couldn't set the blame on them. They were just doing their best, especially with all my siblings struggling at once. It seemed that right now, my older brother was failing his classes, my two older sisters were broke and needed help with money, my younger brother always seemed to need attention all the time, and my younger sister was very destructive.  It was just chaotic. So, I couldn't expect them to have the time to make me smile today.

It was up to Holly. She was always happy and never looked the slightest bit sad. She could definitely make me feel better. I doubt she had ever had a sad day in her life.

***

It was near the end of the day, about the time when everyone was leaving school, when Holly came up to me.

"If you need, I can walk you home! I need to walk home myself anyways, so I wouldn't mind taking a detour if it means I can talk to you some more! I'd love to get to know you better," Holly exclaimed, her voice keeping a sweet sound to it as she talked, making her sound a little hopeful even.

Holly. Had offered. To walk. Me home. Me. Oh my god. Thats so sweet! Shes so sweet. And she seemed genuine about the whole thing too. Like she really wanted to hang out with me more. I couldn't believe it. My heart raced a little bit more than expected considering I had just met her. My cheeks heated up a bit too. I was rendered speechless. I stood the for a few moments, hoping I didn't look completely stupid, until I had calmed down from the shock.

Pulling my eyes from the floor, I looked up at Holly and managed to stutter out, "Y-yeah! Sounds good! Do you think you'd wanna hang out at my house too? Since you'll already be there?"

The words kind of just came out, but I was glad they did because not a moment after I said that, Holly said, "Yeah! That sounds like lots of fun. Maybe we can play a board game or something like that!" She then grabbed my hand and asked, "So which ways your house? If its close, I'll race ya."

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I got the character idea for Holly from my bestie Ivy! Holly is based off Ivy and Ivy is a sweet little angel. Welllllll.... she can be a sweet little angel most of the time :>. I love her to bits and, just so you know, I got the happy personality from Ivy, not the experiences. Also, if anyone is mean to her, I will find you.

Anywaaayyysssss, thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote! I love you guys! See ya next time!