Love Is So Cliché

Chapter Two: Presentations, New Faces and Tears

All eyes were on Laura as she stood up, cleared her throat, and began to speak, ''Well, um, basically, I guess all I can say is..." She began. ''Iago has always been the most conniving character in Othello. He manages to masterfully use everyone, more especially Roderigo. Iago tells Roderigo that Desdemona has already moved on from Othello and is now solely interested in Cassio, which means that Roderigo is down a point in the race for Desdemona's love. At first, Roderigo did not believe what he was being told, but Iago was very persuasive and convinced him that Desdemona was nothing but a frivolous whore who entertained Casanovas like Cassio. Iago was quite an interesting character, his greed resulted in jealousy, false accusations, suicide, and murder. It is a pity Othello was a deluded and insecure man, otherwise, if he had been more confident and trusted his wife despite the difference in their class and ethnicity, they could have been a historic treasure, lovers who never gave up despite the disapproval of many. But of course, love is utterly disgusting, therefore his betrayal was easy and anticipated and this literary piece truly is a beautiful tragedy."

After her amazing and clear explanation, everyone was stunned, Mr. Roberts' grin broadened, and he began to applaud her. Soon almost everyone was applauding-almost everyone-that is, except Melissa and her squad. "Thank you, Miss Diamond, I didn't expect such a magnificent answer. I think it is safe to say you guys are no longer going to serve any punishment, even you Mr. Phillips, I guess." Mr. Roberts marveled. Suddenly the bell rang, "Alright students, I will see you tomorrow and please remember to read the revision material. Please be good kids for a change." Mr. Roberts begged pitifully. "OK, OK Mr. Roberts we will this time, promise!" Jake answered, smiling sheepishly. Which automatically translated to; "No thanks dude, tomorrow's Friday so I have got to start planning for my party." He laughed, raking his hands through his raven-black hair, winked at Laura, and said, "Thanks for saving my ass, see you Friday, okay." Laura just glared at him and then walked out of the classroom. 'Friday is tomorrow so why not just say see you tomorrow, dumbass.' Laura thought rolling her eyes.

Just as she was about to reach her next class around the corner someone grabbed her arm and pushed her up against a locker. The person had long black hair and was dressed in black leather shorts, a black leather jacket with tiny spikes, and black and white high tops. Her eyes were a dark blue and she wore maroon lipstick. "Hey, you're the really smart girl, right?" She asked Laura, her eyes having a slight shimmer in them. "And? If that is me, what's it to you?" Laura spat shrugging off the mysterious girl's hand. "I-," the girl began, but was cut off by a pretty blonde girl, with bright blue eyes and wearing similar clothes to the first girl, except hers were red and her leather jacket had lace instead of spikes. She also had on wedges instead of high tops and wore pink lip gloss. "Now that's no way to treat our new friend, is it sis'?" She asked and without waiting for an answer, she gently tugged the first girl away from Laura. The first girl folded her arms and frowned. "I'm sorry about that," the second girl began to say. "My twin sister tends to get a bit rough. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm May April and this feisty kitty is June April, and-." "I understand how amusing our names might appear to an immature imbecile, but I take any jokes or teasing as an insult, thus I would advise you to refrain from making any remarks about our names." June cut in.

"June come on, how are we going to get her to become best friends with us if you keep threatening her?" May asked sounding slightly irritated. June sulked, cursed internally, but still kept her mouth shut. They may have been twins but it was obvious that May was considered the more mature and older one considering her name and personality. "Well, now that I just blurted out my request, what do you say, Laura, would you like to be friends?" May inquired smiling broadly. After a moment's silence, Laura answered her.

"No."

The answer came sounding emotionless, nonchalant, and cold. "The fact is friends are just so cliche, how many people have promised that they would "stay friends forever"? Then in the end something happens to ruin said friendship, maybe said friends get into different schools or move to different locations, losing all contact and not even attempting to re-establish a connection. Look I don't have friends because I'm a loner, I don't because they're cliche. I don't do cliches. Thanks for the offer though." Laura quickly turned away; her speech had heightened her emotional sensitivity levels; she was a highly logical and cynical person emotion had no place in her life. She would not let those two see them. No one should ever see them. She tried to walk away but June would not let her. "Hey, that was rude, apologize," June said squeezing Laura's arm. She abruptly turned Laura around. Laura closed her eyes so they could not see them, but they still managed to flow through. Beautiful but sad, sparkling tears.

"June, what did you do?" May asked. "Nothing, I swear. I just wanted her to apologize." June replied guiltily. "Just leave me alone. They did. They all did." Laura sighed, she was not making any sense, she knew that, but she was triggered. "Laura I am so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt y-,"

"You didn't," Laura began, cutting June off. "But she did. She said she would be right back. They said they were going to be right back, all of them, together, but only one came back. She came home late that day. She said everything was going to be alright. However, that same night I heard her crying like I had when she thought no one was listening to her those past few months. Then she stopped. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Laura, " she began to whisper. It just didn't work out, your dad and Lisa aren't coming back, I'm sorry sweetie, I'm so sorry. " She thought I never heard those words, but I was never the same again from then on, I realized that people even the ones you love dearly will leave you as soon as they get even the slightest opportunity of a lifetime. All those love stories, those Happy Endings, those teenage dramas where the guy always gets the girl, they're all fake, farfetched and most of all, they're just so damn cliche. 

Laura took a deep breath and waited, waited for them to call her a freak or a psychopath, when suddenly she felt warm arms around her, and they shocked her into silence. Her arms fell to her side, she slowly opened her eyes and on her right shoulder she could see black hair, on her left she could see blonde hair. Hesitantly, she lifted her arms, accepting the hug. It had been 10 years since she had let anyone, even her own mother hug her, it was a warm feeling chasing away the dark cloud that had always hovered over her. "Guys, come on hugs are even more cliche," Laura complained, but she still smiled a small smile.