Youthful Wrath

4 - angry women

Allison pulled and ripped at her bag, trying to detach it from her locker. The hallway was mostly empty, since the tardy bell had rung two minutes ago. She didn't mind being late, but walking into a full classroom is awkward.

She was tired of having to rip her bag from the cheap metal of the lockers, and she was starting to understand why so many people hated school. Hygiene and interesting personalities are nonexistent in this prison, and Allison didn't want to walk around alone any more. Sometimes, being alone was the best thing for her. But she was beginning to realize that a friend or two may be the only thing that gets her through the rest of the school year.

"Need any help?" Allison jumped from the voice sounding behind her. Twisting around with wide eyes, she was shocked to see one of her classmates. "You look kind of stuck."

Allison enjoyed the girl's nonchalant attitude, happy that she wasn't making fun of her for getting stuck so easily. "Yeah. Bag's caught on the locker." She let out a nervous chuckle and tugged at the bag. "It's happened three times this week."

The girl smiled at Allison, reaching past her and twisting the bag and metal. Allison felt her bag droop, no longer stuck on the locker. "There," the girl said with a victorious grin on her face. "Problem solved."

Allison and the girl walked down the hallway like a couple of turtles, stopping occasionally to giggle at each other. When they suddenly lost their goofy mood, the girl looked over at Allison with a mixture of concern and sympathy. "I heard what happened with Jason."

Allison glanced over at the girl, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You're not the only one; some of my friends fell for it, too." The girl shook her head, "He always does it, and somehow, gets away with it."

Allison nodded at the girl, understanding the anger and frustration she spoke with. She wanted to find out about how she knew, but she was worried that now would be an inappropriate time. So, she kept her mouth shut and opened the door to her English classroom.

As the door creaked open, Allison stood still and stared wide-eyed into her classroom. The teacher didn't seem too concerned about Allison, but the class looked at her as if she had grown two heads.

"Shut the door. Take a seat." The teacher told her in a monotone voice. His nose was still stuck in his copy of Lord of the Flies.

Allison wasn't sure what was so good about the book, mostly because it was a book about describing plant life on an island, but she didn't spare her teacher another glance as she sat in her seat. As the girl passed by her desk, she dropped a piece of folded paper.

Allison stared at the paper, wondering what exactly this meant. Was this her first note? Was she finally passing notes with a person she might be able to consider a friend?

She opened the note, staring at the ink sprawled on the paper. "Beth," it said. Allison's mind began to wander, thinking about how much of a perfect fit the name is for the girl.

"You're supposed to be reading a book, Allison. Not notes." The teacher looked up from his book this time, glaring at Allison as if she had interrupted his very, very important reading time.

Allison pulled a book out of her bag behind her, flipped open to a random page, and held her note in front of her book. Below the girl's name was a tiny, scribbled question: "Sit with me at lunch?"

If this wasn't an invitation to join her friend group, Allison wasn't sure what was.

___

As she walked into the crowded cafeteria, she glanced around in search of her new friend. It wasn't too difficult, as her flipping, electric blue hair sticks out like a sore thumb.

Allison wobbled to the table, grinning like a big idiot. The moment Beth spotted Allison, her face blew up into a cheeky grin. "Allison!" She shouted and stood up, jumping into Allison's arms and attacking her with a bear hug.

Allison greeted Beth and sat down beside her, glancing at all of Beth's friends. She could feel her hands start to sweat and her leg began bouncing up and down uncontrollably. Beth was kind enough to introduce her friends to Allison, but Allison still felt uncomfortable around the new people. As they were having a big conversation, all Allison could think about was the quickest route out of the cafeteria and how guilty she felt for wanting to abandon them already.

"So, Allison," one of the boys across from her spoke up. "What are those scars from? The ones on your arm." His chestnut hair dangled in his face, catching on the grease of his pizza.

Allison sat still in her seat, shocked that anyone would bring such a topic up. She hesitated and stuttered at the boy.

"Geoff!" Beth shouted at the boy, "You don't just ask people about that!" Allison tried calming Beth down, but she continued to ridicule Geoff. She even stood up and began poking and smacking him, making Allison turn bright red. Confident, stunning, brilliant.

A friend of Beth's noticed and stood up, taking Allison by the arm out of the cafeteria as she chuckled. Her blonde hair swayed back and forth in her high ponytail, smacking anyone who got too close. "Sorry about that." She said, taking her hand off of Allison's arm. "Beth can be a little too much for some people."

Allison nodded and chuckled, agreeing with the blonde. She wiped her sweaty hands up and down her pants, trying to dry them off. Confident, stunning, brilliant.

The bell abruptly rang, interrupting Allison's nervous brain. A swarm of students flooded from the double doors of the cafeteria, and it was then that Allison realized that the girl had been talking the entire time she had been focused on so many other things.

"So, wanna come? I think Beth will be there, too."

Allison stared at the excited girl for a moment, then realized that she had to answer the question. She had no idea what the girl was talking about, but even if she did, she was sure that she wouldn't have said no. "Sure."

"Great." She spun around and began walking in the opposite direction. "Later, alligator!"

Allison was still standing in the same spot as the tardy bell rang. Her mind was on one thing, and one thing only: when had she become an alligator?