Killing In The Name

two

AUGUST 5TH, 2024

I made it through my classes with no words other than, 'here' when they called roll. My first teacher, Ms. Emmett was a bigger woman with an enthusiastic personality. She seemed to actually enjoy her job, unlike some teachers I've had before. The only thing that annoyed me about her was that we had to stand up and say our name and something we did over the summer. My P.E. Coach, whose name recedes me, was a bald man who talked as if the entire thing was below his pay grade. My homeroom teacher, Ms. Agan was an old sweet lady who seemed as if nothing could get past her from the way she talked to her other students whom she had had for the past four years.

I walked down the hall in the direction of where I was told lunch was. I had decided before my first period ended that I wasn't going to try and find Leah. Leah had said she was sitting with other people, and my anxious thoughts had decided for me. I constantly thought everyone thought negatively about me, I had always been like that since I was a young girl.

I was pulled from my thoughts when someone bumped into me rather violently. I didn't know if it was a mistake or not, but I looked over to who it was.

"Watch where you're going!" She spat at me, walking off. I immediately felt bad, though I don't know why when what happened wasn't my fault. I think what happened was I had bumped into her, and she bumped back harder. We were in a tight space, so that could've been a possibility. She had had dark purple hair and a heavy layer of makeup on that made her look like a model. She was one of those girls who knew how to do their makeup and looked flawless in doing so.

I walked to get in line to get lunch and found a circled table that could fit about eight people. I had got a hot dog, a slob of mashed potatoes, and a cup of cucumbers. Delicious school food.
It was in the far left corner of the open space of seats. A couple of girls and a few boys sat in the long table a few feet from me. In the middle of my meal, I was approached by a familiar face.

"Girl, what are you doing over here sitting alone?" Leah asked, "I said you could sit with us. You don't need to sit in the corner with all the losers." A few of them at the other table looked over at her. That was kind of rude, though she kept the same uppity attitude. I awkwardly grabbed my stuff, feeling kind of bad for the people who were just trying to enjoy their lunch time. I followed her to another eight person table that was off center to the main table that sat long ways.

The girl with the purple hair from earlier was sitting in one space, along with two boys I had never met before. The girl had a sharp nose, which I only identified from the ring in her nose. She didn't look happy at all. The other two greeted me with smiles.

"This is... What's your name again?" I couldn't even remember if I told her my name, but I guess I had since she was asking for it again.

"Gwen." I say kind of quietly.

"Gwen, this is Andrew, Corbin, and Nikki." Andrew looked like your average American teen boy. He had brown wavy hair that was longish on his head, deep brown eyes, and he had a small build. He was a cute boy, dimples, and all. He seemed like he had a chill vibe to him. Corbin, however, had striking blonde hair and blue-green eyes. He looked more like a man that Andrew did with his large arms and chin hairs.

"You were in 2nd period gym, weren't you?" Andrew asked me, starting up a casual conversation. I just nodded my head, too afraid to speak, "I play for our basketball team, so I just played that today."

"She's mute, I think." Nikki, the purple haired girl, joked. The others didn't seem to find it funny, but maybe they did?

"Why the fuck would she be mute, Nikki? That's so rude to say." Leah snapped at her, seemingly putting her in her place. Nikki looked a little startled like she spoke out of line, "Sorry about her, she's a dumb bitch." Nikki couldn't help but laugh at being called that.