Lighting up the darkness

Chapter two "The girl from the park"

My alarm clock rang, waking me up. I groaned and rolled out of bed. I wore a white oversized t-shirt with a mushroom on it, a pair of light blue oversized jeans and my doctor Martens. I styled my hair, grabbed my backpack, and left.

Walking thirty minutes under the hot sun was awful. The only thing that made it slightly better was that I could listen to music on the way there.

I got to school fifteen minutes early and looked at my schedule, which was sent over to us through e-mail. Going to school early meant that I would avoid the crowd and, more importantly, Emily. I left my backpack in my locker and went to my first class, it was History. I sat at the front desk and opened my phone.

“Have an awesome first day bestie, love you.” Amy had texted me.

“Love u 2, miss u” I texted her back.

The bell rang, and students started filling the classroom. Soon, the teacher entered, and the class started. I took notes and paid attention to everything he said because I needed to get a good grade.

The next class was math, and it was a little boring, but I still did my best. On lunch break, I took the lunch I had already packed from home and went to sit outside at a bench.

I had no one to eat with, and I avoided the cafeteria because people would make fun of me for bringing my own lunch. I’m pretty much an outsider in this school, sometimes I miss my old one, the kids were much nicer, and I actually had a few friends. That’s what comes with getting a scholarship to a private, prestigious, pretentious high school.

I ate my lunch and went to the lockers to change for PE. Who puts PE right after lunch? It’s stupid. I did everything earlier than most of the students so I could avoid running into people.

PE was awful. She made us run laps, and then we had to practice volleyball in pairs. I got paired with one of the snob girls and she pretty much made me run around to get the ball all the time. When we were done, I took a quick shower and changed back into my clothes.

As I was heading to my class, Emily stopped me. Emily was the school’s bitch.

“Hey bozo, where do you think you are going?”

“I have a class Emily, what do you want?”

“Just to tell you that you look like a homeless person. Where did you get your pants from? The trash?” I rolled my eyes, and she bumped my shoulder as I walked past her. I got to my class as the bell rang, I sat at the front as usual and waited for the teacher to come.

My phone buzzed but it was just the school’s Instagram page. It was a page run by students that posted gossip, memes and other stupid stuff.

“Alright everyone, sit down please, I’m sorry for being late.” I lifted my eyes and looked at the teacher, only to face the girl from the park.

I stared at her in shock. I never expected her to be a teacher. She looked so young. She was wearing a white t-shirt, beige pants and a pair of converse.

“I’m Ms. Thompson and I’ll be your English teacher. Now I want all of you to introduce yourselves and say one thing about you.” I was sitting at the front row which meant it would soon be my turn.

We locked eyes and she raised her eyebrows smiling. I felt heat rising to my face.

“I’m Isabella Evans and in my free time I like reading books” I said and some comments like ‘nerd’ and ‘freak’ were heard. I sank in my seat.

“Everybody, please stay quiet and respect your classmates” She said strictly and I could feel her eyes at me, but I didn’t lift my head to look at her. The rest of the class introduced themselves and she went on with her lesson.