Stronger Than You Know

Age 12

"I tell her to speak up, I tell her to shout out, talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder."

Clutching her backpack a bit tighter with her sweaty hands, she entered the corridors of her new school.

'Momma said that this school was better,' she thought, but she wasn't a little baby anymore, she was 12 and she knew why she had to move to this school. It was much closer and she could easily walk back home on her own, because momma didn't have time to pick her up. She never did.

Before leaving, she asked her mom if she would be home when she came back from school, in hopes that she would get to spend some quality time with her mother, that she awfully craved

"You know Rebecca, I can't. I have to go out with the girls," Momma replied. Rebecca had already anticipated that response but she still felt her tiny heart hurt.

She knew this line by heart by this time but she could only hope she'd get a different answer.

She saw her mother's eyes soften a bit at her crestfallen expression but she only handed Rebecca her water bottle and gave her a gentle shove towards the door.

Stepping inside the school hallways for the first time, she could feel some of the girls eyeing her and she walked down the corridor with her eyes focused downwards. She knew that they weren't looks of jealousy or envy.

They were looks of disdain at her oversized and mismatching clothes and the small bulge of her tummy which poked out of her shirt. However, she was used to these looks. She used to get them too at her old school.

Rebecca was a slightly overweight girl with an eccentric taste in clothing, which most people found endearing, but these tweens who were at the edge of puberty couldn't care less about the girl who wasn't stick thin or who wasn't wearing the latest spring collection from Urban Outfitters.

Oh how she wished she could cuddle Mr. Snuggles right now.

Mr. Snuggles was a teddy bear which her father bought as a gift for her fourth birthday, right before he died. Even though Rebecca couldn't remember him much and her mom didn't like talking about him, she liked thinking her father was looking over her through Mr. Snuggles.

She sometimes even brought him to school and took him out when eating lunch in the library. The lunch hall was way too crowded for her liking.

Her first lesson was Math.
'I can do it,' she thought happily.
She was quite good at it and almost always scored the highest marks at her previous school.

Grinning proudly at that thought, she opened the door to her math class.

The only seat available was next to a cute little blonde girl who was hastily trying to flatten the strands of hair.

As she noticed Rebecca settling down next to her, she stopped, her hair still flying in all directions. "Hello!" She greeted chirpily, "I'm Cassandra but you can call me Cassie!"

Rebecca was surprised at the sudden gesture of friendship. She never expected it, but nevertheless, she smiled back and introduced herself.

A minute later, the bell rang and teacher shuffled in.

Maybe starting new at this wouldn't be as bad after all

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First chapter. vote and comment if you like it! I would like to remind you again that these short chapters are purposely small As this is a short story. Anyways, have a great day! Lots of love,
Elle