ONLY THE LONELY

Zoe is stood outside the Emergency Department smoking a cigarette. She sees Max sprinting up the car park with a wheelchair in front of him. She gives an innocent, pleasurable smile, before inhaling on her cigarette. Max gets increasingly closer to the hospital, continuing to sprint at his maximum pace. He begins to get breathless as he reaches Zoe. Zoe chucks her cigarette on the floor and stamps on it. By this time Max is by Zoe, he looks at her and grins, before edging closer to her. They go in for a kiss, Zoe's eyes tightly shut. But Max ducks and jumps into the wheelchair. Zoe continues to go in for the kiss, unaware Max is in the wheelchair, and kisses a seventy-year-old male behind Max on the head. She instantly opens her eyes, paralyzed with the shock of kissing someone else.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry, my boyfriend was supposed to be there. This is so embarrassing, I am so sorry." Zoe repeats apologetically. Max brings his head into his hands, before letting out a huge roar of laughter. Zoe goes a bright red. The elderly male just stands in front of Zoe, not saying a word.

"Oh no, I've left a lipstick stain on your head, here let me wipe that away." Zoe says, panicked. As she begins to smudge the kiss, the male just smiles. Zoe looks at his pleased face and gives an uneasy smile. "Are you enjoying this?" She asks the man.

"It feels like my wife when she tried to seduce me once." The elderly male replies. He laughs. Then he walks off, just like that. No goodbye, no embarrassment, just a pleased face. Zoe looks back at Max. She cups her hand over her mouth, before fitting with laughter. The pair roar with laughter by the entrance of the department, uncontrollably chuckling.

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A bell begins to fiercely sound, and the students of Mr Richards' classroom prepare to vacate and ponder to lesson two, but Mr Richards blockades the door. He then enunciates in a firm tone: "Remember you are starting your coursework next lesson so I need you here on time." He then opens the door and prepares to dismiss his class. The class exits, but Mr Richards prevents Maya from leaving the class as he darts his arm across the door frame again. 

"Maya I hope you're satisfied with where you're sat, I understand there's a bit of tension between you and Alex, he's a troublemaker with nothing better to do."

"Thank you Sir." Replies a timid Maya. She darts out the door and hastily walks to the changing rooms. A minute later and she finds herself in the changing rooms, uneasily changing into her P.E. kit. She is surrounded by the sound of gossip, as the remaining twenty-five students around her chat away as they change. In amidst all the conversations partaking around her, Maya hears her name. Her head turns to the left. No one pays any attention to her. She turns her head to the right, but no one shows an interest in her. Paranoid by who is saying what, she begins to turn around. Her eyes focus on each girl, one by one. A girl opposite her in the changing room turns her attention to Maya. She's about five foot three inches, and has short, brown hair. Maya returns a paralyzing stare.

"You got a problem love? Never seen a good pair before?" The girl asks. Maya ignores the remark and decides to look at the girl next to her.

"Oi, I was talking to you. Don't look at me if you don't want anything." Snaps the girl. The conversations in the changing room begin to subside. They turn their attention to the scene which is prevailing before their eyes.

"Shut it Chantelle. I have no interest in you." Maya replies in a calm tone. But it's the reply from Chantelle which really stuns everyone in the changing rooms.

"I know that you dumb bimbo. You sent nudes to my boyfriend." Chantelle replies with aggression in her voice. Maya freezes. She feels the eyes dig into her, waiting excitedly for her to react to the allegation.

"You have no proof, Chantelle." Maya replies defensively. Fear penetrates her body, and she begins to shake. Chantelle takes none of it. She turns around and picks her mobile phone up from her bag. She unlocks her phone goes into the 'Photos' application.

"What's this?" Asks Chantelle confidently, knowing she has the upper hand in the argument. She holds the phone up, in front of her classmates. A lump forms in Maya's throat. She's horrified by what she and others around her see.

"A screenshot... but he promised me he'd deleted the messages. He told me this stayed between us." Maya mutters, with fear and distress consuming her. Her voice goes shaky. The P.E. teacher then walks in.

"Who's ready for some football then girls?" Asks Mrs Oakwood. She notices the students clustered around Maya and Chantelle. But before she is able to ask what's wrong, Maya does the top button up on her shirt, grabs her school and P.E. kit and sprints out of the changing rooms and down the corridor. She continues to run, as if she's being chased by a creature of the night, until she reaches the girl's toilets. She stumbles in and walks over to the sink, keeping her head down low. She doesn't look up for anyone. She reaches the tap and turns it on. She then dabs some water from her hands to her face. She begins to cry heavily. She then looks up in the mirror, but the mirror's cracked and she sees a broken face. The fractured glass reflects Maya's face, full of depression, full of incredulity.

As Maya wipes a tear away from her face she asks herself: "Why am I such a slag?" Her voice is full of repent and anger for what she's done. Maya then has a rebellious thought. She grabs her bags from the floor and exits the girl's toilets. She then, walks out of the school. No looking back, no worry of being caught, no fear, nothing, she's gone...