Wallflower

Chapter 3

   I sat against a fence, boarding the parking lot at school. To my right, also leaning against the fence was a panting Damien with his legs curled up to his chest. To my left, standing up against the fence was Lucy, looking up to the sky in a daze. In front of me, sitting crisscrossed was Aiden. Drenched in sweat, I breathed heavily trying to calm my heart rate. The sun beamed down, heating our foreheads, melting our energy. I closed my eyes, trying to block out my headache from all the noise, trying to help my heating temples. I could hear Damien cursing under his breath as Lucy moved over to him, to  dab his blood from his forehead with her shirt. Aiden sighed in defeat in front of me. I guess you could call us friends now. 

~Earlier that day~

        Mr. Domson looked at me questionably when I handed him "Slavery- The untold story" back.

        "I finished it.." I murmured quietly. He nodded and gently took it from me, tossing it on the clutter of -whatever was on- his desk.

        "You read too fast, you know." He genuially smiled and shook his head, chuckling. His eyes returned to his cluttered desk, landing on another book. I squinted my eyes to read the title. 'When life knocks you down, get back up.' An interesting title.. His brown eyes came back to me, and he handed me the novel. It was really thick. I attempted a small smile back to him, and went to walk out the door. 

        The hallways were unusually quiet, there wasn't any kids except for Jeremy, a short nerdy blonde scrounging through his locker.

        "Hey, Jeremy." He turned around, looking shocked that I talked to him. I was shocked too. I hadn't talked to anyone all year. It was about four weeks into school now. It'd been half a week since my nightmare... I shuddered at the image of my aunt's cherry-red lips...

        "Oh, uh, hey Skylar." He sniffled, I swear that kid was sick 24/7 . "Uh, I think.. Uh.. Someone said there was, uh, gonna be a fight outside.. Uh, the parking lot I think." 

        "Oh, okay.. Right now?" He nodded his head, and I turned on my heel, opposite direction of the fight, heading to the cafeteria.

        "Uh, dont'cha want to go see it?" 

        "Why bother? I don't even see the point in fighting. It doesn't solve anything," His expression dropped, like I had yelled at him or something. I immediately felt guilty. "Okay, okay.. Fine." His face lit back up, and he crammed the rest of his stuff into his locker, slamming it shut. The sound echoed through the hallway. After picking up his backpack and throwing it over his shoulder, he followed me out of the building to the parking lot.

        **

        I hadn't expected this. An uncoordinated circle around the fight shielded my view. At least every high-schooler had to be out here. I pushed my way through the crowd. I honestly didn't understand how I was being so brave, talking to Jeremy, elbowing people aside to see what was happening. I truly didn't understand it. The sun blazed down, burning my skin with it's rays. I lived in Oklahoma. No, it doesn't mean I'm a hick, it doesn't mean I listen to country. Oklahoma was always sunny, sometimes rainy, never snowed. In Oklahoma, there was more acres of land than cities, and there were fields everywhere. 

Yeah, like your Aunt's poppy fields...

Shut up. Shut up! 

What?.. You know, you remember...

Stop! Get out of my head!

        I pushed my subconscious away to the back of my mind where it dwells in dreadful memories, like I pushed the other teenagers out of my way. I finally got to the center of the brawl, with a running Jeremy following behind me.