amelia

four

"Good morning," Penny grinned broadly, sliding to the seat next to Amelia. "What's up?"

"You're in a good mood today," Rachel remarked from behind Amelia. Her brown eyes widened when she saw Penny's outfit, a short-sleeved button-up gray shirt and skinny blue jeans. "Wait, what are you wearing?"

"The clothes we bought on Saturday," Penny replied, pleased that Rachel noticed. "My mom said it looked good on me, so I thought I should give it a try. Where's Rose?"

"Well I say agree with your mother," Rachel complimented. "And she'll probably be here soon--" she hesitated before hissing, "Hey, watch out, A and Z coming!"

Before Amelia and Penny could register what Rachel said, Amanda and Zara -- one of Amanda's awful friends -- came up, Amanda snickering, "What is she wearing? Doesn't she know it really makes her look old?"

Zara, who was almost as vicious as Amanda, nodded her ginger head, adding, "And then with her gray haired friend who looks just as old, they make a pair!" And they strutted off, sniggering.

Surprisingly, Rachel looked calm. Ever since she dyed her hair platinum silver when she was twelve, she had received a lot of positive and negative comments about it. Most of the negative ones, unsurprisingly, was from Amanda and her friends, Nancy, Zara and Ivy.

Penny, though, looked like she was about to explode. Lately, though most unlike her, she had been close to losing her temper. And that meant it was really bad, since it takes a lot to phase Penny, who was good-natured and outgoing. But the bullies had been really trying the past few weeks.

But Amelia had mixed emotions. She was angry because never liked it when people insulted her only friends. She also felt shame for not standing up for them. It was her own fault, she supposed. If only she wasn't weak and depressed, she would probably be very different indeed.

Luckily, right at that very moment Roselyn appeared. She look flustered, her pink hair sticking to her forehead. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Brownie disappeared for a bit when I was supposed to feed him. Anyway, by looking at your face, what happened?"

"Amanda and Zara happened," Penny rolled her green eyes. "Telling us we look old because of my outfit and because of Rachel's hair."

"Don't they ever find new insults?" Roselyn was puzzled.

"Don't even wish," Rachel cut in. "But anyway, nothing can get into Amanda's empty head. She can be clueless."

Penny gave a loud snort. "True! Never have I ever seen such a clueless person in my life." she laughed, and since her laugh was contagious, Rachel and Roselyn laughed along with her. Amelia only gave a fake giggle. 

Noticing Amelia, Rachel put her arms on her desk and winked at Penny and Roselyn without Amelia knowing. It was a signal that they will take the notebook that day. The others only nodded.

The girls were left with their thoughts for a moment before Rachel spoke up.

"Have you seen the new parody of the latest hit single?" she questioned.

The girls kept on chatting while Amelia threw in a casual comment, before the history teacher Miss Bloom came in.

-:-

"I need to go to the restroom," Rachel announced during break.

"I do too," Amelia nodded. "All that drinking has filled up my bladder."

As she stood up to leave, Rachel winked at the other girls behind Amelia's back. The others only nodded firmly. They had planned it all carefully without Amelia knowing.

When Amelia and Rachel stepped out of the cafeteria, Penny acted quickly.

"Rose, quickly," Penny hissed. "Search Amelia's bag and take her notebook. Remember to put it in Rachel's bag."

Roselyn obliged immediately. Luckily, the cafeteria was not far from their English classroom, so communicating was not a problem. 

Roselyn sprinted towards the classroom. Relief washed over her when she saw nobody was there. Her blue eyes skimmed Amelia's desk.

Fortunately, Amelia's precious notebook was under her desk, and was easy to spot. Roselyn quickly took it and shoved it into Rachel's Charles & Keith branded bag.

Roselyn had the shock of her life when she head a familiar, oh-so-annoying voice from behind her.

"What are you doing with Amelia's notebook?" she asked in her annoying, rather whiny voice.

"It's none of your business," Roselyn couldn't resist the urge to bite back.

The girl rolled her light blue eyes. "You can't be here right now," she spat.

Actually break was almost finished, but it was just like her to stir up some trouble.

"Don't tell me what to do, Amanda," Roselyn gritted her teeth and stormed out of the classroom.

"What's taking Rose so long?" Penny groaned, her voice in clear distress. The  she reassured herself, "She'll be here soon, don't panic, Penny."

Suddenly, before shr knew it, she was met with a flushed, red Roselyn.

"Sorry," Roselyn paused to take a breath. "Amanda just had to come and stir trouble."

"It's alright," Penny said gracefully, gesturing her to sit down. "Did you do what I told you to do?"

Roselyn nodded, without looking at Penny. "Here they come now," she remarked.

"Just in time," Penny added quietly.

"Sorry we took a bit," Amelia apologized.

"It's alright," Roselyn said with a guilty smile.

Just then, they heard the bell ring.