This One's for the Broken

Chapter 1- Here's to the Depressed

Society is constantly telling us to change. To be skinnier, prettier, and thinner. Well I say screw them all.

My story starts out on a regular day in a regular place. I am 17 years old, with died red hair. I am not skinny. I am actually far from it. My arms are flabby, my stomach isn't flat, and my thighs definitely do not have a gap. I'm not obese. But I'm also not skinny. Saying that I am fashionable is pretty much a lie, because sweatshirts and skinny jeans are my go to. I have a strange fascination with beanies, and I love the color black. Eyeliner surrounds my eyes, and mascara coats my lashes. Some of my obsessions include My Chemical Romance, drawing, painting, and overall music. Oh, and one more thing, I have depression.

This story started when I chose to not bring lunch one day. I was just sitting by my small little friend group of misfits. The jocks walked by, stepping on our backpacks placed by our seats. We just shook our heads, and kept talking. No one in my group noticed I wasn't eating, mostly because I was the third or fourth wheel. I was sitting on the outside of our group, nodding and half listening to the conversation. About halfway through lunch a commotion struck up on the other side of the lunch room. Standing up, I saw a kid with black hair and black clothing yelling at one of the jocks. He was new, the kid, because our school was fairly small and I knew every face, except his. Rushing over, I dodged backpacks strategically. I finally made it about five feet away from the kid. He was angry. The jock was about the throw a punch so I acted fast.

I jumped in front of the black haired kid and gave the jock a look, and then grabbed the kid and dragged him away.

"What the crap are you doing?" He yelled out me once I had dragged him out to the hall.

"Saving your dumb butt. It's your first day, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Stay out of their way," I hinted then began to walk away.

"Hey!" The kid yelled to me. "I'm Eli. What about you?"

I smiled. "I'm Rebel." Eli looked taken back.

"Is that your real name?"

I laughed. "On my birth certificate and everything."

"Well, do you want to head back in the cafeteria?"

"Nah, I don't have a lunch anyways," I replied, not thinking.

"Rebel, why don't you have a lunch?" I began to panic inside, but the words smoothly slipped out of my mouth.

"I forgot it at home." Eli shook his head.

"I used to say that too. I don't know if this will help, you are beautiful. You just are." He shrugged, turned around and walked away. And I was left speechless standing in the hall.

Shaking my head, I headed upstairs to my locker. I grabbed some textbooks, and my gym clothes and headed to the locker room, humming to some of my favorite songs. When I made it, I changed quickly before anyone came in, and then placed my black skinny jeans and my maroon sweatshirt in my gym locker. I heard the giggly sounds of my peers heading towards the door, so I retreated to a stall.

"Rebel! Rebel you in here?" The voice was that of my friend, Liz.

I went out of the stall and walked up to her. Liz had hair about the same length as me, past our shoulders, and stood about two inches taller. Her eyes were the same color as mine, green, but her hair was black.

"Hey," I said, following her to her locker.

"Who was that boy you were with?" she whispered.

"New kid, named Eli. Almost got beat up by the jocks." Liz nodded and grabbed her clothes to get changed. The girls around us fluttered around, talking about boys and how cute they thought so and so was, and other crap like that. A few of the girls walked past wearing leggings and various tank tops that said stupid things like "YOLO" and "SWAG". I was wearing black soccer shorts and yet another sweatshirt.