Good Lil Girl

Chapter 4

I thought about John for a while that afternoon. I thought about how he was the single most annoying person I had ever met, and how I absolutely hated him. I thought about how he was so obviously obsessed with himself. I thought about how all the other girls fancied him even though he was horrid to 98% of the school's population. And I thought about how I  would never ever ever be brainwashed into liking him.
Somehow I must have thought about him a lot that afternoon as the time drifted away rather quickly and I was asleep in bed and then waking up (too early, might I add) to spend another horrific day at school.

After spending the smallest amount of time on my appearance as physically possible, I made sure that everything I needed was in my school bag before I left the house and made my way up the streets of this place that I really did not want to call home.
"Hello Elouise!" Tina called in her typical slightly endearing, slightly annoying voice.
"Hey Tina."
She frowned at me. "You sound tired. In fact you look awfully dead. Bad night's sleep?"
"Well thanks a lot, I love looking dead." I replied in a huff as some of the other girls joined us. "I saw John yesterday."
Immediately Tina's eyes lit up as a grin broke out on her face. "John? Where was he? You didn't ask us to come? Sly one you are!"
"Yeah what the hell Elouise! You know I'm in LOVE with John and yer sneaking off with 'im!" Amy screeched, loud enough for probably the entire population of students within a 5 mile radius to hear.
"Forget John, he's grotty. I bet James was there, ey girls! You know that new lad who started backchattin' Mrs Gregory?" Kelly piped up, erupting all of the girls in a hiss of chatter before I could even get a word in edgeways.
Tina placed her hand on her heart dramatically. "James is so dreamy. And I heard he's proper good at guitar. Imagine getting a lad with a guitar!"
What was with all the girls in this town being hopelessly devoted to anyone of the male species? It was sickening to hear them desperately grab at any information they could get. Surely there had to be something more interesting to do around here than grovel at the feet of prepubescent lads who couldn't even get their hair into a style better than a lump of grease on top of their brainless heads.
"I didn't go out with John!" I exclaimed loud enough so that all of their heads snapped back towards me, awaiting the rest of the John-filled story. "I had to go to the shop. And then John was there. And then he followed me home, against my will might I add."
"So you know where he lives? Where does he live? We should all walk past there in the morning and then maybe he'd walk with us!" Amy questioned, her eyes wide.
"Shuddup Amy, Lennon's not walking with us to school. I'll want to rip my hair out!" Kelly shot back. For once I had to agree with her.
"I'm not sure where he lives. He walked off in the opposite direction from me."
When the girls had realised they were probably not going to get much information from me about their beloved John Lennon, they all piped down and the conversation somehow, but thankfully, switched to the homework. In a couple minutes we had arrived outside of our first class of the day, English.
"And why are we late, girls?" Mrs Gregory asked with her head titled to an angle and her piercing gaze lingering on the tip of Tina's face.
"We're not, Miss. It's eight o' clock now." Tina replied, trying to avoid the ageing teacher's wrath and edge her way to her seat.
"No it is not, Tina Powell. It is two minutes past eight. So I SUGGEST that you and your little friends over here actually look at a clock for once and learn how to tell the time correctly! Now sit down!"
The class was rather silent apart from the usual snarls and chuckles from the idiotic group of boys who sat at the back of the room with their tables and chairs scantily thrown together like a gang of misfits. I glanced them over, making brief eye contact with John and that other boy the other girls were talking about, James. I quickly looked away and slid into my seat next to Kelly and slid my bag under the beaten desk.

"So, after that RUDE interruption, we will continue on with the topic at hand. We will be starting a new book this term, it is just a terrific classic called Wuthering Heights. Can anyone tell me who wrote the book Wuthering Heights?"

I looked around, shocked to see that nobody knew the answer. It was obvious! This was clearly the best opportunity for me to redeem myself from being late this morning and probably get myself back in Mrs Gregory's good books. I threw my hand in the air.
"Yes, Elouise?"
"Emily Bronte, miss. It was actually her only novel. She wrote many poems though." 
Mrs Gregory clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "Well thank you, Elouise, but I did not ask for her life story, did I?"
My eyes widened. Well that did not go as planned. Why wasn't she impressed?
"Yer should expect that from her, Miss. El's a big nerd!" John's loud, irritating voice shot up from the back of the classroom, causing many of the other boys to laugh amongst themselves.
I sunk into my chair, my face probably turning a shade of red. Nerd. It was just like my last school.
Mrs Gregory tucked a strand of her greying hair behind her left ear. "John Lennon. Did I ask for your opinion?"
"No yer didn't miss but no one asked for Elouise's either yet she still droned on!" He remarked with a chuckle.
I turned around and stared at him, aggravated at the fact that he had to involve himself in everything. His eyes met mine.
"Well yer look very angry, El. It's not a good look on yer. Mind you, nothing is."
I rolled my eyes. "Can't you just shut up for once?"
Everyone was now looking at me. Tina was telling me to shut up and turn back around, it wasn't a big deal, and I knew it wasn't but John was so irritating that somebody needed to tell him about it.
"Gettin' feisty again are we? The nerd with a bad temper."
"I guess not then. Closing your mouth must be something too difficult for you to do, with your non existent brain." I spat back.
"Watch what yer sayin' to John." One of the other lads piped up.
"Oh yeah? What's going to happen? He's going to beat me up?" I mocked, raising my eyebrows.
"I don't need to beat anyone up. Yer already a lost cause. Comin' in to this school actin' dead clever, sucking up to the teachers. Yer pathetic. Hasn't anyone told you yet that you look like a drowned rat? With a face like that yer need to pipe down and shut up. No one likes birds like you, ugly nerd." John shot words at me with no care whatsoever. The other boys were nodding and laughing. My face was probably an even deeper shade of red and I could feel a wave of anger, embarrassment and misery wash over me in an instant, my stomach sinking. I quickly grabbed my bag and ran out of the classroom, sprinting down the corridor as fast as I could to escape from the hospital-like walls that caged me in, making me feel awfully claustrophobic.
Here I was, getting upset at some silly words that had left the mouth of a pathetic boy. I guess it was me feeling angry more than anything, and I found it hard to put my thoughts into words. As I held my bag tight to my side and paced out of the school gates, I vowed that I would never set a foot into that classroom again.