"Yo Josh look! It's the nerd!" A sudden force vibrates through me and shoves me into the lockers. Eric Branham gets in my face, breath smelling of drugs. "Do something! Come on! Hit me!" He yells in my face sending me even closer to the lockers. I don't respond and he smirks, "Thats what I thought weakling." He spat still in close proximity. His shadow is no longer cast on me when I open my eyes realizing they were closed.
"Back off!" She screamed.
"Oh, look boys, she's new and already making people hate her. What did you say whore?" Eric yelled.
A young woman who was about 5'5 is standing there defending me, and standing up to Eric Branham. She must have a death wish.
She has long Auburn hair, and I can't see her eye color.
"I said, back off jackass or I'll gladly give you a little color to your face!" Eric, for the first time, stepped away from a challenge. He glares at me, "She won't always be around." He says. Then, he and his posse retreat.
Everyone else who had been watching quickly return to normal schedule. I pick up the books I had dropped and noticed a pair of feet beside me.
Standing back up, I pushed my glasses further up my nose. I now see, the brave girl who had defended me standing in front of me.
She held out a hand, "Georgia." She smiles brightly. For a second, I forget everything. How to speak, or lift my arm to accept her hand. I cleared my throat, "You may not want to do that." She looks hurt and confused, "Why?"
"Because then, you will never find friends here if people see you with me. Thanks." And I walked off knowing it was better that way.
___________________________________
I rushed over to my Biology class, and tried to forget about Georgia. However, something about her is fascinating and I can't wrap my head around it. No one has stood up for me, it's just something you don't do.
Frustrated, I take my regular seat in the back and plunge into our lesson. I'm always 5 minutes early to class so I can be ahead.
As I keep my head bowed into my bio book, I feel a presence beside me. To my surprise, Georgia is sitting next to me.
"Can't get rid of me that easy." She smiles. I half smile back, "Your making a bad choice." I said. "My choices are up to me, if I want to sit by you, I will. I could care less about what everyone else thinks."
"Fine, just know that nobody want to be friends with the person who is friends with the nerd." "That's ok,I have the only one friend I need."
______________________________
As the bell rings, I pack my stuff and start to walk out. "Wait!"
I turn around to see Georgia struggling to move around the student bodies. I stand still waiting for her to catch up.
"I never even got your name." She said breathless.
"Marcel." She smiled and offered her hand, hesitantly, I shook it this time.
"Where do we go now?" She asked. "Lunch." I answered.
I took my normal seat at the back of the cafeteria, and pulled my brown lunch bag out of my book bag along with the newest book I had been reading.
Georgia was sitting across from me also munching on her own lunch. "Why do people keep staring?" She asked.
"Because your sitting with me." I said not breaking contact with my book.
"That's rude. So what, I'm sitting with you, big deal. Blasts some cannons, light the fireworks, make some noise if its that big a deal." She grunted.
I chuckled, "Warned you."
______________________________
~Georgia's POV~
I can't tell if Marcel doesn't want to be friends with me, or has just forgotten how to be a friend. I'm not trying to be his friend out of sympathy, I want to because he seems mysterious. I want to know what's behind all the glasses and chemistry sets, I know he's hiding something.
After lunch I had Math, unfortunately Marcel and I didn't share the same class so I would try and find another person to be friends with.
'Nobody wants to be friends with the person who friends with the nerd.' Marcel's voice echoed through my mind.
I walked in and introduced myself to the teacher, Mr. Gates. "Ah, Georgia Rose Mitchell. Your seat is next to Cassie." He pointed to a girl sitting in the middle of the room, who had black hair and a couple tattoos. This should be good.
Nervously, I walked up to my seat and sat down. She was sketching in a note pad and didn't even look up. "Hi, I'm Georgia." I smiled. She looked up at me and sized me up. A spark of recognition shot through her eyes.
"I know, your the girl who defended Marcel. Cassie." She shook my hand. Man, word travels fast. "You know much about him?"
"Yeah, we're cousins."