The Scrapbook

Take Me Away: Chapter 1

Backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the cover

'Till I talked to my daddy he say

He said-

I slammed my hand on my alarm clock and let out a weary groan. I slowly dragged myself out of my little, lumpy twin sized bed and walked into the bathroom across the hall. I frowned when I saw the miserable tattooed teenage girl standing in the mirror. I stood there lifeless for a few more minutes until I decided it was time to get ready. First I checked my blotchy black hair.

"I need to dye my hair again," I mumbled.

Then I reached for my hairbrush and dragged it through my raggedy hair. Once I finished I noticed my hair still looked unkempt, but I honestly didn't care so I began picking out my outfit for the day. I pulled a black flannel, ripped black skinny jeans and dirty black converse out of my closet and threw them on. After I put on my gloomy outfit I walked back into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

"Okay, okay, make-up," I whispered as I searched through the cabinet looking for my make-up bag.

"Annabelle, are you in the bathroom?" my mom yelled.

"Yes!" I yelled back.

I rolled my eyes as I spilled all of my make-up into the sink. I picked up the first sharpened eye pencil I saw and began drawing little intricate designs on my eyes. As I was finishing up my left eye, my mom came in and pushed my head into the mirror.

"Hurry up!" she yelled.

"Ow!" I looked into the mirror and cringed at the smudged eye liner. "Mom! You made me mess up my make-up!"

"You act like I care! Hurry up and get out of here!"

"Whatever." I threw the eye pencil into the sink with the rest of my make-up. "I was done anyway."

I walked back into my room, picked my backpack up and stormed out of the house. I made the hike up the block to my bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive. As I awkwardly stood there, I pulled my iPod out of my backpack, put my earbuds in and tapped the shuffle button.

Backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the cover...

"Ugh I heard this this morning." I shrugged. "Oh well." I continued playing Walk This Way, by Aerosmith, as I waited for the bus.

As I stood there, dozing off into space, a few freshmen began snickering at me. I looked over to them and twisted my face. They circled their index finger over their left eyes as they laughed. My face went white as a porcelain as I remembered that I left the smeared makeup on my face.

"Don't laugh at her!" My best friend Janet yelled as she walked to the bus stop. The two girls immediately shut up and went back to minding their own business. "Here." She handed me a Kleenex she had pulled out of her backpack.

"Thanks," I whispered.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. I took out my make-up mirror and cringed at my reflection. I damped the tissue with my tongue and cleaned up the smudged eye liner.

"You normally do your make-up perfectly, what caused...this?"

"My mom pushed me into the mirror." I rolled my eyes.

"Ow, that sounds painful," she winced.

"It's no big deal," I shrugged. "It could've been worse."

As our conversation ended, the bus pulled up; the crowd of kids lined up and waited to get on. We made our separate ways as I pushed my way to the back and sat down in the single seat. I slouched down and began blasting my music. As my music played, I looked out of the window and sighed at my naked face. As I stared at my reflection, a kid joined me in the back.

He seemed to be new. I looked over at him with an expressionless face. He looked back to me as he raised a brow and scoffed. I took out one earbud and continued glaring at him.

"Nice tattoos," he said sarcastically.

"Thanks..." I replied. "I'm Annabelle." I gave him a half smile as I tried introducing myself.

"Stop talking to me," he said. I slowly looked away as my face heated up in embarrassment. "Freak," he cackled.

"Sorry I'm not boring like you," I sneered.

"At least I don't have crappy tattoos and a terrible dye job,"

"Well...at least I don't have a rotten personality." I gritted my teeth.

"Whatever," he scoffed once more and turned away.

"Jerk." I put my ear bud back in and faced away from him.

As the bus pulled into the school lot, all the kids stood up and waited for the doors to open. I stood up before the new kid and began walking towards the front of the bus. As I shuffled down the narrow aisle, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and push me to the left.

"Move!" a kid yelled.

"Excuse you!" I yelled back.

"No, excuse you." He laughed as he marched past me.

I clenched my teeth as I stood back up and made my way off the bus.

"Are you okay?" Janet asked. She tried pulling me off to the side to talk but I just heaved away in frustration.

"Yeah," I whispered. I stomped past her and made my way into the school. As I strode into the senior hallway, to my locker, I got hundreds of nasty looks. I've been getting glares like this since I was a kid; I was never "normal". I have always dyed my hair, I've had piercings since I was about twelve, and I've been giving myself tattoos since I was a teenager . I was use to the judgmental stares by now; although the name calling still damaged me. Every single day I heard words like: freak or worthless loser. Unfortunately these are some of the better things I have to live with.

All of my classes were the same; I sat in the back corner alone, doodling in my notebook, while people whispered about me. Lunch was always the same, I sat at a table until people threw my belongings elsewhere.

"Hey, get the hell outta here!" A familiar voice boomed from behind me. It was my childhood bully, Xavier.

"No," I whispered back.

"I said," he picked my bag up and threw it onto the floor, "move,"

"And I said," I stood up and faced the fearsome bully, "NO!"

"Just move! It'll make my life a lot easier," Xavier sneered.

"Leave me alone," I rolled my eyes and sat back down.

In hopes that he'd leave me alone, I pulled out The Cell by Steven King's and started reading.

"What are you reading?" He snatched the book from my hands. "What the hell is this?"

"A book." I crossed my arms.

"Steven King is crap." He threw the book on the table.

"He's an amazing author," I defended, "and don't insult people." I continued reading.

"I'll insult whoever I want, you bitch!"

"Look, I don't have the energy to deal with you today. Just leave me alone!" I said.

"Whatever." He flicked the back of my head. "See you tomorrow."

Thankfully the rest of the day went by rather fast. The bus ride was all the same. I sat in the back and tried to ignore all the obnoxious students around me. Part of my never wanted to get off the bus because I knew, as soon as I stepped off, I'd have to start my terrifying journey home.