Freshman Year

Chapter 3 Online Friends

Madison's POV
I sit down on a bench underneath a tree behind the school. I have my headphones in listening to A Moment Like This by Kelly Clarkson. I look up at the stars. I wonder if Shadow is awake? Shadow is my online friend. I talk to him quite often. I don't know his real name. He doesn't know mine either. My online name is WhoKnows. Why? Because I didn't want my actual name in my username and people on the internet don't care who I am. So I saw no reason to tell them. Aphmau has an online friend too. His name is FC. Anyway I decided to text Shadow to see if he was awake.
Conversation:
Regular= Madison
Bold= Shadow

Hey.
Hey. Why are you awake so early?
I couldn't sleep.
Oh. What are you doing then?
Sitting outside my school listening to music.
At 5 am?
Yeah.
Sometimes I swear you're crazy.
Why?
Because you're sitting outside your school at 5 am when you hate school. You make no sense.
No one said I had to make sense.
—_— Trust me. You don't.
Lol. Thanks.
You're so weird.
So are you.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
So why weren't you asleep?
Oh. I thought I saw my neighbor's light on and it woke me up.
Oh. Okay.
How was school yesterday?
It wasn't the greatest day of my life. I got two friends. I met a boy that helped me twice and walked me home. Then I had to deal with some girl bullying me. So that sucked. Then I got to go home and spend another day alone which sucked even more. How was your first day?
It's great that you made some friends. It sucks that some girl bullied you. If she keeps it up tell a teacher. Don't deal with that. I'm sorry you had to spend the day alone. I wish I could be there with you. My first day wasn't the best but it wasn't as bad as yours. I met a girl and I helped her find her homeroom but she's really antisocial but she seems really cool. She's hard to become friends with but I'm not giving up.
You really want to be friends with her. Don't you?
Yeah. She spends a lot of time alone. I just want her to have a friend.
Aww. That's sweet. Don't give up on her. I'm sure she'll come around eventually. She's probably just used to being alone.
Yeah but she seems like she doesn't want to be alone.
Yeah but even if you don't want to be alone it's hard to be social and make friends when you aren't used to it.
Yeah. I understand. I'll try to help her.
Good luck.
Thanks.
No problem.
I have to go. I've got to get ready for school.
Okay. Talk to you later.
Conversation End:

Laurence's POV
It was 5 am when I got a text. It was from my online friend WhoKnows. She told me that she couldn't sleep so she got ready and went to school early. She's so weird. Who goes to school at 5 am. Especially someone who hates school as much as she does. She's strange. She told me about her first day at school and I told her about mine. I told her about how I had met Madison and how I was trying to become friends with her even though she was pushing me away. She told me not to give up on her and that she was probably just used to being alone. She told me it's hard to go from always being alone to being social and making friends when you aren't used to it. I told her I understood and she told me not to give up and good luck. I thanked her and told her I had to get ready for school. I got up and got ready. I walked downstairs and ate breakfast. I walked out the door and walked to school. I got there about 30 minutes early. I walked inside the school. I walked around and found Garroth. Then I saw Madison sitting on a bench in the hallway. Garroth and I walked over to her.
Hey Madison. I said.
She looked up startled that someone was talking to her. It was cute to see her so surprised.
Huh?! Oh. Hey Laurence. Who are you? She asked turning to look at Garroth.
I'm Garroth. Garroth said holding out his hand. She held out a hand and shook his hand.
Nice to meet you. She said.
Garroth smiled at her.
Nice to meet you too. He said.
So What class do you have next? I asked her.
Um... She looked down at her schedule.
Creative writing. She said.
Oh cool. We have the same class. Garroth said.
Cool. We could walk you there. I said.
Oh. You don't have to do that. I still have to get my books and I don't want to make you guys late. She said.
She's very considerate. Unlike most the girls here.
Don't worry. We don't want you to get lost looking for the class. It'll be fine. Garroth said.
Okay. She said.
She started walking down the hall. We followed her down a few halls until we reached her locker. She twisted the lock on her locker putting in the combination. Then she opened her locker and grabbed the books she needed. She closed her locker snapping the lock shut. She turned to face us and smiled.
Okay. Lead the way. She said.
We smiled back at her and turned around walking through the halls until we reached the classroom. We all walked in. Garroth and I sat down at a table in the back. Madison looked around for somewhere to sit.
Aren't you gonna sit with us? I asked her.
I didn't think you wanted me to. She said.
Why wouldn't we? Garroth asked.
She shrugged and sat down beside me.
I'm making progress. And Garroth seems to like her too. So that's good. Class should start soon. I wonder what will happen today?....