Damaged

Chapter Two

“Thanks.” I muttered at the boy who had thrown Ashton into my car. I got up quickly, not taking his offers to help me, I for sure did not need this asshole’s help.

“Don’t ever mention it.” He mumbled, escorting himself to the back of the class, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. I sat down in my seat, for once i’m glad to be sitting in the front, i’m far away from him. My teacher walked in awkwardly, struggling to hold all her things. She set down her small case and binders onto the desk, taking a sip from her coffee as she did so.

“Hello, I’m Ms. Holland, i’ll be your English teacher for this year. We plan on reading and analyzing Shakespeare and touching a bit on poetry throughout the course.” She introduced, a chorus groans filled the room at the mention of Shakespeare. I personally loved his writing, I was hoping we’d touch on either Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth during the course. I doodled things in my notebook the rest of class, there was nothing really to do anyway, everyone was chatting away, everyone except me. Someones hand tapped my shoulder and i dropped my pen, sending it clattering to the ground, oh great. I retrieved the pen quickly, setting it in the groove of my book before looking to see who it was. A short brunette stood behind me, smiling as we finally made eye contact. 

“Hi i’m Amber.” She said wrapping her slender arms around my waist, pulling me into a bone crushing hug. I coughed, trying to make it obvious I wanted this embrace to be done with. She laughed awkwardly, before letting her arms fall back beside her. “I’ve come to the conclusion you’re new here?” She inquired, taking a seat beside my desk. 

“You’re hunch is correct, I moved here this summer from Michigan.” I stated, she silently mouthed ‘yes’ when I confirmed her beliefs, I couldn’t help but chuckle at her action.

“Michigan really? You look like you’re from California!” She said, shocking me a bit.

“I wish, nah i’m just a Michigan girl.” She laughed lightly before looking up, i’m guessing she was thinking about what to say.

“Made any friends yet?” The question rang through me, if I told her about Ashton would she judge me? Think of me differently because I talked to the apparent nerd of the school?

“I made one friend, his name is Ashton.” I said quickly, the words tumbling out of my mouth. Oh god, this is it, I could see her shifting in her sear awkwardly, like she wanted to say something but was holding back for my sake. “But we’re not friends anymore I mean, we weren’t really ever to start off with.” I rambled, hoping to smooth over the situation before I lost her too.

“Ah, okay good, I was nervous to tell you that no ones really likes him, but if you guys aren’t friends thats better. I think you have real potential at this school, if you know what I mean.” She wiggled her eye brows, nudging my shoulder continuously, I couldn’t help but burst out into a fit of laughter.

“I got ya.” I said between laughs, as I finally began to calm down. I could still hear people curiously whispering about me, and for once I didn’t care I felt good, truly happy today and I wasn’t even at second period yet. I still had so many questions though, the biggest one concerning the blonde boy. I lowered my voice greatly, it was barely above a whisper. “I have a question about someone in this class.” She nods slightly, i’m guessing she has an idea of who i’m going to ask about when she stands up, dragging me up too.

“Ms. Holland can we go to the bathroom?” Amber asks, batting her eyelashes at the teacher. Ms. Holland barely looks up at us before waving us out of the room. Ambers hand latched around my wrist tightly and she pulled me out of the classroom and into the hall. “You have a question about Joe don’t you?” She said quietly, making sure no one was around.

“Unless that blonde or white haired boy is Joe, then yes I do.” I whispered back, trying to find out anything I can about him. She looked a bit taken back by my description, her body tensing.

“That’s Michael.” She spat, I could tell she wasn’t very fond of him as her grip around my wrist grew tighter.

“What’s up with him?” I asked, trying to shake loose my wrist.

“He’s a dick, please tell me he hasn’t hurt you, oh please tell me no.” Her anger turned to desperation quickly, as she begged for an answer.

“Uh physically? No. A bit emotionally this morning, that’s kind of why I asked about him.” I replied, hoping my answer was satisfactory, why was she so worried about him hurting me? She sighed heavily before turning to me, her hazel eyes boring into me.

“If we ever goes near you again, tell me okay?” She said seriously, stopping in the middle of the hall. I had barely noticed we were even walking, I was too into the conversation and my own thoughts to realize.

“I promise ill tell you.” I answered, and we turned around and headed back down the hall to English. She smiled at me but her whole expression showed it was sympathetic. I didn’t want to think I had already gotten myself in the wrong crowd, I wanted to be with people like Amber, not asshole’s like this Michael boy.