I'll be here for you

Chapter 10

"Breathe" Cody laughs as he kept his voice low enough for me to hear.

"Now no talking or no cheating, you do either and you get " Mr Maklay stated handing out our test papers. "When you get your paper you may begin, good luck and no pressure" He smiles handing me a paper.

That did not help one little bit if anything it made me more nervous, I had to do well to prove Cody our tutor sessions for the past two weeks were for nothing. Confidence I reminded myself reading each question on my paper carefully.

I print my answers one by one and when I look up, I was surprised to find that I had finished early. Uh this was not right, I must have missed a question, but I didn't. I looked at the clock and saw that we only had 10 minutes left. That wasn't too bad right? Thank God when I looked over at Cody I saw he had finished too. He gave me a nod of approval, I smile back and rest my head on my desk.

* 

"Times up!" I jolt up and see Mr Maklay hovering over a girl two rows in front of me collecting her paper.

I rub my eyes and laugh at myself for falling asleep.

"How did you go?" Cody asks leaning over from our separated desk.

"Good, what about you?"

"Great" he smiled.

Of course.

"Ok turn to page 205 and get to work while I start to mark your papers"

I pulled out my laptop and Cody re-connected our table.

"Hey wanna go for a surf after school?"

"Sure, usual spot?"

"Yup"

"Cool I could really use one" I smiled.

As the bell went I stood up, falling to the ground. I lcollector king up my book to find Olivia hovering over me. Seriously how old is she 5?

"Sorry" She smirks and walks away. I look at Taylah who looks at me sympathetically, stepping over my books and walking away.

"Thanks for the help" I mutter under my breath.

"You ok?" Erin asks kneeling next to me.

"Just peachy"

"I don't know what has gotten into Taylah lately, nothing unusual for Olivia though" She sighs standing up and passing me my books.

I nod "And the funny thing is it all happens when I get here. New girl all over again"

There was an awkward silence and I just moved onto next period. For the rest of the lesson I just isolated myself. I wasn't sulking or anything just annoyed, I just wanted to be alone, letting the memories of the last bully I faced engulfing me.

"Hey Kate . . ."

"Mhmmm" I say keeping my eyes glued to the paper.

"Well during this period Mariah and Jess have an Art excursion"

"Mmmm?" I ask raising an eyebrow. Should this concern me?

"Well the rest of our group, before you came, put our names down for a music camp"

"Oh . . ." I choked out. "So I'm lonered?"

She nods slowly "I'm so sorry it worked at the time and we didn't really think it would affect us"

"Thats ok, thanks for the heads up" I smile making eye contact.

I'm really not having a good day.

"Its only for 3 days"

"Thats fine, is Taylah going to the music camp as well?"

She shakes her head. "Her parents wouldn't let her, but I think she is sitting with Olivia's group and -"

"Right, its ok I'll work something out" I smiled. It wasn't her fault and I wasn't going to take out my frustration on my friends. They mean a lot to me and I don't want to loose them. Not now at least, their all I have.

* * 

I wonder around at lunch still trying to figure out who to sit with. I hadn't familiarized myself with any of the other groups except for Cody's and well, I really didn't feel like showing up and asking to sit with them. Its not that I'm afraid of rejection, I'm sure they will say yes if I ask it would just be a little awkward for me.

I pull out 'The Lucky One' by Nicholas Sparks from my bag. I was so happy I brought it today, I hadn't read it and Sarah recommended it to me by mailing it to me.

I found a quiet spot around the corner from the library and slid down with my back against the wall. I found an apple in my bag, polished it against my shirt and started to eat it.

Chapter 1.

*

Halfway through chapter 4 I hear giggling coming from around the corner.

"Aww is someone a little lonered?" Olivia sing songed.

I kept my head down "How about you go do something more productive with your time . . . like oh I don't know" I looked and stared her straight in the eyes "Learn something?"

She glared at me standing above and took a sip of her coffee "Oooo touchie but guess what I'm not going anywhere"

"No surprise there" I said standing up and leaving.

"Hey Kate?" Olivia called.

I sighed "What?"

She threw her coffee all over me, staining my uniform, getting it all in my hair and my book. I snickered biting my tongue.

"Thank you" I said with a bow of my head, I started to walk away but something stopped me "Oh and Taylah, nice choice of friends you have there, do me a favour and stay the hell away from me" I watched her keep a poker face, the frustration building up inside of me. "All of you"

I spun on me heels ignoring their laughs and headed to the girls bathroom, keeping my head down, walking as fast as I could. Tears fell down my cheeks as I wiped away the coffee on my book.

I bumped into someone, not looking up at them I said sorry and kept on moving.

"Kate," A familiar voice said taking a firm hold of my wrist "What happened?!"

I shook my head furiously "I just want to be alone please"

He knew how to respect my privacy and I thanked him for that. I wiped my tear tracks away and left, locking myself in a cubical. I don't know what came over me but I just lost it, tears flowing from my eyes freely. I wanted to stay strong but I couldn't. It was happening all over again, with no friends to back me up this time. I gripped onto my book for dear life. I wish Sarah was here.

After cleaning my book thoroughly I unlocked my cubical and put it back in my bag. I took my hair out from my ponytail and washed it under the basin. Combing my hair with my fingers I pulled it into a ballerina bun and set to work on my uniform.

*

"Sorry I'm late" I apologised to our substitute teacher for music.

"Thats fine sweetie, is everything alright?" She asks noticing my puffy eyes. I nod and she smiles.

"There is no one in the back room on the left, go right ahead"

"Thanks" I smile.

I loved her, she was probably in her late 40s and most likely had children. I smiled as I opened the back room and rested a box behind the door. I opened the lid of the piano running my fingers over the slightly dusty keys. Once seated I played Fearless by Taylor Swift, taping my foot along to the beat on the peddle and letting the words flow from my lips.

I got lost in the song and jumped to see a figure at the door. Cody.