You're All I Need

THREE

Ellen POV

I hop on the bus while yelling goodbye to Portia. I hear a faint, "Bye!" and then I slam down in the first open seat I find. I take off my backpack and put it on my lap as I sit by the window and watch the people get on the bus next to me. The bus driver sits down and starts up the bus. "Sit down!" He yells, and a few kids sit down. He leaves the parking lot and starts driving down the road. As he's driving past all these roads and cars, I sit and wonder what it was like before any of this was ever here. Like what plants grew where and what animals roamed the land before humans came and destroyed it then rebuilt it to fit our 'needs'. I wondered why everything was a need. Why do we need roads to get places? We can just walk to the super market or to our job. Why do we need jobs? We can just get money for free. Why do we need money? We can just trade for things, most of us have stuff we don't need anyway. Why do we need to trade for items? We can just get everything for free and help one another out with no expense. Why do we need to help one another out? So the world doesn't crumble. Which it already is. And has been. For a while.

The bus driver pulls up to my house and I immediately get up and hop off the bus. I run to the front door and bolt through it. I'm hit with the smell of a vegetable soup. My mouth waters and I walk to the kitchen. My mother asks me, "Whats the rush? Trying to get away from a bear?" "No, just wanted to get in here." I reply back, breathing heavily. I set my empty lunch box on the counter and then go up to my room. I take off my backpack and put it next to my desk and sit in my chair. I take out a worksheet and notes that I have for homework. I read over my notes and start answering the questions. I get to the third question then I hear a knock at my door and  Vance opens it. I look up at him and he asks me, "Hey, because you type so much faster than me, do you mind typing this English essay for me? I need it by tomorrow night." "Uh yeah, sure. How many pages is it?" "Seven and a half." "Alright." I lean over and grab his essay and put it on my desk. "Thanks." He says, and leaves the room. "Shut the door?" I shout. "Oh yeah, sorry!" He comes back and shuts the door. I continue on with my homework
until I finish it, about fifteen minutes, and then put it back in my backpack along with my notes. I zip up my bag and relax in my chair. I grab Vance's essay and skim over it. I have absolutely no idea what it's about, so I just put it back on my desk. I twirl around in my chair for a minute and then mama yells, "Vance, Ellen, dinner is ready!" "Okay, we're coming!" I hear Vance yell back. I get up from my chair, open the door, turn off the lights, and then go downstairs. I walk into the kitchen and am hit again with the delicious smell of vegetable soup. I see three bowls set on the table with spoons in them and three glasses of water. I sit at the end closest to the doorway, mama joins me at the table and then Vance comes around the corner and sits down. "It smells really good." Vance tells mama. "It does." I add. "Well, thank you." She says, and then we all pick up our spoons and start to eat. I eat three bites before I take a drink of water because the soup is boiling hot. We all get about half way done with our meal until mama asks us, "Anything new happen today?" "No." Vance says, but I say, "Yeah, a new student." "Oh really? What's their name?" "Portia. She moved here from Australia." "Interesting." Mama replies. "Anything else?" She asks with a very questionable tone. "She's my only friend, and she's pretty nice." I wanted to say that she stuck up for me in drama class but I didn't want to have to explain why and all of this jazz. "Oh so a new friend, that's nice." Mama says, then drinking some water. We finish eating and mama takes our dishes and tells us to finish our homework or entertain ourselves. "Hey, mama, can I run to the library? I need to type something for school." I ask her. "Yeah, just be back by seven." I look at the clock and it was five thirty. "Alright, thanks." I get up and bolt up the stairs straight into my room and then grab the essay Vance wanted me to type for him and my backpack. I put the essay in my backpack then go back downstairs and slip on my shoes. I sling my backpack on an go out the front door. I walk to the side of the house and grab my bike and walk it to the sidewalk. I get on it and ride to the library.

I get to the library and find the bike rack. I park my bike in between a section then lock it up with the bike chain in my backpack. I walk in the library and the librarian greets me, "Hello, how can I help you?" "I'm just here to type something." "Okay, the computer lab is right over there." She points to the far wall. "Thanks." "Happy to help!" As I'm walking over to the computer lab I wonder why I would have needed help to find the computer lab. I mean, there is a giant label over the top of the entry that clearly reads, "COMPUTER LAB". And if she though I wouldn't have been able to read it, why would I have come to a library? Where you read books and things? I don't know.

I walk into the computer lab and go to the back row. I like the back row because its hidden by a giant bookshelf with encyclopedias that NO ONE touches so no one will bother you. There is actual dust collecting on them. I turn the corner an see Miya and Elle crowded around one computer. The bullies from the hall that threw me away from my locker. I immediately turn back but when I do that I slam into the bookshelf and it makes a loud thud. I hear one of them walking towards me to see what happened so I dart out of the lab. "Hey, it's Gayo!" Miya says semi loud. "Stop walking away, Gayo! Come say hi to us!" Elle says. I speed walk to a sitting area and grab a random book off the shelf and cover my face to pretend I'm a random person reading a book. I hear them swoosh around the corner and run over to me. I guess the book wasn't big enough to cover my face because before I know it, the book was ripped out of my hands and one of the pages gave me a paper cut on my hand that stretched from the bottom to the top of my palm. Miya walks behind me and grabs the collar of my shirt and Elle shuffles through my bag. "What're you guys doing?" I ask, trying to turn around. "What are YOU doing?" Miya says. "What's this? Tonight's homework?" Elle says. "Wouldn't it be nice if I were to rip-" As soon as she says that we hear someone about to come around the corner, them thinking it'd be a librarian, Elle drops my homework onto my lap and they act like they're looking at the books. I grab my homework and speed walk to the door as fast as I can. They notice that I left and speed walk after me, and I hear them following me so I run for the door. The librarian at the front desk tells me to walk, but I ignore her and run to my bike. I frantically put in the combination to my bike chain, rip off the lock, wrap it around my neck, and get on my bike and ride off. I hear Elle shout, "Oh, look, Gayo is scared! She's running away!" And that just makes me peddle twice as fast.