The Girl At The Back Of The Class

Chapter 10

After sitting in the field for awhile, I walked home and took a bath.

Now laying in my bed, I took out my phone and called Aria.

"Aria?"

"Ellie! How are you?! How are your boys?!"

Normally I would try and convince her that they aren't my boys but not today. "Arie, it's happening again.."

"Oh no. Are you okay?! What happened? Who do I have to beat up?"

"Not really.. I don't even know who did it.."

"Elizabeth Rosanna Flynn, what happened?"

So I began telling her everything. I told her about how I went to the beach with the guys. I explained about the picture and all of the things written on it. By the end of my explanation, Aria was fuming.

"Did the guys have anything to do with this?"

"I don't know.. I ran out so fast I barely caught a glimpse of them. I don't think they do. Oh god. What if they do?"

"Calm down Ellie. You don't know if they did. Don't freak out. Talk to them."

"I guess. I'll try but I don't want to see any of them right now.."

The doorbell rings and aunt Nikki yells to me from the kitchen, "El! Door!"

"Arie, I gotta go. I'll text you later."

"Bye!"

~~~~

I walk to the front door and open it. As soon as the door was fully opened, I was tackled by three teenage guys. "Elizabeth! Are you okay!? We would've been here sooner but we had to finish the school day." Christian seemed to shout all of these questions at me.

"I-I.." I turned to walk back in the house before the tears came.

"Oh no you don't," said Danny grabbing my arm and pulling me in and folding me into a hug as I feel the tears make an appearance.

"J-Just g-go aw-way."

At this, John pulls me out of Danny's arms and down my porch steps towards his house. Once we reach his stairs he pulls me down and has me sit on the stairs. I was confused about why the guys didn't just come over here and me and John stay there but oh well.

"Elizabeth, I don't want you to build your walls up against us again." He whispered to me. "I heard you say 'not again' when you saw it.. What did you mean?"

"Ch-Christian and D-Danny should h-hear it too."

"Okay. I'll go get them. You sit here."

With that he left me sitting on his front porch steps. I was about to tell these three guys about one of the worst times of my life..

~~Beginning of 6th grade~~

"I can't wait for the assembly today!" I'm so happy, Today I'm getting some kind of award and I have no idea what it's for. All I can talk about with Marie (my only friend here at Woods Middle School) is what we think the award is.

"Maybe you got honor roll." Marie said.

"Nah, I've only been here a couple of months so it's easy to be on honor roll and there wouldn't be an assembly."

"True," something seems off about Marie. She hasn't really looked at me all day.

"Mar.."

"Let's just go to the assembly," she says cutting me off. With that she drags me down the hall towards the auditorium.

We find seats close to the front since I'm going to have to go on stage. Once everyone is all settled in, the principal, Mrs. Smith, took the stage.

"Good morning boys and girls!" Mrs. Smith is always a happy woman. "Today, we have a very special award to give out. The students in this school wanted to give to one certain student to show their appreciation for her." It's at this moment that Marie slips away. I wonder where she's going.

"Everyone please welcome to the stage, Elizabeth Flynn, this year's recipient of the Appreciation Award." As I get up to head to the stage, I notice no one is clapping. Weird.

As I get on stage, Mrs. Smith smiles broadly at me and hands me the microphone. Am I suppose to say something?

I grasp the microphone and say, "Thank you so much for.." As I'm looking out at the crowd, I see that they're all looking up. I follow their eyes up as I'm talking and I see Marie. I freeze mid-sentence as I see Marie holding a bucket of what seems to be hamburger meat.

I was frozen as I watched her tip the bucket over. The meat covering me. All of the sudden the room was deafeningly loud. The words, there are so many of them. "Pig.." "Cow.." "Fat.." "Ugly.." "Stupid.." What. Just. Happened.

I run off the stage and out the auditorium as fast as I can. I ran to the bathroom. Once inside, I lock the door, turn around and slide down the door as I finally let the tears come. Did that just happen? What even was that?

As I'm lost in my thoughts, a hand holding a tissue suddenly appears in front of my face. Startled, I look up. Quickly wiping away my tears I take the tissue.

"Th-Thanks." I say unsure. What if she's like the rest of them?

"Hi! I'm Aria. Are you okay?"

That was how I became best friends with Aria Stevens.

~~Present~~

"This happened in sixth grade?" asked Danny.
"Y-Yeah.. I-It's when I started st-stuttering."
At this, John wrapped his arms around me.

"We will find out who did this, E. We promise."