The Six Degrees Of Separation

Chapter 8 : Prance Like A Unicorn

A/N: DEDICATED TO LETSFLY because shes such an amazing fan<3 thank you alex, youre amazing and i love getting comments from you; it makes my dayy(: this is for youu :D 

My eyes wandered to the window as they surveyed the drab school grounds where the little 6th graders were enjoying their break. 

I sighed, I wish I was as joyful as them. 

Obviously, that last message from Jake ruined my joy. 

“jk”.

If I had listened to Aaron, then this wouldn’t have happened. 

He told me how fat I was. How ugly I was. How stupid I was. 

If I hadn’t had this hope inside of me, then I wouldn’t have to deal with this depression. 

If I didn’t have high self-esteem because of what Jake said, then I wouldn’t be longing for happiness. 

"Break time guys!" my choir teacher, Mrs. McGarrett said. 

'Finally...' I thought. 

I had to talk to Gretchen. Sure, I'd been jealous of her and Aaron, but I'd gotten over it. I didn't care about Aaron anymore and if anything, I should be thankful for her because she helped me realize how dumb I was for being with Aaron anyways. 

Quickly, I grabbed my stuff and raced for the stairs. Thankfully, I didn't crash into Aaron this time...

Nearly tripping down the stairs, I finally reached the first floor where my locker was located. Dashing towards my locker, I took the combination lock in my hands and twirled it around a bit. 

Click.

Pulling the lock open, I tugged at the door of my locker. It opened with a lot of momentum and the door slammed against the locker next to mine. 

Whatever, I was too desperate to talk to Gretch. 

Shoving in my laptop and pencil case into my locker, I slammed my locker shut, locked it and started running towards the stairs. 

Everyone looked at me. 

I didn't care. 

I had to discuss my depression with Gretchen, she'd helped me get through boy depression in fifth grade, too. 

So I dragged myself up to the third floor, tired from all the rushing I did. 

Turning 360 degrees, I looked around for Gretchen. 

I found her, lounging around her locker with her friend Charlotte Ngai.

"Hey Charlotte!" I said, giving her a smile.

She smiled back, sensed that we needed privacy and went off to help her friend study for a test. 

I glanced around, checking to see that no one was around to listen to our conversations. Which is when I spotted Jake and Oliver. 

Oh gosh, this was going to be awkward. 

'I hate you Jake. Well, act normal and ignore them... and they won't come and talk to you!' I told myself. 

Draping my hair over my face, I started blabbing this week's events to Gretchen. How Jake had told me that Oliver was going to ask me out, how I'd gotten my hopes up, etc. 

Gretchen munched on her Haribo gummy bears for a while before answering. 

"Hey, Leighton. Be optimistic! You never know when some perfect guy will come sweeping you off of your feet!" she said with a wink as she devoured the last few gummy bears.