Loving Leighton ✔

04

LEIGHTON SCOTT FINALLY GOT BACK TO HER APARTMENT. She felt lightheaded, and most probably it's because Megan Davies slammed her head on the bathroom wall. Megan Davies and Leighton were okay before, but Megan took it upon herself to side with her boyfriend, Parker, and not Leighton, who was the one to defend her for being bullied because of having red hair and green eyes. An elf, Parker called Megan before. Leighton never saw any sense, but then again, never did any of his 'jokes'. But he was Parker Raymond, so everyone had to laugh at his jokes. And guess who's dating who now?

She sighed. She tried to forget it, but she kept remembering the concern and worry etched visibly on Cade's face. Leighton had always known Cade. She met him in sixth grade, and for a twelve year old, Cade was surely stoic. She befriended him in hopes of changing his everyday serious expression from time to time. It took her a lot of persistence, but twelve year old Leighton did not give up on him.

But things took a turn when Leighton's parents died. The Scott family and the Morris family had been close, so naturally they were present every step of the way, but the death of David and Myla Scott changed Leighton. She began shutting everyone out, all except Arabella Raymond. But Arabella died of suicide, and now she's colder than ever. She hadn't really had anyone to care for her, so sensing concern coming from someone she hadn't really interacted with that much was new to her.

And it bothered her. She didn't know why, but it bothered her, and she was determined to make him stop caring. After all, though she felt his sincerity, she's trying to make believe that it was all just a show. She didn't need anyone caring for her when she was about to disappear anyways. Caring is too late, especially if she already wanted to stop living at this point.

*

The people were staring at her again. Others, in sheer distaste, some in pure disgust, a few in pity, and the rest, smirking. As if they didn't care that she had a little too many bruises. As if she even deserved those bruises given to her by the school's feared yet adored redhead. As if she was too much of a bad person to not deserve the least bit of care.

"Ms. Scott," called out a familiar voice. With a deep, commanding voice that she knew belonged to Mr. Weldon, she turned around. "What happened with your forehead?" he asked questioningly, his right eyebrow raised. She sighed, quickly coming up with an alibi.

"Accidentally slammed my head against the wall when I woke up." she said all too smoothly, and shrugged. Mr. Weldon, however, didn't seem convinced. He let it off anyway, knowing he wouldn't get the truth out of her. With a nod and a sigh, he let her go her way.

Leighton has always been an expert in making up stories, alibis, to cover up the real thing. To cover up her misfortunes caused by other people. As she walked through the halls, crowded by all the vicious people she had to call "schoolmates".

She entered her first class for the day and chose the seat at the very back. Taking out her Arts textbook, she skimmed through the words. Not a single word of it registered in her head, but she was determined to focus on the book as to not draw any attention from anyone. Nothing worked, however. Her eyes were grazing everywhere in the page, but her mind was drifting off.

A pair of high heels clanked loudly in the room. Her teacher was not there yet, unfortunately, and probably won't be there yet for the next ten minutes. She had to face Megan Davies again, not that it was anything new. "Little Leighton lying to our principal?" she taunted. Leighton really didn't know why. If anything, she had the upper hand. After all, Megan was the one who slammed her head on the bathroom wall.

Leighton looked up at Megan for a split second, then looked back down. She knew that ignoring Megan would piss her off, but at that point, she had nothing to say anyway. "Get rid of your ego, you bitch, and stop ignoring me." Megan sneered. Leighton sighed at the irony. "What should I say then, Megan? That you, our batch's probably soon to be valedictorian, slammed my head on the bathroom wall?" she said, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it.

"What did you say? You fucking bitch!" Megan roared. Everyone else in the class just stared at them. No one helped, but no one backed Megan up either, to which Leighton was thankful for. Dealing with Megan alone was already cruel and difficult enough. "You think you're better than everyone, huh? News flash, you aren't. That's probably why mommy and daddy had to leave you in the first place!" she said, knowing she had struck a nerve. She knew exactly how to hit home, and she did. She won again, but Leighton had to let her believe that whatever she said didn't hurt her. She knew that if she did, Megan would use it to hurt her the next time, and Leighton wasn't sure that it would hurt any less. "Don't bring my parents into this."

Megan cackled. "And what are you gonna do about it?" Megan said dangerously, taking a step closer. Leighton stayed silent. "That's what I thought." said Megan, finally strutting back to her chair. Mr. Rye finally arrived, apologizing for his late arrival. Leighton truly didn't know what to do anymore. Just because she was used to the bullying, it doesn't mean that it didn't hurt her.

She hadn't realized that she was spacing out, though. "Ms. Scott?" called Mr. Rye a few times. It was only until the fourth that Leighton realized he was calling her. She wordlessly looked up. "Spacing out again?" he sighed. "Maybe you should take a walk, Ms. Scott. It should help you think better." he said, giving her a pass and excusing her out of class.

Megan's snarky remark of "walking won't help her think better if she can't even think properly" and everyone else's laughter was all she heard before she shut the door of the classroom.