The Anti-Socialist

Chapter Three

Before anyone could move a muscle, I was flying out the door. 

"Hey, Gracie, c'mere!" Joe called tauntingly.

I couldn't help it, I full out ran away.  Just get to your locker and don't be late for class.  Ignore Joe. I soothed myself.

I quickly flung open my locker and began rummaging around for my Calculus book.  Come out, wherever you are! I began screaming at the book with telepathy.   Yep, I'm definitely insane. 

"Hey, your name is Grace, right?" a voice suddenly said near my ear.  A voice that wasn't Joe's.

I took a tiny peek and saw that the voice belonged to Jake.  Oh, great, the pretty boy's gonna come and make fun of me, just like everyone else does. I thought angrily.

"Um, hello?" Jake asked again, gently nudging my arm.

HOLY SHOOT, GO AWAY. I wanted to scream at him, but I kept silent.

Jake sighed.  "What's your 2nd period?" he asked.

I kept digging around in my locker, ignoring him completely.  Jeez, take a hint....

Jake promptly reached over and snatched my schedule out of my hands.  "2nd period, Calculus.  Hey, that's great!  We can walk to class together!" he exclaimed.

At this point, I was ready to claw Jake's eyes out and boil him in acid.  I nearly hissed when Jake grabbed my arm and dragged me off to 2nd period.  Why the heck are you trying so hard? I wanted to ask.  Why me instead of Cecelia?  Cecelia's the hot chic.

"Why don't you ever talk?" Jake asked as we walked down the long hallway, halfway to class.

I faced the opposite direction of which he was standing, which was the right.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be that way!" he said, trying not to laugh, I could tell.  Before he could say anything else, I sped away towards Mrs. Jackson's class.

As I entered the room, a cold blast of hair hit my face.  I felt so welcome. 

"Grace, your seat is in the very back, the far right corner," Mrs. Jackson said as soon as I walked in.  I didn't say 'thank you'.

I dumped my backpack onto the desk and began unloading a binder and a few notebooks, my diary included.

The bell finally rang, and Mrs. Jackson stepped up to the front of the room.  "Good morning, class!" she said.

"Good morning, Mrs. Jackson," everyone but me replied.

"So, Grace, how are your parents doing?" Mrs. Jackson suddenly asked, her tone changing.

The blood drained from my face.  I counted exactly two seconds of complete silence before almost everyone burst out laughing.  No, no, no, this cannot be happening....

"Gracie, daughter of the cheater!" someone called.

Tears filled my eyes, and began spilling down my cheeks.

"I heard that your father had a meltdown," Mrs. Jackson continued innocently.

My vision swam as everything slipped into chaos.  People started throwing spit balls, pens and pencils, and even books at me.  Finally, I gave up.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I got up and ran out of the classroom.  I shot down the hall as fast as I could, making lots of noise, I'm sure. 

Once I got to my locker, I flung open the door, scrunched my tiny body inside, and shut the locker again, hoping that I could just rot in there without anyone ever finding me.  Slowly, I went through all of my emotions, one by one.  I was mad.  Mrs. Jackson had always been a nice teacher, and now she was a female dog, basically.  I was sad.  My mother had made a bad choice which had it's consequences.  I felt betrayed.  Mrs. Jackson once again comes into play.  How could a teacher do this?

I wiped a few tears away, but not before the next wave spilled down my cheeks.  I gasped for air as the tears began to fall uncontrollably.  My lungs tightened up as they always did when I cried very hard.  My breathing became raspy by the second, and my nose was now stuffed up.

There was a sudden rapping on my locker door.  I froze, and didn't even dare to sniffle.

"It's me, Jake," Jake's smooth voice whispered.  "Can I open up?"

I hesitated for a moment, and then pushed open the locker door.  I then turned away, refusing to meet his gaze.

"I know, I'm intruding.  But...what happened over the summer?  Really?" he asked, gently brushing my curly brown hair back.

I shook my head, wiping a few more tears from my chin.  Jake reached up and gently cupped my face in his warm hands.  "You can tell me, you know," he whispered, looking deeply into my eyes.

I wanted to tell him so bad, I wanted to let the water flow free from the dam.  But I held back.  Jake knowing my personal business would never be good.

Somehow, Jake managed to lift me out of my locker without destroying anything, or hurting himself.  He gently placed me down on the ground in front of my locker and caressed my cheek.  I shuddered away at his loving gesture.

"So, I was wondering.  Do you want to, you know, hang out?" Jake asked, sitting down beside me.

I looked at him dully.  I didn't want to say no, that would really offend him.  But I also didn't want to say yes.  Darn, I hadn't said yes in about three years now.  I would be no one's friend.  I shook my head, and Jake's face fell.

"But why not?" he asked, playing innocent.

I glared at him, crumbling up a nearby paper.  Couldn't this guy take a hint?  I DIDN'T TALK.

He leaned in closer, his bright green eyes dancing.  "Aren't you ever going to talk to me?" he asked.

I shook my head.  No, never. I thought.  I hadn't talked to another student in years.  I wasn't about to start now.

Then Jake did something completely unexpected.  He leaned over and kissed my cheek.  "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be there for you," he whispered into my ear, his breath tickling my neck.

A/N

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-Kathy