The Ones Who Notice

Part 1

(Picture of Nicole)

"Nicole!" My stepmom screamed from downstairs. Sighing, I finish up the rest of my makeup. Grabbing my backpack before racing down the stairs to avoid my stepmom screaming again. "Nic, Linda's going to take you to school. Ok hun?" My dad leaned down to kiss my forehead while I glared at Linda. "Well let's go!" She screamed as soon as my dad walked back to his study. As soon as we were in the garage she turned on me. "Listen hear you little emo! I don't care about you enough to let you sit in my car! Walk to school! And if you speak one word about this to your daddy... You'll live to regret it!" She hissed through clenched teeth, climbing into her fancy car and taking off. Leaving me to a two mile walk to school. Walking slowly 'cause I was in no hurry to get to school just to be bullied and teased, I lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "Hey Nic! Need a ride!" My best friend Rebecca, called out from her Tesla Model X. Her dad was filthy rich, of course she drove a tesla. She pushed a strand of her emo dark blue hair behind her ear and signaled for me to jump in. The door opened and I carefully put my bag by my feet. Reb took off as soon as the door closed so I just started fingering my brackets that covered my cuts.

"Peter and I broke up....again." Groaning I turn to glare at her, "I thought you guys were serious this time!" My friend and Peter, an emo boy, had been on and off for about a year straight now. "He said he was serious this time, apparently not." She shook her head slightly, sighing as she did so. "Oh yeah! Did you hear there is a new kid in school! Garret told me he was emo too!" Reb repeated to me excitedly. "Do you know his name?" Curious about this kid even though I didn't even know he existed until about 10 seconds ago. "No idea, but us emos got to stick together, so we'll prolly meet him at lunch." She smiled her beautiful smile before turning up the radio when Lane Boy, Twenty one pilots, started to play.

Pulling into the school parking lot, and swinging my backpack back over my shoulder, we began the slow walk towards the entrance. "Hey, wait up!" Our friend Garret yelled at us. His light blue hair was constantly being pushed back by Rebecca and I, because it hung way to low in the front. "Hey Gare" giving him a small wave when he reached us. "Hey Nic, hi Reb." Garret falling in line beside us while we marched towards the school. We never talked much. Especially me. We were more their just for someone to lean on if they needed it. We ate lunch together in the janitor closer to avoid the jocks and the other jerks who thinks it's okay to bully someone just because we cut or look different from other people. In a way we had a gang, there wasn't many people in it, only five misfits, we all hung out together Friday nights, we ate together, we protected each other.
They called us the misfits. We called ourselves the outcasts.

"I'll meet you guys for lunch." And there went Rebecca. Had her first class with no other outcasts. Garret shared a class with Peter and another outcast, Mace. I was alone in class as well. Not that I minded. My glares would usually shut someone down in a heartbeat. My teacher Miss.Song gave me a small smile when I entered her classroom, and I found that I couldn't return it. I've found it extremely hard to give someone a real smile after my mothers death. She has, and will be, the only one to get me to give a real, genuine, smile. "Hey emo. What's up with the misfits today?" Ted laughed along with his jock friends. Ignoring him as usual, and sitting in the back corner. My seat.
I noticed a new kid though, he was talking to the teacher. He was emo, that's fire sure. His black hair was natural, it matched his blue eyes well. His leather jacket had silver studs all over the shoulders and a black, Avenged Sevenfold was under the leather. His black skinny jeans had holes on the knees and black combat boots completed the look.

"Class, we have a new student! His name is Drake Stelter, please treat him kindly." She finished and turned to Drake, whispering a few words to him before he came walking towards me. Sitting in the seat right beside me. I gave him a gentle smile and he nodded at me, a small curl of his lips told me we would get along fine. "I like your shirt." My quiet voice carried over to him and his smile grew. "My names Nicole by the way" he nodded once again, then reaching down to grab a notebook from his backpack. Taking this as a sign he wanted to pay attention, I followed suit. But not to take notes or anything, but to write.

People always say everything will be better tomorrow.
But it's today that hurts.
What if you just couldn't last until tomorrow?
Why not end it today?
Just end the pain and suffering.
Well maybe you would be missed.
And maybe you wouldn't.
Who really knows?
I was taught to look at the better side of things. To always have a good defense to fight the offense.
But a good offense will always break through.
Just give it time and your defense will crumble and fall.
Nobody knows the pain somebody else feels.
They might think they do.
But they never will.
Don't underestimate people.
They could help.
They could laugh.
Would you take the chance?

I was lost in my own mind until the emo guy beside me nudged my arm. My head snapped up to see everybody leaving. Looking to my left to see him reading what I had wrote. Waiting until he finished before packing the notebook away. "You write so beautifully, the inside of your mind must be a terrible place..." Drake spoke so quietly, I wondered if he wanted me to hear him. His voice was smooth and soft. Like silk. "When I wrote, the hollowness inside was filled for a few moments with memories and images, not all of them happy, but at least there was something living in me...again, when I wrote. I wrote because writing kept me alive." I say numbly, he smirked, his eyes sparkled. He knew exactly where that quote was from. "What's your next class?" His silly voice asked. "English." He nodded his head. "Awesome. Take me?" Nodding quickly and leading him out of the classroom.
I heard him chuckle before following.