Natural Disasters

Chapter 5: Day 5 (Flashbacks)

February 11th, 1996-

"Honey, wake up! The bus is going to be here in 10 minutes" my mother yelled. I opened my eyes to a poster of Prince staring at me. I got dressed and took a quick, steaming shower. I ran into the kitchen and made some cereal. Dad was rushing to get ready for work again so he won't be late and mom was packing my lunch as always. I grabbed my backpack and my lunch out of my mom's hands and yelled good-bye with a kiss. I ran out of the house and finally got to the bus just in time. The smell of cigarette smoke blew in my face as the bus doors opened. I coughed as I went up the stairs. The bus driver threw out the cigarette that was in his mouth out the window and lit another one. I walked down the aisle and found my seat next to my best friend, Derrek. "So I see that you almost missed the bus, again" Derrek chuckled. I took off my backpack and put it in between my legs "So what? I enjoy sleeping in. I would have slept in longer if the bus wasn't rushing me". He rolled his eyes "do you have the homework from Mr. Haram's class". "You didn't do your homework again" I said. "No... I mean yes... or no I didn't" he said. "Fine... here, but do it now so I can turn it in before school starts" I said opening my bag to get my homework. "Thank you, Ellie. What would I do without you?" he said. "Probably fail in life" I responded. He shook his head and copied my homework till we got to school.

Finally after 15 minutes, we got off the bus as Derrek handed my homework. I grabbed it out of Derrek's hands and walked up to the school with him. We both sat on the bench outside of school till they opened up the doors. We started to talk until the jocks came up to us. There were 5 football players and 2 cheerleaders. Trust me, they're the worst. "Move it losers! This is a chair for royalty not poor peasants like you" one of the cheerleaders said. That's Pamela; she's the richest, spoiled child at this school. Her minion is Louise; she is not only rich, but she is really dumb. The football players are Scott, Richard, Nick, William, and Jerry. I have a crush on Jerry since he moved here from Canada. He is really sweet, but sometimes he acts like he is the king of the world. "Why should we? It doesn't have your name on it" I said. "Didn't you hear Pamela? She told you to move your um- what did you say Pam?" Louise asked. "Louise shut up! You ruin everything!" Pamela yelled at Louise then looked at us "you better move or you will be thrown in the trash just like where your mother left you Derrek". Derrek got up and ran off like he was about to miss his train. I stood up and stared at Pamela "you should stop talking or I will". I yelled Derrek's name and ran after him. I saw him run into the school when they opened up the doors. I looked all around the school until I saw the football players bursting out laughing and yelling in the boy bathroom. I hid so I can hear what they were saying. "Come on! Fight me! Are you scared charity case?" one said. "Wow! When are the people here going to realize you're a freak, an f*cking bastard" another one said. Before this got out of hand, I ran in and tried to stop them "hey! Don't you have better things to do?". "Aw... is this your girlfriend protecting you? Wow you're pathetic" one said. I saw Derrek huddled up in the corner below their shadows. Suddenly, the bell rung "you got lucky this time you piece of sh*t. Let's go fellas before we catch his disease". They left the bathroom in a row, but unexpectedly I saw Jerry. He winked at me and walked out. I blushed a bit and walked over to Derrek. The closer I got I heard him sniffling, shaking in fear. I sat next to him and hugged him, tightly. I noticed that he had a black eye that he was covering up in pain. His face was kind of swelled up and covered in bits of his own blood. I didn't want to bring it up, so I hugged him even tighter so he knew he felt protected. "Don't worry they're gone... I'm not going to leave you" I said.

Three day's passed. I got ready for school. Luckily, I woke up earlier than I do usually. I'm just going to skip to the bus because the mornings are like the same. I saw Derrek on the bus. He's much better now. His swelling kind of went down. You can still see his swollen bit lip and a black eye, but it's noticeable when you are close up to him. We talked on the bus till we got to school. A soon as we got off the bus, we went to my locker. "So... um... Ellie... you-you know that the Valentine's dance is tonight?" Derrek asked. I looked at him and smiled "yea what about it?". "Well um... I was wondering-" , but Derrek could finish in time. Jerry walked up "Hey Ellie! I was wondering if you would like to go to the dance tonight with me?" Jerry interrupted. Without even thinking about it, I looked at him and smiled "YES! I mean sure" I said. "Cool! Oh hey dork... well anyway I'll pick you up at 7" Jerry said walking off. I started to dance in my mind. My thoughts were having a party as they yelled 'FINALLY' or 'OMG HE ASKED ME OUT'. I looked at Derrek "OMG well... you have a fantastic day Derrek! I got to get going! OMG what am I going to wear? Hey do you think you can come over and help me get ready?" I said. He stuttered "Uh... sure yea". "THANK YOU! Have a good day" I said running off.