Tough Cookie

The Most Cruel Kid At School

Dima shoved her headphones in her bag after turning her music off. The bus stopped and as the middle schoolers got off the bus, all the younger kids watched in awe as they saw how pretty some students' outfits were. Evan stuck out his tongue at them.

Dima was so nervous. Yes, she did go to this school two years before, but she wasn't nervous about new things. She was nervous about being alone.

Chris tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around. "Why are your legs shaking?" He asked.

She gulped. "Crap, it's visible?!"

"Well that doesn't answer my question."

"It's nothing!"

They entered the school, and all the kids were either talking to their friends as if nothing was different, and others were bored out of their minds waiting for their friends. "Where do you usually sit?" Chris asked.

"Well, I sat over there last year." She pointed at the benches at the left. "But since we have to sit separated from the other grades we'll be sitting over here." She lead him to the benches on the right.

"Why are we sitting all the way back here...?" He asked as they walked all the way to the back.

"You don't have to come, I just prefer to be alone." She said, sassily.

"Uh... I'm actually new here, and you're the only person I know..." Chris looked embarrassed for some reason.

"Ugh, ok. You can sit with me." They sat down.

"Hey, moth girl, is that your boyfriend?!" Yelled Victoria.

Dima gave her the evil glare everyone knew her from. "Ok, Chris, you see all the other​ 8'th graders?"

"Yeah." He said curiously.

"They're all our enemies. No one here will be nice to you as long as you have common sense."

"Oh..."

"Do you want to go to breakfast? I'm hungry..." Dima said.

"I ate at home, but ok."

They lined up for breakfast and smelled cinnamon rolls.
"Yes!" Dima shouted, throwing her fist in the air.

They got their food and walked to the tables, Dima was walking fast, so no one would look at her, and Chris walked cheerfully with no worries. "Hey moth, who's this guy​?" a girl named Irene said from across the table.

Chris whispered to Dima, "What's up with people and calling you moth?"

"It's nothing, just ignore it, fella." Dima scooped up her cinnamon roll with her fork and ate it in one bite.

"Oh gosh golly how- how do you eat like that?!" Chris asked.

"She's a moth, all she does it eat. It's probably very easy." Irene teased.

Chris frowned and ate his breakfast. A few minutes later, the bell rang and kids went to class.

"Who's your homeroom teacher?" Chris asked Dima. "I got Mrs. Duncan."

Dima looked at her schedule and read, "Homeroom: Mrs. West."

Chris looked down. "Man, that means I'll be alone."

Dima looked at him with a smirk. "You think that's bad? Well no matter how many people actually know me, everyone will hate me, just because that's how rumors are in this school. Have fun trying to make friends." And she was off.

Dima walked into her classroom with so much sass that she started to feel like a super villain. She picked a seat and before sitting she yelled, "LEEDLE LEEDLE LEE," and flopped into her chair.

Victoria walked in just then and looked at her like she needs Jesus. Dima licked her lips and glared at her. Victoria looked away as if she'd never met her.

Mrs. West walked into the room and sat down. Just by looking at her, Dima could tell Mrs. West's class would be fun. The 8:00 bell rang and the class stood up to say the pledge to the American flag. Then Mrs. West called roll. "Ellen Atkins?"

"Here!" Ellen stuck her tongue out, as if taking a selfie.

"Gabe Brummett?"

"Here..."

Dima practiced saying "here" in her head over and over. Good thing her last initial was R. Mrs. West finally got to her. "Dima Robinson?"

"Here!" Her voice cracked. She facepalmed herself. A few kids chuckled at her.
"Hello Earthlings, your favorite alien's back..." She whispered.

Roll call was over, and Mrs. West was handing out papers. "Ok kiddos. I know that just about every teacher is going to be telling you about their classroom and stuff. Right? So we're just going to postpone that for tommorow. Let's get to know each other. Sound good?"

The class nodded. "Oh wake up, sleepy heads."

"Yes!" Shouted the class.

"Ok, so you're all going to fill out these papers and then trade around the room. Maddie will trade with Alyssa, and when she's done, Alyssa will give Maddie's paper to Dima. Understand?"
The class was silent. "I'll take that as a yes."

The first problem was, "Describe yourself in three words." Dima smirked as she wrote, "I am a rebel." The second question was, "What do you in your free time?" Dima thought for a moment. She began to write, "Ride my bike up and down my driveway," but remembered she hasn't done that in years.
So instead she wrote, "I spend most of my time, not just free time, switching between Facebook, Twitter and ROBLOX. I also stay up till like five o clock watching YouTube."

Mrs. West walked around the room looking at the papers. Dima's face lit up. Sure, she liked making herself think she was savage and tough, but that was just an ego. So she just kept writing answers that were kinda sarcastic, but mostly true.

"Ok, time to trade! And if you didn't already, put your name on your papers!"

Dima waited for everyone to finish trading so she could pick the last kid. The other kids sat down, and Braden was still standing. She quickly walked across the room and said, "We have to trade."

"What? Speak nice and clear, I can't understand you." He teased.

Dima rolled her eyes. Braden knew she had social anxiety, and having him tell her she was talking too quickly used to make her worried,  but she'd gotten used to it. "I said, 'You're the only other kid who hasn't traded yet, so you're another loser, like me. Now trade papers with me!'"

He gave her the paper. She took it to her seat. She started to read it. "Describe yourself in three words: Adventurous, Honest, Funny." Whatever you say... Dima didn't even read anymore. She didn't want to break her face because of cringing so hard.

The class traded papers five more times, and then they all got their own papers back. "Ellen, what is your favorite color?" Mrs. West asked.

"Well, I like orange alot." Ellen answered.

"Gabe, what's your favorite animal?"

Gabe looked down, as if he forgot for a second. "Uh, llamas!"

"Brendon, what's your favorite sport?"

Brendon answered, "Football!"

Oh God, anything but sports... Dima thought to herself.

Mrs. West asked everyone a random question, and when she got to Dima, she asked "What's your biggest fear?"

Dima thought for a moment. Her actual biggest fear was tall buildings. Not only did she not want people asking what makes them scary, she wanted to put an image in people's heads. So she answered, "Well, I've always feared that something would come into my house at night and kill my family while I have my headphones in. That way I wouldn't hear anything until it's too late, and that whatever it is would leave me alone in my house..." Which was also true, she just didn't think of it that much.

The entire class got silent.
Mrs. West replied with "Oh... Well, uh.. that is pretty scary I guess..."

After class, Dima grabbed her schedule and checked what her next class was, when Mrs. West asked her, "Are you okay​?"

Dima said yes and ran to her next class.