Perfectly Faulted

Chapter 1

Do you ever get the feeling that no one understands you? That there’s nobody around you who will ever care if you suddenly disappear? Did you ever get pushed away by someone you thought was your best friend? If these thoughts have never crossed your mind, or you have never experienced this internal pain, then good for you. But I have.

"Oh look, there goes the emo,” whisper voices nastily to each other. “Bet your arms are all cut up, aren’t they, you loser?!” I’d like to confront them, to yell in their face and tell them not to call me that, to tell them that there is a reason I act this way. I can’t do it, though. I’m too shy, too silent, too sensitive…too weak. I run my fingers through the black hair that frames my face. My dark eyes travel to those ugly, gray tiled floors that I see every day, a reminder that I am stuck here for another long year. Garrett High. The fluorescent, rectangular lights hanging on the ceiling, casting an ugly glow upon the hallways, the metal lockers banging shut around me, the green bathroom stalls that I know so well from having often cried there at lunch, these things make up my school. But worst of all are the people.

The Stylettes are the popular girls. Their faces look pretty, but under all of the layers of eye shadow, blush and mascara, they are unrecognizable. I remember a day when one of them, Clarisse, was dared by a boy to come to school without makeup and without doing anything to her hair. She came that day looking as normal as possible. I hadn’t realized how pale her face was. That day, no boys stared as they usually did, no one seemed to notice her. She had gone to hide herself in a bathroom stall and skipped math class. Stupid girl. I would have laughed if not for what she would do to me if I had. I would probably have been tormented for the rest of the year.

Then there are the Monsters, the jocks of our school. With six-packs and toned bodies, some of them look like those models that appear on shopping bags from those expensive, brand-name stores. If only their personality matched their good looks, but all they ever do is flirt with the Stylettes and act like idiots. I bet some of them are actually smart, but once they arrived at this school and met the Monsters, they immediately got sucked in without a way out, and slowly changed until they fit in. That's what always happens here: a bunch of picky black holes lie everywhere, waiting patiently for a worthy-looking someone to come close enough that they can suck them in and reshape them like balls of clay. Once you enter a clique, you either stay there or you get kicked out and taunted for the rest of your time at Garrett High. 

The UNI, or the unnaturally intellectual, as people here like to call the nerds at school, hang out in a corner of the cafeteria all the time, talking and debating about who-knows-what, laughing and ignoring everyone who tries to intervene. Nice kids. They never speak to anyone other than their own group and the teachers. Somehow, seemingly effortlessly, they find their way to the top of the class every time, in every subject. Apparently, their superior intellect gives them the right to look down upon everyone else.

 The geeks are the strangest ones at Garrett High. Obsessed with computers, video games and Japanese cartoons that no one has ever heard of, they are actually very kind, but since no one other than them can keep up with their topics of conversation, no one bothers to talk to them much. They are always in the library, doing things on their ipads, staring excitedly at comic books and just being themselves. They don't seem to care about what people think of them, and I admire them for that. Somehow, since they always ignore those who bother them, they have stopped being bothered. Also, there are many people who don't fit into a group, who no one bothered to give a name to. Many manage fine, finding many friends and always hanging out together, and some don't.

Like me. Skyla Malory. Most people call me Skye, though. My friend Evan always says this when I'm feeling down: "The sky's the limit for you, Skye." Yes, its a sort of stupid pun, but everytime she says that, it makes me smile. Evangeline is her real name, but since she had always hated it, she goes by Evan most of the time. She is the nicest person I have ever met. Since we were very young, we have always been together, to help each other through hard times, to console each other and just to talk. Evan is beautiful; she only wears a slight bit of makeup simply to cover up a bit of acne on her nose, but her hair is long, naturally black, and wavy. She has skin the color of light caramel, dark brown eyes and the kindest smile I have ever seen. Without her, I don't think I would have been able to go through middle school without having break-downs all the time.

We have a tradition: every time one of us is feeling bad, for any reason at all, we go to a frozen yogurt place called Orange Blossom that's just down the road from Garrett High. The employees there know us well, and whenever we are there, we always manage to burst into laughter and forget the rest of the world. Fro-yo: the best cure for sadness. I constantly thank the one who invented it. The people there must think we are related, which isn't a total lie. Evan and I are like sisters, inseparable and always there for each other.