Together Apart | ✓

|Chapter VII|

Don't settle for someone's sometimes

Chapter 7: I don't think you know what depression means

"...then he tried to make me late this morning. I didn't even get a chance to do my hair. That's why I look homeless right now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, you look just fine to me."

"Exactly! I look fine. Who says I want to look fine. I want to look good." She exaggerated. I mean her hair looked normal to me. It was pulled back in a messy bun. They were always in style regardless of the occasion.

"You look good." I grimly smiled.

"You just said I looked fine. I feel like you're just saying what I want to hear."

"No, of course not." I assured even though it was exactly what I was doing. If you knew Vee, you'd know to just say what she wanted to hear.

She groaned clearly not believing my white lie. Her head laid on the table allowing me to only see her head. I wasn't going to lie but her hair did look bad. It was half wet and half dry. A hat was needed if she didn't want be the flop of the week in the Style & Fashion section of the school student website.

She raised her head back up and rested her chin on the palm of her hands. Her eyes flickered to the person beside me.

"What do you think?"

He was caught off guard as he was on his phone. He didn't show any expression. The closest thing to a smile he gave was a smirk, every bad boy's signature. Not even every bad boy, it was all boys.

He stared back at Vee as if wondering why she was speaking to him in the first place.

He'd only been here for a few weeks and he already had a name for himself. Around here your popularity was based on three things: you either played a sport, you were super-hot or you slept around which somehow seemed like the only way people would accept you but at the same time they also judged you.

I knew that not everyone had accepted me. I used to be a loner. I didn't play sports and was only seldom reminded how pretty I was. Most importantly, I wasn't shallow enough to go around screwing people just to be popular. They wouldn't like me whatsoever, now they were somehow forced to like me. People were waiting for something to occur so they could shove me back where I belonged, under the radar.

There were times I was jealous how some people didn't even have to try. The jealousy faded away because I realised why was I trying so hard. If people didn't like me then they didn't like me. I needed to stop trying to live up to society's expectations.

It was just like my mother always told me: "Don't worry about what others think. People's opinions will never cut you a check. Just be yourself because that shows your inner beauty."

Her words were imprinted in my mind. That's one of the things I loved about her. She somehow always had something to say about every situation I came crying to her about. I didn't really cry but she could tell whenever I wasn't well.

"Are you talking to me?" He glanced at her before looking back at his screen.

"No, I'm just looking at you but I'm actually talking to the test tubes."

"Maybe you should get friends that will actually be able to respond to you."

Everyone had some humour in them, even Tyler. I'm sure he was just cold-hearted if he didn't like you or didn't know you. But then again, he could act like a child at times.