After Eden

Chapter 2

A/N Yeah, so, I stayed up until 12:00 writing this. Just for you special snowflakes. Anyhow, enjoy!

I started crying the minute I knew I was alone.

I felt pathetic. Crying about something as stupid as being told the truth. Because I knew, deep inside, that everything Xavier had said was right. I was a clone. I did hate my outfit. I hated everything Bethany made me do and wear. Of course I wanted to change. To be my own person. But that wasn’t a choice-not at this school.

I wiped my tears away with my arm. There I was, Isabella Shor, crying behind the bleachers. Feeling bad for myself, when really, I deserved no pity.

I stood up, making sure to rid myself of any evidence that I’d been crying. Then I walked out of the gym as if nothing had happened. Easy as that.

…

At lunch the next day, a particularly interesting conversation arose at Bethany’s table.

“Seriously, Izzy, how do you deal with it?” Zoey Kamp had asked me. I was confused, because she hadn’t even bothered to imply what she was talking about at all. This was one of her odd quirks.

“Deal with what?” I asked blankly.

“The football team, obviously. You got their two best players beat up, remember? I heard they might even have to cancel their next game. That’s got to suck.” She gave me a sympathetic, but noticeably fake look. As if that would help.

Dread filled every crevice in my body. “Oh,” was all I could manage to say.

Then I caught Xavier staring at me in the corner of my eye.

The rest of the school day seemed to prove wrong what Zoey had said. Things went on as they normally did-I watched as Bethany insulted someone, I got a bad grade, lowerclassmen gave me heinous stares, etc. Nothing I hadn’t experienced before. I felt confident that nothing bad was going to happen.

…

As I was leaving the school that day, I could tell someone was definitely following me.

It was pretty obvious. I heard their footsteps behind me, and they weren’t trying too hard to be inconspicuous. I didn’t turn around to see who it was-that was probably what they wanted, anyway. It didn’t start to bother me until I started walking towards my car. Just to test how far the person would follow me, I turned a corner of the school. Still following me. Fed up, I spun around.

Darren Smith. Captain of the football team. He was practically every girl’s dream. Well, except for me. I had Xavier. But I guess he was cute, with a tall stature, dark skin, and golden curls. Either way, he wasn’t my type.

He approached me with an unfriendly smirk on his face. He cocked his head to the side and gestured towards me. “Hey-aren’t you that girl who made the football team have to cancel their next game?”

I gulped nervously. “No,” I replied meekly.

He started walking towards me in this slow, ominous way, like he was trying to make me feel threatened. I didn’t feel threatened. More like intruded. Especially when he got so close, I backed right into the brick wall.

“I think you are,” he said, the smirk fading and morphing into raw hatred. Now I saw where this was going. I’d been here before.

“I didn’t do anything, ok? If anything, it was those two guys who were beating up that kid. Someone was going to intervene eventually,” I whispered.

Maybe for a second-but only a second-he considered this. Maybe his eyes softened and he felt actual sympathy. But if he did, I couldn’t tell, because his reaction was immediate.