Sweet Lips

•FOUR: Pass Me the Polish•

My hand copied the notes on the board as quickly and neatly as possible. Sometimes I didn't even know what I was writing; it was like my hand and eye were working together secretly. Some people asked why I was so attentive to the lesson the teacher was teaching every day. I always told them a lie and said that I liked school. It wasn't necessarily a lie- I did like school. School was an escape from the life I lived outside of school. The life I got tired of living years ago. My hand stopped when the ring of the bell broke through the silence of the classroom. Had the period ended already? I watched as the other students rushed out of the classroom quickly as if their lives depended on it. It was a few seconds before I started to pack up my belongings and leave as well. The period that just ended was fifth so that means this period approaching was my lunch. Lunch. This was my least favorite period. I asked the school if they could remove it from my schedule but they said that it was required for me to have lunch included in my schedule.

I usually went to the library for lunch but I was feeling confident today. I had gripped tighter onto the few books I had in my hands when I turned into the hall that the lunchroom was located in. Was I really going to do this? I made my way to the lunchroom doors and entered shyly. There were people everywhere. On the lunch line, seated at tables, and some even walked around the lunchroom, talking to different people. I tried to spot an empty table but nothing stood out to me. I was about to turn and leave this room of chaos but a kind voice had stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey! Arlie!" I turned my head around far enough to see Hazel with a smile on her face while she waved me over. My eyebrows shot up at her calling. A blush covered my cheeks quickly causing me to tilt my head down in hopes that my hair would cover it. "Come sit!" Hazel's candy-like voice called again. She was sat at a table with some of the girls I saw yesterday at volleyball practice. I hesitantly started the walk over to the table crowded with the girls on the volleyball team. "Hey!" Hazel said once I made to the table. All of the girl's eyes were on me as I sat down next to Hazel. "Hi," I greeted. The girls seemed to give me a small smile or a wave. Either was perfectly fine with me. "I know yesterday was your first day and all so I'll introduce you. This is Bethany, Loriel, Kim, Renee, Natalie, who goes by Nate because she's sorta tomboyish but whatever, and lastly, Poppy." She says pointing to each girl as she goes. I nod after she finishes introducing each of the girls. I noticed that Alex wasn't seated at the table. "Please don't mind her. She is crazy," Natalie explains. I believed that. "No! I just like to talk a lot!" Hazel explains. All the girls got into a argument about except for Poppy who sat their observing everything as I was doing.

From then on my mind wandered. The things they were talking about were pointless and irrelevant to me. "Hey, Arlie you didn't get any lunch," Hazel points out. My eyes widened as I snapped my head towards her. My mouth hung open as I tried to thing of an excuse. "I-I d-don't like the s-school lunch," I explain, hoping she'd accept the lie. She nods. "Yeah, the school lunch isn't the best." I smile at her, happy that she bought the false information. As my mind drifted again, my thoughts turned to food.

The girl across from me had this chicken nugget on her plate that was stuck into the ketchup. It was slowly tempting me to get my own plate of food. Hazel had a juicy red apple that I watched her bite into. The crunch the apple made caused my mouth to water a bit. This was too much. I suddenly stood up, everyone's gaze traveled with me. "I have to get to my next class. I forgot t-that I need to finish an assignment due tomorrow," I lied again. Hazel nodded before giving another sweet smile. "Bye," I said before turning and leaving. I heard their goodbyes behind me as I slipped through the doors.

As I made my way to the library I heard Miranda's nasal voice escaping from the girls bathroom. "She's a stuck-up bitch. Like, in science, right, I was doing the stupid assignment the right way and she's like, no you have to do it this way!" She tried to mimic the voice of the one she was talking about. I stood right outside the door as I listened to the conversation. "Oh my gosh," The girl that spoke dragged the 'gosh' out making her sound as if she didn't care one bit. "I know, right? So the teachers like oh Miranda, Arlie is right, listen to her! I swear she probably does some serious ass-kissing on the weekends. Fake ass bitch," She mumbled the last part. My mouth hung open as I listened to the offensive conversation. It's not my fault Miranda is as smart as a fart!

"Right, right." The second girl's voice was as nasally as Miranda's- if not even more. "Anyways! Can you hand me the other nail polish, thanks." Miranda spoke. I chose to stand there as I replayed the words in my head. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't hear the sets of heels approach the door. The bathroom door swung open and there stood Miranda and her friend in all their plastic glory. Miranda gasped with a smirk on her face. She looked up then back down to me whilst blinking her eyes a ridiculous amount of times. "Speak. Of. The devil," She says. Her friend shook her head with the same smirk on. "You heard what you needed to. See you in science!" She called as she pushed past me. I watched as she waved her false nails in the air. I was still in disbelief. I turned and ran down the hall and out the school doors.

The nice breeze hit me as soon as I made my exit. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes. I walked to the side of the school where there were no cameras. I would be able to leave the scene over there. With my head hanging lowly, I speed walked to the side. "Arlie!" My name was being called for the second time. My head slowly lifted at the sound of Alex's voice. She was standing a few feet away from me with a boy. He wasn't that bad. As soon as Alex saw my face, her smile faded away. "You okay?" She asked while jogging over to me. "What's wrong?" She grabbed my shoulders and studied my face. I shook my head and wiggled out of her grasp. Everything was too overwhelming at the moment. I proceeded to run in the direction of the woods.

I didn't care if I missed the rest of my classes, I had perfect grades in all of them. The tears slipped out of my eyes as I ran down the streets. My hair bounced behind me as I forced my legs to take me home. The sound of cars driving down the road didn't even pass my mind. I didn't know how I made it home safely. I didn't look for cars or anything, I just ran the streets I knew. I rushed into my house once I was finally home and collapsed onto the floor. I let my soft sobbing begin and I didn't care that I ignored the door that hung wide open. "I'm sorry, sweetie," My father's voice entered my ears as I felt his hand move the strands of hair out of my face. "Let's go," He says before helping me up.

Everything seemed like a blur to me. I just remember hitting a few bumps in my dad's car before I ended up in the waiting room I was so used to.

"What happened today?" My therapist looked me in the eyes as I stared blankly at the plain wall. I took heavy breaths as I thought of words that would get me through this session. "Nobody likes me. They're all so mean," I said. I tried to be nice to Miranda the first few weeks of school but she just rejected my kindness. "Sometimes when people are mean to you, they only want to be like you," She says. I don't think Miranda wanted to be like me in the slightest bit. I was unpopular, hated by many, and the skinniest thing the face of the earth has ever seen. I doubt anyone would wanna be like me.

For the rest of my time being there, I was very short with my answers. The only place I wanted to be right now was in my room watching Netflix. That was the only place I felt safe.