Whispers in the Halls

Chapter 1

12/5/17

Dangman, Idaho . Lainey Rhodes's Bedroom. 

4:30 AM

I scratch my head and squeeze my eyes, opening and closing them a few times. Lifting up my head, I reach over and grab my glasses off of my nightstand. After coughing a few times from dehydration, I get out of bed and turn off my screeching alarm clock. Stumbling across the room, I grab a black hoodie with red cherries on it, ripped black jeans, and red hi-top vans - that are pretty old at this point. Upon getting to my vanity to look at my gross self, I grab my round brush and make an attempt to comb through my deathly, dyed red curls. No avail, it gets STUCK and pulls out some hair.

"MOTHER FUCKER" I scream, followed by more loud cursing. I decide to give up on brushing my hair.

As I grab my cup of makeup brushes, I examine my face. I have a roundish-square jaw, with literal chicken lips and a pug nose. My eyes are too far apart, and they're of greenish colors. I have a lot of freckles that I actually like because they cover up my horrible acne problem. I also wear thin, huge, round glasses. Nice to meet you. After caking makeup on to my eyes and putting a color on my lips, I look human.

"LAINEY? LAINEY GET DOWN HERE, THE BUS WILL BE HERE IN 10." I hear my older brother, Dan, call my name. I look at my watch, it's 5:00. I grab my phone, earbuds, and pink-polka dot backpack and start running down the stairs, and almost fall onto the ground.

"Sup, dyke." The tall boy laughs at me.

"Hey, fuckboy." I snort.

We walk outside and wait for the bus. It's raining, of course...

"This blows." I sigh.

"I mean, I totally love having the 5:10 bus, because our school is 5 towns away, just to be in class by 6:30. And having to stand outside in the rain! Yeah, I SOOO love it, it makes my day so much easier." I say sarcastically.

"Okay then, freshie who hasn't even been at this school for more than a year, telling her senior brother what he already knows and more." Dan replied. I stick my tongue out at him.

"Well, you've dealt with it for a long time! I'm just starting out." My hair is already drenched, great, so all the work I didn't do - for nothing. Through the rain, I see the lights for the bus.

"Get ready for a day in hell." I cough, the bright lights leaving my eyes strained. The bus stops, and the rickety, old doors open in front of me, splashing some rain on my glasses. A few people are already on, and I lay down a towel on and sit down in the seat that NOBODY wants to sit in. You know the seat I'm talking about, right? The one where the cushions are all ripped up, and make gross sounds whenever you sit on them too hard. The one where little gross kids from the middle and elementary schools ruined, from being little gross kids. It's so bad, they probably don't bother cleaning it anymore, so I carry around a towel to make sure I don't sit down DIRECTLY on the horrors of seat 3. However, it is my favorite seat to sit in. NOBODY talks to you when you sit in it, which is great because everyone on my bus is popular and basic, or pretends to be popular and basic. One hour and ten minute bus ride, here I come.

I put on my music playlist. Mostly The 1975, My Chemical Romance, and random stuff I find from the 80's. The first song that comes on is Lotus Eater, by Foster the People. I grab a washcloth from my bag, and I tape it on the window. Right after, I lay my head down on it. Can't touch the window because of how gross it is. I start drifting away, my mind full of hate for most things. Like, I have my friends, but they won't matter after 4 years. I feel a need, or a desire to fit in with some, for literally no reason because they all suck. They always ask me the gayest shit you'll ever hear.