American Honey

one

Prompt 02: In which a character sees an acquaintance/someone they don't know well outside of work/school and has to converse with them

        Annah had been in the middle of drawing Evan Peters when the idea hit her. She didn't really know where it came from, the idea. Maybe she was under the enfluence of Lemonade Mouth, a Disney movie she had been watching earlier, or maybe she was tired of being quiet all the time, but she wanted to be noticed now, all of the sudden. She was always known as "that quiet girl" and maybe she wanted people to know her name, to acknowledge her in the halls, to talk to her in class until they got caught. 

Annah thought that maybe she should do something weird, because she always did weird things at her house. Like that one time when she thought she was home alone and put on her Halloween costume then danced around the house singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". But to her embarrasment, her brother had been home and video taped the whole thing. 

So, Annah decided that she knew what she had to do if she wanted to be said "Hi" to in the halls. She was going to do something utterly abnormal.

        Annah came to school the next day with a big smile on her face. She was ready for her act of unusualness to go down. She was wearing her school unifom, like everyone else, but she was also wearing her Mordecai (from the Regular Show) knee high socks and had her hair down. She usually had her light brown, and some-what blond, locks of hair in a pony-tail, but today was a big day, according to her.

Her plan was to do an outlandish thing durring lunch, for everyone to see. Annah was, however, upset that she had to wait a few hours through boring classes before she could do her first public display of bizzare-ness.

Annah walked into her first class after the bell rung, sitting in her usual seat. If she sat anywhere else, all Hell would break lose seeing as, even though they didn't have assigned seats, her teacher remembered where they all sat. Annah recalled the last time someone sat out of their regular seat, the teacher went batshit crazy.

After the morning annonucements, her teacher addressed the class.

"Goodmoring, guys." Annah's teacher, Ms. Atlas, greeted them, smiling brightly as always. Annah would be lying if she said that Ms. Atlas' first hour wasn't her favorite class. History had never been Annah's favorite subject, though. It was just so boring and everyone they were learning about were dead anyway, so why did it matter that George Washington was the first president, or that Cleopatra was the last active pharaoh of Ancient Egypt?

That morning, they went into depth on the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. They reviewed what they should have learned in sixth or seventh grade, and were taught certain things they may have not learned back in middle school about said town-city. "Okay, guys. I want you all to write an essay on any Roman city, it could be Pompeii, but I'm really hoping that you guys will chose another ome and go big and beyond on a city that you researched. It'll be due Friday." 

Annah, as the rest of the class must have done, inwardly groaned. If they made an actualy sound of resentment, Ms. Atlas would probably yell at them. And who likes to be yelled at because of their teenage laziness? 

        Her moment to make history, as she thought, was arriving and she was begining to have second thoughts. What if everyone laughed at her and instead of deeming her as "that quiet girl", they begin to call her "that mentally unstable girl"? What if she fell while in the act? What if they threw tomatoes at her? Okay, so maybe that last one wasn't very realistic, but still, what if they just happened to have tomatoes with them, ready to chuck the red fruit at some fool?

Annah got her lunch and sat with her friends, a group of girls in multiple fandoms. Annah herself wasn't in a fandom, but the fangirls thought she was since she did, in fact, read countless books and watched countless shows that had fandoms. "Hey, Annah-Banana." Kilynn said. Kilynn had shoulder-length jet black hair and a smile that could turn even the crankiest persons' frown upside-down.

"Hi, Kilynn. Do you know what city you're gonna write for Ms. Atlas' essay?" Kilynn lefted a shoulder and took a bite of her home-made sandwich. "I have no clue whatsoever."

Annah bite the inside of her cheek, a habbit, and turned to her other friend Cellie. "You?" Cellie, a girl with light-brown skin and black colored hair, shook her head. Annah interrogated a few more friends before Kilynn asked, "What about you, since you're stuck on questioning everyone else?"

"Oh, um. Well, maybe I could do a little thing on that city that was by Pompeii?"

"You're talking about... schist. I don't even remember the name." Cellie admitted.

It was now or never, really. Annah took a nervous bite of school-provided hamburger and stood up. She stood on the lunch table, hand over her heart as she began her probably-inspired-by-a-disney-movie act in a shaky voice. "I pledge allegiance,"

"What are you doing?"

"To the flag, of the United States of America."

Some of her fellow students took out their phones and began video tapping.

"And to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God,"

"Annah, get down!" One of her friends whisper-shouted.

"Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." She finished.

        It was quiet for a few moments. A quietness that was choking her. Then, someone started laughing. And others joined in. Someone asked what was wrong with her and another asked if she was alright. Annah jumped off the table and furiously blinked at the tears forming, her throat seemed as if a rock was stuck in it. She sat down and put her head down in shame. "That meantally unstable girl" was sure to be her new nickname.

"I pledge Allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America," A feminine voice began, earning the quietness of almost everyone in the cafeteria.

"And to the Republic, for which it stands," Now there were multiple voices. Annah dared to look up, hoping the attention wavered off of her and onto them. She saw several teens standing on tables, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. She smiled, despite her previous embarrassment and the feeling of it that lingered.

Once the group of teens were done, they sat done and acted as if nothing ever happened. And everyone, reluctantly, folowed in suit.

        After school, Annah went looking for the girl that somewhat stood up for her durring lunch. She knew the girl's name was Amanda Quality and that they were both in the same class for science, but that was about it.

She spotted the blue-haired girl by the basketball court, conversing with a few friends. Annah debated on whether or not she should thank the girl, which was begining to take forever. Amanda started walking off towards the exit of the school and, once again, Annah found herself in a self-made now-or-never situation.

"Um, hey. I'm Annah. I-I'm the girl that did the thing at lunch..."

"I know."

"Oh, yeah. And I just wanted to, you know, thank you for sorta standing up for me and my weirdness. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm glad it happened."

"No problem," Amanda say with a grin, "You're pretty cool, doing something bold like that. Next time you wanna do something weird though, you should probably get some other people to do it with you." She advised before chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah... yeah. Thanks, for everything, you know? The advise, the standing up-"

"Anytime, my friend, anytime."

Amanda walked away and Annah stood stationary, grinning foolishly.

She couldn't believe that she did her act of weirdness and survived. She survived.