Suggest a title plz - struggling!

More Than Survive

Heidi barged her way through the herds of teens blocking the corridor, head down, trying as hard as she could to keep her satchel strap from snapping off. Today had been a bad day and although it was only the start of lunch, she felt sick of it, even more than normal! She shoulder barged her way through the noisy crowd, desperate to find somewhere quiet to sit. Alone. As always. Trying as hard as possible to stop her bag from breaking, if not just to avoid the attention, she tucked the stray red hairs from her high ponytail behind her ears just at the wrong time. Just before she could take up her usual lonely spot in the corner of the dinner-hall, the strap buckled under the pressure, the stitches undoing so her entire bag fell to the ground with a thud.

The sea of students stared at her, turning almost immediately to look at her. Crap. Her cheeks flushed as red as her just below the shoulder length hair as she scrambled on the floor to rescue her books, lunch and dignity (not that she could) whilst giggles and shouts of variations of "nice job, dumbass!", "damn, thought you were meant to be smart!" and "ha, Poshie broke her bag!" echoed around the hall, the old building's acoustics really lending itself to the art of public humiliation. Trying as hard as she could to bite back tears, she made her way over to her usual spot, sat on her ass in the corner (since upon her arrival, she had been informed that "all the seats are taken, sorry"), her pale arm, dotted with freckles shaking almost as if she was cold. She had never wanted to move. She had been perfectly happy at her old school, but her mum had insisted that the move, to facilitate for her new job and 'help (them) forget about the incident' would help her in the long run, since her new school's results were off the charts impressive and teaching methods supposedly 'revolutionary' here,  but she never saw any of that.

From the moment she had arrived, her outsider status had been made painfully clear. Everyone had their own groups and didn't really want a new member. She was sure that some of them were nice, but she hadn't really seen it yet. She was a 'native of southwest London', and her accent made this clear. Unfortunately, she was also very tall and wasn't fat, but had wide hips and was rather muscly, with a mainly flat stomach and her flaming red hair, earning her the names gingerbread and gingey, so Heidi didn't exactly fit in. She barely spoke, her situation not helped by her social anxiety, because she was too nervous, but part of her believed that the constant ignorance of her classmates and the whispers and rumours about her could all be stopped if she actually told people more about her. Who knows, she may even get friends! As much as she wished to try, she felt trapped inside her own body, frustrating her.  

Before the move, Heidi and her mum had been really close, and this last few weeks were the first times she had ever lied to her mum. Heidi knew that if Kate knew the real reasons why her jumper had a large splodge of ketchup across the jumper or her growing nonchalent attitude, she would FREAK. Kate was under enough pressure and struggling enough as it was, she didn't need to worry about Heidi too. 

She would survive.

"Gingey!"

Her head turned so fast it was incredible it didn't give her whiplash, her blotchey red face partially covered by her jumper sleeve. Dan Frenman was facing her, his cocky grin wide. 

"Was that your mummy that picked you up yesterday? Well, damn, she was fit! Shame".

Heidi was used to that comment, but it still disgusted her to hear her mum spoken about like that by such a... Manwhore.

But the end confused her. 

"Uh.. sh-shame what?" She mumbled, looking at the ground as if it was the most fascinating thing she had ever laid eyes on.

"Shame you didn't inherit that".

Her cheeks flushed again, the comment cutting like a knife.

But, yeah, your mum. I'd totally hit that. I mean, she's so gorgeous, the things I wish I could do to her" 

He carried on as the anger was rising inside her to incredible levels and slowly, she stood up, the complete horror, disgust and fury created by his comments mixing with the events of the last few weeks. That was it. She wasn't going to take it anymore. 

The final fuse had been lit today. She finally cracked. As she squared up to the cocky, arrogant asshole, his friends laughing, smiling and agreeing with him, she didn't think.

Just did.

Bam. 

Bam bam.

She hit a sharp jab to his nose, which he had not anticipated, and two elbows to his left jaw and right cheekbone, just how she had been taught.

A sharp knee to the stomach made him bend over double and crumple to the ground, whimpering as a crowd began to gather, full of sheer disbelief as the quiet new girl, the blood in the water, snap, unleashing fury nobody knew she could release so... violently. 

Suddenly, Heidi came back to earth, tears beginning to form at the sight of what she had done and the crowd around her, shouting comments and she ran  fearfully outside to find somewhere to hide,her fist stained by blood from the steady stream running from Dan's nose.

Crapppp. Soon enough, the headteacher would find out about her little 'scrape', then no doubt there would be repercussions, but none as feared as the dreaded call home, telling her unsuspecting mum what had gone down. Oh no. She began to cry noisily, fumbling round in her pocket blindly to find her phone and headphones before resuming her music.

"I'm never gonna be the cool guy, I'm more the one who's left out"

She whispered the lyrics along to the song.

"Of all the characters at school I'm not the one who the story's about                     Why can't someone just help me out                                                                                           Teach me to thrive                                                                                                                                   Help me to more than survive"

 Until she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

"Hey, um, uh, a-are, are you okay?"

———- Author note———

Hi, hope you liked my oneshot! I'm considering continuing it so please come t below whether I should or not, as well as suggested titles for the book (or if you think I should just name it all More Than Survive). 

Also, please please please comment suggestions for new works for me. I will gladly credit you. 

Thanks for reading xx