Scarred Knees

four.

Four.

serena

Walking to fourth period was the same every day. I trudged through the crowd of students in my year, trying my best to make a straight line for gym class. People shoved and pushed. Everyone then dispersed into their classrooms and the halls grew quiet and empty.

The late bell rung through the hollow halls as I rushed into the gymnasium as fast as my legs in baggy jeans could stretch. My flats squeaked loudly as they dragged along the hardwood floor.

Everyone's heads turned and I could faintly hear the sound of someone whispering and laughing. I really hoped they weren't laughing at me. Being the center of attention in a bad way was my worst fear. Maybe If I could melt, seep through the floors, escape this place, change my name and appearance, no one would recognize me and I wouldn't have to go through this humiliation.

 After I shyly made my way to the locker room and changed, I made my way back outside to where the class was already stretching. Joining them momentarily, I saw Cassie and her posse silently checking out the physical ed teacher. All they thought about was sex. Once I saw her practically snogging with the basketball lot's captain Sean Kirk in the girls toilets.

I've always wondered what it was like to be that desperate for sex. I've never kissed a boy in my life. I know, typical. At this school, if you still had your virginity safely tucked away from any boy to steal, you weren't the shit. 95% of the school's population wasn’t virgins. All the popular people lost their virginity in a one night stand at the age of 13. It’s disgusting in all honesty.

My eyes flickered to the right, where I saw Daniel Mathis and his friend Kyle. They've been inseparable for as long as I could remember. Kyle never seemed to hold a grudge against Daniel as every other male in the school did. Maybe he knew something about Daniel that no one else knew. There was a bunch of theory’s about it that roamed the school, but there was yet one to be confirmed by Daniel Mathis himself.

After physical ed was over and I was changed out of my sweat drenched goodwill clothes, my feet carried themselves to the cafeteria that was located at the end of the hall. Everyone’s feet pattered loudly as they ran into the doors, pushing them open with their bodies force.

The cafeteria was loud, the line to buy food out the courtyard entrance. I slowly made my way to the end of the never ending line. Everyone seemed to fixate their cold hearted stares and looks of disgust towards me. ‘I bet you Cassie said something.’ I told myself. She does it all the time.

My eyes wandered around while my body did the same as my legs carried me to my destination. I caught a glance with Cassie, and she seemed to laugh loudly and scoff at me. She always terrorized me for no reason. She probably didn’t have anything better to do in her oh-so-perfect-I’m-rich life. I wonder what was really behind her clogged makeup face.

She turned glances with me once more, and I studied her appearance much closer. Her eyes were almost a neon electric blue and her eyelashes were spidery long and black as night, due to excessive mascara use. She really needed to scrub that crap off her face.

As I moved further into the gaze, I snapped my neck around to the front view of myself. There stood mere steps away from me, the student body president Michaela. She shoved a flyer dramatically in my face before walking away from me. Wow, isn’t she a pearl. The flyer fell from my face to the cold colored tile.

Bending down slowly in humiliation, I picked it up quickly and shot back up before storming out into the courtyard forgetting about lunch entirely. I wasn’t even hungry anyways. I studied the crisp clean paper that was held firmly between my two hands. It stated POOL PARTY TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE STUDENT COUNCIL at the very top of the page, an address printed below. I knew it was going to be a house party that people just collected money for themselves. I could already imagine the drunken teens getting high on marijuana and someone getting seriously hurt, the innocent ones being held responsible for it.

But I needed to get away from the financial aid company that kept pestering us to pay them back, and taking care of my family that was in great need of help. What the hell, I thought. It couldn’t hurt to go to a pool party; I mean what’s the worst that could happen?

I crept to a bench on the outskirts of the courtyard and took a seat. There sat Daniel and Kyle in the middle of a commotion. They always had girls surrounding them, guys glaring at them. They both easily got girls. They had a reputation, while I had none.

(edited) @whatava