This Isn't Wonderland

Chapter Six

"Jaclyn, your boyfriend was following me around yesterday." I mumbled, my eyes crinkling partly shut as the three of us walked against the wind towards school. Jaclyn gave me a confused look, "What do you- He's not my boyfrien- Why was he following yo- What?" She asked, a blush creeping across her face, though that also could be because of how cold it was, the wind nipping at not only her skin but mine as well. My nose probably made me look like Rudolf.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms in an effort to keep myself warm. "Yesterday I went to your apartment because I needed to talk but you weren't there. But Sydney was, so he followed me." I said, sniffling. Jaclyn 'oohed', nodding her head. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. My little sister had a thing. Why did he follow you?"

"I don't freaking know!"

"Well okay, then why did you come to talk to me? What was wrong?" She asked, looking concerned. I rolled my eyes once more, "It's nothing." I mumbled.

This morning when I had walked to Holdon's apartment with Jaclyn, she had asked about my face just like Holdon did when he came down to greet us. I told them it was nothing. I know they don't believe that but they knew better than to continue asking. They were smart like that.

"Well, Sydney isn't my boyfriend." Jaclyn mumbled, crossing her arms and sniffling. I chuckled, nudging her with my shoulder. "Alright." I replied, deciding to stop teasing her.

From next to us, Holdon was texting furiously on his phone. Today, he was wearing his thick framed glasses. He looked adorable and nerdy; all the girls at school would be on him. 

"Holdon, what are you doing?" I asked, nudging him this time. He nearly dropped his phone when I did this, making him curse underneath his breath. "Jesus- what do you want?"

"My name's not Jesus, it's Cary." I replied, all three of us stopping in front of the stop sign to let cars pass us. Jaclyn snickered while Holdon rolled his eyes.

"But seriously, why are you so pissy this morning?" I asked, looking up at him, he was much taller than me. He sighed, "It's nothing." He mumbled, rubbing his forehead which was covered in no hair; his hair now being held back with a beanie. He barely ever wore beanies and if he ever did, his hair would be down. Not like it is now. He's obviously upset about something.

"Come on, you know you can talk to us. Is it a girl? A boy? Your parents?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. He sighed once again, "No, just forget it. If I'm in the mood, I'll tell you later." He put his phone back in his pocket and that was that.

"Okay." I mumbled, rolling my eyes as we continued walking again.

 The three of us strolled to school and got there just in time for the bell to ring, thankfully, Sydney was no where in sight. We split up, Holdon and Jaclyn doing to their first period, as I went to mine; English. I walked down the hallways with my head down. I really wasn't in the mood for anyone asking about my partly bruised and cut-up face. I only got looks though; never questions. 

Because people didn't care. 

My teacher thankfully didn't really notice, or just didn't care. She greeted me, giving me a warm smile as I walked past her. I would've returned the gesture but I never did, even with her, so I simply gave her a single glance and then walked to my seat, setting my stuff down with a sigh. The room was filled with about three fourths of the normal amount so it wasn't too loud. Even when there were a lot of people, it still wouldn't be too loud.

I paid no attention to my fellow peers because I disliked every single one of them. Even Michelle, the girl who never talked to anyone.

We still had about two minutes until the bell rang for the start of class so I decided to spend this time fixing my legs upon the desk before I took out my poem and began rereading it over and over again; we were assigned to write a poem about something we love. Me, not exactly finding an interest in many things to fall in love with, simply wrote about nature and how beautiful it was.