Overthinking

Chapter 2

The final bell rang and everyone rushed outside of the class, everyone but me that is. Ever since I started at this school it's become "tradition" for me to stay after and help my teacher clean up. My teacher thought it was me being a, and I quote, 'a troubled student looking for more volunteer hours,' but in reality, it was just me pretending to care so I wouldn't have to hear the words being thrown my way.

Seeing as my last class of the day was art, the room was considerably messy. So I packed up my stuff and went to grab the spray bottle in the back of the room. When I got back, the teacher, Mr. Davidson, was talking to some kid. Figuring it was just some kid from detention looking for an easy pass out, I paid no mind to them and put my earbuds in.

Not even a second later, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hi," they said as I took out my earbud. I turned a little to see that it was the new girl from the first hour. Not really understanding why she was here, I gave her a small smile and continued to scrub at the table.

"I don't think you heard me, I said hi," I turned to face her, her finger falling from my shoulder from where she had been previously tapping.

"I heard you. Do you need something?" I questioned. My bluntness seemed to throw her off as her smile faltered just a little, but it came back as she said,

"Would you happen to know where the broom is? Mr. Davidson told me where it was earlier but I forgot." She looked down as she said this and tucked a piece of her hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear.

'Cute,' I thought as I walked towards the back room. I turned to see if she was following me, only to see that she was staring at her phone, a hardened look on her face. "You coming?" I voiced with slight irritation. She seemed to snap out of whatever daze she was in as the smile she seemed to always where came back.

"Yup, sorry about that," she said as she skipped over. I waved a hand in response as I continued my way to the back room, this time with her following behind me.

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It has only been ten minutes since she's been in this room and I already want to slit her throat

...or mine, but that's not the point.

She has been asking me question after question, and you would think that my silence would get her to stop but it never did.

'What's your favorite color?'

'Why don't you talk?'

'Who's the person you care most about in the world?'

'What happened to your parents that made you so quiet?'

That last question was said under her breath but I still heard it. I turned around to her so quickly I'm surprised I didn't get whiplash. My abrupt turn seems to catch her off guard as whatever question she was about to ask next got caught in her throat.

"Listen here, new girl--" I started as I walked closer to her, but she cut me off.

"My names Leah," she said as she folded her arms.

"I don't give a shit what your name is. We are not friends and we will never be friends so stop asking questions," I sneered. At this point, I was right in front of her and could see a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Why can't we be friends?" She queried, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Because friends are something that I don't have, something I can't have," I said as I looked down as I felt tears well up in my eyes again. I quickly turned away and headed towards my stuff, deciding that I was done for today.

"Why is that?" She questioned again as she came closer to me, "why can't you have friends?"

"Because," I turned to look at her, "they always leave."

"I won't," she said as she grabbed my forearm.

I scoffed and pulled away, heading towards the exit, "You will," I turned to look at her one more time before opening the door, "once you know the truth you'll leave, just like everyone else,"

With that final sentence, I walked away, the door slamming behind me as the tears finally escaped.