A Collection of Short Stories

Cloudy Skies

Okay, so I wrote this for a grade in school, I figured I would post it, so here!

Everyday's the same. Nothing changes. Why. Why? Hi. I'm Jaden, Jaden Nause. I had everything I wished for as a kid, a loving family, good friends, and a nice home. Then, it happened. My dad was scheduled to be in Scotland for a meeting, that meant he had to fly there. He told us that when he touched down, he'd text us, but he didn't, he couldn't. A few hours had passed after we got the call, he hadn't responded yet. They told us, told us what happened. A few hours after takeoff, the plane crashed, into the water, while surviving the impact, his seat belt was stuck and he ended up drowning. After my mom heard this, she moved us over to Scotland, so that we could be closer to his grave. She met the sweetest man there, at least, he seemed sweet. Mom became more distant, working as a nurse, and constantly taking extra shifts, just to shower him with gifts and support us, plus college was coming up soon. Shortly after that, they got married, the wedding was happy and fine, but after that was when problems began to arise. He started getting drunk and would hit me. Even when he isn't drunk he still hits me. Ever since then, my life has had a basic pattern, wake up, get beaten, go to school, get bullied, go to class, go to lunch, eat lunch, throw lunch up, get bullied, go to class, go home, get beaten, go to bed. Nothing had ever changed about this pattern, and I had gotten used to it. Nothing would change, at least, not until she came, Kaliope Elias, she changed me, she saved me, she made me see worth in life.

The day hadn't been normal, my step-father was passed out on the couch so I got to school early and didn't have to deal with the bullying. I went to class and sat down in my seat. I put on some headphones and started playing some music. The soft piano came on, and I stared out the window, watching the rain pour down, hitting the window and streaking down. I don't know how long I stayed like this, I lost track of time, what jarred me back into the darkness that is reality was the bell. I sighed and paused my music, putting my phone away and taking out my homeroom notebook and a pencil. Students start filtering through the door, chatting with friends, they sit down in seats, discussing various things like the latest news. The teacher comes in and yells at them to quiet down. It takes them a few minutes but they eventually quiet down. Mrs Ludicrous, whose name is quite ironic as what she teaches is indeed ludicrous, screamed, "LISTEN UP TWERPS, WE HAVE A NEW STUDENT HERE, SHE'S A EXCHANGE STUDENT FROM SPAIN, AND I EXPECT YOU IDIOTS TO MAKE HER FEEL WELCOME." I feel kinda bad for the students that sit in the front, they have to deal with her spit flying all over them, but it's not my problem, so eh. The exchange student walks through the door and stands at the front of the class as she introduces herself.

"¡Hola! ¡Soy Kaliope Elias! Espero que todos podamos ser amigos." Upon seeing their confusion she sighed and repeated herself in English, "Hello! I'm Kaliope Elias! I hope we can all be friends!" Most of the class gave out a big 'ohhh' only the people like me who understood Spanish knew what she was saying from the beginning.

Mrs Ludicrous told her in the sweetest voice I've ever heard her use, "You can sit next to Jaden sweety, Jaden, could you please raise your hand" I looked up, sighed, then raised my hand. Kaliope smiled and walked over to take her seat next to me.

"¡Hola! I'm Kaliope, and you are?" I stared at her for a few seconds, wondering why she'd talk to me.
"Jaden." Was my only response, she smiled at me and opened her mouth to talk,

"Well then, Jaden, let's be friends!" I stared at her with disbelief, she had just met me, knew nothing about me, and I had only said one word to her for the 5 minutes we were sitting there, yet she still wanted to be my friend. A small grin broke through to my face,

"Friends," I say, testing the word out, "Sounds fun." That marked the day that my life changed, it all seemed to be getting better and better, Kaliope was one of the most popular people in school, but she still chose to stick with a loser like me. The bullying stopped, only because Kaliope had caught them doing it and told them off, so that marked the end of it. Things at home stayed the same, but I had a friend now, Kaliope made everything better. While she didn't know of the abuse, she helped me eat more regularly, forcing me to eat food. She was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time, in a few months, it was like we had known each other for years, Mom was happy I had gotten a friend and let me have sleepovers all the time. My step-father wasn't as happy, but was very good at hiding it. Then, I got the news, I was at school hanging out and laughing with Kaliope, when the loudspeaker asked me to come up to the office, me and Kaliope exchanged glances before letting out a giggle, "I better get going and see what they want," I sighed and got up, walking over to the office, and entering. The principal was sitting there with a solemn look on his face. Instantly, my nerves shot up, I sat down on the chair and stared at him, he met my gaze and sighed. The next words that came out of his mouth would be the second time someones changed my life with a single sentence.