Lady of the Rose

School Day

   Brynna walked through the halls of her high school with her head hung slightly and the hood of her sweatshirt  pulled up in order to shadow her face. The past three and a half years, she'd managed to stay away from everyone that merely intended to use her for their own purposes and intentions, and she intended to keep it that way for the remainder of her time stuck within the mundane building.

   "Hey there, Brynna! You're still in high school?" a vaguely familiar voice asked loudly, causing the girl to startle and look up to see James smiling at her. "I wonder if you'll be in any of the same classes as Ryder, then."

  Brynna, not used to being spoken to other than the occasional times that a professor would call upon her to do something, simply stared at the person before her. Only after several minutes of silence did she blink in realization of her complete rudeness. "I...thought you were working...as a mechanic, or something..."

   James laughed gently. "Mechanic is on the weekends. Normally, I'd be waiting tables right now, but I was dropping off some paperwork for Ryder, since Drake was less than motivated to do so. Would you be kind enough to guide me to the office? I've already gotten lost a few times, and would like to arrive at work as close to the time I'm scheduled for as possible."

   "Sure..." Brynna mumbled gesturing for the boy to follow her as she altered her course to get him to the office in the speediest manner. "Um...if you're not in school, how old are you? If you don't think that's too personal of a question..."

   "Twenty...what about you?" James replied as he glanced towards the girl beside him.

   "Eighteen," she mumbled awkwardly. "Um...well, here's the office," she stated, gesturing to a nearby door. "I hope your paperwork is easy enough to complete. I need to get to class though, so see you around..."

   She quickly walked away before he could form any sort of response.

   Brynna curled up into a tight ball as she sat upon the back of a school toilet, the bottoms of her sneakers on the seat of it. She'd locked the stall door and didn't care what anyone else thought. All her mind was focusing on was the fact that she didn't want to go through another minute of her day.

   "You just don't have a spine!"

   "You're just a crybaby. Suck it up and deal with it."

   "This is just a phase. You'll get through it."

   Voices of people she'd thought of as friends on occasion entered into her mind. She'd been shoved up against a set of lockers shortly after leading James to the school office, had gotten several bruises inflicted upon her, and had had her messenger book bag rifled through and ransacked.

   Brynna hated the sensation of weakness she felt whenever this happened. She had no way to defend herself, and no-one to vent her frustration to. These facts made her even more of a target of the bully.

   "Hey, what are you doing going into the girls' bathroom?!" Several shouts rang out, all asking much of the same thing.

   Brynna stared out under the door of the stall she was in, feeling a sense of panic rise up within her. She was certain that she was the only one in the bathroom, and she didn't like the thought of some guy finding this out and doing something to her.

   As a head appeared in her line of sight, she let out a squeak of startlement before merely staring in confusion at Ryder, who was looking at her curiously. He waved a hand in a gesture for her to come out of the stall before he stood up, waiting for her reaction patiently.