Soul Like a Withered Rose

Chapter 2

Earlier that evening.

I sat on my bed, picking at the strings on my electric guitar as I tried to get my mind off of the day and the horrible events at school. Yet, as hard as I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about everything they'd said to me.

-----

Even earlier that day, in the school cafeteria.

I was sitting in the school cafeteria, listening to music and reading a book as a sandwich sat in front of me, completely untouched.

For those few moments, I didn't have a care in the world. I had felt happy, one could even say at peace.

Then the storm came.

"Yo, Collins," a boy from my class, Derek Evans, said as he approached my table, "you eating alone again? My god, you're pathetic. You can't even get Logan to sit with you, and he's your twin brother."

"He's busy making up a test since he was sick the day the rest of us took it," I muttered, marking my book and closing it before shoving it in my backpack so that it couldn't be harmed. Derek had been known to damage my books because he knew I cared about them, and I didn't want this particular one to be ruined.

"A likely excuse," Derek replied with a smirk. "You're pathetic, you know that? You're so pathetic that you can't even admit that you suck."

"Go away, Derek," I replied in a weak attempt to stand up for myself before giving an internal sigh as I saw another person who had been bullying me approach - Veronica Banks.

"Well, well, well," she muttered. "If it isn't Loser Lotte Collins. I thought I smelled the faintest stench of garbage. At first I just figured I was standing too close to the trash can."

I rolled my eyes at the girl, looking down at my shoes. That was the last thing I needed that day.

"Why so silent? Are you too good of a little girl to fight back?" Veronica smirked. "Or have you just given up because you know that everyone hates you?"

Slipping my hand into the pocket of my leggings, I dug my nails into my thigh as I said a silent prayer that God would help me not to cry. I'd already supplied those two jerks with enough humiliating moments of me and they certainly didn't need more ammunition.

Veronica leaned on my table and bent forward so that only I could hear what she was about to say. "You're are a piece of crap, Charlotte Collins. You are stupid, ugly, and worthless. That's all you're ever going to be."

-----

The sound of my electric guitar sliding off the bed and falling to the floor with a thud immediately snapped me from my heartbreaking thoughts.

Apparently, in my daze, I'd forgotten to put on the strap, which is why it fell in the first place. Silently reprimanding myself, I picked up my guitar and sent it on its stand.

By then, I was sure that everyone had already left to go to the airport and I was completely alone, which meant that I had a limited amount of time to write the note and set out the ten roses - one for every person who loved me.

There was my mother, Catherine, and my father, Matthew, of course. Then there was my twin brother, Logan, and my two other siblings, Lizzy and Luke. The next four roses were for my best friend Amelia, William (Amelia's brother and Luke's best friend), Mariah (Amy's mother and my mom's best friend), and Josh (Mariah's husband and my father's best friend). The last rose, though, was for my other best friend, August, the one who was coming to visit.

I counted the roses to make sure I had the correct amount, then laid them on my bed, trying to figure out what I wanted my note to say. After all, it would be everyone's last message from me.