Suddenly Popular

Prologue

   Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The second hand of the dull, black and white clock seemed to move slower than it ever had. A couple of desks behind, a student was loudly chewing gum and another was playing with his pencil which flew across the room. The teacher frowned but decided not to break the silence. It was the last hour before lunch and the testing time was almost over.

As the hand approached the last second, students began packing up their belongings and hurried to the teacher's desk to hand in their test which earned another frown from the teacher who, once again, did not bother to interrupt the students' enthusiasm.

Finally, the bell rang and the door was aggressively opened as everyone rapidly rushed out of the tiny classroom - everyone but one. She remained seated, waiting for her classmates to leave and within seconds, she was sitting by herself with the teacher who was flipping pages in a textbook. When she took notice of the student's presence, she shrieked in surprise.

"Brianna, what are you doing here?" the teacher questioned, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I - I mean, I don't know?" she hesitated.

"Do you have questions about the test? I'm sure you did perfectly fine."

Ever since she started attending school, Brianna became a straight "A" student. She was not naturally gifted, like some of her classmates were, but she enjoyed learning. Many people were jealous of her and they took pleasure in teasing her by making silly, supposedly "funny" jokes when they got test grades back and Brianna received the best score. It did not bother her much though, since all that mattered to her was that she had done the best she could and her hard work had paid off.

Brianna was not an average teenage girl with social media accounts followed by hundreds and hundreds of people. Her goal in life was not to become an influencer or a celebrity in any way so she decided not to blend in with the aesthetics and trends. She only used Instagram to post photos of her dog and to message some of the people she had reconnected with. If other people wanted to reach out to her, there was school and she still had a phone with a messaging app. She was not completely anti-social, she simply did not want to get into the toxic prison that was social media, even if it meant that she would be placed in a lower position on the social hierarchy.

She also had never enjoyed attending large parties where minors would get drunk and try to make out with as many people as possible. From time to time, she would go to the mall with a classmate or two but her afternoons and evenings were mainly spent by herself or with her parents.

"It's not about the test. It's just that I - I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"I - I cannot s - say."

"Brianna, you know that you can tell me anything?"

"Yes - n - no, I - I don't know. I should go. I'm sorry, Miss Walder. Have a great rest of the day!"

She quickly packed her books and hurried out of the classroom before her teacher could further ask any questions. Her hands shook as she nervously bit one of her nails.

"Why am I so stupid? Now Miss Walder will know that something is not right," she thought.

The halls were already empty and no sound could be heard besides her heart that was about to explode out of her chest.

"I need to get out of here," she told herself.

She began to sprint down the corridors and when she was about to open her locker, she was savagely pulled back by her long, curly, brown hair that was tied in a ponytail. She screeched with pain and her vision began to blur as tears began to form. As they threatened to roll down her cheeks at any moment, she held her breath and calmed herself down as she was still being pulled backward.