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~ Skylar ~
“Ughhhhhhhhhhh,” I groaned and put my head down between my arms. Me and Ryder were sitting at a table in the corner of the cafeteria during lunch, forcing the terrible cafeteria food down our stomachs.
Ryder chuckled and patted my head. “Rough first day, sweetheart?”
“Yup,” I responded, popping the ‘p’. “I can’t believe how cranky all of the teachers are.”
“That’s why you butter ‘em up, love,” he commented nonchalantly and bit into his pizza.
“Shut up.” I pouted and took a sip of my chocolate milk.
“I’ll be back. Try not to miss me too much, okay?” Ryder smirked and stood up.
“Shoo, peasant.” I smiled and waved him away.
I flipped open the book I brought and started reading. I was reading for a while, when I felt something cold and wet rush down my hair and my shirt. I blinked in surprise for a few second, until I heard the jeering laugh and I knew what happened. Someone had poured coke on me and all over my bag and book. By now, the whole cafeteria was silent and was staring at me. I slowly turned around and faced the attacker. Mina and her posse. No surprise there.
As calmly as I could, I said, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah. Please go kill yourself already. We know you already want to, you emo trash. We’re just helping with the final push,” the red head sneered.
That was a low blow. I knew there was not possible way they could know, but I began questioning if they might actually do. Do they know I self-harmed? Do they know about my insecurities? Do they know what happened to me? My heart raced as these thoughts ran through my head. I didn’t know what to do, so I did the only thing that seemed logical. I ran. I grabbed my bag and my book, and I ran. Out of the cafeteria, down one hallway, and up another until I found myself huddled in a corner, crying.
I wasn’t crying over the fact that I was all sticky now. It’s just, all the bad memories just came rushing back at once. The memories of me being bullied, and I was so worried of that cycle starting up again. I thought that things might be different here because I had Ryder, but who was I kidding? I was still a prime target.
After about the 10 minutes of weakness I let myself have, I dried my tears and walked into the bathroom to redo my make-up and clean myself up. I set my book on the counter to dry and washed my face with water before redoing my eyeliner and mascara. I did a quick and simple job and left the bathroom, determined to not let anything Mina and her crew say bother me.
“Hey, are you okay?” came a voice to my right.
I jumped a little, and snapped my head to the right. “Who the hell are you?”
The boy who had spoken was leaned against the wall, looking at me with worried and skeptical eyes. He was relatively handsome with hazel eyes and a brown quiff. Strangely enough though, he looked like he belonged to the popular group with his letterman jacket adorned with the school logo.
“My name’s Darren.”
“And why should you give a damn? Aren’t you one of them?” I said, putting a lot of emphasis on ‘them’.
“I saw what happened back there, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. It was a bitchy move, what Mina did back there.” He scowled and looked at the ground.
“No shit,” I mumbled. “Anyways, thanks for checking up on me, but I’ll be fine without the help of a jock. So you can run along back to your group and pretend you never talked to me and everything will be as it should be, okay?” I gave him one last look before walking down the hallway, back the way I came.
“Damn, show some gratitude. I was trying to be nice,” he snapped and followed me, easily catching up to me with his long legs.
“Maybe I don’t want kindness from a member of the same group that caused this mess in the first place. Ever think of that, genius?” I retorted and sped up.
He easily matched my pace and stepped in front of me. Because he was so tall, he had to peer down at me, his hazel eyes fierce. “Maybe if you weren’t so damn unapproachable, Mina wouldn’t tease you. Stop being so fucking depressing.”
That hurt. Did he think I chose to be like this? Without another word, I stepped around him and took off running down the hallway, keeping my head down the whole time. I heard him curse beneath his breath and took off running after me, but I just kept running, not caring.
This is why I avoided people. They didn’t understand. I kept running and running until I ran smack into someone, sending me flying backwards onto my bum.
“Skylar?” Ryder asked worriedly, bending down to pick me up. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I heard what happened. Are you okay?” He pulled me into a hug, and I just relaxed into his arms, too tired to do anything else.
I shook my head and just hugged him tighter.
“God damn it. I’ll kill them all. Just watch me,” he growled into my hair.
“Let’s just go home. Please,” I whispered.
He nodded and together, we walked out of school and into the parking lot, hopping onto his motorcycle, and driving away. And the last thing I could see, was Darren staring at us from the entrance of the school with a disbelieving look on his face.
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YOU ARE READING
sweet, sweet memories
RomanceA girl struggling with the death of her mother is forced to move to New York City with her dad where she encounters an intriguing boy named Ryder. The only problem, is that they've met each other. She just doesn't remember, but he does... !!!WARNI...
