Hold on and Hope

darker places

Maisie

I rushed down the hallway, my backpack bouncing against my back every now and then. My previous encounter with Sienna, Conan and Harrison was strange. Nothing particularly strange happened during it, but no one ever talks to me (unless shouting a nasty comment), let alone invite me for dinner.

Suddenly, my mind goes to darker places than I wish it would. What if this is set up to embarrass me somehow? What if they never show up?

You're an idiot for trusting them so quickly.

But the thing is, I don't trust them. It's not that I don't want to, I just can't. I have absolutely nothing against them, yet my mind can help jumping to these horrible conclusions.

It doesn't matter anyway, I have bigger problems to deal with than whether I get stood up by a couple of people.

I continue my fast paced embark down the corridor, making sure not to bump into anyone as I go.

I go around a sharp corner, and just as I do someone grabs my arm and I'm swung into a wall. A small scream escapes me lips at the shock and pain that shoots up my back and rests in my head.

I hesitantly open my eyes, which were previously tightly closed out of fear, and look up to see who I've been avoiding all day.

Ervin Nolan was towering over me, an intimidating look upon his face.

"Come outside with us please Maisie?" He asks in a faux pleasant voice. 'Us?' It's at that moment I notice two over guys cornering me. The only reason I hadn't noticed before was because I was put into a fear struck state.

I nod, trying to calm my nerves as Ervin's hand goes to my lower back and as he touches me I unintentionally flinch, my heart rate speeding up considerably. He leads me out the side doors of the school. He does it so casually, making it look like we are friends taking a walk outside together.

He takes me to a side alley just next to the school, a place where the CCTV doesn't quite reach.

Once we are in the desired place, Ervin removes his had from my back and his smile dissolved into a glare, as if it were a mask for fancy dress.

I look down to the ground, focussing on the gravel and trying to anticipate what's going to happen next.

"We haven't spoken in a while Maisie." His words sound normal, maybe almost friendly, but his tone is one of disgust.

Instead of saying something I simply nod. I want this to be other with as quickly as possible.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." He spits, and I shoot my head up in his direction.

"How's the heroin addiction going darling? Sorted it out yet?" He says, an infamous smirk filling my sight.

Something pulls down on my heart at the mention of this. No, I'm not a drug addict. But people have reasons to believe it, and the students here will believe anything they've been fed.

When I don't say anything, he takes an intimidating step closer to me. A year or two ago, I would have stood up for myself, showed him that he was acting like the scum of the earth. But I've lost a spark. My will to live is narrowing.

I close my eyes tightly and cower backwards. I take in a harsh breath, waiting. I don't know what I'm waiting for, whether it's some more harsh words, or an immense pain, I can't be sure.

I'm surprised when nothing comes, and silence fills the gap between us.

I reopen my eyes and looks towards Ervin who, for less than a second, looks a little taken back. He quickly covers it up though.