Girl on the street

Chapter one

The teacher stood in the front of the class. She stood observing her class for a moment as they all chatted excitedly among themselves. All except for Preston Berger sitting in the back of the classroom, his dark hair covering his eyes. He was keeping to himself as usual, an impassive expression on his face.

"Alright, class is starting, phones away please," Mrs. Scarpolli had to say twice before everyone quieted. She was a favored teacher in the high school, so most kids would listen to her pretty quickly. Especially since she was very lenient with the rules where most teachers were strict. Like having your phones out, even though they were suppose to be off, and she didn't mind cursing or hyper activity either. It was always kind of a free-for all in her class, but when she was speaking everyone was silent.

"We are going to start this marking period with a group project," she continued and paused as a few groans could be heard around the room, "it's an alternative to a test we would have to take, so you should be happy."
Preston groaned inwardly to himself. He hated group projects. Not to mention he had a grand total of zero friends in this class, which wasn't much of a surprise. He didn't really have anyone he considered a close friend. Everyone was already looking around the room at their friends planning the groups.

"You will have to complete a few small projects as a group to be all handed in at once," Mrs. Scarpolli went on to explain the rest of the project. After a few more minutes of explaining details and expectations she began to conclude.

"You will be split up into groups of four or five, and yes, I will be picking your groups," this again received a few groans which Mrs. Scarpolli rolled her eyes at. She began reading a list of groups. Preston listening for his name nervously, dreading having to work in a group.

"Group one will be Sarah, Marie, Zach...." She went on to list the groups. One and two passed without Preston's name in them, "group three will be Ella, Caige, Preston, Mike, and Penny...."

Preston felt his stomach turn nervously. Mrs. Scarpolli finished listing and began again on the lesson for the day. Preston took his notebook out and began taking notes. He really did like biology, just not the kids in it. He guessed that was the case for all his classes though.

Class finished ten minutes early and Mrs. Scarpolli instructed everyone to get in their groups and begin planning since this project will be done entirely outside of school. She recommended meeting at the library or park. Some groups that had luckily been put into groups with their friends decided to just Skype each other and then went on with the latest gossip.

Preston reluctantly pulled his chair over to his group.
"
Hi Preston," Caige said with a seemingly casually, friendly smile, but Preston knew better. Preston nodded and studied the sleeve of his sweater as if it was interesting.

"Should we meet at the library?" Ella suggested. She was probably the smartest one in the group and at least tried in her school work. She was a pretty girl with mouse brown hair.
No one really answered, it was obvious they didn't care too much. Ella raised her eyebrows.

"Come on guys, I kind of want a good grade..."
"
It can't be tomorrow I have volleyball practice," Penny said flipping her hair in a cliche type way. Everyone said she was only in volleyball for the short, tight shorts. The rumors were probably true and considering her record with guys, it wasn't all that surprising. Mark remained silent.

"Yeah, same with me I have practice," Caige said, he was on the varsity football team. From what Preston had heard around school he was an average player. He wasn't horrible but he wasn't all that great.

"I can't do it the day after, I have cheer..." Ella said to herself, "how about the day after?"

"Works for me," Penny said.

"Yeah same for me," Caige said. The only reason they were so willing to meet up was probably because they had a thing. They smiled and joked with each other stupidly with Ella looking at the with a hint of jealousy.

"How about you Mike," she sighed.

"I don't fucking care," he said scrolling on his phone. He was one of those people that always seemed to curse unnecessarily. Ella sighed again. No one bothered to ask if Preston was free.

"Can anyone get started on anything early?" Ella asked looking around. No one answered for a moment.

"I think Preston will have time, I mean, you don't do anything right Preston?" Caige said, smirking at him. Ella giggled a little.

"Oh, yeah, I mean, you don't have any plans right Preston?" Penny said sounding innocent, but it was obvious what they were doing. Preston had no friends and it seemed like their personal goal to make fun of him for it.

"Oh, uh, yeah I can get started," Preston said trying to sound brave. Penny laughed at his stuttering. He was luckily soon forgotten and they talked amongst themselves. Ella trying to get Caige's attention while him and Penny talked. Mike texted on his phone the whole time. Finally, the bell rang and class ended. Everyone rushed out of the room and Preston walked out feeling crappy as usual.

The day passed as usual. Hardly talking and eating lunch by himself. Finally the day ended and the halls filled with the noisy teenagers. Locker doors slammed as everyone went out to the buses and a few students to their cars in the student parking lot. Preston took the bus home everyday. He got on the bus and sat in his assigned seat. A guy named Ryan sat next to him. They rarely talked and he always blasted rap music, which was preston's least favorite type of music. Every now and then He could tolerate it, but for the most part it was nails on a chalkboard to him.
Preston blasted My Chemical Romance until He got home, ignoring the broken pieces of pencils getting chucked at him by Caige who was on my bus.

He finally got home and went to his room. He did my homework, still blasting my music. He was now listening to Panic at the Disco. He finished my homework easily. He got all A's in school, which was the only thing he felt he had to be proud of himself for. He didn't dare take any honor classes though. He didn't want to be called a nerd along with "emo" and "weird" and "suicidal".

He heard his parents screaming at each other downstairs. He sighed and tried to tune them out as his father screamed horrible insults to his mother and his mother doing the same through tears. He heard the front door slam as his mother left and drove away.
He went into the bathroom to take a shower. He lifted off his shirt as the room filled with steam. He stepped into the hot water and ran shampoo through his hair. He watched as the black lettering written all over my arms began to fade. He ran his first fingers over the scars on his wrists. He resisted the urge to make new ones for the hundredth time and stepped out. He went back to his room, grabbing a sharpie off his desk.

Preston opened the cap and began writing on his arm. "Your worthless" "your ugly" "nobody likes you" "you have no friends". He wrote all over his arms, tears making his vision blurry. He was Writing the thoughts that went through his head. It was better than cutting he reminded himself.

His black hair slowly dried. His hair was naturally brown, but for some reason he insisted on keeping it black, even though it made everyone make fun of him more. To them he was just an emo freak.

He grabbed his phone and went onto his Instagram account. People might tease emo people at school, but on social media it was almost exactly the opposite. Preston had thousands of followers that all supported him, but he always reminded himself that they were just people behind screens themselves, and they wouldn't be saying those things if they knew him in person. All those girls who told him he was perfect, it meant nothing. None of them would even think of saying those things to him if they actually knew him. Preston even tried to have friends over social media, but they'd always stop taking after about a month for one reason or another.
He fell asleep with tears still drying on his face. He felt like a such a loser, what kind of guy cries like this? No wonder He had no one to really call a friend, he thought to himself.

....................

Okay well this is my first wattpad story I ever wrote!! If anyone reads this feel free to put suggestions on how I can get more people to read and everything!! I'm not exactly sure how it all works 😁😁 But yeah this chapter was pretty boring I promise it gets better XD

Please read and enjoy!!!!

[update: Preston's name was originally Mark and I haven't updated chapter 2 yet so don't be confused XD]