Girl Unnoticed

Girl Unnoticed [6]

Six

My body swooned when I tried to wake up to go to the bathroom. I had been twenty-four hours without any substance in my stomach and the effects were making themselves known. I couldn’t give myself the satisfaction of eating breakfast, even though the smell of fresh coffee filled my nostrils and called on my ravenous insides. Grudgingly sliding my feet on the floor, I went to the dresser and put on some dark jeans and a baby blue sweater. It wasn’t too cold outside but my body felt ten degrees cooler than it should’ve been.

My mother didn’t speak a word to me when I came down the stairs, grabbing my messenger bag that lay next to the front door. Dad’s eyes widened at the sight of my pale face, which I didn’t bother to hide with any makeup. All I could do was let my hair loose and try to cover my face that way. I put on my earphones and blasted some hard rock music as I walked all the way to school, bumping into a few pedestrians on the way. My sight was a bit hazy and I felt too lightheaded to try and continue on with my walking. Looking around me, I saw that no one was on the sidewalk so I just sat down, bringing my knees up to my chest.

After taking a few calming breaths, I stood up once again and finished my way to school. I was probably already late for homeroom but I couldn’t care less, I barely cared for anything anymore. The school came into view, making my stomach drop and making me wish that I could go back home and hide under the covers. When I was younger I was ecstatic to go outside with Danielle and spend all our time either riding our bikes or running around in the streets. Now, I couldn’t stand to be outside for such a long period of time. My persecutors had made sure that I had been broken enough to not enjoy the things I loved in my past life.

There was no student loitering around in the hallways, which meant that class had already begun and I had missed it. Shrugging it off, I went upstairs to my locker and exchanged my books for the ones I needed. Luckily there were no threatening notes or a hidden person behind a wall waiting to bring harm towards me. My head turned up at the sound of heels clicking in the silent hallway. Ms. Scott came around the hallway and stopped in her spot when she recognized me. I gave her a half smile as I hurried away to my class, not wanting to make conversation with her.

I opened the door to the English classroom and the door abruptly shut behind me, making each head turn in my direction. My throat constricted at the amount of attention I was receiving—unwanted might I add. The teacher, who was a portly man in his fifties, focused his attention from the board towards me. He sighed and waved his hands towards the only available desk left at the back of the room. My head hung down as I walked in between the rows of desks, hearing a few snickers as I passed by and finally reached the empty desk. I dropped my bag beside me and took out my notebook, not bothering to take notes but instead drew frustrated circles on it.

A girl from the front row had dropped her binder on the floor, making my head spring up in surprise. I moved my eyes to the side, abruptly stopping at the person who sat next to me and wore a smug smile. Rhys had his arms crossed in front of his chest, chuckling lightly at the girl who was non-attractively trying to reach her binder without having to leave her chair. If I had remembered correctly, I didn’t have any classes with Rhys and now he was in my English class. My brows furrowed in confusion and I wondered if he was here to skip his class or because he was actually transferred to this one.

The teacher turned around, slapping his hands to rid of the excess of chalk on his fingers. He took a stack of papers from his desk and passed them around, handing one slip of paper to each student. Once he finished, he returned to the front of the classroom to proceed with the class. My eyes skimmed the page that sat in front of me; I had lost interest after the words ‘class’ and ‘syllabus.’ My unfed body was begging me to put something in my stomach but I blocked my inner voice.