My Power of the Pen Stories

Week One Story

PROMPT: Outnumbered
TITLE: Surrounded
RANK: 1
WEEK: 1
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The girl, patiently waiting at the bus stop on the curb, thinks vividly about a multitude of different things. She wonders what she will do today in class, what she will be having for dinner, and what grade she got on that difficult math test. As these thoughts swarm like a hive of bees in her brain, the bus creeps up to the stop sign, slowly coming to a stop. The girl jumps up, her body suddenly filling with a strong feeling of dread as she tilts her head to get a glimpse of the kids, and the smirk that lives on some of them. Gripping her notebooks tightly, she climbs the stairs to get into the big, yellow vehicle, and is immediately surrounded by whispering, which makes her nervous, because she knows what is going on. They are talking about her. As she gingerly slides into an empty seat, she feels a pair of eyes glued on her, but she refuses to look up.

"Hey, loser," the male voice sneers, and she cringes as a wad of paper falls to the floor before her. "Answer me, unless you want a fist to the face." Still no answer comes from the girl's lips. She shakily looks up at her attacker, her body trembling. The boy, large and threatening, curls his hand into a fist.

The girl braces herself for the impact too late, and the force of the punch pushes her back against the window. She whimpers, pressing her hand against her new wound, blood slowly trickling from her lip. The boy receives praise from every direction, and she tries to ignore the metallic taste in her mouth, but it does not work. The boy sternly looks towards her, grabs the collar of the lime green shirt she is wearing, and mutters, "If anyone hears about this, you'll have much worse than a busted lip." And, with that, he swaggers off the bus, leaving the poor girl to gather her belongings and exit last.

As the bell sounds through the classroom, the students jump up, hungry for lunch. The girl, after writing the answer to one last math problem, scurries out after her peers, her heart pounding like a bass drum in her chest. Trying to get to lunch quickly, she throws her things into her locker, grabs her brown lunch sack, and slams the door shut, turning on her heels only to come face to face with him.

"What's the rush, nerd?" he laughs, shoving her backwards. She warily glances around her, hoping to see a teacher, but they have all left. Only students remain, and they gather around, cheering the boy on.

As the boy continues to hurt the girl, she breaks off into her own little world, where she often likes to go. A world where the fragile are kept safe, with nobody to harm them, and where the smart have gorgeous libraries, with many books to choose from. But her favorite thing about this imaginary world is the place where people like her are not surrounded by cruel faces, but surrounded by loving faces, always there for you -- for in this world, everyone stands together as one, instead of being outnumbered.

As the boy prepares to throw in one last punch, the girl looks him in the eyes and says, "I am strong."

And with that, she walks away, leaving them all in complete and utter awe.

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Okay, so this one I actually really like... Up until the end. The ending is a complete and utter failure, but it was because it was the first practice and also because I was running REALLY low on time, so I rushed. Sigh. Otherwise this is pretty good, in my opinion. What do you think? The question of the chapter is: What is the darkest story you have wrote for Power of the Pen?

-Olivia