The New Girl
Beca Mitchell was alone. The school halls were filled to the brim with friends chatting about weekend plans, while she had none. No plans, no friends. It didn't bother her at all, because what was the point? If Beca had friends, that meant that she would be forcibly dragged away from her computer, away from her music, away from her perfectly good life. She ate alone, she spent her weekends alone, she did everything alone.
It was lunchtime at school, and Beca had decided to eat outside on the bleachers like she always did. She picked at the skin of her tangerine while she held onto an unopened candy bar with her teeth.
"You need to just give me your pretty-girl money and then walk away, bitch." A voiced shouted from across the way. Beca turned her head and shook her head at the sight of Bumper Allen and his douchey crew. They were picking on some new kid, whose name Beca didn't give enough craps to know.
These guys had picked on her more than once and hadn't in a while now. Beca had started to wonder why, but it seemed they had just picked a new target. The poor girl looked like a deer in the headlights. Furious, Beca stomped over to them and threw her unpeeled tangerine at Bumper's head.
"She doesn't have to give you shit!" The older girl shouted, "Just get the hell away from her and go torture some kids who are actual worthless dirtbags."
"Who? Like you, Mitchell? Should I just go ahead and hit you right now?" Bumper threatened, walking away from the startled girl and over to Beca. He raised his fist in a threatening manner.
"Oh, please." She scoffed, "You aren't going to hit me."
"How would you know, Mitchell?"
"Because I know you, Bumper. You were an asshole to me for a good five years. All threats but no action. You're never going to hit me, but I'll sure as hell hit you."
"A girl?" He scoffed, "Ha! Like a girl could ever hit someone. You're better off playing with dollies and gossiping about cute boys. No way you could hit me."
Beca growled, raised her fist, and hit him right across the face. He fell down into the grass and his friends looked up at the teenager who had beaten their best friend. She stomped her foot in a threatening manner and both boys ran for the hills. Leaving Bumper behind.
The brunette walked away from the situation and shook her hand in pain, it seemed she had gained a nasty bruise on her knuckles when she had punched that worthless dude.
"Wow."
Beca jumped in surprise and sighed when she saw it was just that girl from before, "What the Hell, dude?" She shouted.
"Sorry…" The girl squeaked, her smile slipping away for just a second. But the taller brunette's eyes regained their sparkle as she bounced on the balls of her feet, "But that was just so awesome!" She grabbed Beca's arm, who instantly shoved it away. She hated being touched.
"I'm Emily Junk." The girl offered her hand for a shake, which Beca merely glanced at but did not return.
"And I'm leaving." The smaller girl responded, gathering all her things and throwing uneaten food and the rest of her garbage in the trash bin.
"Wait...but…!" The new girl shouted. It was too late though because Beca was already out of earshot. Emily found it impressive that someone so short could somehow move so fast.
Beca slowed her pace when she reached her English class. The brunette would never admit this to anyone, but she enjoyed the class very much. Not that she had anyone to admit it too. Quickly, she dug through her backpack and pulled out her supplies. The late bell had already rung when a figure appeared under the doorframe and in walked Emily.
Just my luck. The petite brunette thought to herself, hiding her face behind her opened notebook.
"Sorry I'm late." The younger girl quickly apologized, "I got lost."
"No problem, dear." The teacher responded, "Just take a seat at an empty desk."
The tall girl nodded and looked around, a smile spreading across her face as she saw Beca. Ignoring the other students, who were patting the seats nearest to them, Emily took a seat beside the older girl. The smile never left her face as she poked at the older girl's shoulder, who cast her nastiest glare the straight-haired girl's way. But her smile never faltered, "Is your name actually Mitchell?"
"No, dingus." The petite girl responded, "My name's Beca Mitchell."
"Beca." She repeated slowly, "Well, Beca it was really sweet of you to defend me back there."
"Mmm." The older girl dismissed, twirling her pencil between her thumb and index finger as she waited for class to start. She did her best to avoid Emily's gaze, trying to get the message across that she wasn't interested in being anyone's friend.
Emily was quiet for a while. But once class ended, she was following the girl around the halls and rambling on about nothing. She had never met someone so annoyingly talkative. Beca had given this girl multiple signals saying that she didn't want to be the girl's friend. But idiot Emily didn't give up. She was just so damn determined to be Beca's friend.
"...And so that's me, what about you?" The taller girl questioned.
"Mm?"
"Weren't you listening?"
Beca was about to answer when the girl squealed in fright. Rage bubbled up inside the DJ's body as she turned around to see Emily being grabbed by one of Bumper's friends. What was his name again? Oh, right, she didn't care. Though for some reason Beca did care about getting Emily out of this situation. She whirled around, raised her fist, and pushed the girl to the side, taking her place.
"Oh, hey there Mitchell." He teased. Beca scoffed and held up her middle finger, then shoved him off her body. He seemed shocked at the girl's sudden burst of strength. How could a girl so small pack such a mean punch?
"You don't want to mess with me." Beca explained, crossing her arms, "So just get the hell away from the both of us. Elizabeth—"
"Emily." The taller girl corrected, a little hurt that the older girl had forgotten her name.
"Yeah, whatever. Just get the hell away from Emily. She doesn't deserve the shit you're raining down on her."
"Wow." He responded, stepping back in shock. Beca sneered at him and he just chuckled, "Wow." He repeated, "Emily, you have one hell of a protector here."
"She's not my protector. She's my friend."
He and Beca looked at one another and burst out into a fit of laughter that Emily couldn't comprehend.
"Me—?" The shorter girl wheezed, "Friends with you?"
"Bec doesn't have any friends, bro." He explained, "You'd have to be some sort of legacy to be Beca's friend."
"I don't understand, though. I thought you liked me."
"Legacy, don't take this the wrong way, but you're the dumbest person alive." Beca said, twirling around on her feet and walking to her last class of the day.
It was then that Emily Junk set a goal for herself. She would become Beca's friend, no matter what she argued. They were going to be friends. That was that.
