This is my first attempt at writing. Enough said. We'll see what happens.

Listen closely to the whispering

When you're little there are just some situations that seem so insurmountable. Later in life you'll find easy coping mechanisms or facades that mask your inability to face a challenge, but when you're little… well, you just feel f-ed.

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Little Bella Swan makes her way over the trenches of snow that line the circular gravel road where school buses await to be filled. The air is bitingly cold and despite the scarf that masks half her face, it still feels painful to breathe.

The day is finally over.

Bella's having a hard time finding her footing, the once easily compactable snow has formed an icy exterior. "What do I need, mountain climbing equipment?" she mutters to herself after a couple of embarrassing attempts to conquer it. A day doesn't pass that Bella doesn't mentally berate the magnificent engineers of her dump-hole of a school. Who constructs a road specifically for school buses on top of a hill? No steps, no platform, no path, just resilient little children with no mind to demand for better.

Bella's had a rough day, not unlike the past couple of months, but at age 13 she's never had to deal with this constant pain in her chest and lump in her throat—loneliness. She used to have friends, great friends she had thought, but girls can't be trusted she realized, and now she has to deal with their absence.

Big heavy boots she's glad she decided to wear come in handy today. Fed up with the icy surface, she kicks into its shell and creates herself a little staircase of sorts. Her ingenuity tugs a smile to her face, and she happily climbs over to the top. Before jumping off, she turns to face her school and simply stands to take a look at her surroundings. It's an ugly school she observes, with teachers who don't care and kids that do. But not in the good way, no, she learned that the hard way. They care that their actions and words affect you; it's just not as fun to pick on those with self-esteem.

She startles at the sound of snow crunching under tires. This is the universal sound that any child who lives far away from home dreads—the school bus leaving without you.

Quickly leaping off and onto the road she quickly makes her way to the other side of the circle. She's too scared to walk through the buses: she's little, still 4'7, they could easily run her over if, not to jinx herself, she were to accidentally trip and fall between the vehicles. Instead she chooses the safer route, but still misses the patch of black ice that lies ahead. Bella's been caught in many an embarrassing situation, and she can remember each one with clear and vivid memory. This one is easily added to the inventory.

As soon as she felt it under her foot she knew she'd be unable to balance herself out. In a split second she was face first on the ground. Cold, icy, gravelly slush seeps through her pants and bites into her hands. Early that morning she had ignored her childish mittens that had been left for her at the door, instead she strutted around all day freezing her hands off, but looking mature, she at least thought. But as she lifts up her palms she scolds herself for her stupidity; scratched and bloodied, she can only rub the dirt off onto her puffy acrylic jacket and wait to sooth it at home.

No time for self-pity when your only ride is about to abandon you, she makes it back onto her feet without much obstacle. It isn't until a couple leaps forward that she notices anyone has witnessed her fall. A shout to her left momentarily catches her attention. Inside one of the buses is Edward Cullen. With the window shoved down and his arm pointing at her through the small slot, he screams the two most hilarious words that any cartoon has ever come up with to kick a person when they're down.

"A HA!"

"Very original," she mutters.

As she climbs onto the bus and moves her way through the aisle, the only seat available is next to a very pretty and popular group of girls. It is then that she has to remind herself that the day isn't over until you've made it onto home soil.


AN: So yes, I don't really know what I'm doing, but this was therapeutic. My middle school days took place at the height The Simpsons popularity. And yeah, middle school was a b- to get through, it still haunts me to this day. Nothing horrific ever happened, but still... girls both experience and react a bit too dramatically.