A pop quiz in history, dodge ball day in gym, and mystery meat for lunch. Today was certainly not one of my better days. And it only got worse as I walked home from school.
"Hey, Holly," Kyle taunted. Kyle was the main school bully and today I was his target. I wasn't limited to just being picked on by the girls. The boys took interest in me too. And not in the way I wish a boy would take interest in me. "How's it going?" His friends snickered behind me.
"Go away, Kyle." I demanded. I tried to walk faster, but he blocked my path. I was forced to stop.
"I just want to walk you home."
"No, you want to find out where I live so you can vandalize my house!" I corrected him. It's not like it wasn't true.
"How'd you know that?" He asked like it was some big secret.
"Unlike you, Kyle, I have a brain. What do you store in your head? An extra football?" Kyle was indeed the star jock of our school. I mean come on, every school has one. And they always turn out to be jerks.
"No!" He stuck up his chin in protest. I rolled my eyes and pushed past him, hustling down the sidewalk. To my surprise they didn't follow.
"Loser!" He called after me. They all broke into laughter, and yelled rude comments. I just kept walking. I silently cursed at each of them in my head. I was too mature to actually say those things and stoop to their level. I soon approached the 10ft brick wall that protected our gated community. As I headed toward the large iron gate that let in cars, I thought I heard footsteps behind me. I whipped around to make sure it wasn't Kyle and his friends again, but no one was there. I had to long of a day. I was imagining things. I came to the voice recognition monitor and pressed the call button. The little buzz noise sounded off and a second later the security guards voice came on the other end.
"Name?" She said, flatly.
"It's me, Marge." I had a great friendship with the security lady. She was practically my only friend. How pathetic is that?
"Oh, Holly, how are you sweetie?" Her voice softened into an old lady kind of voice.
"I'm fine. Can you please buzz me in? I'll come talk to you in your office." I was the only person Marge ever let in there. Unless of course it was another policemen. We'd sit in there for hours and laugh about little jokes we shared. It was just the thing I needed after a hard day.
"Sure thing, sugar." The buzz sounded and the large gate opened up. I slipped in and headed off the road, straight into the woods part. Her office was kind of hidden back in the trees just inside the community wall. I came to the small stone building that was no bigger than an average tree house. I knocked on the door three times to let her know it was me. The door swung open and there stood an older, plump woman. She had short, curly gray hair. I had guessed she was in her late 50s but I wasn't going to ask. How rude would that be?
"Well are you just going to stand there? Come in, come in!" She greeted, motioning for me to join her. I couldn't help, but smile as I entered the tiny room. Inside was a lot cooler than it looked from the outside. It seemed somewhat bigger too. On one side of the room was a dark brown, wooden circle shaped desk. In front of it was a wall of monitors that showed black and white footage of the 24 hour security cameras that were scattered all over the community. To the left of the desk was a small mini fridge. Marge walked over and opened it. She pulled out two cans of Mt. Dew and handed one to me.
"Thanks." I told her. This was our usual routine. I flopped down in one of the soft, rolling chairs and she eased herself down in the other one.
"So how was school today?" She wondered before taking a sip from her soda can.
"Oh you know-" I began.
"Horrible." She finished.
"Extra horrible." I corrected.
"Oh," She grinned. "What gave it the 'extra'?"
"Pop quiz, mystery meat, and dodge ball." I answered.
"Ah, sounds rough."
"And to top it off, Kyle was harassing me again about where I live!" I cried. Sometimes Marge felt like the only one I could really rant to about stuff. She understood me. Even better than my own aunt!
"That kid is such a creeper!" She proclaimed.
"I know right!" I agreed.
"You want to barrow my Taser?" She offered. I knew she was kidding, but it still sounded like a cool idea to taze Kyle. I giggled at the thought.
"No thanks, I'm good." I gave her a sly grin.
"Okay, but if he keeps bothering you, just tell me." There was the mom side of her coming out.
"I will." I nodded.
She took another sip of her soda. I did the same and glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall above the mini fridge. When I caught a glimpse at the time, I almost chocked on my soda. I started couching and spitting soda everywhere.
"You alright, honey?" Marge asked, jumping up in alarm.
I quickly controlled myself and took a deep breath. "I'm okay," I reassured her. "Is that clock right?" I asked pointing to it.
"Yes, why?" She looked puzzled.
"Crap! I'm late!" My aunt told me to be home no later than 5 because she was having company over. I had lost track of time. It was 5:45! I set down my soda and raced out the door. "That's for the soda! See you tomorrow!" I called back to Marge over my shoulder. I sprinted down the freshly paved road. After a couple minutes of running, I slowed down to take a breather for a second. I did not have strong lungs what so ever. My house was still a half a mile away and I was already as good as dead! As soon as caught my breath, I looked up to keep going, but shrieked as I did. Standing an inch away from me was a boy who looked about 18 years old. He wore dark shades, a sleeveless, orange shirt, and mossy green cargo shorts.
"Hello, Holly."
