She walked into school without attracting too much attention. When she went to her locker, her best friend, Allison, was already there.
"Hey Ella!" Allison greeted with enthusiasm.
"Oh, hi Ally." Ella replied as she unlocked her locker.
"How's life?"
"Oh, you know…normal." Ella replied carefully. She didn't want Allison to get even the slightest of hints as to what her life out of school was really like. Even though Ally was her best friend, it was something that she chose to hide. There was no way that she could bring herself to tell anyone about the way she suffered at home.
"Well, at least you have a normal life. My life is boring as hell. All I do is sit at home, watch a little TV, go on the computer and deal with my stupid little brother."
Ella smiled politely, but inwardly, she wished she could trade lives with Ally. If only you knew what my 'normal' life is, you wouldn't be wishing for my life, Ally. You should be counting your blessings that your family doesn't do this to you. Out loud, Ella changed the subject. "So did we have any homework in math class?" Ella didn't even need to ask such a stupid question. Ella always got her homework done since her father always demanded so much out of her.
"Yeah, I think we had a worksheet to do or something. This isn't like you, Ella. You usually always have the homework done. Are you sure everything's alright in your life?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. I just didn't get enough sleep. That's all. Lack of sleep always makes me feel a little out of it, if you know what I mean."
"Yeah, I hate that feeling." Ally replied. There's something about her that I don't know. I can just tell. Ella never suffers from lack of sleep. She never picks up her phone after 10 at night, which means she's asleep by then. But why would Ella lie to me, her best friend? We've been friends for 3 years, and we've been through thick and thin together. So why do I get the feeling that Ella's making up a lie?
"Well, we better get to class." Ella interrupted Ally's thoughts and suspicions.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. We wouldn't want to show up late. I'll see you later."
"Alright. Bye."
As Ella was walking to her next class, a really popular and obnoxious kid came running down the hallway at full speed and before Ella could move aside, he knocked into her and her books tumbled from her hand to the floor. She heard people laughing behind her as she bent to pick the books up. She tried to ignore them. She had been through worse at home to be bothered by this. This was minor compared to what she had to deal with at home.
"Nice one, Paul!" Someone shouted.
"Yeah, you really got her. Just look at that pathetic little nerd. She cares too much for school." Added another voice.
Ella took a deep breath and didn't turn around.
"Hey, you!" Someone yelled.
Don't turn around. Just keep walking, don't look back, and don't say anything. They're just trying to mess with your head.
But the yelling and calling of her name didn't stop. "Hey, you! Wait! Slow down, would ya?"
Ella refused to stop or slow down. She was almost to her classroom anyway. Once she stepped into that classroom, she would be safe from those obnoxious jerks.
"Hey!" The person didn't stop following her. "I don't know your name, but I know that you can hear me, so will you please just stop and wait up? Stop making me feel like a complete idiot yelling down the hallway without a reply!"
Still, Ella just walked closer and closer to her classroom. She didn't need some guy messing up her life or screwing things up worse than things already were. She finally reached her classroom and quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She heard the faint voice of her new stalker. "Damn you, girl! All I wanted to do was talk, and this is what you do!"
Luckily for her, she wasn't late, so no one asked questions and no one stared at her as if she had grown another head. Thank God I didn't have to go through any trouble with that weird kid. Who knows what he would have done? I don't exactly buy his excuse of just wanting to 'talk' to me. Ella sat down and took out her work and tried to look normal.
The period seemed to drag on for a long time. When the bell finally rang, Ella was one of the first people to rush out the door. On her way to her next class that same person followed her again. "I'm not going to let you get away from me this time, girl! You better stop right there so we can talk!"
Ella groaned and walked faster towards the heavy mass of people, hoping to lose the person. Why does he insist on following me? He should know by now that there's nothing he can do to make me stop and turn back, especially not after he publicly humiliated me in front of his obnoxious friends.
Her plan worked. The guy apparently wasn't able to find her and had given up on trying to find her. Sighing with relief, she went to her next period class.
"So you thought you could lose me in that crowd, did you?" The unfortunately familiar voice trailed after her.
Come on, boy! Haven't you taken the hint yet? You humiliated me, you laughed along with your friends when you made me drop my books, and now you expect me to turn around and pretend as if nothing ever happened?! Ella said nothing and didn't turn around. She saw Allison in the distance and hope flooded through her. "Ally!" Ella called. She waved her hand in the air to attract her attention. Allison saw her and waved back.
"Oh no you don't. I'm not going to have something like this happen. I'm going to talk to you before your little friend will."
Before Ella could get a grip on what was going on, she felt someone grab her elbow just as Allison approached. "Get off of her, you asshole!" Allison snapped. She pulled Ella out of the other person's grasp.
"You just got lucky." The guy mumbled. Ella turned around for a first glimpse of her stalker. But she turned around to late. She only saw the back of his head.
"Who was that?" Allison asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea. He's just some jerk that knocked the books out of my hand this morning and I think he did it on purpose because he never bothered apologizing. I'm having a funny feeling that he's just one of those 'popular' kids that think they're cool when they humiliate people that aren't as 'popular' as they are."
"Yeah, I think so too. But he sounded and looked pretty pissed off when I jumped in."
"I don't care. He doesn't deserve anything good in his life. If he's going to try to pretend that nothing happened, he can go ahead with his little fantasy. But there's absolutely no way that I'm going to stoop so low that I'm going to play along."
"Yeah, you have a point. Now, let's hurry to class. We've only got two minutes before our teacher gives us detention for being late."
"I know, and you're right. We're going to have to walk pretty fast, though."
"Ha! I can run twice as fast as you can!"
"Whatever. The point is, we just have to get to class before the bell rings. Now quit wasting time and start walking!"
Ella and Allison hurried along to class, but little did they know that Ella's stalker was watching them before going to class.