It was Monday. It was the beginning of the same old routine that she
endured every week. Her alarm clock rang, getting increasingly louder with
the passing minutes. From under the blankets, a hand, seeming to levitate,
reached over to turn off the alarm clock. Groggily, a head appeared out
from under the blanket with messy hair that gave her the appearance of
Medusa. Her head came out to guide her hand to the snooze button. Her
middle finger made contact with the snooze button, applied pressure, and
the beeping ceased. Her head dropped back to her pillow as if it weighed
more than the muscles in her neck could bear to support.
Shortly afterwards, her alarm clock rang again, but she did not stir.
Down the hallway, a light appeared through her cracked-open door. A small sliver of it shone into the room and across the bed. Footsteps moved along the floor, the owner of them dragging the feet along. The door creaked but she still did not stir. The footsteps came closer until they were right beside the bed.
"Amy, honey, wake up" said a soft voice from above.
A hand made contact with her shoulder and started shaking her hard. She jumped up and fell hard onto the floor. A loud thump could be heard from downstairs.
"Sorry to scare you dear. Didn't mean to."
She recognized the voice as her mother's.
"No, it's alright. I must have really been in a deep sleep."
She realized that the back of her head was throbbing and put her hand up to massage it. When she brought her hand back into her vision, it was stained with small patches of blood.
"Ouch. I must have hit my head on my nightstand" she thought to herself.
She dragged her feet along the ground and stumbled over a box that was in the narrow hallway. Her eyes were squinted shut from the intensity of light.
"Owww!"
She lifted herself back up and made it the rest of the way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
She opened the door that was under her sink and grabbed a facecloth to sop up the blood on the back of her head. She dampened it and placed it over the back of her head.
After removing it, she saw only a few spots of blood on it, so it must not have been bleeding too badly.
After getting out of the shower and getting dressed, she made her way downstairs to eat breakfast. Her father had already made her some and it was sitting on the table.
She sat down and shoveled it down her throat as if she had not seen food in a week.
"Thanks dad."
"No problem. You all ready for school?"
"Si."
She made her way to the downstairs bathroom and checked herself in the mirror.
"God, I'm so god damn ugly!" she thought to herself. She was disgusted at the way she looked. Her big glasses hid her eyes very well and most of her face for that matter. Her hair was dirty blonde in color.
She turned away from the sink and faced the toilet. Her hand raised itself up to the level of her mouth as she bent over. Her pointer finger and her middle finger reached into the back of her throat and touched the soft tissue in the back of it. A funny sensation came up her throat and then breakfast followed. A steady stream of partly digested food came spewing out of her mouth. She then turned to the sink to rinse her face and back to the toilet to flush it.
She peeked out the door to make sure no one was around to hear and quietly stepped out. She grabbed her book bag by the back door and made her way to the bus stop.
Not more than two seconds had she stepped on road and a car came speeding by. The car's tires, spinning extremely fast, spit slush up at her and her jeans were now the color of the road.
"Great. Just great" she said in a really sarcastic, but just audible voice to herself.
She walked back up into the driveway and into her house to change her clothes quickly. The bus would be coming very shortly. She ripped her jeans off and threw them in the corner of her room, where a pile of other dirty clothes lie.
She took two steps over to her closet, tore another pair of jeans off the hanger and shoved them onto herself. She put her shoes on and was off again only to find that there was no one at the bus stop and the bus had already come.
"Great, it looks like I'm going to have to walk to school now. I can see what today is going to be like, just like every other day of my miserable, rotten life. What's next?!"
Arlington High School was only about ten minutes away from her house by foot. More often than not, she ended up walking to school because nothing good ever happened in her life and everything that could go wrong, always did.
About ten minutes later, she reached the outskirts of the parking lot of Arlington High School. She weaved her way in and out from between the hundreds of cars parked there.
From a distance, she could see a group of the "popular" type kids. One looked over her way and made eye contact with her. She was the first to break it and she bent her head down, her face covered by her mass of tangled hair and her thick-framed glasses. He looked at her the whole way over to the entrance that they were sitting at.
One of the other guys in the bunch gave him a light punch in the shoulder and looked over to the girl he had been staring at as she made her way over. He said some nasty remark to the other guys sitting there and they all sniggered at her.
"Watch this."
Realizing what was going on with his buddies, he finally snapped to attention and looked around. By the time he figured out what they were doing, it was already too late. The girl's hair was covered in egg. She looked as if she was going to break down and cry right there, but she withheld her tears.
She walked into the bathroom to clean up some of the mess, knowing that she would smell the rest of the day.
Outside the bathroom, the boy stood waiting for her to apologize. He had followed her there.
She finally came out, still very upset, though she was not crying.
"I'm sorry" he said to her.
"No you're not! I know your type!"
With that she slapped his right cheek and kicked him in the crotch.
He bent over in severe pain as he watched her storm off. Everyone in the hallway was staring at him by now.
Having some difficulty walking with the pain, he followed her to her locker. She wasn't facing him, so he walked up behind her.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
She slowly turned around, already knowing who was there. She had a look in her eyes of anger and resentment, though, the color was indistinguishable because of her glasses.
"Let me start by introducing myself..."
He was cut off by some other asshole that attended the school.
"Something smells fishy, don't you think?!" said the boy to his buddies and they too sniggered at her.
The boy, who had started to introduce himself, walked over to them and gave the boy who made the remark a good, solid punch in the stomach. He pushed him against the lockers.
"Leave her alone!"
"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry."
The boy let go of the other and he stumbled off.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that" she said, anger still present in her voice.
"I know and you're welcome. Hi, I'm Antonio. What's your name?"
"Antonio, huh?"
"Yes, now what is your name?"
"Amy" she said in a quiet voice.
"Amy, I like that name. It's angelic."
"Thank you, but I really must be getting to class."
With that, she shut her locker and walked away without a word.
Behind her, she could hear more sniggers and nasty comments and the sound of human bodies being shoved against lockers as Antonio defended and stood up for her once more.
At lunch, she bought her lunch and took a seat at the back of the cafeteria, in a secluded location, at an empty table.
Five minutes later, Antonio walked in and saw this.
"I'm going to go sit with someone else today. She's lonely."
Without another word, he ditched his friends and walked to the back of the cafeteria.
"Is this seat taken?"
"No."
Antonio sat down and took out his lunch.
"So, what are your interests?"
"Books" she said flatly.
"Oh c'mon, that can't be all. What do you do for fun?"
"Read."
"Do you ever hang out at the mall?"
"No, I hate shopping."
"Okay....well then, what is your favorite book?"
"I particularly like reading the dictionary myself."
"I mean reading books."
"That is a reading book. It's a book you can read."
"You ever consider being a lawyer? I think you'd do very well."
"Yes, the thought crossed my mind."
She was starting to relax now and she started to trust him. It was apparent to her now that he wasn't like the rest of his friends. As he continued to ask her questions, her answers lightened up significantly and were no longer short and snappy.
As she finished her lunch, she excused herself and told Antonio that she would be right back.
She walked to the bathrooms right outside of the cafeteria and made sure no one was around. She stepped into one of the stalls and reached her two fingers into the back of her throat as she bent over. She then stepped out of the stall and cleaned up her face.
She made her way back to the table where Antonio sat, surprised that he hadn't left. Lunch was now over and he walked her to her next class.
As they approached the door of her classroom, he said, "Bye."
She replied, "Bye" but she had a smile on her face for the first time in a long while.
She stepped into her classroom as he watched her and turned to go to his own.
The teacher began class. Today they would be discussing logarithms.
"There is a Do Now on the front board, class. Please take out your notebooks and begin."
She copied the problem down and answered it within seconds. The problem read:
a) Write the inverse of x=2logy
She raised her hand, being the only one who ever paid attention.
"The answer is y equals log x squared."
"Very good Amy."
She went back to her notebook to answer the second part. It read
b) Solve for x: x=2log4
She once again raised her hand but was no called on because the teacher spotted another student who knew the answer.
"Chris."
"One point two zero four one."
"Correct."
The teacher continued to teach the class and before Amy knew it, class was over.
She walked down the hall to her locker and then headed to her bus.
As she was walking, Antonio spotted her.
"Amy, wait!"
"Hi" she said.
"Hi and I just wanted to say bye" he said with a smile on his face.
"Bye" she replied.
She got onto her bus and it dropped her off at her driveway.
She went into her room, put her book bag down and took out her diary, the only other thing that would listen to her besides her best friend Katie.
Shortly afterwards, her alarm clock rang again, but she did not stir.
Down the hallway, a light appeared through her cracked-open door. A small sliver of it shone into the room and across the bed. Footsteps moved along the floor, the owner of them dragging the feet along. The door creaked but she still did not stir. The footsteps came closer until they were right beside the bed.
"Amy, honey, wake up" said a soft voice from above.
A hand made contact with her shoulder and started shaking her hard. She jumped up and fell hard onto the floor. A loud thump could be heard from downstairs.
"Sorry to scare you dear. Didn't mean to."
She recognized the voice as her mother's.
"No, it's alright. I must have really been in a deep sleep."
She realized that the back of her head was throbbing and put her hand up to massage it. When she brought her hand back into her vision, it was stained with small patches of blood.
"Ouch. I must have hit my head on my nightstand" she thought to herself.
She dragged her feet along the ground and stumbled over a box that was in the narrow hallway. Her eyes were squinted shut from the intensity of light.
"Owww!"
She lifted herself back up and made it the rest of the way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
She opened the door that was under her sink and grabbed a facecloth to sop up the blood on the back of her head. She dampened it and placed it over the back of her head.
After removing it, she saw only a few spots of blood on it, so it must not have been bleeding too badly.
After getting out of the shower and getting dressed, she made her way downstairs to eat breakfast. Her father had already made her some and it was sitting on the table.
She sat down and shoveled it down her throat as if she had not seen food in a week.
"Thanks dad."
"No problem. You all ready for school?"
"Si."
She made her way to the downstairs bathroom and checked herself in the mirror.
"God, I'm so god damn ugly!" she thought to herself. She was disgusted at the way she looked. Her big glasses hid her eyes very well and most of her face for that matter. Her hair was dirty blonde in color.
She turned away from the sink and faced the toilet. Her hand raised itself up to the level of her mouth as she bent over. Her pointer finger and her middle finger reached into the back of her throat and touched the soft tissue in the back of it. A funny sensation came up her throat and then breakfast followed. A steady stream of partly digested food came spewing out of her mouth. She then turned to the sink to rinse her face and back to the toilet to flush it.
She peeked out the door to make sure no one was around to hear and quietly stepped out. She grabbed her book bag by the back door and made her way to the bus stop.
Not more than two seconds had she stepped on road and a car came speeding by. The car's tires, spinning extremely fast, spit slush up at her and her jeans were now the color of the road.
"Great. Just great" she said in a really sarcastic, but just audible voice to herself.
She walked back up into the driveway and into her house to change her clothes quickly. The bus would be coming very shortly. She ripped her jeans off and threw them in the corner of her room, where a pile of other dirty clothes lie.
She took two steps over to her closet, tore another pair of jeans off the hanger and shoved them onto herself. She put her shoes on and was off again only to find that there was no one at the bus stop and the bus had already come.
"Great, it looks like I'm going to have to walk to school now. I can see what today is going to be like, just like every other day of my miserable, rotten life. What's next?!"
Arlington High School was only about ten minutes away from her house by foot. More often than not, she ended up walking to school because nothing good ever happened in her life and everything that could go wrong, always did.
About ten minutes later, she reached the outskirts of the parking lot of Arlington High School. She weaved her way in and out from between the hundreds of cars parked there.
From a distance, she could see a group of the "popular" type kids. One looked over her way and made eye contact with her. She was the first to break it and she bent her head down, her face covered by her mass of tangled hair and her thick-framed glasses. He looked at her the whole way over to the entrance that they were sitting at.
One of the other guys in the bunch gave him a light punch in the shoulder and looked over to the girl he had been staring at as she made her way over. He said some nasty remark to the other guys sitting there and they all sniggered at her.
"Watch this."
Realizing what was going on with his buddies, he finally snapped to attention and looked around. By the time he figured out what they were doing, it was already too late. The girl's hair was covered in egg. She looked as if she was going to break down and cry right there, but she withheld her tears.
She walked into the bathroom to clean up some of the mess, knowing that she would smell the rest of the day.
Outside the bathroom, the boy stood waiting for her to apologize. He had followed her there.
She finally came out, still very upset, though she was not crying.
"I'm sorry" he said to her.
"No you're not! I know your type!"
With that she slapped his right cheek and kicked him in the crotch.
He bent over in severe pain as he watched her storm off. Everyone in the hallway was staring at him by now.
Having some difficulty walking with the pain, he followed her to her locker. She wasn't facing him, so he walked up behind her.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
She slowly turned around, already knowing who was there. She had a look in her eyes of anger and resentment, though, the color was indistinguishable because of her glasses.
"Let me start by introducing myself..."
He was cut off by some other asshole that attended the school.
"Something smells fishy, don't you think?!" said the boy to his buddies and they too sniggered at her.
The boy, who had started to introduce himself, walked over to them and gave the boy who made the remark a good, solid punch in the stomach. He pushed him against the lockers.
"Leave her alone!"
"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry."
The boy let go of the other and he stumbled off.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that" she said, anger still present in her voice.
"I know and you're welcome. Hi, I'm Antonio. What's your name?"
"Antonio, huh?"
"Yes, now what is your name?"
"Amy" she said in a quiet voice.
"Amy, I like that name. It's angelic."
"Thank you, but I really must be getting to class."
With that, she shut her locker and walked away without a word.
Behind her, she could hear more sniggers and nasty comments and the sound of human bodies being shoved against lockers as Antonio defended and stood up for her once more.
At lunch, she bought her lunch and took a seat at the back of the cafeteria, in a secluded location, at an empty table.
Five minutes later, Antonio walked in and saw this.
"I'm going to go sit with someone else today. She's lonely."
Without another word, he ditched his friends and walked to the back of the cafeteria.
"Is this seat taken?"
"No."
Antonio sat down and took out his lunch.
"So, what are your interests?"
"Books" she said flatly.
"Oh c'mon, that can't be all. What do you do for fun?"
"Read."
"Do you ever hang out at the mall?"
"No, I hate shopping."
"Okay....well then, what is your favorite book?"
"I particularly like reading the dictionary myself."
"I mean reading books."
"That is a reading book. It's a book you can read."
"You ever consider being a lawyer? I think you'd do very well."
"Yes, the thought crossed my mind."
She was starting to relax now and she started to trust him. It was apparent to her now that he wasn't like the rest of his friends. As he continued to ask her questions, her answers lightened up significantly and were no longer short and snappy.
As she finished her lunch, she excused herself and told Antonio that she would be right back.
She walked to the bathrooms right outside of the cafeteria and made sure no one was around. She stepped into one of the stalls and reached her two fingers into the back of her throat as she bent over. She then stepped out of the stall and cleaned up her face.
She made her way back to the table where Antonio sat, surprised that he hadn't left. Lunch was now over and he walked her to her next class.
As they approached the door of her classroom, he said, "Bye."
She replied, "Bye" but she had a smile on her face for the first time in a long while.
She stepped into her classroom as he watched her and turned to go to his own.
The teacher began class. Today they would be discussing logarithms.
"There is a Do Now on the front board, class. Please take out your notebooks and begin."
She copied the problem down and answered it within seconds. The problem read:
a) Write the inverse of x=2logy
She raised her hand, being the only one who ever paid attention.
"The answer is y equals log x squared."
"Very good Amy."
She went back to her notebook to answer the second part. It read
b) Solve for x: x=2log4
She once again raised her hand but was no called on because the teacher spotted another student who knew the answer.
"Chris."
"One point two zero four one."
"Correct."
The teacher continued to teach the class and before Amy knew it, class was over.
She walked down the hall to her locker and then headed to her bus.
As she was walking, Antonio spotted her.
"Amy, wait!"
"Hi" she said.
"Hi and I just wanted to say bye" he said with a smile on his face.
"Bye" she replied.
She got onto her bus and it dropped her off at her driveway.
She went into her room, put her book bag down and took out her diary, the only other thing that would listen to her besides her best friend Katie.