Shanna stood at the window of the waiting room, next to Nellie. Her other friends had gone to see Lily. For the first time in her life, Shanna was truly thankful to feel the beams of a summer's sunrise brush across her face. The red sky hid her bruises and scars in her reflection.

"Nellie, I need to talk to you," Shanna spoke slowly, edging cautiously toward the chairs whilst leaning on her friend for support. Once they were seated, Shanna continued. "I know something's wrong. You've hardly spoken all morning; you haven't eaten anything for breakfast, and you leave the room whenever Charlie mentions his love for Aylin." Shanna reached for Nellie's hand and squeezed it gently.

"There—There's something," Nellie began reluctantly. She refused to make eye contact with Shanna while speaking. "It's Maxfield. I tried telling you last night before you were awake because I didn't know who else to tell."

Shanna reached across Nellie's body to hold onto her shoulders. "You can tell me anything, Nellie, I promise. I'll help you. What happened between you and Maxfield?"

Nellie felt a little comforted by Shanna's words, but she still felt deep fear inside. She opened her mouth, feeling her warm, moist breath dancing on her tongue as she spoke. Her voice was barely a whisper, but she didn't notice over the memory of her boyfriend's hand lashing across her face. Nellie fell silent, trying to make sense of Shanna's expressionless face. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth formed a small 'O' shape. The blonde girl leaned forward slowly, wrapping her arms around Nellie protectively.

"You have to get out of there," Shanna finally spoke, letting go of the smaller girl. "I understand that you don't want people knowing about it, but that relationship can't go on." Nellie nodded silently. "I'll talk to him if you want."

Nellie looked at her friend appreciatively. She mouthed thank you back to her, but no sound escaped her lips.

Ali wheeled herself into the canteen after mathematics class. For lunch, the cooks had piled a large helping of curry onto her plate. Ali hated curry. She looked around the buzzing room for any sign of her friends, but they obviously hadn't arrived yet. She pulled herself to the closest table that was mainly empty. The only other people at the table were a fierce ginger cheerleader and a nerdy looking boy. Ali smiled at the two briefly before scanning the room again. She had not yet seen Mario today, and Dani wasn't in mathematics class. Ali was eating lunch alone.

Barely into the pile of gloop on her plate, Ali was interrupted by a large number of jocks approaching the other two people at her table. There must have been twenty or even thirty of them!

"I heard you two joined the gleek club," one jock spat bitterly.

"Well, we're here to make your life a living hell," another one finished.

A third one swiped the plate from underneath the ginger cheerleader's nose and threw it on the floor. At the same time, another jock knocked the nerd's plate of gloop onto his lap. The boy yelped and jumped up, revealing a brown stain on his skinny jeans from the gloop.

Ali was infuriated as the bullies continued to mock the two second year students. The jocks suddenly fell silent. Ali looked across again. The jocks were now lined up, holding cups of the slush drink served in the cafeteria. Ali could only watch in disbelief as the bullies slowly poured the ice cold drinks all over their two victims. This routine was obviously well-rehearsed as the jocks emptied their cups, and then ran back to the nearby slushie machine for more, which maintained a constant attack on the two students, now cowering against the wall.

Finally thrown over the edge, Ali wheeled herself over to the jocks.

"Pour one more slushie over them, and I swear I'll charge at you in this chair and run you over one by one," Ali's voice cracked with anger, and she held intense eye contact with the jock closest to her.

"Whoa! Sorry, Cripple." He beckoned to the rest of his friends.

Ali wheeled herself backwards to her plate. Thinking that she was backing down, the jock followed her. When Ali reached the table, she grabbed her plate and launched it at the bully in one swift motion. "Leave them alone," she reiterated.

The jock shook a little, trying to regain his composure. "It's okay; we'll get them when Wheels isn't around."

Once the bullies had left, Ali turned to the second year students. They were a year older than her, but she still felt pity toward them.

"I'm Ali; I'm in my first year here, and I use a wheelchair!" Ali spoke excitedly, almost patronisingly. The two students looked at each other blankly.

"Um, I'm Cameron, and this is Marissa. We're in our second year and… Um, we can walk?" the nerd offered. Ali just smiled with delight.

"That's great! So, you're in the glee club? That's amazing!" Ali answered.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun." The ginger girl—Marissa—replied.

"Wow, I'm thinking of joining, too. I love to sing." Ali waved her arms in the air with excitement. "One day, I'm going to be a star!" She beamed. "It would be great to have some friends in glee club if I joined. It was great meeting you both, Marissa and Cameron!" she said before turning and leaving without a proper goodbye. The other two students looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Author's Note:

Don't you just LOVE Ali!? Her happy personality just makes me smile.

Umm... i'm not sure what else to say other than... hope you enjoyed :')

~Marcalus