Bully

Chapter 2: There's just something about that girl

**ABRIELLE’S POV** 

It had been an excruciating week. My brothers were always so pissed off because they hadn’t been chosen for this project. I never said anything about me getting to go in the hopes they wouldn’t harass me so much that I wouldn’t be able to go. This was the only light at the end of the tunnel so to speak that I had. Of course I listened to Shinedown every day. That’s what kept me hanging on. Each day I took more of my clothes to the campus with me. I’d found a spot that people didn’t know about so I bought two suitcases, separately so I wouldn’t draw attention to myself, to hide my stuff in.

 I was so anxious! Well, more anxious than usual. Instead of my normal worrisome anxiousness this was an excited anxiousness. Good things, hopefully, were about to happen to me! I made sure to get a shower that morning. Not that it mattered because I was bullied so horribly I could very well be covered in condiments, raw eggs, and dirt by the time I met whatever band I was about to go on tour with! The Dean sent out a message to all the students that were going about a huge conference that was mandatory to attend. We’d get information about our band, they would get information about us, we would have a lecture about fraternization, and we’d be told about life on the road.

 **ZACH’S POV** 

 We had been approached by a college about taking three college students on the road with us. One would be a business major and would mostly be hanging around with and learning from Bill. Another one would be more technical and would be with our road crew. The final student would be a Multi-Media major and would actually be with us most of the time. We had been given short files on all three students and samples of their work. 

 “This girl.” Barry stated as he looked at her picture

  “What do you mean?” Brent questioned  

He was looking over the business major’s file. 

“I can’t put my finger on it.” Barry stated, furrowing his brows, “We need her with us.”

 “Barry’s getting one of those supernatural messages again.” Eric chuckled, looking up from the technician’s file 

“Yeah. Just… trust me on this.” Barry said, handing the file over to me 

 When my eyes landed on her picture I felt it too. It wasn’t a supernatural message for me though. It was her eyes. They were so full of pain. She was beautiful on the outside, Eric would absolutely love this girl, but she was depressed on the inside. 

“I agree with Barry.” I stated 

 “We need to be at their campus in a week.” Brent stated 

 It was a long week. My mind kept going back to that girl. Those eyes. Those eyes that betrayed the outward happy-looking, care-free young woman. We were escorted to the Dean’s office where we were introduced to the Dean and introduced ourselves. There was a massive conference later this afternoon where we’d go through what the students should expect and then meet our students. Eric and Brent were excited. Barry and I were more concerned. We got special passes, so the campus security wouldn’t bother us, and we were able to walk around freely. 

 It didn’t take us long, which surprised the hell out of us, to find the lone female student of ours. She was quite the unique individual with her three-tone colored hair! We stood in shock as we watched a much taller male walk up and shove her hard onto the grass. Brent was about to run up to her but Barry stopped him. We shouldn’t get involved and bring attention to ourselves the drummer said. Eric and I stood back unable to pull our eyes away from her. She unceremoniously picked herself up off the ground, dusted herself off, and then gathered her belongings. 

 She kept her head down and didn’t appear to talk to anyone. That was odd! What college student didn’t have a group of friends to hang with?! As we followed her around, I began to get very concerned for this woman. She was anti-social it seems. Never really talking to anyone, staying away from people, not making eye contact. What really caught my attention, however, was the braided bracelet on her right wrist.   

As the day went on, it was painfully obvious why this girl was such a loner. She was being severely bullied at this campus. It was such a shame because the projects we had seen of hers were simply amazing! Barry and Brent had to hold Eric back when three guys walked up behind her while she was eating a meager sandwich from the campus cafeteria and they dumped several milkshakes on her. Her surprised, and shocked, screams made us all cringe. 

 “Eric, no!” Barry soothed, “Listen to me. This afternoon she’ll be our student and all this bullshit will stop!”

 “That’s right! We’ll show her what real friends are supposed to be like. You do anything to those boys not only will we be taken off this project, she’ll most likely get harassed even worse!” Brent tried to reason 

I don’t think I’d ever heard Eric Bass growl before. It was a kind of frightening experience. Especially since Eric is one of the most laid-back, easy-going people I’ve ever met! Once they were sure Eric was going to behave himself, they let him go. We watched as she threw her barely eaten sandwich in the trash, gathered her things, and then shamefully walked off.