Bully Proof

Chapter Two

Oh, science class, why must you exist? Why must you exist when Claire was next to me? Why must you exist when it was my birthday?

The genetics concept that we were learning was something that I was fascinated with. The way my teacher taught it, or should I say, didn't teach it, was the part I had a problem with. That, and the fact that he called on Claire for everything, and when she gave the most bizarre answers, he started beaming and declared her correct.

Science was the only class I didn't need to help her in. She wasn't good at it - believe me - but the teacher loved her, and gave her amazing grades.

It was my free period. Sometimes I slept, and he never noticed. Out of all my classes, my science grade average was the lowest, but it was passing, so I didn't really care.

Anyway, sooner or later, the bell rang. I went to my locker with my head low, trying to sneak away from Claire for just a couple of seconds.

There was a little piece of paper taped to my locker, and alongside it, a rose. I was so surprised to see it there, that I had to look at the locker number, to make sure it was mine.

I turned my head to the left, to the right, and back to the left, just like checking both sides of the road before crossing the street. Claire wasn't around, so I stuffed the note into my backpack and carefully attempted to put the rose into my locker, afraid that it would break.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I jumped.

"What's up?" Claire smiled evilly while she grabbed my rose.

She snapped it in half, and I could feel the little bit of happiness left in my heart wash away with the tears that I knew would spill later. At least she didn't ruin my note.

I walked past her, unable to look into her empty eyes, and went into history. She sat next to me, and I waited for her to say something as she unpacked her stuff.

"You know people just try to prank you," she sighed, as if she was trying to protect me. Please. If anything, she was the person I needed to be protected from.

Claire went to the bathroom for over half an hour, so the class went by in a blur.

I took the note out of my backpack and put it in my pocket. I didn't want to risk reading it in class in case the teacher saw and read it to the class. That would make this nightmare even worse.

The bell rang, and I stopped in the bathroom to look at the note.

Dear Kiley,
I know you don't know me, but I've noticed that Claire has been doing some things to you that would best be undiscussed, for now, at least. She's going to stab you in the back. I don't know when, but you should keep your guard up and pay extra attention to what she does. I wish you the best of luck.

There was no name. There was no clue to who wrote this. There was no trace of the one who had looked out for me. Nothing.

I folded it up and placed it back into my pocket, wondering what in the world Claire was going to do to torture me this time.

The rest of the school day was really unimportant, so to save you from boredom, I'll just skip to the next part.

When I got home, I went up to the room and looked at myself in the mirror.

My eyes were puffy. Now that I saw this, I couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been puffy. Maybe it was from crying so much. After all, Claire existed. My blue eyes were huge, and whenever the tears came, they poured. My eyes were like waterfalls when it came to crying. My small chin and cracked lips didn't really compliment each other, but that was okay. Who looks at lips, anyway?

I thought about telling my mom about my annoying cough, but that only reminded me of times when I was younger and I faked being sick to get out of school. She wouldn't believe me. Besides, Memory Land was a place I didn't ever want to go to.

Speaking of Memory Land, though, my diary (disguised as a school book) was in my sock drawer, hidden away from the eyes of the public. That contained my true thoughts, including anything and everything about the people around me. Sure, some of it wasn't the nicest, but at least I had the decency to not say any of it out loud.

I laid on my bed temporarily feeling relieved of my stress. Since Claire had no after-school activities today, I was free for only half an hour, when it would've normally been two. When she would soon call me, I didn't know, but I was glad for the few moments I could live without her.

My peace soon turned into discomfort, as my useless brain started to feel dizzy.

My ears began to ring, and my stomach turned. Being dizzy always made me nauseous. Nope. Nope. Nope. I stumbled into the bathroom across the hall and starting throwing up into the toilet.

I guess I was really loud, since the next thing I heard was, "Kiley? Are you okay?!" It was my mom, who ran up the stairs from the kitchen to comfort me. She didn't bother going into the bathroom, but stayed outside the doorway, and waited until I came out.

As soon as my stomach emptied, I brushed my teeth. The horrid taste of bile was enough to make me puke again. I hated that taste more than anything.

I left the bathroom, got dizzy again, and only ended up returning to the toilet.

Later on, I went to bed and a garbage can was placed on the floor next to me. My mom sat on the edge of my bed, and rubbed my cheek.

I felt my eyes grow heavy, and I fell asleep.

Little did I know that my phone rang while I slept. Little did I know that Claire had called. Little did I know that she was furious. Little did I know what was in store for me the next day.