☀️She's Extraordinary ☀️

Getting Somewhere

Avenues: The World School (February 22nd) (Bella's Perspective)
"Did you get what I asked for?"
"Duh, I don't need you killing me." Eva handed me my drink.
"Grande hot chocolate with two pumps of hazelnut syrup, whipped cream, and a caramel drizzle."
"Thank you! You're an angel!" My friends and I started walking toward the school building.
"Where's ours?" Jonathan asked.
"Up your ass."
"Language, that is not appropriate language for young ladies to be using." One of the hall monitors said.
"Sorry." Sofia said.
"Hey, have you guys heard?"
"About what?"
"The trip." One of my sophomore friends, Erika, told me that every year, around the springtime there's a trip that the freshmen go on. Depending on how the class acts, it can either be fully for fun, service work, or a team-building exercise.
"Yeah. Something tells me we'll be getting team building." I looked at Sofia.
"Hey, we were joking!"
"I know! But they don't think that." Sicily and I said.
"Plus, the arguments in the hallway." Hannah commented.
"Yeah, we're def not having fun."
"For sure." It was lunchtime and we made it back inside early because we didn't want to freeze to death.
"But where would it even be."
"It better be somewhere warm because I'm not leaving a freezing cold ass place to go to another freezing cold ass place." Ethan said.
"Facts." The transition bell rang.
"Ugh, time for mastery." I groaned.
"Watch them make us do more public speaking. I'm sick of it."
****************
The 16th Precinct (Tuesday) (1:30 PM) (Olivia's Perspective)
"Do you have any description of the suspect at all? Did you get to see his face?" Amanda was interviewing a victim and I was observing.
"No, he um, has on this mask. It looked something  like a gremlin."
"This is the fourth one this week." Kat said.
"I know. The headlines in the papers are getting worse by day."

Lisa: Hey Olivia, are you free right now?

"You guys can carry on without me, right?"
"Where are you going?"
"A school thing for Noah." I lied. Lisa and I have been having our weekly meet-ups for a while now. She's such a great person to talk to and a great pick-me-up!
"Hey!"
"Americano for you."
"You know me so well."
"You know Liv, I was thinking. Maybe our families should meet. We should tell them about each other."
"I think that's an amazing idea."
"Our kids are around the same ages so they'd get along just fine." Lisa added.
"There's one problem though."
"What? Are you going out of town?"
"No, not that. I haven't told my husband about you yet, not because there's anything wrong with you, of course, I dunno, I sort of just never told him."
"Are you afraid of something?"
"I-I don't know. I just don't really talk about this kind of stuff with him."
"I'm sure he'll be understanding from what you've told me. Don't sweat it, Liv." I smiled softly.
"I just can't wait for my kids to meet their cousins!"
"Me too!" Now, I just have to find a way to tell El...
******************
Room 2W18 (Wednesday, Feb. 24th) (Bella's Perspective)
"I know that it's been a while since we've all convened here, I had some stuff to take care of but I'm ready to get back into the groove of things. First off, I want to say that I'm so proud of each and everyone one of you that spoke at the writing showcase. You sounded amazing and your work did too." We all smiled.
"So today, I have some news before we get into business..." News? What news?
"Bella?"
"Yes, Ms. Doboroski?"
"Since you joined this writing club last September you have shown great promise, never late, always inquisitive, and always ready to write. I haven't seen work like yours in years." What is she doing?!
"And because of that, I'd like to bestow the honor of making you our newest prompt creator." I was shocked, I didn't expect to be getting some type of role, I'm only a freshman! Clara and Sofia hugged me excitedly.
"T-Thank you!" Someone notices me, my effort.
"Would you like to come up for a prompt today or is it too soon?" I chuckled.
"Maybe our prompt should be about a time that we succeeded."
^^^^^^^^^
Therapy (My Bedroom)
"You seem really happy today Bella, I like this for you." Dr. Turner said.
"Because today was great."
"What happened?"
"I got a new role in my writing club at school. It was so unexpected and it...it came at such a good time, when I was struggling and it just made me feel so happy."
"That's awesome, I'm proud of you."
"Thanks."
"So today, I thought we'd talk about everything that's going on. I remember you last week saying that wanted to do that." I nodded cautiously. I wonder if I'll hate where this is going.
"Something that I'd like to do with you is to establish a pattern. Over these last few months of knowing you I've witnessed various emotional moments, do you recognize your pattern of emotions?"
"Some things happen...I let it bubble over inside...then I explode and push people away."
"Okay, how do you let it bubble?"
"When people ask if things are alright, I lie. Then, I lie about some parts of the situation as well." I said truthfully. I needed to be honest now or I'd never get better. This was making me think about how I lied to Mom and Dr. Turner. I feel sick to my stomach.
"Why do you think you do that, Bella?"
"I-I don't know." Why can't I stop lying?!??

I looked at the case file from top to bottom.
"I shouldn't do this." I opened it.
"But I have to.."

"Bella, I think you do know." I could feel my meaty beating profusely. It was loud and she could probably hear it too.
"Well, I don't know how to quite explain it. My other therapists have tried to figure out why I'm like this but I never tell them or anything."
"Okay, let's take it slow. Just say whatever comes to your mind on the topic."
"Part of me is scared that like people will judge me and stuff, I hate being judged."
"Okay, and the other part?" I started to cry. Dr. Turner grabbed a tissue from my desk.
"This is good, Bella. It means that we're getting somewhere."
"I thought crying was bad."
"No, crying is good actually. It helps you balance your emotions, and usually feel better after you cry, right?" I nodded.
"The other part is that...I don't really talk about this..but when I was younger, I would beg for help, I begged strangers to see what was being done and to help me, but no one cared, not even my biological mother. So like, when anyone, especially Mom asks what's wrong or tries to help I don't feel like it's genuine and it is but..."
"You were so used to being let down by everyone?" I nodded.
"You developed that as a defense mechanism, Bella. You had to learn to protect yourself and your emotions because you were practically thrown to the wolves but that was then, Bella. Now, you have your Mom, Elliot, your Aunts and Uncles, you have me. You don't have to shut yourself off anymore, we're all here to help."
"How do I learn to do that, to stop shutting people out and being all mean to them?" I asked.
"By admitting it, which is what you did, recognizing that, and learning how to go about it differently, and if you listen to me, you'll get there. Got it?" I nodded and she gave me a high-five.
"We have five more minutes, what would you like to do?"
"Can we have a dance party?" I went over to my record player and looked for something to play.
"Bella, I didn't realize you had vinyl. Your room is so cute." I smiled.
"Yeah....do you want me to play some old music from your childhood?" We both laughed.
"Let's just stick to Ed Sheeran." We both giggled.
*********************
Barnes & Noble (Lexington Ave.) (Noah's Perspective)
"Hey"
"Hey." Morgan sat down next to me.
"I got you a drink."
"Thanks."
"So."
"So..."
"Okay, I'm sick of this." Morgan grabbed her phone and started to read.
"I don't know where to start. This past week you've been moody, irritable, and not yourself. I tried to give you space, but I could see that you're still upset and angry. I'm sick of the animosity between us and I just want things to get better." She put her phone down. The fact that she took the time to write down what she felt...
"I'm sick of the animosity too."
"Then what's going on here? We need to talk about it. You never get that angry." I sighed. I didn't want to get angry at her again.
"There was animosity before I even started getting pissed. You were being shady hiding your phone from me and talking to me less. I just tried to figure out what was wrong and you wouldn't tell me. So you know how much that hurt me?! To have to watch you emotionally distance yourself from me? Out of nowhere!"
"Noah...Why are you yelling at me, are you okay?!"
"Who have you been texting so much? Why did you start snubbing me?" A tear dropped from Morgan's face.
"Dave." Dave? Dave. He likes Morgan. Last time I checked, she found him weird and vowed to stay away from him. Why are they texting now? This is the second guy that's tried to win over Morgan.
"Noah...I can explain." I didn't say anything.
"Why aren't you talking?" I didn't have any words. I didn't have anything to say. I was just shocked.
"He started texting me one day, saying that if I didn't talk to him he'd...."
"He'd what?" Morgan got up and left the Barnes and Noble.
"Morgan, wait!" I watched as she ran through a red light.
"Kid, watch where ya going!"
"I'm sorry, sir." I told him.
"Morgan!" I grabbed her hand.
"What's going on?"
"You're going to get angry and spazz on me, and I don't want that to happen. I mean anyone else would, but so far you're the only guy who hasn't and I don't want that to-"
"Morgz, slow down. What's wrong? What would he do, tell me." I said calmly. I was worried now, I mean clearly, she wouldn't talk to Dave unless he threatened her right? What was he going to do?

To be continued~