"Here's to the girls who don't wake up with perfect hair. Who don't mind eating a Big Mac instead of a salad. Who don't wear 50 pounds of makeup. Who'd rather spend the day in sweatpants rather than skinny jeans. Who love the comfort of t-shirts. Wh...
Dumbfounded, I swallowed to hydrate my dry mouth. My mom sighed wearily with closed eyes. Then she opened her eyes. They showed sadness and concern. Then reality slapped me again.
This was all real.
Unlike my dream previously...
Luke, who was sitting there, seemed to know this. As if he could read my mind, he stated with grief reflected in his brown eyes. "While you were sleeping, Mom and Dad told me that we were moving. I care about you even though I may not show it sometimes. I will be willing to do anything so that you can be safe and content. Maybe one day we can see our friends again when life is better. I mean, I'm a senior, I should stay."
I exhaled. My Dad took my silence as a signal to start another business-like rant, and it seemed as if this one would be a tad shorter. He turned to Luke.
"Luke, you're a senior. It wouldn't be right to let you switch school districts, this could seriously mess up your education. Would you mind staying in this school district? Our new house isn't that far from here, it's only half an hour, forty-five minutes tops from your high school. What do you say?"
Luke nodded, elated that he could stay.
"Lucy, we all care about you and love you very much. Due to this and us being your family, we want you to be safe and we want you to have a happy life, not one filled with sorrow and fear. Luckily we don't have to sell our current house, so we can come back later if we decide to. Your mom and I had plans to move earlier because my job requires me to transfer houses and locations, but we were not sure because we thought you liked it here. Now, with this new bullying problem, I don't think we can stay here anymore. I'm sorry, but we have to move for your own good, even if it's this early in the school year. It's better actually, since your school won't have done much this early and you can easily get in a friend group." Dad announced with a tinge of despair hidden in his deep masculine voice.
I nodded my head in thought and looked down, wringing my hands in the baby blue sheets in the nurse's office. Then, I glanced up, seeing three pairs of expectant eyes. Mom was hopefully looking towards me, crossing her fingers not-so-discreetly as she hoped I would agree. My dad was staring at me in anticipation. Luke was just plain curious on what I would say.
Exhaling for the millionth time that day, I set my expression of resignation.
"Sure, why not?"
***
I had been discharged from the nurse's office when my parents had suggested to take me home. After the sweet nurse gave us permission to leave, she scanned the office and then had leaned in, sympathetically whispering something in my mom's ear. My mom's expression first morphed into sympathy, and then glee and thankfulness. She had helped me up as I painfully limped to the door with my brother's assistance.
Well, that was three days ago.
I had stayed home ever since then. Most of my wounds were in the process of healing and were almost done healing due to the extensive care I had received at home.
Some of my wounds would take a long time to heal. No medicine could help the emotional pain I felt.
Now, I had enough strength to walk without assistance. However, there still was pain.
I had woken a bit more earlier this morning due to the pain and had taken my time to get ready for the place where I was never going to be accepted, no matter what. Ever heard of school?
After clamoring to get off the bus filled with people who treated me as if I was something they deeply despised. The sad thing is that it was true. They did despise me.
I walked down the halls with a slight limp in my step. As I headed towards my locker, some kids were giving me nasty looks. They wouldn't understand. I sighed again.
When I was near my locker, I spotted a huddle of people. I limped to the crowd that was making a lot of noise. The closer I got, the louder it got.
I pushed through a crowd cirling around something. The crowd was hollering continuously, "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" They seemed to never stop. I finally broke through, as people avoided my touch. I was apparently the plague.
I stopped when I reached the middle. I saw two people.
My hands shakily flew to my mouth.
This couldn't be happening.
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