Afraid of Something Different.

Chapter 1.

                After a rough day at school, all Cali wanted to do was run. She wanted to run through the cold woods, feeling the branches and leaves sting her skin as she got farther and farther away. The first word that came to her mind, floating. It describes exactly how she feels. Like a baby bird, flying, soaring, leaving the hateful world behind and never looking back. She runs until she can feel her legs losing feeling. Stopping at the usual spot where her breath has escaped her grasp, she looks around, eyes freezing at her rock. Yes, her rock. It’s hers, and only hers. It has helped her through heart breaks, failed tests, broken friendships, bullying, everything. Yet, when she thinks about it, it’s just a rock. She sits, instantly feeling the relief of letting the weight off her cramped legs. Once the stress was off her legs, her mind wanders to how her day went. Cali wishes she could come home to a mom and dad and tell them her day was great and she has finally made a few friends, but that’s not how it works. At least not for her.

                “Why don’t they like me?” The first question that pops into her mind almost every day. She started a new school about 2 months ago after her mom died. Her first impression of the school was “I am not going there. There is no way.” A private school with smart, snotty kids is not where she belonged! Her dad told her to suck it up, knowing that’s the kind of guy he was. Everybody told her she would make friends in the first few weeks, after all she is a great kid, but did she? Of course not. Who would want to be friends with her? She wasn’t like the other girls at her school. While they would be painting their nails pink or purple, and wearing dresses every day, she would rather paint her nails red or black, and wear skinny jeans and a shirt with a band on it. “They are just afraid of something different.” she would tell herself.

                She took out her phone to check the time. 3:26. Looking at the notifications, she noticed that she had a text. Her first thought was “No. I, me, the weird music girl, has a text?” She was scared to look at it, but she did anyways. Disappointed, she realized it was just her dad telling her to come home. She chuckles, reminding herself that nobody likes her. She would never get a real text from a “friend”. That word is overrated anyways. “Who needs friends, when you have music?” Standing up, she sighs and gets ready for her long run home. “Screw friends” she says under her breath and takes off into the silent woods.