The Falling of Lauren Johnson

Chapter Two

The rest of the weekend slowly passes by. I confined myself to my room, focusing on keeping up with schoolwork and my drawings, and only leaving to eat and use the bathroom. My mother doesn't say much to me, only talking when she asks me to pass the salt or something of that nature. My father, on the other hand, was having a really good weekend as far as conversation goes, and wouldn't shut up about his job and his buddies at work who prank each other on occasion. By the time Monday morning rolled around, I had a huge pit in my stomach and was dreading going to school.

I finish shoving the things into my bag around 7:38 on Monday morning when my Dad walks into my room with one knock on the door.

"Hey Dad. What's up?" I try to act casual. This is weird. He never comes up to my room. He's never up this early. What the hell?

"Lauren, you're mom told me what happened at school." My Dad says without missing a beat.

"Oh."

"You're not in trouble, I promise. I just think you need to stand up for yourself. You shouldn't have to do anything you don't want to."

I stand there, blankly looking at him.

"Give them hell." With that, my Dad kisses my forehead and is out of my room without another word.

Oh my goodness, that may be the sweetest yet weirdest thing he's ever said to me. I head to school with a bounce in my step that wouldn't have been there if what just transpired hadn't happened.

I enter my first hour, keeping my face toward the ground in hopes that I won't draw attention to myself. I sit in my usual seat and sigh in relief that I made it this far without any problems. I feel a couple taps on my shoulder. I spoke too soon. I turn and see two faces staring back at me.

"H-Hi." I stutter. Oh God, what?

The one with the dark colored hair and olive complexion starts taking first; I recall her name as Melissa. "Lauren, look, I wanted to apologize for the way you were treated last Friday. It totally wasn't right for us to call you out like that."

The other one chirps in, a blonder, fairer version of Melissa named Katelyn, "Yeah, and kind of a bitch move on our part. Anyway, we know you don't have a lot of friends, and we wanted to see if you would like to be ours?"

I'm not sure whether to be offended because of their assumption that I don't have any friends or grateful that people actually want to be around me.

I'm at a loss for words, so rather than say anything I just nod. Big toothy grins spread across both of their faces.

Melissa starts talking again, "Awesome! Do you want to hang out after school? My mom said she'd make us some cookies. We could sneak a peak in some of her magazines too!" Is this how the other half lives, eating cookies and reading gossip magazines without permission?

I just smile and nod, not wanting them to rethink their decisions.

Katelyn pipes in "Cool! Meet you by the bench in front of the school after last period, okay? Tootles!" With that, the only girls who have actually made conversation with me since I was 14 leave and sit on the other side of the classroom in their desks.

Should I be feeling as excited as I am? What if they're trying to trick me?

I pull my wrist close to my mouth to send a ping to my mom whispering only loud enough for the chip to pick up my voice "Hey mom, I made some friends and I'm going to one of their houses after school, so I should be home around dinner time!"