Number 33

Chapter 4 - Him.

Chapter 4 - Him.

I woke up to my sister turning my lights on and sharply saying "Britton, you need to get up. You're late."

I sat up slowly, still processing what she'd said. One I realized that I was in fact late, I sprung into action. I put on a dress, not caring enough to change out of my sports bra. I rushed into the bathroom and put some face makeup on, along with mascara.

Great, Britton. Now you don't look as dead as before.

I loosely curled every other strand of my long hair, grateful that my natural hair was wavy. I put on some lipgloss and hardly took a second to stare into the mirror and hope that I looked decent, before running down the stairs. As I passed by them, I grabbed my white converse from the bottom stair steps.

As I sat on the concrete outside, I struggle to slip my sneakers on without having to untie them.

Gee, it's really cold out here. I think to myself as I feel a chill emanating from my core. Unfortunately for me though, my ride was already rounding the corner of the block, coming to a stop in front of my house.

I opened the door, said my greetings, and felt extreme comfort sitting in the back of that car.

Thank God for heaters, my mom always says. I couldn't agree more in this moment of time.

The car ride passed slowly, and it killed me. It was so awkward. Having to be driven by a family friend and their kid is a blessing, really, but that doesn't stop it from being tense and uncomfortable.

Oh my gosh, please just turn the radio on. I pleaded in my head. Nothing happened.

I tried to not make too much noise as I looked through my bag, making sure that everything was there. Of course, thanks to my luck, everything was not there. I forgot my novel for English.

I silently screamed, cursing myself and my forgetfulness.

After a few more minutes of me hating myself, we finally arrived at the middle school. I thanked the driver a couple of times, and stepped out of the car. It was cold and windy, and I had to make sure to hold my dress down. This made some older boys standing outside wolf-whistle at me. I just rolled my eyes and walked faster, my head down.

*****

I looked around the lunchroom, debating where to sit. I saw an isolated table in the corner of the cafeteria, ironically by the trash cans, that was vacant.

How cliche, I think to myself, almost bitterly. You're the loner that has to eat alone by the garbage bins.

I sat anyways, and tried to tell myself that I enjoyed the solitude. I ate all of my lunch, and read for the rest of the time allotted for lunch.

*****

The final bell rang, releasing me from this prison they call school. I hurried out of the classroom, glad I didn't have to go to my locker today. I wanted out of there.

I made it outside, and inhaled sharply when I was once again shocked with the low temperature. I jogged to my bus, and stepped up to board, almost slipping a little.

I settle down in my seat, third from the back on the left side. I took out my book, and started reading, not listening as my peers got to their respective seats.

"Hey, can I sit here?"

I looked up. It was Aiden.

I smiled and said sure as I moved my backpack from the seat to the floor and scooted more towards the window.

"Thanks." He said, sitting down near the aisle.

And for the next few minutes we talked. About the book we were reading in our English class we shared, about our school's sports, and about his brothers. It was nice.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, because I heard someone call my name from the back of the bus. I sat on my leg and turned to face whoever addressed me. I was met with Eric's ugly smirk.

"Yeah, Eric?" I asked, already knowing whatever he was going to say was going to be mean.

"U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi." He started in a sing song voice, pointing at me. Tears started gathering at my lower lash line, but none fell yet. "You're ugly, hey hey, you're ugly."

I didn't know what to say, but I knew I had to say something. "Wow, Eric, that's really original. Never heard that one before." I deadpanned, deciding to stick with what I do best. Being sarcastic.

"What was that, Britton the Beast?" His best friend asked cupping his hand around his ear. "I couldn't hear you over how bad you look." He said before laughing at me and high fiving Eric. That's when Aiden turned around.

"Guys, quit being so lame. Shut up." He said, staring both of them down. And they did. They started muttering curses to each other but I didn't care because they weren't talking to me anymore. I slunk back down to where I was sitting directly on the foam seat and Aiden turned to me.

"You okay?" He asked, with half of a grin on his face. My heart almost melted at hearing his concern.

"Yeah, thanks to you, my knight in shining armor." I said while still trying not to cry. Even though I was now okay, I was still about to cry. I guess once you start, you don't stop.

"No problem, fair maiden." He said in a cheesy accent, pretending to bow and extend his hand to me. I just laughed with him and talked until his stop. We said our goodbyes, and I was left. Always the last one on the bus.

My stop finally rolled around, so I stood and thanked the bus driver.

It was really cool of Aiden to stick up for me like that. It made me smile all the way to my house, and made me feel warm even though it was excruciatingly cold outside.