Never Give Up

Chapter 1

I wake up, still tired, and glance at my clock. 6:30am. I groan as I sit up and get ready.

Today is my first day of my Junior year at school and I did not want to go. I kept myself up late last night thinking I was ready, when clearly I'm not. All I could think was: "welp, looks like my daily routine is back to 'normal.'"

I headed downstairs to my kitchen when my mom stopped me.

"You're not leaving yet, are you?" She asked.

"Better get this day over with." I mumbled.

"I thought you were excited."

I shook my head. "Can I go now?"

"Go on, see you after school!"

"Bye mom!" I tried to say enthusiastically.

I creep out the front door, moaning that I have to go. I then hear a loud ding that startled me. I check my phone and see a text from my best friend.

Hey, Ellie, can you give me a ride?

I rolled my eyes and responded.

Yeah, see you in a few.

Max has always been an amazing friend, what more to pay him off by giving him rides?

I tried to laugh it off as I threw my stuff in the back seat and I got in and started up the car. I realized that this would be perfect for a new YouTube video. I took my phone, since that's all I had on me, and set it up so it doesn't fall and started recording.

I said my intro and put the car in gear and headed to his house.

~ ~ ~

I finally pulled up to Max's house and honked the horn many times to get him outside. "Max, get your butt out here or I'm leaving without you!" I yelled.

I then saw a door open and there he was, hands full of food. Thank the lord because I was starving. He always knew what I wanted before I knew what I wanted.

He opened the car door and plopped down in the seat and threw his bookbag in the back and handed me some of the food. "Thanks." I muffled as I stuffed my face.

He nodded and saw my phone. "You recording?"

I nodded. "Is that an issue?" I asked dramatically. "This is car rides with Ellie!"

"Damn, you're pretty hyper for it being this early."

"Shhhh..." I shushed him. "Just let it happen."

I went back into drive and headed to school. I definitely was not ready for school. On the drive there, I had a million things running through my mind; and the reason wasn't good either.

The thing is, there's one thing nobody knows, exept Max. I am actually depressed. I know I know, it doesn't seem like it. "Oh, Ellie is way too cheerful to be depressed." Is probably what all of you are thinking. And the thing is, nobody would suspect the ones least likely to be depressed, but it's true.

The reason behind this is because all my life, I have been bullied physically and mentally, hell, even cyberbullied. But I haven't attempted suicide, not yet at least, and there's a reason why I keep believing that I should stay: Max. Ever since we've been friends, I've had a crush on him, and he knows it too. He just keeps saying he doesn't want to date yet, and I keep going with it, but that really doesn't matter. I love him and he has always made me happy, even when I start over thinking and sadness tries overtaking me, he happens to be around when I need happiness. It's like he stalks me and knows when exactly I need to smile.

Honk! Honk!

"Ellie? Ellie! The light is green!" Max started yelling.

I shook my head and stepped on the petal.

"Sorry."

"You okay?"

I nodded. "I guess I just have a lot on my mind."

And he knew exactly what that meant. "Stop thinking and drive."

I laughed. "Don't I have to think to drive? If I didn't then we'd most likely be in a tree or something."

"True."