The Day She Let Go | ✔️

• to stand up •

Alyssa pushed open the door of her Maths classroom. Maths was probably the only subject that she'd managed to get into top set for. Her eyes fell upon Brianna sitting in the seconds row. She noticed a group of boys sitting behind her, stick a post-it note on her back reading 'Kick me.' Alyssa could very well picture what was going to happen and quickly rushed towards her peeling the note of her back and glaring at the boys behind her, telling them to grow up.

Brianna had failed to notice what they were planning on doing and shot her a curious look. Alyssa smiled before holding up the note, noticing how her mouth forming into an 'o' shape.

"Thanks, but I'm pretty used to it," Brianna said to her as Alyssa sat down beside her. She rolled her eyes, "Perks of being the school nerd."
Alyssa looked down feeling bad for her. She would have very well flipped out at someone if they did that to her and it hurt to see somebody just accept it. And there she was complaining about her life when somebody went through this on a daily basis.

Brianna winced forward when something hit her back. Alyssa turned around to see the same boys laughing their heads off and followed their gaze at an orange that was lying on the floor. "Are you alright?" She asked Brianna who was rubbing her back.
"Yeah, I think so. They're idiots."

Alyssa was angry. How could somebody her age be so immature as to throw things at somebody just because they were smarter than them. She was going to stand up for her. Scowling, she picked up the orange before lobbing it back at them, guessing that it would hit one of the 5 boys.

It hit the one in the centre's shoulder hard and she imaged the impacts, "Ouch, what the fuck?"
She turned back around, flipping her hair through the air. Serves them right.

Brianna looked at her startled before breaking out into a pearly smile that Alyssa hadn't seen before. Now she thought about it, she'd never seen her smile. "Thank you," she said sincerely before laughing a little, making Alyssa join her.

-xXx-

Alyssa walked down the corridor laughing with Brianna beside her. "And then what happened?" She asked, happily.

Brianna snorted before gesturing wildly with her hands, "Instead of emailing it to me, he emailed it to the whole school and got suspended." Alyssa cracked up, giggling before shaking her head.
"And that's why you don't use your school email for anything!"

Alyssa swung her Aztec rucksack onto her shoulder again, deliriously. She had warmed up to her a lot in the past few days and it turned out that once you got to know Brianna, she was the most bubbly person you could know. She nodded to herself. They were right, the quietest people had the most to say.

Curiously, she asked Brianna how she got home for she lived in a similar area to her. She'd never seen her go to the school car park so she doubted she had a car.
"Oh, I get the bus down to Herversham."

Alyssa smiled to herself, "If you want, you could come with us? Will, drops me and Jacob and since you live near me, I'm sure he wouldn't mind dropping you off too?"

She waited for her reaction in anticipation and Brianna's smile grew at the corners a little. "Uh, are you sure? I mean, you'd have to ask him, right? I'm- actually don't worry, I'm al-"

"No no, it's fine. I'll ask him," Alyssa quickly said before Brianna changed her mind. Just at that moment, she saw William in the bustle.
"Hey Will!" She shouted and watched as he turned around and raised his eyebrows. "Would you mind dropping Brianna home after school? She lives like round the corner from me," Alyssa asked him, watching the confusion in his eyes before he nodded.
"Yeah sure, we'll meet you at the gates."

-xXx-

The journey home was much better than Alyssa had expected with Will and Jace singing awfully and Brianna screaming for them to stop. It was working. Will had offered to pick up Brianna whenever he picked up Alyssa which is what Alyssa had planned to happen.

And that was precisely why Alyssa lied a week later. She told her mum she felt too ill to go to school that day when in reality, she was as fit as a fiddle. She smiled to herself. Today, Jacob had to go to school early with his sister because she'd been selected for some award.

That left Will and Brianna.

Alyssa was slightly disappointed for not being able to see what happened between the two but she knew there was no other way. Slowly, the image of Will and herself that had been etched in my mind a while ago began to disappear, with a blonde haired girl replacing her.

But this time it didn't sting, for she was the one painting it.