US

Chapter 2

I started to run down the stairs. I decided to go to a study room and do my work there. When I walked in no one was there, so I put my bag down on the seat next to me and sat at a computer.

I continued my essay while listening to music. Now I know a lot of adults would say that listening to music while doing work is the worst thing to do as you can make mistake but if it wasn’t for music I wouldn’t be able to do work as it helps me to concentrate.

Soon hours passed by and I had written almost seven page which was accomplished due to my big hand writing and determination. I had become so interested in this essay that I hadn’t noticed that Lily was behind me. I didn’t know how long she had been there for but one thing I was certain of was the lost look on her face.

I had never seen her look that way before. I just stared at her while she looked at my computer. “Hey how comes your not in class?” I asked. Lily just continued to stare at my desk with no emotion. I briefly turned around to finish up the last parts of my essay in hope that she says something, but she continued to stare and stood there very still.

I saved my work and turned around to give her my full attention. “What is wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” She responded and then she walked away slowly with her bag hanging low. I looked at the time and realised that it was lunch time, but our class has the option of either staying in to finish course work or going home early to finish our work. I decided to go home as I didn't really want to be here anymore.

I left school and texted Emily that I was leaving ahead and would see her next week as today is the last day of the week. The minute I got home I went to my room and got my book and decided to finish of what I have written:

“I don’t know why but today has been strange. Lily was acting strange today, Emily seemed alright and class…it was the same as usual. But I don’t know…”

I couldn’t write anything else as it was pointless. I didn’t know how to word my thoughts and felt like I couldn’t write a lot.  I decided to end it for today. I left my book in my room and got my phone to call my mum and find out if she would be coming home any time soon when I saw I had a message from Lily.

It was a video, so I decided that I will watch it later and started to get dinner ready. My mum works as a lawyer which means she spends majority of her time organising herself and her client for court. This makes her extremely occupied and tired which is why I make dinner even though it can be awful.

I would rather have my mother buy food and save herself the trauma, but she prefers having my terrible meals. I decide to attempt to boil rice as my mum had stew made from yesterday. I rinsed the rice and left it to boil and went back to my room.

I lay on my bed starring at the ceiling and thinking about Lily and what the video could be. Why would she act unusual and then send me a video? Maybe she wants to explain her behaviour and the reason to it but then we have text message for a reason.

Why couldn’t she have texted me?
I clicked the play button on the video and watched it. The video was blank, but I could hear noises in the background it sounded like a classroom then the video appeared, and I could see the class. It wasn't my class. It was a sociology class. I knew some of the people in the class because they would occasionally picked on me when I would walk by in the corridor.

Some of the people in the class were from my class but majority of them are sociology students.

In the video they were laughing and talking about someone.

“I tried talking to her and trust me she isn’t coming back to class. No more fun”
“Well she deserves it cause……she just does!”
“It’s just banters it shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

At this point you can tell Lily balanced her phone on the table due to the angle being lopsided. Then the footage ended there. I stared at my phone confused and slightly hurt. I guess I am used to people being horrible to me, but I don’t understand why Lily would show me a footage of the class talking about me. This didn’t make any sense.

I didn’t have the appetite to eat but I didn't want to starve so I went to the kitchen and placed a frozen pizza in the oven with some chips. I checked on the rice while making a mental note to check again in 18 minutes.

I went to the living room and switched the TV on.  I don’t really watch shows that other people in my school would watch. I know that makes me sound boring and that is probably why people couldn’t stand me because I didn’t share the same likes or interest as them and I never worshiped those who everyone adored.

They didn't like me because I never conformed. But being different isn’t boring. Well in my case it is very boring. I put on the news and a picture of a brown-haired boy flashes on the screen. He looks around my age or maybe a year younger.

The news reporter starts speaking in a sympathetic tone while the boy’s pictures flashes at the side:
“17-year-old man named Luke Williams was stabbed to death in Nottingham after having an argument with a class mate in school and online. His parents have described him as a hardworking and loving boy who they would greatly miss…”
I turned of the TV suddenly feeling sad. I started to wonder how he was like in school.

Was he the guy that everyone liked and made a fuss of? Or was he the type of person everyone made fun of? Was he being constantly bullied and decided to stand up for himself and got stabbed when he did.

I lay on the couch facing my blank TV while asking myself more questions which I couldn’t answer. I eventually fell asleep.