Neon Socks, Suspenders, and Jeans

Chapter Two: Love and Hate

I discovered, while sitting in history class at Montgomery High School today that mostly everything I do is simply awkward.
I sleep awkwardly, Monique tells me at sleepovers. I dress awkwardly, always insisting wearing clothing inside out or things the are out of fashion or never in fashion. I eat with spoons weird, I hold it backward (not that bad of a grip). And I drive weirdly. Monique was telling me all of my flaws on our way to school today. "Is this a new game?" I ask sarcastically. She just winks at me. Monique works in mysterious ways. Sometimes I actually understand her. Now is not one of these moments. "So..." She started as I pulled into the Montgomery High student parking lot. "Yes...." I prompted, wanting her to get to the point so I could get to class (mom said that I could get a new bow tie if I got a A on the next test). "Did you ask anyone to Prom?" She questioned. I glared daggers at her. "No. But-" "No buts." She spoke and then grew sullen. "I know a guy who can hook you up with his brother." I did a fake cower. "You. Want. Me. To. Hook. Up?" I asked confused. "That is not a term my vocabulary. And if I don't get to class..." I said, hopping out of the car and slamming it, Monique following. "....then Mr. Sanchez is going to have my head on a plate." Monique laughed. "What?" I wasn't angry, just annoyed. "No one says that anymore." I looked at her, a smile blooming on my face. "Well, maybe I'm not no one."

Montgomery High School was the stupidest thing invented. It was literary a jail. No joke. It didn't even look like the teachers were enjoying it with expressions that spoke 'kill me now'. I strode down the hallways with overwhelming confidence I always got around my classmates. "You're better than them." I said over and over again in my head. "They're just normal." I said in my mind. They were all a big fusion of brown and gray. I was wearing a pink tutu and a shirt that read 'stupid is as stupid does'. Man, I love Forest Gump. I cradled my book in my hand and started back down the hallway. Out of nowhere, the ground slipped from underneath me and I fell straight on my face. Onto something yellow. Ew. My zebra spandex were showing and my face felt like it went through a blender. Not to mention that my suspenders getting undone. But that wasn't the worst part. The laughing. The ridicule. I looked at myself covered in the strange yellow liquid, I really hope it wasn't what I was thinking, and a total wreck. I knew this wasn't an accident. I lifted my gaze to see a impenetrable wall of students surround me but the closet were Zane Della and Margaret Peters: official King and Queen populars of Montgomery. Every school has a Zane and Margaret. I just got lucky with the original. "Well, well." Spoke Zane, surrounded by his lackeys behind him. "If it isn't little Miss. Nobody." Margaret said, daring me to rise to the bait. I spat yellow liquid from my mouth and stood up. Everyone dared me to move. I stepped forward and tried to push through the crowd of people but they wouldn't let me go. "Hey, nobody." A boy shouted, grabbing a water ballon from another boy and pelting it at me. I didn't flinch. Everyone pointed. Everyone starred. At me, Stella Parker. The girl with yellow gunk in her hair. The girl being sprayed by water balloons. The girl that never wanted to be more invisible. That girls melted away into the shadows. I was scared. Defeated, I scooted back to the ground and sat in the middle of the hallway, being soaked by high schoolers acting like babies. "You're better than them." I told myself again in my head. The words became and chant and before long I had the courage to raise my head. I then saw the shuffling and running of students from the hallway and then I was all alone. With a teacher. "Stella?" Miss. Crow asked sheepishly, stepping towards me. I looked up, too busy from blocking out their banter still to reply. "Are you okay?" She knelt down beside me and I tugged back. "They made me slip in pee." I whispered, shaking my head in delirium. Those water balloons were cold."hmm?" Miss. Crow questioned. "They made me slip in pee." I said a little louder. "Excuse me?" I stood up and she stood with me. "They made me slip in pee and then through water balloons at me." I shouted and shook. "I need to go home." I lurched forward, feeling sick. "How 'bout I get ya to the bathroom and then we can go to the principle's office." She put a comforting arm around me and lead me to the nearest bathroom so that I could throw up.

Miss. Crow and I we basically related. My mom is her best friend and she comes over to our house sometimes to eat dinner or hang out with my mom. She's always like a aunt to me. At home, I called her Karen. At school, I still call her Karen so it gets me into trouble.

I breath in her familiar scent of peppermints as she dragged me to the principles office. I was going to miss the test I needed to past to get my bow tie. She sat me down in a spinning chair and left the principle's office, leaving me alone.

I could hear my mother and Mr. Garcia, the principle, discussing the situation outside the door an hour later but I couldn't exactly hear what they were talking about. Finally, the door clicked open and my mother's excited face shone and my dirty one. "Pack your bags. We're moving, baby!" I fell off the chair.