Miss Quick

Chapter One

Chapter One

I slung my backpack over my shoulder angrily, and walked determinedly away from the school. Small tears clinging to my eyes were pulled free by the wind. I could still hear Maddie Sanders' voice echoing in my head. Putting me down, her voice nasal but cutting like knives. It wasn't my fault I had gone to the orthodontist yesterday and gotten my braces tightened and was in pain! It's not my fault the only things I could eat were yogurt and applesauce! Maddie would never understand how much pain I was in.

Luckily for me it was the last day of school, and no way was I staying for last period to deal with it more. I would go to a different school in high school, but I was only going into eighth grade. I hate middle school so much. Yes, I was skipping, which wasn't something I normally did but who the crap cares. If ANYONE had to deal with Maddie Sanders, they'd skip too.

I turned the corner into the neighborhood next to school. There were only a few houses and then a large patch of trees. Then more houses. I turned into the patch of trees, they weren't too thick but if someone walked past they surely wouldn't see me.

Suddenly my legs began to twitch. I felt a sudden urge to run. Away, or anywhere. I dumped my backpack on the ground and pulled off the hoodie I usually hid in. The cool wind brushed past my arms. It felt good, like freedom. As soon as all my stuff was on the ground in a heap, I launched forward. My legs moved at an amazing speed. I was sure I had never run this fast before. Wind pulled my hair back and the trees blurred past. I felt like I was in my own world. And the strange thing was, I wasn't even tired. I was breathing a little faster than normal, but other than that, I felt serene. At ease. Maddie's words vanished from my mind.

I was fast approaching the edge of the small forest. I quickly came to a stop, my feet skidded a little further than I intended but I was still in the forest. Wait, where was my stuff? Guess I'd have to walk all the way back to it.I began walking, and I hadn't even noticed the huge smile on my face. Running like that felt absolutely amazing! I didn't know how fast I'd gone, but surely faster than I'd ever gone before.

But only a few seconds later the smile crumbled. Now I felt trapped again, like I was under the heat of all the other students' gazes. Only now, no one was in sight. I felt like I was being smothered by the air. A crushing sadness took hold of my inside and a tear dripped down my face. I inhaled shakily.

Sadness squeezed at my heart, I gasped. Being bullied was nothing compared to this. I dropped to my knees in the middle of the forest and cried. Loud gasps sobs exited my mouth. I shook with it.

A sudden picture entered my mind. It was exactly as I might've looked now to an outsider. I was on my knees in the forest, my jeans an inch too short from my recent growth spurt. My shirt hung the wrong way at my sides, my shoulder length, wavy brown hair was tangled and ratty. A few hairs clung to my face from the wet tears. My eyes were red and gave the appearance of bags under my eyes, from the crying. It also highlighted their weird color, brown around the outside of my iris and a golden color around my pupil. They've been like that since I was born. My mom liked to lie and tell me they were unique, beautiful even. I hated them, they were another source of my bullying. I wished they were plain brown like everyone else's.

I silently wished for this picture to just get out of my mind, the good thing about being me was, I didn't have to look at my own face. Eventually the hysterical sobbing began to calm down, I sat against a tree as the last of the tears fell. Then I heard a soft voice from behind me.

"Are you okay?"

I froze and turned around. It was a girl. My age. She was pretty and had long, blond hair. Probably popular at her school, she wore the right kind of clothes. But I had never seen her before.