I walked into my math class and the teacher was sitting at her desk. She looked really tired or hungover. She didn't say anything to me or even notice I was there as I put my pass on her desk and I walked to the empty desk next to Emily.

Emily was a cheerleader for our school. She wasn't really popular or an outcast. Everyone liked her. It didn't matter who it was. She talked to everyone. Even an outcast like me. She's always talked to me even through middle school when she moved here. She was really pretty.

She never covered her face in a makeup filled mask. She liked her natural look. She didn't see a reason to cover her face up like the other girls. She doesn't believe in hiding how she was born to look. She once told me in middle school, "Why cover your face up with toxic chemicals when true beauty lies behind those chemicals?" I love how she thinks of things. She doesn't trust social media's ideas of beauty. She doesn't like how this worlds ideas of beauty is throwing up and starving yourself to fit the beauty standards, or how guys take pills and workout so much to gain muscle. She doesn't let the falseness of social media control how she sees herself like other girls and guys do. I admire that of her.

I didn't really cover my face up either but she looked a lot better with out make up than I did. She rarely ever had a zit or spot. Her hair was long and a really pretty blonde color. Her eyes were green and she had freckles. I had freckles also, we always used to say we were twins in middle school because of them.

Emily looked over to me and smiled. She finally got those braces she wanted. She looked really happy. I smiled back and she started to write on a paper then she lifted it up so I could read it.

"I FINALLY GOT BRACES. SO SO HAPPY!"

I smiled and wrote my own little note.

"It looks really good. Braces suit you so well." I showed her and she smiled again.

Starting last year when she and I talked we would pass notes or text each other. It didn't really bother me too much as long as I didn't have to talk. She decided to get back to her reading and I decided that I would draw some new characters. After I drew about three new characters I looked around the room and I noticed all of the people. There were a few goths, some geeks and most of the rest were preppy people. I looked down at my drawings and decided to try thinking of names for them. I couldn't. The class seemed to take forever to end but then it did.

Everyone in the class got up and started walking out of the room. Emily was walking next to me and she told me that she wasn't looking forward to eating lunch because of her braces.

-

Lunch. Great.

I'll probably end up eating lunch alone.

We made our way down the hall ways to the lunch room then Emily said her goodbyes and met up with her friends and I was left alone to find a spot for myself. I was dreading this.

I was scanning though the tables and found a empty table then I made my way to it and put my satchel down where I wanted to sit. I was afraid to leave it but I did anyway. I waited in the food line then after a while I was paying for my food. Salad for me. I wasn't a fan of today's lunch. I always eat a salad when there's something I don't like at the school. After I got a fork and water I started walking to where I decided to sit and of course people crowded the table, someone even took my spot. They pushed my satchel under the table like it was nothing.

The person that took my stop stopped talking to her friends and looked up at me confused, "uh, may I help you?" She demanded.

"I-uh- I was-" I started to say and she interrupted me.

"Uh-uh-uh. Learn to speak loser." She said and rolled her eyes at me.

"I was s-sitting there." I insisted and looked around.

"Well you weren't here when we got here so, no, you were not." She said in a snobby tone and glared at me.

"Someone pushed my satchel under the table. Can I at least get it back and I'll leave?" I asked and put my tray on the table.

"No, you cannot." She said and pushed my tray off of the table, my salad went everywhere on the floor. "Get away from me loser, before you infect me with it." The group at the table started to laugh at me and I froze. Anxiety took over. Surrounding me like a dark fog.

"Leave her the hell alone." I heard someone behind me say. "Get up now and give her bag back." I looked behind me and it was him. The football loving mutant.

"I was only having some fun with the loser. Chill Jared." She said and got up then got my bag from under the table and rudely pushed it into me.

"Starting now idiot Erica, you will leave HER alone and you WILL NOT call her that." The guy named Jared said and he looked at me. The look in his eyes was sad. Possibly sorry.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get the words "thank you" out of my mouth so I did what I always do, I ran. I didn't look back. I ran till I got into the bathroom. I was out of breath. I was angry. I held my satchel close to me and went into the stall. I covered my mouth to stay quiet as I cried.