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Mara was sitting in her carwaiting for Eli to come out of the school building. She watched as other students came out and either got on one of the busses or entered cars. She still remembered when she used to take the bus. Her hand unconsciously went up to touch her hair. Bobs were not her thing and she wore her fair share of them during her first years of high school due to annoying kids who enjoyed sticking their bubblegum in her hair.
She still remembered the kid who sat behind her on the bus. Max Lopez. The kid was a menace. It was like he enjoyed seeing her cut her hair every month. Luckily she wouldn't be seeing him anymore since he transferred to a private school for junior year.
A loud knock made Mara jump and she looked to the side to see Eli impatiently waiting for her to open the door. Mara immediately knew something was wrong by the look on his face. There were dry tear tracks on his cheeks and his eyes were red and puffy.
She quickly unlocked the door and Eli slipped into the passenger seat not even looking in her direction.
"Eli? What happened?" He shook his head and Mara took that as a sign he didn't want to talk about it at that moment. She nodded at him and turned on the ignition before pulling out of the West Valley parking lot.
The ride to his house was silent. Sometime along the drive, Mara's hand ended up in Eli's lap while said boy clutched onto it strongly. She wanted to know what had happened before they met up. She knew it probably had something to do with Kyler or Brucks since she knew they were his main tormentors. She just didn't want to push the boy. Eli would tell her on his own time. He always did.
They got to his house and Mara parked her car in his driveway. Eli reluctantly let go of Mara's hand so she could get out of the car but as soon as they started walking to his front door he grabbed it again.
The two entered his house, kicking off their shoes and heading into the kitchen where Mrs. Moskowitz was baking cookies. "Oh, Mara! It's good to see you dear. How have you been?"
"I've been good thank you."
"I made you kids some cookies so you can take some whenever you like."
Mara nodded and told the two she had to use the bathroom. She already knew her way around their house so she quickly found the bathroom. She closed the door quietly and leaned on the sink. Staring in the mirror, Mara didn't like the girl who looked back at her. Just because she wore different clothes didn't mean the girl underneath had changed. And she hated that.
She couldn't help that she wanted to look like other girls. Everyone had always told her she had to change to look like them. Even Demetri proved her point when he told her she got "hot" over the summer. Did that mean she was ugly before? Was he just confirming her suspicions that everyone was right and she was just an ugly freak?
