Another Broken Smile

1- When I see you again

I stand on the pavement staring at the buildings around me. The city lights brighter than the stars in the night sky. The skyscrapers stand tall with pride. The joy and excitement of city life buzzing around me. The cold air hits my face and I hug my jacket tighter around my body trying to preserve some body heat. I gaze admiringly at all the beauty that lay before my eyes. People with bright smiles on their face , all with a different story to tell.

New York stands tall in all its sky scraping glory as the city of dreams. I silently pray that my dreams also do come true in this magical place. That true happiness is somewhere around the corner. That maybe even I can have a second chance in life to start over, no mistakes, no regrets. The chance to become everything I've always wanted to be. Nothing to hold me back. Except.......

"ANNELLIE WILLIAMS!" a stern voice brought me back to the harsh reality. Rubbing my eyes lightly I realized that I had dozed off in class dreaming about New York. That's gotten me in trouble before, but never with a teacher.Oh crap! I'm doomed! If I end up with a detention slip by the end of this period then forget about going to New York, I will probably end up staying in this lovely piece of hell, also known as high school, forever.

I stood up in my place and smiled sheepishly at the teacher, hoping that she'll let me off of detention just because she's the sweetest teacher ever. After all it wasn't often that I ended up in situations like this and even if I did, I could somehow slip out of detention, but that doesn't mean I take it for granted.

I wasn't the rebel or the geek of the school. But just like every other high school student, I too had a label. Mine was the 'sunshine' of the school. The girl who gets everything served on a silver platter just because no one can say no to her, and not in a threatening way. People listened to her because no one wanted to intentionally hurt her. The girl who smiles all the time and has a perfect life. Hell, if that was true though.

"Go wash your face" Mrs. Smith ordered the ghost of a smile playing on her lips, and I already knew I didn't have a detention.

I immediately scurried out of the classroom, closing the door softly behind me as Mrs. Smith continued the class with her boring physics lecture in her sweet and honey like voice filled with enthusiasm to be sharing her oh so valuable knowledge on all things physics to a classroom filled with students eager to learn more about gravity. Note the sarcasm.

As I made my way to the washroom I saw the infamous Becca and her posse. It wasn't like they were actually infamous, they were pretty popular. The problem was ,they tried way too hard to fix a spot on the 'royal hierarchy' of high school. They were completely fake and at times hung out that is ran errands and followed the most popular girls around like servants. You know the typical group of mean girls with fake eyelashes and skirts way too short to cover themselves. Becca at times hung out with 'that' group or just roamed around with her posse pretending to like everyone in the school including( unfortunately) me too.

"Hey Annellie" she smiled waving at me.

"It's just Ellie" I replied.

"Oh yeah, I missed you so much. It's been so long" she said with her fake sugary smile and immediately embraced me in, what I think was supposed to be, a hug. You know, the one where the person is literally holding on to the air around you and kissing the air on both sides of your cheek. I returned the gesture almost suffocating to death in her overly spritzed perfume. Sorry for the exaggeration, but I despise fake people.

"Yeah, it's been so long" I agree with her putting on my best fake smile hiding all the memories and pain with ease. I've been practicing for a long time, it almost comes effortlessly.