Finding Me

Chapter 3

"You're just like your parents. You'll never be one of us, so why are you still here? Go to where you belong. You'll never belong here," she taunts.

I fight the urge to slap her and just listen to the horrible giggles of each and every one of the girls in her clique. They enjoy making people's lives miserable, but I've had to realize that I have to act like I don't care because I can't let them be satisfied with making me feel horrible.

"Let's see what is in that notebook of yours," Cassandra says mischievously.

Before I can stop her, she grabs my backpack and yanks my notebook out of my backpack, making all of my things in my backpack fly everywhere. She starts flipping through the notebook while laughing the whole time. I rise from my spot on the ground and give her one of my death glares,  while I try to take my notebook out of her hands.

"Stop," a soft voice commands from behind me.

I don't look behind me to see who it is, but they immediately stop. Cassandra's mouth goes wide as she drops the notebook and slowly backs away. Her group of girls follow her back inside the school.

I scowl and bend down to pick up my things. Someone comes and squats next to me and helps me pick my books up. I look at who it is. It's a strawberry blonde haired girl with brown eyes and "nerd" glasses. Her lips have a small frown on them, and she seems irritated.

"Those jerks," she mutters.

I ignore her words and finish picking my things up. She doesn't speak to me again until we finished and I was about to leave.

"I'm Allison, but you can call me Alli," she says with a smile.

I look at her suspiciously before waking away. I ignore her as she calls after me. No girl my age has ever been this nice to me, so why would she be any different?

I continue to wonder at the kindness of the girl all throughout the day and why Cassandra hurried off when she saw the girl. I go through the rest of my classes before hurrying out of the school and down to the beach. Most people, on Friday, would be going with friends, but I don't have any friends.

I walk to a far side of the small beach and sit down on a large, smooth rock. I listen to the soothing sound of the waves softly coming to the shore. This is probably the only thing I like about Clearwater Bay.

I get my notebook out and look over what I have written before coming up with an idea. I quickly write it down so I won't forget. The waves continue to softly come back to shore and back out as I write. Time flies, and before I realize it, it's already past five o'clock. I put my notebook back inside my backpack and hesitate to leave. I shouldn't have hesitated.

"The loser's here," a familiar voice mocks.

I turn to face Cassandra and see her wearing an insanely skimpy hot pink bikini. She's wearing expensive sunglasses and has her hands on her slim hips. Her lips are slightly upturned into a sarcastic smile.

"Where's your nerdy friend? She already abandoned you, huh?" Cassandra taunts.

I bite my lip and get up. Cassandra forcefully pushes me back down on the rock, causing me to feel pain in my rear end.

"Not so fast. You don't leave until I say so," she says with a smirk. "I don't think it should be legal to have a criminal like you walking around in Clearwater Bay. You don't belong here. You belong in a jail cell. Actually, an even better thing would be if you were never born. You're so ugly. Nobody likes you and nobody will."

I can't take any more, so I stand up and manage to knock her down. She scowls. I just give her one of my dark glares before pulling my hood up and walking away. I ignore her useless threats and begin to jog toward my uncle's house.