Insincere Veneer

|Chapter 6|

Up there is the gorgeous Bianca Santos as Eleanor Edwards!

Dedicated to Warwer ! Thanks for all the votes and comments. =)

A massive thank you to everyone who reads, comments, and votes on my chapters! I love all of you to bits and pieces. xx

Happy Reading! ;)

~HG xx

                        |Chapter~ 6|

It is only the second day of school and I am already bored out of my mind. Nothing exciting has been happening so far, and honestly, I do not expect anything to. I mean, what possible hectic thing could happen while I am acting this way? I am now known as the rude, scary girl that hates the human kind. Nobody has tried to talk to me, especially after I have pushed almost everyone away.

At least anyone who has approached me, so far.

I entered Mrs. Woods' Biology class with a blank, emotionless face.

"Good morning, Miss Ryder," she greeted me with a very enthusiastic smile and I gave her a very small, unnoticeable one in return.

Or so, I hoped.

The next thing I heard was the gasps and whispers of people all around me. Everyone was astonished, their eyes widened, and jaws dropped.

"Did you see that? She smiled!"

"Oh my God, she's capable of showing emotions other than anger and irritation?"

I rolled my eyes and glared at everyone in my sight. They all whipped their heads the other way in fear of being dissed by evil me. Well, everyone except one person.

I sat down on the seat I claimed mine yesterday and glanced at the person sitting right next to me, Eleanor Edwards. She looked at me and gave me a wide smile before saying, "hi!" I glared at her and turned my face towards Mrs. Woods to listen to her teaching.

"You don't do greetings, now, do you?" Eleanor smirked at me. I rolled my eyes at her statement and with gritted teeth replied, "No. Now, turn that pretty little head of yours around and don't talk to me, got it?"

"I'm sorry, but unlike most of the school's population, your hard, icy act doesn't scare me," she said back before giving me a sickly sweet smile.

"Well, guess what? I don't freaking care." I rolled my eyes and ignored her for the rest of the class.

∞

"So, how was school?" Dad asked me, looking up from the newspaper he's reading.

"School's good." I shrugged before picking up my bag from the kitchen's counter and preparing to go up the stairs and into my room to do today's homework.

"Made any friends?" Mom asked me, turning around and facing me instead of the stove. I stopped on my tracks and stuttered nervously, "S-sure!" I gave her a small smile before running up the stairs. I shut my bedroom door and fell on my bed, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

I felt bad lying to Mom, but I just couldn't tell her I made no friends. She will suspect that something is wrong and that is the last thing I want to happen. I successfully hid the fact that I was bullied for the past few years, and I can definitely do the same now. I can hide my true self from everyone and avoid being hurt all over again.

Tears.

Betrayal.

Grief.

Tears brimmed at the corner of my eyes at the thought of everything that happened four months ago. It was so strange that you could have someone make you feel like you could go through everything and that you are never alone, and then have them take that feeling away by just saying a few hurtful words.

When am I going to move on from what happened last year?

I got up and wiped the tears off my face before I taking in a long, deep breath and starting the homework I was assigned. An hour later, I decided that I needed a breather. So, I got up and went into Sophia's room, smiling at the sight of her playing with all her barbies.

"Hey, kiddo." I stepped into the room, went up to her, and ruffled her hair playfully. I smiled at her as she giggled.

"Hello!" she said as she played with the curls in my hair.

"So, I was thinking," I said slowly in a suggestive tone, "maybe we could go to that park again and play?"

"Now?" Her eyes widened and so did her smile. I nodded.

"Now."

"Yes!" she squealed in excitement.

"Okay, well, let's go!"

I was already wearing the outfit I did when I went to school today, which was a long sleeved black dress that touched my knee and my black leather boots that went up all the way just below knee. Sophia was wearing cute, little, pink shorts with a black glittery shirt that said 'Too Cute For You'.

We both headed out the door after saying a quick goodbye to Mom and Dad. A few minutes later, we arrived at the park where many screams, squeals, and cheers were heard.

"Race you to the swings!" Sophia challenged before running to the swings. I pretended to run slow so that she would win and when she did, she stuck out her tongue teasingly at me.

"Why, aren't you fast," I said, pinching her cheeks. She giggled before starting to swing. I watched her for a few seconds before doing the same.

A few minutes later, a familiar girl approached us, and it is when she was just a few feet away from us that I realized it was Eleanor Edwards from Biology class.

"Look who it is! It's Miss 'I think I'm intimidating'!" She scrunched her nose as she attempted to imitate me.

"Go away," I glared at her.

I have to admit, something about Eleanor intrigued me. I do not know what it is, but I have a feeling it is the fact that no matter how hard I tried to scare her or push her away, she was not a tad bit afraid of me.

That cannot be good.

"I'm afraid your attempts in rudely pushing me away, honey, won't work," she told me. "Now, who's this cutie?"

"My name is Sophia and Liz is my big sister!" She held my hand as she proudly spoke to Eleanor. I stared at Sophia in awe and tried my best not to cry at her cuteness.

"It's nice to meet you, Sophia!" Eleanor bent down to Sophia's height and shook her hand. "My name is Eleanor and I'm Elizabeth's friend."

Eleanor glanced up at me and smirked evilly.

That witch!

"No, you're no-" Sophia snapped her head at me, her face expression confused. I cleared my throat and changed the structure of my sentence. "Yes, she is." Sophia smiled widely at me and then faced Eleanor, so I took the chance to glare at Eleanor and moved my index finger across my throat, silently acting out a 'You're dead'. Eleanor gave me a sickly sweet smile in reply, which I rolled my eyes at.

"Let's all play hide and seek!" Sophia chirped happily.

"Sure!" Eleanor agreed.

"Great," I groaned.

What have I gotten myself into?