Soul Breaker

Chapter 1

The morning air was crisp and clear. School was always a drag but it never ceased to be interesting. I walked through the halls cheerily, but stopped short as a girl ran out of the bathroom crying with mascara running down her cheeks. That was the fifth one this month. I looked over to my friend, Rae, and she shook her head slowly.

“That is so messed up,” she said and walked to her locker.

My name is Kandy Hart. (Ha, ha. I know. My parents thought it was hilarious too.) And I’m currently a junior in high school. Sadly, I’ve never had a boyfriend for all of my adolescent sixteen years, but I didn’t let that put me down. I’m five foot four and am very shy. Although Rae tells me that I’m very good at everything I do, I don’t believe her. I mean, I’ve never felt that way.

Because of my parents’ background, I am half Cambodian and half European. It’s a wide variety of mixes so let’s just say I have a lot of foreign blood in me. My eyes always reflect the colors I’m wearing, right now I’m wearing a green tank, and my medium length, dark brown hair falls in wavy layers down my back.

I’ve always been a bit on the heavy side and people love to make fun of me for it, but I never mind it because Rae always stuck up for me, even after I told her not to. My skin is evenly tanned, although I’ve never stepped into the sun for long, and it’s as smooth as a baby’s bottom. (Rae’s words, not mine.) I guess that’s the only feature I’m proud of. Everything else is just average. Average build, average face, average height, average everything. Although Rae does say I have a killer smile. She also says that I haven’t hit the butterfly stage yet, whatever that means, and that I’ll become stunning in no time. I’d like to believe her, but let’s face it, I’m a realist.

“Why does he do that?” I asked, and by the HE, I mean, the man-whore of the year (Again, Rae’s words, not mine), Michael Solomon.

“I dunno. Ask him yourself,” Rae said. My eyes grew wide.

“M-me? B-but Rae I-” I began to stutter, which usually happens when I get nervous, shocked, traumatized, etc.

“Kandy, calm down. It was rhetorical. You take things way too seriously,” she laughed. She grabbed her books and shut her locker. We walked to our Psychology class and sat way in the back.

“So, he said he’d ‘think about it’. Can you believe that?” Two girls were sitting in front of me and Rae’s seat. They giggled hysterically, and then looked at us. “What?” One of the girls scowled. I jumped a little and began babbling.

“I jus-um, we were just, uh, th-that…” I trailed off and the two girls laughed.

“Oh my God! You are such a freak!” they chortled. Rae looked like she was about to say something, but the teacher came in, shushing us.

It was close to the end of the year, so Ms. Baum said that we’d be watching psychological movies for the rest of the month. She popped in Anger Management and turned off the lights.

The two girls, Alex and Hailey, began chattering incoherently. I tried to pay attention to the movie, but I heard Michael’s name come up. Why I care so much about it? Because I’ve always secretly had a crush on Michael since the third grade. Although he’s always been indifferent towards me, he’s never been mean. He just pretends I don’t exist and brushes by me, is all.

I know, I’m pathetic. I tuned back into their conversation.

“So, Michael was all ‘the girl was too clingy’ and I was like ‘no shit, didn’t I tell you that?’ and he was like ‘whatever’ and I was like ‘whatever’ and then I was like ‘so, are you free now?’ and he was like ‘yeah’ and then he smiled and put his arm around me,” Hailey sighed, “It was like we were made for each other.” Alex sighed with her.