HER

HER - part 1.

Hollys POV
Scorned faces. The sound of laughter echoeing off the walls. The humility sinking into me. The whispers as I shamefully walk past.
Disgrace. Disgusting. Thats what they call me. But I keep walking. Class is only a few steps away. At least in class, the teacher forces everyone to keep quiet.
Although thats not always the case. Some of them taunt me anyway. Most of them. I keep my eyes glued to the lines on the pages of my book. They become the most interesting thing to me. It helps me to block out the noise at least.
Sometimes i pick up my blunt pencil and trace over the lines. Over and over and over again. The angrier i feel, the harder il press on the pencil. Somedays, Il press so hard the nib of the pencil falls off. Haha, not even my pencil likes me.
Whats my name?
Holly Elanor Rose.
Its not much - like myself.
Its a name thats shunned. A name that most people dont even know. A name thats thrown from person to person, as they gossip about everything about me. You'd absolutely hate being me for a day.

June, 14
Every day after school, I go to the same spot. Back of the school, the bunch of trees. No one ever goes there. Which is why its my spot. I sit there with my earphones in my ears, a soft song playing and my eyes closed. I do this to caln down. To take a breather after a day of torture and humiliation.
On this day, I wasnt alone. A boy about my age(17) came running out of the school building in my direction. I sighed, preparing myself for more embarrasment. But instead of saying something rude or smart, he just sat down opposite me. He sat down on the soft soil, not worrying about dirtying his pefect chino pants, or his white sneakers. He just sat there, out of breathe. I stared at him, confused yet pleased. But I didnt say anything yet. I hardly spoke to people. The boy had brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Hey," he suddenly said, as if finally noticing I was there. I still didnt say anything. I was shocked that he wasnt insulting me on my thin legs or my light freckles or my blonde fringe.
He had just said- hey. Like I was a normal person. He smiled, a dimple forming on his left cheek. He was probably confused as to why I wasnt talking.
"A rough day huh?" He asked, pulling his hand through his dark hair. He had no idea. I nodded, avoiding eye contact. Why was he here anyway? This was my spot.
"Its Holly right?" he asked again, holding out his hand for me to shake. Suprised and delighted at the same time, I shook his hand. It was warm, but not sweaty. He let go, a smile still on his face.
"Im Ezra. You dont talk much, do you?" he asked again, but it was more of a statement than a question.
"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice soft and shaky. "Uh...I just needed to get away," was all he said. I wondered what on earth that meant. From what I could tell, he seemed to have his life together.
"Why are you here?" he asked. I almost laughed, except I didnt. I forgot how to laugh ages ago. Couldnt he see that I sat here everyday?
"Uh...same as you. To get away," I said, realusing that maybe i had something in common with this Ezra boy. "Oh," was his reply. We sat in silence from that moment. I closed my eyes, trying to forget that he was there. Trying to focus on the music that was playing through my earphones. I had no idea what he was doing. Probably staring at me. Wondering what terrible event made me into such a weird person. When i opened my eyes again, he wad gone.
Ezra. The boy who said hey to me.

June, 15
I opened my eyes, the white ceiling spinning into existance.
Another day. Why.
I sat up, considering burning my room down. Its crazy what kinds of things go through your head when you've been bullied for basically your whole life. I could just grab my fathers lighter and accidently light my curtains on fire.
Then again, there was no way I could do that. Firstly, my mom would probably ramble on about how expensive the curtains were. And my brother Keith. He'd be upset that I died before I could see his chess tournament. My dad would complain about how his dead daughter had wasted his best lighter. I couldnt let that happen now could I?
So Igot up, did the boring painful morning routine. Ate the burned bacon on the crusty seeded bread. Kissed my broke parents goodbye, pretending as if all was right with the world. Giving Keith a hug, hoping that he will never have to go through what I do, ever. And I walked out of our cramped apartment that we couldnt afford. To school. But something in the back of my head made all those negative thoughts disappear.
That Ezra boy. I remembered how he had treated me like I was human. It felt good. That gave me the tiniest hope that maybe things could be different for me. Maybe I deserved a "hey" now and then. Maybe, just maybe, I was good enough.
So afterschool, to my suprise, Ezra was already sitting on the ground, on my spot. Doing homework of some sort. I didnt even know boys did homework. I sat down, trying my best to ignore him. But really, I just wanted him to say hey again. He looked up at me as I sat down. "Holly, hi," he said. "I hope you dont mind, but I wanted to finish some stuff here," he continued. I nodded, looking down quickly. I began untagling my earphones furiously, suddenly extremely nervous. Im not a people person. Never have been. Especially not when people have treated you like crap your whole life. I stuck my earphones in, but didnt put any music on. I wanted to hear what he had to say. At first, he kept his attention on his work, but now and then he'd look up at me.
"So Holly," he finally said, closing his book. I raised my eyebrow, not sure what to expect.
"Whats your favourite color?" he asked. I looked at him, slightly disappointed at his choice of words. I shrugged.
"What does that mean?" he asked. "It means I dont know," I said softly.
He laughed. "Dont you have a favourite color?" he asked. "I do have one," I said, fiddling with my fingers nervously.
"I just dont want to tell you."
He nodded, accepting his defeat. "Okay, Holly," he said.
"Whats yours?" I asked, curious. He smiled, suprised.
"What if I dont want to tell you?"
"Is it blue?"
He hesitated, suprised. "Uh, yeah," he said, laughing. "How did you know?"
I shrugged. "A guess."
"Well that is a very good guess Holly."
I looked down, satisfied with the conversation. Untill of course he said,"I promise Holly, Im gonna figure out what your favourite color is."
I was confused as to why he cared so much. I wasnt sure what he mesant. And why did he say "I promise Holly."
Gees, I cant remember the last time someone said that to me. I guess we'd have to see if this guy kept his promises.