His Girl

Chapter 1

"What's his name?"

My head shot up from my notebook to meet the eyes of the person who was as close to a friend as I had. I snapped the journal shut, making sure to secure the elastic strap around the cover. "I'm not writing about a boy," I retorted.

Harper raised an eyebrow and shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. "Really? Cause you're scribbling so hard in that notebook," she gestured to the worn collection of papers, "that I'm scared you're either going to break the pencil or poke a hole through the paper. Or both. So I can only assume a boy would cause it."

I tapped the end of the mentioned utensil on my desk before shoving it in my bun, crossing the one already in there like chopsticks. "It not a boy. Trust me, it's nothing." She shot me a look, one that showed she knew otherwise. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "It's private." I really didn't have the heart to tell her what I had been writing.

She matched my eye roll. "Whatever. Come on, Emerson; I'm hungry." She started walking out of the chemistry lab.

Shoving my notebook back into my backpack, I leaped up and ran after Harper to the lunchroom. We kept quiet as we walked, weaving in and out of students making their way to the lunchroom. I shied away from each accidental bump or careless touch of another's arm. I felt a hand graze my hip. Just as quick as it was there, it was gone, but my body reacted all the same. My head started to spin, my breath catching in my throat. I'm fine, I'm ok, it was an accident, I'm fine, I chanted in my head, over and over until my hands stopped shaking and I was able to swallow down the lump in my throat. I stayed behind Harper the whole time, so thankfully, she didn't notice.

As we reached the entrance to the cafeteria, the crowd slowly thinned out until there were only a few stragglers left making their way to eat. As soon as I walked in, the noise overwhelmed me- the buzz of students, the clinking of trays. It made me want to cover my ears and flee to somewhere quiet, but I held my ground, trying to not show how intimidated I really felt. I knew I wouldn't have enough energy to get through the rest of the day if I panicked every time a room was loud and crowded.

"I don't know why you always want to eat inside. It's so loud in here." I said, cringing. I secretly hoped that she would cave and we could eat somewhere else, anywhere else. After the weekend I had, I desperately needed a little peace and quiet. I sidestepped two cheerleaders who were too busy talking to each other to notice they were about to run into me, only to run into a bandie carrying an instrument. I apologized shyly, looked down, and shuffled out of his way. Thankfully, I managed to avoid shaking from the contact.

She snorted but grinned. "Yeah, cause everyone else eats in there like normal people." And my hopes of us not eating in the filthy cafeteria quickly diminished.

"Too bad I hate being like everybody else." Which she and I both knew was a lie. I wanted to be like everyone else so I could be invisible. Instead of commenting on my statement, she kept silent, although I could practically hear her roll her eyes as she strutted towards the lunch line.

"You coming?" She gestured toward the line in front of her.

I thought about it for a split second, eventually shaking my head, and waving her off. "No, I'm not hungry." And even if I was, I didn't have any money in my account to buy anything.

"You're never hungry," she muttered, turning away from me to face the line. I didn't respond, realizing it was true. Knowing it would take a while for her to get food, I started walking towards our normal table.

I had lied to Harper earlier. I felt bad about it, but I had to. She couldn't know or else it would happen again; that was how it went, ever since I was twelve. Someone found out, and then he found out that they knew. And very soon after that, I would find out that he knew. Ever since then, I refused to speak about it to anyone; instead, I wrote it down in my journal. But I didn't dare tell anyone else, especially Harper. Someone ended up hurt whenever I said something, so I eventually learned to keep my mouth shut- for the sake of everyone else's safety.