I looked at the double doors of my high school and took a deep breath. Just a few more months then I'd be done with high school. That was like my daily mantra every time I got to school.
It's not that I hated it here. If anything it was the distraction I needed from what was at home. In fact my high school life wasn't bad at all. I wasn't like really popular or anything but I wasn't unknown. I wasn't bullied or anything, I thought as I entered the building smiling at someone from my class. I was bullied when I was a freshman but the only thing left of that was my oh so infamous nickname...
"Hey Chubby! How was your weekend? "Jonah Rivers, my really tall and skinny friend asked as he walked beside me.
Yep! That's right. My nickname was Chubby. Most people couldn't actually remember my real name. Even some of my teachers called me Chubby. Which I always thought was weird. Very weird.
And it's not that I was as fat as I was back then, and with my 5'7 I didn't look so fat. But with all the other girls in my year you could understand why I looked like a whale as compared. And it's not like I was the only 'fat' girl in my year. There was Big Bethany who was like 20 pounds heavier. Yes, our year had this thing of nicknaming people. Some sort of label. Anyway, it's never bothered me one bit. Well, except maybe that one time in freshman year when I had had enough with the taunting and name calling and shoving. I punched some guy's face really hard after he shoved me in to the lockers. He kinda passed out and I kinda threatened everyone around to do punch them too if they didn't stop. At least the bulling stopped, right? Anyway I've always kind of just accepted I wasn't meant to be skinny at all. I don't even remember a time I was not "heavy". That guy, Raul Valdez, surprisingly became my friend after that. I got punished for punching him and he got punished for insulting me. Three hours working at some old folks home kinda made us friends. Ha! He became captain of his football team last year but he never ditched me even after that. I guess some people really don't let popularity get into their heads. Also, in some way, it was the reason I wasn't bullied. Because no one wanted to be his enemy really. I mean come on! All the girls were into him (it helped he had foreign roots and he had major good looks) and guys respected him. Plus, he wasn't a total cocky jerk like most guys.
"Same old, same old," I said to Jonah as I stopped my locker to get my books for my first class. "How was fishing?" I asked him, closing my locker and heading to our biology class. Jonah's kinda like my family friend. His Dad and my Dad were in college together and I've known Jonah since we were around 10. Not that we talk a lot really. But we were friends of some sort and we had a lot of class projects together.
"It was great! I caught this giant fish," he said, proudly, with a small shy smile on his lips. I chuckled and shook my head.
"Finally, buddy!" He'd never caught a fish so this was something. Suddenly, Jonah was on the floor, groaning as he tried to get up. There were laughs around and I shook my head disapprovingly.
"Seriously, Edwards? You couldn't wait for school to start?" I asked throwing a glare at the guy in front of us, clutching his stomach, laughing. I rolled my eyes at him and bent down to help Jonah.
Meet Christian Bradley Edwards. The guy who always likes to see people suffer to satisfy his sick humour.
"Oh cheer up, Chubs. It was funny! Wasn't it, Jonah?" He said, raising his hand to high five Jonah. That was another thing. I accepted Chubby but Chubbs I would not. To no one's surprise, Jonah gave him a high five, not looking at the disapproval in my eyes.
"See, Chubbs? He's okay!" He gave me one of his famous smirks, then slapped Jonah on the back, "You alright, buddy?"
Jonah nodded and Chris lifted his eyebrows at me.
"Really, Edwards? Chubbs again?" I said, frowning. He threw his head back in laughter, "What? I need to be unique! Call you something no one else has. I gotta go now," he said, when a girl passed us giving him a wink. "I have somewhere I need to be!" And with that he was gone. This was one of the cocky jerks I was talking about.
I threw Jonah a glare but he shrugged me off as we entered our class 5 minutes earlier. I sighed in resignation. Jonah let Chris get away with a lot of things mostly because Chris had defended him through a lot of bullying. Jonah was a nerd to put it bluntly. In every sense of the word. Glasses, checked shirts buttoned up to the first button, tucked into his jeans. He was about 3 inches taller than me so he really stood out.
People picked on him a lot until Chris came along. He came when we were in the 10th grade and on his first week got into a fight because of Jonah. Since then he's kinda been his bodyguard and no one else got to beat up or harass Jonah except him. And it wasn't like Chris was as muscular as the guys from the football team. Chris wasn't even in any sport. But he was well known and liked by a lot of people. Jonah seemed fine with the arrangement and he never complained. Apart from me and the science club, he didn't have a lot of friends and I guess in his own twisted way, Chris was also his friend. Jonah sat at the front as always while I made my way to the back where I usually sat and lay my head on my desk waiting for class to start. In case you haven't realized I'm kind of a loner and I liked to keep to myself.
"Cece!" I high pitched voice graced my ears and I groaned to myself. Some people however couldn't grasp that. I lifted my head of my desk and glared at my close friend, Sammy McCarthy. She forced herself to be my friend last year and I couldn't get rid of her after that. Not that I wanted to anyway. But sometimes I did. She was, by the way, apart from my family, the only one who didn't call me Chubby.
As she came to sit by me, I couldn't help but think how beautiful she was with her green eyes and blonde hair. She knew she was beautiful but she wasn't vain like most of the other girls. That's one of the things I liked about her.
"Okay, so I had the most amazing weekend ever...!" I groaned inwardly. The girl could talk nonstop once she started. This should be interesting, I thought, smiling at her as she began as the bell rang. I saw Chris coming in with the girl from earlier on and I rolled my eyes when gave me a wink. Typical Chris.