Chapter Three

Just one more class and I'm done for the day. I rushed to my last class which was English. I took my seat by the window and I dropped my bag on the seat beside me since nobody sat with me,fear of being bullied.

The class became filled up in minutes. This was one of my worst classes not because I hate English, I love it. It's because this is one of the classes I have with Reece. Our teacher Mrs Williams, walked in and began teaching. Hmm....it seems like he isn't in class today. Thank God.

My thoughts were disrupted when he walked into the class with Kenzie clutching his arm tightly. " Where have you two been? " Mrs Williams asked them. " We were taking care of something"  Reece said with a smirk. Mrs Williams sighed and told them to go to their seats. Miss clingy finally let go of him, I rolled my eyes at their patheticness. He started walking down the row I sat and made eye contact with me. He had this glint in his eyes that made me frown and look away.

Halfway through the class, a paper ball hit the back of my head, I ignored it and continued doodling in my book. Another one hit my cheek, I ignored it again.

Just like that paper balls were thrown at me from behind but I ignored them. It's not the first time they're doing this, there's nothing written on the papers, they do this every time they're bored and by they I mean, Jason, Severn and Reece.

Soon classes were over. Finally. I left the class and went to drop my books in my locker. Then I left the building heading for my car but I stopped in my track when I saw the state of my car. The windshield and windows were covered in pink and black spray paint. The Tyres were flats and sticky notes were littered all over the boot and bonnet.

I walked to the car and read the notes

Slut

Bitch

Pig

Twat

Coward

Useless

Nothing

Whore

Tears welled up in my eyes but I held them back. Some people took pictures of the car, some just continued calling me names, others just laughed. Kenzie suddenly emerged from the crowd with her barbies, a smug smile playing on her lips. " This is just the beginning" she said.

I stared at her then the car, I did my breathing exercise to control my anger. " Jenny let's go" Amaya called from the other side of the parking lot. I gave Kenzie one last look before walking towards Amaya's car. She drove out of the school environment in silence. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called a tow truck to get the car from the school  to their mechanic workshop.

Amaya dropped me in front of my house. Her silence was killing me, " Amaya-"" Don't say anything or I'll be forced to march in there and tell your mom" she said. I got out of the car, " bye " she said and drove off. I exhaled and walked to the front porch. I opened the door.

" Mom?" I called out but no one responded. I walked into the kitchen and found a sticky note on the fridge

'I'm sorry honey an emergency came up, had to go, there is pasta in the fridge' -mom

I ripped the note off the fridge and threw it in the trash can. I went up to my room and threw myself on the bed, I let all my tears pour. I'm alone, my parents don't care about me. I wiped the tears and sat up on my bed, I went into my closet and took my shirt off, turned a bit to see if I had a bruise on my back where I was slammed into my locker. The faint purple and black bruise made it's presence known.

I slipped on a loose grey long sleeved t-shirt and some sweatpants. I decided to do my assignment to pass time. After that I went down to the living room to watch TV but there was nothing to watch. I groaned loudly and switched off the TV.

How about a walk. I asked myself and decided to go for a walk to the park. I went upstairs and changed my sweat pants to jeans then I grabbed my phone and made sure the door was properly closed before heading down the street.

The cool air of the evening helped me relax a bit. I smiled to myself as I watched some kids playing in front of a house. My smile faltered when I remembered that I didn't have a normal childhood. My parents weren't always home, I was always with my baby sitter. I didn't have friends to play with, no one to talk to, it was awful back then.

Then I got to middle school. I had three friends, Amaya, Tracy and Paige. We were very close and inseparable that is until Tracy left for England and Paige moved to another house and school. So that left me and Amaya but we had other friends.

Then Reece came to our school as a new student everybody wanted to be his friend. Every girl had a crush on him including me, unfortunately.

Then oneday during recess, I was chasing Amaya. I didn't see him standing there and bumped into him. I tried to apologise but he just pushed and started calling me names. I remember crying my eyes out while the other kids laughed at me. He hated me from that day and has made it his mission to make my life a living hell.

***

My tummy rumbled as I passed by the pizza palace " shit seriously?" I checked if I had some money on me, luckily I did.

I did an about turn and entered into the Pizza shop. I made my way towards the counter, the guy behind the counter turned out to be a class mate of mine.

He raised his eyebrows at me then looked at something behind me. " Um what do you want?" He asked ," a box of pepperoni pizza please" I said quietly. H e nodded and looked behind me again before going to get my order. 

My phone vibrated in my pocket, I pulled it out. A message from Amaya.

A: are you home?

Me: where are you?

A: in front of your house.

Me: okay am in my way home just grabbing a box of pizza.

A: okay am waiting.

I put my phone back into my pocket, he came back with my pizza, I paid for it and thanked him. I turned around to leave restaurant but stopped when I locked eyes with him. He was sitting in a booth with some guys from the football team. My heart beat accelerated a bit, I looked away and headed for the door but he was quicker and grabbed my arm tightly then pulled me out of the restaurant. Once we were outside I yanked my arm away from his grip. "What do you want?" I asked quietly, he glared at me " that little stunt your friend pulled today has only gotten you into a bigger mess sweetheart" he said.

" Am not your sweetheart" I said , " you don't get to decide that sweetheart, and I'd warn Clayton if I were you" he said and grabbed my arm again. I whimpered " tell her to stay away or she'll be next" he said.

My eyes widened, " what?" " Tell her to back off" he said again.

I yanked my arm away again. " Why are you doing this?" " Because I can" he said and pushed me back " aren't you tired?" I asked the tears welling up in my eyes, " I can never be tired and I will never be tired I f ruining your life" he snarled. A slipped from my eye, " why?" I cried " why do you hate me so much?" I asked. He just stared at me.

" You have no reason" I said " I have my reasons" he said with a dangerous look in his eyes, I moved backwards a bit. He grabbed my pizza box and threw it away. I watched the content pour out of the box. He dragged me to himself, our bodies almost touching. " You haven't seen anything yet Jennifer Greene" he said in a low voice. " I'll break you to  nothing, I'll break in ways you can't be fixed I promise you that" he said. We stared at each other for a while before he pushed me away. I fell and hit my elbow on the ground.

His eyes softened or I thought it did but he quickly walked away. I got off the floor and cradled my elbow in my good arm.

His words played in my head as I walked home. I got to my front porch and met Amaya typing away on her phone. She looked up when she heard my footsteps. She got up and smiled but stopped smiling when she saw my face. "What happened?"she asked , I broke into tears. She wrapped her arms around me, " hey  it's okay" she said but I just shook my head.

She collected the house key from me and opened the door then we walked in.