The next day~
• t u e s d a y •
I woke up with a feeling of discomfort. Today was something I was not at all prepared for. All I knew was that I would be going to a café with my friends, and that café was coincidentally the same one Laura wanted me to go to for a conversation. Would the conversation be friendly? Would I even bump into her? For all I know, she could be setting me up to embarass the fuck out of my soul. My goal later, would be to avoid her at all costs.
I shook my head, getting rid of my thoughts and walked to the bathroom. I took a shower and put on my uniform. I put my hair up in a high ponytail and walked downstairs with my stuff. To my surprise, I was the last person to be downstairs. It is 6:00 AM for your information. "Alice, sweetheart, your breakfast is right there on the table. And by the way, Lucas is taking you to school." Aunt Bella pointed at the plate of bacon and eggs. I quickly finished my food and brushed my teeth before sprinting to the door with my bag, hoping to escape my brother. Luke was NOT going to drive me. Imagine what everyone else was going to say. It's bad enough that just leaving my hoodie behind sparked so much attention, and now my brother was gonna bring me to school?! Hell no.
Just as I took one step out the door, my blazer was pulled backwards, dragging me with it. I stumbled back into the house, facing my brother who wore a smug grin. "Where are you going?" Luke said with a sing-song voice. I wanted to punch his face so badly. "I usually walk to school. Put me down, Luke, before I kick you where the sun doesn't shine." I threatened the older boy who practically towered over me. "I think the fuck not. Get in the car, Alice. Your youtube tutorial karate skills aren't gonna scare me." He picked me up and threw me into the car. "Goddammit, Luke. I will have you know that I am a black belt and am fully capable of choking you out." I buckled my seatbelt angrily. Lucas simply laughed and began to drive.
As soon as the building came into view, I asked Luke to stop the car. He didn't listen. I tapped his shoulder forcefully. "Lucas, stop the car." I demanded. He continued to ignore me. "Fucking pull over!" I yelled at him. He looked at me with wide eyes. "Curse at me all you want, I won't tell. But I'm dropping you off at the front." Lucas said calmly. I groaned and threw myself back into my seat. "Why? I am perfectly comfortable with walking the rest of the way, thank you very much." I stated with an annoyed tone. "Laura's standing at the other side of the road. Nothing good will come out of her talking to any of us. I'll pick you up when you get out of school later." Luke finally replied. I looked out the window and gasped. He was right. I was surprised he still remembered what she looked like.
Eventually, we reached the front of the school. I hopped out of the car and waved goodbye to my brother who unfortunately decided to open his window. Some of the students noticed and started whispering. I cursed under my breath and kept my head down as I walked to my locker.
I was quickly grabbing my things when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I gulped, praying for them to be one of my friends. Sadly, this person was not. "What do you want Maria?" I asked once I turned around. The girl and her friends eyed me with disgusted looks. "We saw you entering the school. Who was that boy and since when did you have a car? Did you steal it?" Maria said teasingly. I rolled my eyes and replied. Even though I hated attention, I wasn't a wimp. "That's none of your business. I've always owned a car, I just never used it." I shrugged and tried to walk past them. They circled around me, blocking every possible exit. "You don't just own a Tesla and not use it. You're hoeing around aren't you? After your dad left, nobody was around to make money, so you became a sugar baby! No wonder boys are all over you nowadays. Nasty ass whore." Her friend, Amanda, spat. The 3 of them burst out laughing. I covered my ears and took a deep breath. "Shut up..." I mumbled repeatedly. They continued to jeer at me, but I didn't want to lash out and get in trouble. "What was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of the truth!" Maria's other friend, Jessica, teased. My ears started ringing and I felt my blood boil. I continued to mumble the words "shut up" until I had enough. "I SAID SHUT UP!" I finally came back to my senses and yelled. Everyone in the hallway looked at us, and the students that were already watching got even more intrigued. "One, I have not been hoeing around. That man you saw who drove me to school is my older brother. Two, the car is my aunt's and I don't drive it because school isn't even that far away from my house and unlike you, I'm not an attention-seeking bitch who has to show everyone how privileged I am for acceptance." I lectured and walked away. I regretted that almost instantly. I speed-walked to my first class and mentally scolded myself for lashing out. I'm fucked.
As soon as I sat down, I let my head hit the wood surface of my desk. "Alice?" I heard a voice which I immediately recognized as Walter's. I looked up and saw the boy standing in front of my desk. "Hi, Walter. Do you need anything?" I greeted him. "You really spared Maria zero kindness didn't you? That was pretty cool what you did back there." Walter looked at me and gave me an encouraging grin. A small smile appeared on my face. "Thanks. I really don't deserve friends like you and the others. I was worried people thought I had anger issues." I probably do. Walter patted my shoulder and walked to his seat which was behind mine.
A few minutes later, the bell rang. Meaning class was starting. My other friends entered the classroom, waving at me and Walter. We waved back at them as they came closer. This was our art class and today was especially exciting. Mr. James would be showing our scores for the project and announcing and presenting the best submissions. "I really hope we did good enough to get an A." Lucinda, who sat next to me, said quietly. "Yeah, I hope so, too." Jacob agreed. We continued to sit quietly as Mr. James started his class.
"Good morning everyone. As you all know, I assigned all of you a project for our current lesson. For this project, you got to work in groupings that I chose. If you noticed, I grouped all of you with people you're comfortable and closer to. This was to make sure that there was teamwork and cooperation," the man lectured. "I hope this project taught you that photography isn't all about perfect lighting and looking good, it's also about being confident enough to look at the camera and smile. Teamwork and cooperation would be required to set a good environment for your team, one that you all agreed with, and a specific group really showed that with their submissions." He ended with a smile. Mr. James walked over to his laptop which was already connected to the projector and fiddled with the keyboard and mouse for a bit. "Now, I'm sure all of you have been awaiting this. The group that submitted the best photos are group 5." In just a few clicks, photos of Maria and her friends appeared on the screen. We all clapped our hands for the group. The hopeful smile I had on soon faded. I mean sure it's just a project, but we worked hard to get great photos and did multiple shoots in many different locations. It feels like we failed to do our job. Just as I felt my self starting to shrink, Mr. James spoke up.
"You did great, girls. However, there is another group that did an exceptional job. Your group, Ms. King, had the best looking photos in terms of quality. However, one group in particular showed what it really means to be there for each other and make one another feel comfortable. Look at this photo, the eyes are not in the slightest bit squinted, it's not a genuine smile. Next, this group photo, you may have your arms around each other, but the distance between the 7 of you is wide." Mr. James began to point out small details in group 5's photos. The whole class went quiet. It was amazing how even such small details made such a big impact on the image being portrayed.
But then I began to wonder... who is the other group?
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