003.

"WHO IS THIS BITCH?!"

The cafeteria grew increasingly silent as people started to pay attention to us. Kimberly stared at me quizzically, failing to recognise who I was.

"Honey, does my presence bother you that much?" I laughed.

"Why were you looking at my boyfriend, you cheap looking whore"

"Whore? Are you not the one who's slept with over half our year? I've been here for not even a full day, tell me why I'm aware that your nickname is community pussy..."

Laughter erupted in the cafeteria as I snickered. De'Shawn walked over to me as I patted down my shirt, noticing a sauce stain developing.

"Kimberly, were we ever dating though? You were the side ting and you know that, humble yourself."

I laughed hysterically as she gave me a glare and ran out of the room.

The forming crowd dispersed as I sat back down and was met by the shocked faces of Annaliese and Zahariah.

"You were so timid this morning so what was that?" Annaliese smiled at me as she continued eating.

I shrugged as I wiped my face, swiftly stood back up and asked "Do you know where I could get a spare shirt fr-"

De'Shawn interrupted, "I'll take you."

More murmurs became audible as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the cafeteria.

I retracted my wrist as I frowned at him a little.

"I could've waited and gone with the girls."

"I'm aware. I wanted to ask you something."

I leaned on the lockers as I crossed my arms and looked up at him.

"Is William your brother?"

My gaze lowered as I mumbled under my breath and became visibly irritated. "He's my half-brother. We have the same father but different mothers."

"Oh. I didn't mean to upset you, sorry. Let's just get you a new shirt and I'll leave you alone," he said as he rubbed his neck awkwardly.

I loosened up noticing he seemed somewhat apologetic. "It's okay, just don't tell anyone please. I don't like him and don't want anyone else to know."

He stared me in the eyes confused. I noticed he wanted to ask more but kept his curiosity to himself.

"If we become friends someday, I'll answer the questions you seem to have," I flashed him a small smile.

We walked to the welfare office slowly in a comfortable silence. I became increasingly aware of my surroundings as I mentally noted the layout of the school.

"I'll wait for you so that I can walk you back."

I shyly nodded and smiled as I turned my back on him to enter the welfare office.

-

I hopped into my bed as flashbacks of lunchtime raced through my head. The rush of adrenaline from the incident seemed to remain ever-present and not diminish. I couldn't seem to calm down.

As someone who's socially awkward, being the centre of attention leaves me overly-conscious for a great amount of time. I like to describe myself as an extroverted introvert - shy around people until I'm comfortable.

I wistfully stared at my ceiling contemplating the ambiguous first impression I've made for myself.

One thing I couldn't seem to grasp was the fact that Kimberly couldn't remember me. Furthermore, the complete 180° personality switch in her confused me. She was never the kind to become self-absorbed because of male validation.

I slowly drifted into a peaceful sleep as my mind ran wild with imaginations of how tomorrow would turn out.

-

I shuffled in my bed as I heard loud knocking on my door. I sat up, stretched and yawned.

"It's 7:58! I've left some money on the counter for you to stop at McDonald's and get some breakfast okay?"

"Thanks!" I shouted at Kingsley, grinning.

Realisation soon hit me as I jumped out of my bed frantically, running around to get dressed quickly.

My eyes darted to the my desk where I noticed my untouched chemistry homework that was due today.

I groaned in frustration as I packed my bag hastily and ran out of the house into the car.

"Well aren't you a sight?" William sneered.

I took my sliders out of my bag and dashed the pair at William's face.

The disgust of being in William's presence slowly faded as David pulled over the car in the McDonald's Drive-Thru.

I quickly got my food and we drove to school. It was now approaching 8:30am which is the time form started so as soon as we arrived, I frantically ran to form with my McDonald's bag hoping nothing would spill.

I heaved as I crouched at the door of my form room hoping to compose myself a little before I entered the room.

Mr Jenkins chuckled as soon as he saw me and asked, "Are you going to share your McDonald's with me?"

I flashed him a small smile as I made my way to my seat next to Annaliese. Unfortunately I couldn't even eat peacefully as I mentally scrambled to complete my chemistry homework which was due next period.

Annaliese and Zahariah completed my homework for me as I quickly scarfed down my food.

There was 10 minutes left of form when Mr Jenkins had a sudden outburst. I jolted up in my seat splashing maple syrup over myself. I rolled my eyes in frustration as Annaliese chuckled heartily.

"It's time to form a student committee for our year group so that you guys can start formulating however many activities you want to take part in before the year ends. There's a meeting today at lunchtime here for anyone who's interested!"

The form erupted into conversation of what activities were going to be planned for this year. I squealed in my chair with excitement.

"I'm definitely joining the committee, are you?" I turned as I questioned Annaliese.

She nodded excitedly in response as we left form.

The excitement left me oblivious to the fact that I had a massive maple syrup stain on my shirt.

Soon reality hit me when De'Shawn drew the attention of the whole chemistry class to me.

"𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘩?"