Just Another High School Story!

Leah began reading the poem and everyone was pleased, thankful to Ethan, she read in a sing-song voice that suited the poems intonation.

"A bird came down the Walk--

He did not know I saw--

He bit an Angleworm in halves,

And ate the fellow, raw,

And then he drank a Dew,

From a convenient Grass--

And then hoped sidewise to the Wall

To let a beetle pass--

He glanced with rapid eyes

That hurried all around--

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought--

He stirred his Velvet Head

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb

And he unrolled his feathers

And rowed him softer home--

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam--

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon

Leap, placeless as they swim."

After she finished reading and sat back down, Ethan gave her a pat on the back and said, "Look at everyone, they look like someone's breathed life into their lifeless bodies. English is an art that only some understand. Luckily, you are one of them." Leah felt touched when she heard what he said but she could not let him sway her, he was not a nice person, he was the guy who had ruined her life, and she would never forget it, not until the day she died.

After their classes were over, she left to meet up with their friends, everyone was buys, Linda with the elections, Matt with the drama club, Shawn whom she was particularly excited to see was hanging out with Monty's group and he did not even say hi to her. She was alone and sat quietly in a corner, eating and reading/ watching a webtoon called, "True Beauty", she was super into Korean dramas and the drama that was trending was "True Beauty", so she decided to check out out the webtoon that inspired the masterpiece, she could totally relate to the main character, the girl Lim Ju Kyeoung, just like her Leah felt that she was two different people, the perfect girl to everyone, and the perfect mess that she despised, to herself. She was eating very little, because lately, she had felt super conscious of her body, ever since she was little she had never felt contented with how her body looked, she wanted to become someone else, someone who did not think as much as she did, someone who did not get as much attention as she did, she didn't actually crave the attention of everyone, she just wanted the attention of the people that she loved, but they were the only ones that didn't even bother understanding her, she felt like she was an empty vessel with no feelings. As she was absorbed in her story, she heard a lot of clattering ad noises coming from across the cafeteria, Ethan was grabbing food and a lot of girls were inviting him to sit with them, "If only you knew who he really is, you would never even look at him," she soliloquised, and grunted, she turned her eyes back to her phone when suddenly the noises turned into, "Whoaaaaaas!" She was on episode eight, when someone pulled a chair, across from her and sat down, she was totally lost and did not realise what was going on, until she reached for her plate without looking at it and saw that she could not reach it, finally frustrated, she looked and was suddenly taken aback, as she saw Ethan feasting on her one and only salad for the day, he offered her his meal, which was a huge ass burger, ironically, and some fries and a soda. Leah was disgusted by the sight of these foods as they were all 'unhealthy'.

He picked up the burger and as he was wolfing it down, suddenly, he started coughing loudly, and it looked like he was choking, "Oh no, oh no, here, have some water!" Leah was hysterical, she had cussed him earlier, how the hell did that work, of course, she didn't think that there was a coin in his food, but he was choking. He looked like he was dying, she was on the verge of crying, patting his back, rubbing it, doing everything she could to save him... when suddenly, he started laughing, and tucked her hair behind her ear, their eyes met for a moment, and just that moment was enough for her to feel captivated, then she broke off and yelled at him, "What the hell is wrong with you??" She pulled away completely and added, "You are still the same!" But he didn't hear it, all he could see was how worried she was. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was trying to...", just as he was about to say something else, she started walking away and just before she was about to pass Ethan, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him, then he proceeded to whisper in her ear, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I don't like eating alone and I don't have anyone to eat with, will you please eat with me?" He looked so sweet, so innocent... that for a moment, she was confused, is this the same guy from Junior High?? Here is what she was thinking about, "In Middle School, after a competition, they were all eating together, and Leah had not had anything all day, and was digging into her lunchbox as if she were looking for gold, Ethan was sitting beside her and he said something along the lines of: Check out Fatty eating from her lunchbox like a dog chewing on bone, careful lest you should gain pounds and then your tummy will hang from under your shirt." Ethan was the trendsetter, and so everyone started calling her Fatty and that made her believe that she was, and the worst part of it all was that they made it sound like it was a mistake, something really terrible, like it was her fault, like she did not belong. Ever since that day, she had not once carried her lunchbox and skipped lunch altogether. It was obviously very stupid of her, but as a teenager, her self-esteem was destroyed, she did not like what she saw in the mirror.

Before Leah could respond to him, he pulled her down and before she knew it, she was sitting on the chair next to him, he took some fries and stuffed them into her mouth, and said, "I'm paying you back for the salad, it is really bland anyway, and being healthy is a sin." He giggled away as he said this but he didn't realise Leah's trembling fingers, she wanted to cry, she had not had fries in four years, and he had tossed some into her mouth as if they were nothing, as if it was no big deal, she told him that she needed to use the restroom, and would be back, he let her go, she had left her phone behind, Ethan saw the webtoon, and was immediately interested and so he started reading/watching it, meanwhile, Leah felt like she could kill herself for eating those fries, she jumped into one of the stalls and stuck her knuckles into her mouth, she was a pro at this, sure enough after a little gagging, she puked out the little salad that she had eaten along with whatever else she had eaten that day, she did not eat much, she pretended to eat, and then puked it out when no one was looking, then she sat there crying and wondering when she had become so pathetic.