Chapter Two

The wind whistled in delight as we sped down the busy highway, the interior of the vehicle was filled with noise, there were shouts of protest, shrieks of delight, and there was also the teacher, trying to calm everyone down. I tucked some stray hair behind my ear, as I imagined a horse that had a Chestnut coat, the color of melted chocolate, racing with the wind. Mr. Harrison's AP U.S history class was on a carefully planned field trip to the Alleghany Mountains in West Virginia, the highlight of the trip is the popular cold war museum that inhabited valuable relics and even a military bunker! This trip; when announced, had made everyone let out a sigh of relief, as it provided a vacation from the overwhelming workload that high school tended to provide.

I was often told, that I was very childish because of my aspect of the world. I would more often than not, get lost in my own thoughts and imagines, and no one could get me to focus on the matter at hand. However, they did not know about the different sets of thoughts that had once consumed me, the feelings of worthlessness that had caused me to become destructive to myself. They did not know about my lack of confidence that I possessed simply because of people's cruel remarks and thoughts. They believed and bought the facade that I had perfected over the past few years. My apparently childish thoughts had made sure that I would not have any close confidant in my school, that the only friends I would make would be my family and other trusted adults. When High school had started, I had tried to fit in with everyone else; I had worn proper and fancy clothes, making sure that I forced myself to put on some make-up that covered some of the eye bags, which I had gained from the lack of sleep. I had even the very thing that I had sworn not to do; I had gotten social media.

During the last ten years, social media had gotten worse. The apps removed million's of users every day, but still, that was not enough to get rid of the toxicity that they produced. The number of people who committed suicide had increased tremendously over the last few years, and the worst part was that people did not seem to care. They didn't care about how much one comment can affect a person's confidence and feelings toward themselves. They didn't care that they would hurt a person's feelings if they posted about a party that everyone except that person had been invited to. They just didn't care. But I was happy because I had a priceless item; the overwhelming love of my family. It had just taken me some time to realize the fact. But now, I could care less about the gossip that paraded through the halls of our school. I had built my morals and that included not introducing myself to rumors or gossip, even if it was about me. However, don't think that I am the perfect little angel just yet, I like every human on earth, have my own basket of mistakes and secrets that I carry with me.

A hesitant tap on my shoulder quickly succeeded in lifting me out of my thoughts. The person responsible was Andrea Walker, she and I had somewhat of a friendship. It wasn't like we were going to each other's house for sleepovers or inviting each other to our personal events. It was more like, we just made sure that we knew the homework for a class and we greeted each other when we passed each other in the hallways.

I glanced around the bus and noticed that it was bare of my fellow classmates. Mr. Harrison and the rest of the people that occupied the bus were now milling around outside and stretching their bodies, after the long trip. I turned my head back towards Andrea and gave her a bright smile. The response was my version of a thank you and I believed that It contained more of an impact than a simple thanks. She gave me a quick nod of her head and hurriedly walked out of the yellow bus. I got up from my neglected seat, which was identical to all the other ones in the interior of the bus. I grabbed my white and black backpack from underneath the seat and walked down the aisle of the bus.

As I hopped down from the last black step onto the harsh ground of our home planet, my knees suddenly buckled. This is a major difference between a movie and reality, when your knees buckle in a movie, there is always a handsome guy to catch you. However, in real life, you often just fall in a heap on the ground and then everyone, including your somewhat friend laughs at you. And not just a chuckle either, a full-on stomach-grabbing hearty laugh. The kind that makes your entire face red like a ripe tomato ready to burst. I also turned red, a slightly different reason why though. For me, I turned red because of embarrassment. It was the wanting to die level of embarrassment as well. The kind that makes you wish that the ground would just swallow you up or the kind that makes you hope that it was all a bad dream, wait scratch that, a horrible nightmare.

" Well, Kids, we should get going! We don't want to be late for setting up, " said Mr. Harrison, wiping some tears that had escaped his eye while he was laughing. The rest of the people responded with various forms of agreement and started getting ready for the hike to our campsite. As for me? Well, I remained fallen on the ground until every single person was at least 50 feet ahead of me, then I burst into tears and the only sound in the sweet air was my gasps of breath, as tears streamed down my face.