Married at 17, Becoming the Bully's Unwanted Girl

Chapter 2:

Chapter two:

Mira's pov...

“s**t! s**t! s**t!” I muttered as Elyon stalked towards me. I swiftly turn around, not ready for an early morning brawl but the crowd made it impossible to get by. My shoulders slumped as I turned back , eyes fixated on white tiles.

“Hellooo Mira!” Elyon sang as he came to a halt in front of me.

“I’ve missed you” he admitted.

“Summer was pretty boring, don’t you think?” I knew not to answer and kept my eyes away from his face or any other part of his body careful not to get him off.

“Come on Mira, look at me when I’m talking to you or am I simply too stunning to behold?” I nearly chuckled at that one but caught myself just in time. Elyon was nothing close to stunning, if anything he was the poster boy for not so beautiful people but who was I to judge? The only thing that kept him going was his larger than life stature, coupled with his unpleasant attitude. No one wanted to be caught in his web so they just stood out of his way and laughed at his object of ridicule i.e Me.

“What’s wrong, cat got your tongue?” he glowered expectantly. Apparently he’d asked a question I didn’t hear. When I still didn’t answer, he brought his sweaty face close to mine. A little to close, causing me to jerk away from the sudden invasion of privacy. This didn’t go unnoticed by Elyon and by the look on his face, he was mad with rage.

He stalked even closer as grabbed a fist full of my hair, keeping me in place.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?”

“HOW DARE YOU MOVE AWAY FROM ME”

I tried to answer his questions but he just grabbed at my hair tighter, causing me to shut my mouth and stay put if I wanted to leave the scene with most of my hair on my head. I but the inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying out in pain. I hated myself in this moment, I hate my inability to stand up for myself.

My eyes watered as he pulled particularly harder on my hair, shaking my head almost violently as he spoke harshly. From the little snickers and unbridled laughter, I knew he’d gathered an audience but my eyes remained closed, my face pinched in disgust and pain. I stayed in this position as he rambled on and on, consistently showering me with his saliva. The bell rang and he finally eased away, promising to thoroughly deal with me later on. Elyon never made promises he couldn’t keep. I adjusted my uniform and willed the tears not to spill as I hurried to the bathroom to rid my face of Elyon’s saliva.

As I dabbed at my now clean face, skillfully avoiding the mirror, I wish someone had loved Elyon. I wished someone had taken their time to give him a hug or two. I’d read somewhere that bullies were mostly a product of their upbringing. Some of them faced similar situations at home or had absentee parents which resulted in them taking out their frustration on poor masses like me. Gathering up my things again, I frowned at my thought process. Surely, they’d been dealt some hard cards but that didn’t give him the right to dump it all on me. I had no hand in his pain. Besides, if we all went around, handing down the awful cards we’ve been dealt, life would be full of recycled broken people.

If it affected him that badly then he should go see a therapist or someone of sorts, but I knew he’d kill me if I ever brought it up and dispose of my body in a shallow grave and no-one would look for me, well maybe Zoe would. I’d make good food for the soil though, at least I’ll be useful to the environment. I smiled at that as I came to a halt in front of my form room. I wiped the smile off my face, crossing my fingers for good measure. I scurried to the back of the class to grab a seat. Last year had thought me to do so.

I’d sat in the front, thinking I’d be free from the teasing since the teacher stood directly in front. Boy! Was I wrong. I’d experienced every form of bullying there was, sitting in that position. Turns out the teachers never pay attention to those sitting up front, leaving me at the mercy of the likes of Chelsea.

Chelsea. Her name alone sent chills down my spine and goosebumps appeared on my skin as I tried to shake off the Chelsea effect. Thankfully, I found a free a seat by the window.

“Score!” I whispered as I settled into the chair. New notebook? Check. Two pens? Check. Matching pencils and erasers? Check. Electric sharpeners? Check .Highlighter? Check. Color coordinated sticky notes? Check.

“I’m a bit of a nerd, did I make it obvious?” and yes, I’m asking you with your nose buried deep in the pages of what seems to be my life.

“Does my story get any better? Does the bullying get worse? I guess we’ll both have to stick around to find out.

I rested my head on the arms I’d placed on the desk, attempting to get a little alone time before the teacher steps in. I raised my head in curiosity once I perceived the silence, the laughter and shuffling of desks and feet stopped abruptly as Mr Adam took his place in front of the class.

“Settle down” he said to the few students still scrambling around.

“Good morning all. I’m Mr Adams and I’ll be your form teacher for the year” he said, earning himself a few claps and woahs.

“As you all know, today marks the beginning of your last days at Hillshore high”

He cleared his throat “you’ve had a good run for five years and I wouldn’t jeopardize that now if I were you”.

“It might be a little late for some of you but I urge you to take your classes seriously as your grades would determine what college you get into”

Getting good grades was my specialty but I guess we already got that covered because hello! Nerd alert. More than anything, my grades meant the world to me because they were the ticket to my safe haven. With my current streak, I could get into all the Ivy league colleges and even secure a scholarship in some of them. To me, good grades mattered as much as oxygen did.

He adjusted his stance to a more intimidating one, clasping his hands and staring pointedly “I think this should go without saying but bad conduct is prohibited.”

“Bullying is especially frowned upon at this school and being caught in the act will earn you an immediate expulsion” he got a few snickers for that one.

“Remember, you ought to be your brother’s keeper”

“If you suspect any foul play, report to me or any other school authority immediately”

“Noted” Elyon shouted sarcastically, earning himself a stink eye.

“That’ll be all for now” he gave a curt nod and exited the room causing everyone to burst into an uproar.

I watched as friends perched on each other’s desks, giggling and sharing holiday stories. It was then I noticed that everyone was dressed a little differently. Girls with bangs had let their hair grow out, boys adorned seemingly more mature haircuts and was that make up on Chelsea?

The hubbub of activities made me wish I had a friend or friends of my own but it was much too late for that and truthfully I wouldn’t know what to do with a friend if one landed in my lap. Quick question,

“What do you do with friends?”

“Take them on a walk? Share mundane stories? Give them treats? Pretend to like each other’s taste in music?”

I was completely useless with these sort of things.

I stood in front of the cafeteria. Excited to have made it this far. Beside the Elyon thing, nothing out of the ordinary had taken place today. I’d skip this entire cafeteria thing and keep my good streak running but it’s the first day of school and apparently there were “important” announcements to be made.

I hadn’t taken more than two steps when Chelsea stroke.

“To what do we owe this rare miracle” she said, food tray in hand. I pretended not to know what she was referring to and kept on moving.

“Everyone, look who decided to grace us with her presence” she drawled. I hated the way she talked. The extra slur she added sounded like grating granite to me.

“Mira darling, come sit with us” she batted her lashes innocently as she pointed to the round table full of my terrors in human form, I nearly winced.

“No thanks” I mumbled, willing my feet to fly away.

“Come on now” she said, nursing a pout

“it’ll be fun I promise”

For you, I thought to myself.

“I wouldn’t want to bother you guys”

“Nonsense”

She sashayed towards me and linked her forearm with mine and dragged me away while I inwardly cursed my feet for remaining in one position.

I had barely sat down when someone emptied their plate of spaghetti on my head. Time stood still. I knew the hall was far from being quiet but in my head there was radio silence. I struggled to keep the tears at bay but I failed and they rolled down in angry dollops down my cheek. I searched for the perpetrator and found his retreating back. I was confused. It was at the point that Chelsea noticed my tears and went “Awww, don’t cry”.

“Here, I’ll help you” she said as she scooted closer and purposely dropped more spaghetti in the parts of my uniform that wasn’t covered yet. I was too exhausted to care so I stayed put. When she was done, she flashed me a not so innocent smile and said “you’re welcome”. Then she turned to Elyon and asked the question I was supposed to ask the pepertrator.

“What’d Jeremy do that for?”

But then she was smiling like someone just made her day.