Book 1 Chapter Two
1486 Words
"Mount Vesuvius volcano was just a few miles away from the city of Pompeii, and the residents didn't even know that it was a volcano." My history teacher Miss Christopher says pointing at the volcano that destroyed the city thousands of years ago.
"Miss," A voice says making me tense up at the sound of his voice. "How didn't they know that was a volcano? Wouldn't they have seen the smoke arising from it?"
"Mr. Bradford, the technology, and the education were low back then. In fact, they didn't have technology at all." Miss Christopher replies as she switches to the next slide that shows a painting of the volcano erupting and what the terror would be like.
"But still, if I were them I would have known something was odd about that mountain," Tyson says laughing along with his football buddies.
I roll my eyes and turn around and face him. He laughs and high fives his best friend Jasper Knight with his left hand before turning his eyes to me and raises his eyebrows at me.
"What do you want trailer park? You already have ten STD's what more would you want?" Tyson laughs as well as the whole class. I blush and turn back around and bring my hand to my forehead to lean against it as I pile my notebook with the notes on the current slide.
Miss Christopher doesn't say anything as pure usual before turning back to her lesson. I shake my head and keep a low profile like I always do and try and listen to the current lesson on Pompeii.
~•◇•~
"Watch it trailer park." Cassidy Jones laughs as she shoves past me with her softball buddies making my books and papers to fly out of my grip and everywhere.
People that stand around me laughing and pointing, none bother to even lend a helping hand as I try to pick everything up. They walk all over the papers, making sure to leave a muddy shoe print or crumble them up with each passing step they take as they step on them. I hear one of my multiple papers tear causing me to look up and stare wide-eyed as Tyson rips two more papers of mine and throws them back on the ground.
He laughs and bends down so that he's eye level to me and sends a smirk that would have most girls bending down on one knee and a diamond gold ring in a leather box out.
"Meet me by my car after school after everyone leaves." He whispers into my ear so that no one else can hear.
I nod my head not saying anything and turn over so that I'm facing the left lockers as Tyson pats my cheek roughly and stands up. He laughs and kicks at my leg, making me wince and flinch at the pain. He shakes his head and walks down the hall, whistling a random tune.
I sigh and gather the rest of my papers and throw all the ripped ones in the library trashcan before taking a seat in one of the back tables.
I look out the window as the rain falls and softly taps at the glass, blurry the vision of the old oak tree in the back of the school where an old tire swing swung back and forth from all the wind that was being blown. The wind makes a whistling sound, the sound creeping in through the cracked sides and I smile as I rest my head against the cold surface of the glass that instantly calms my heat.
I close my eyes as the library plays the soft music of country, that our librarian plays whenever the library is deserted or when she's trying to get a task done. An old Taylor Swift song starts to play through the speakers and I mentally smirk as I start to hum and sing along.
'You, with your words like knives
And swords and weapons that you use against me
You, have knocked me off my feet again,
Got me feeling like a nothing
You, with your voice like nails
On a chalkboard, calling me out when I'm wounded
You, picking on the weaker man
You can take me down
With just one single blow
But you don't know what you don't know
Someday I'll be living in a big old city
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me
And all you're ever gonna be is mean
Why you gotta be so mean?'
I sing along as I look through the fogged up glass staring and watching as the tire swing swung back and forth, back and forth in a lightly matter. A smile itches itself across my face as the chorus comes back on and images flash through my eyes as I remember when my mom first showed me this song.
It was the Christmas of 2010. I just turned ten and we were sitting around the small Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we always got during Christmas drinking hot chocolate. It was like any other Christmas, where I didn't get any gifts because we couldn't afford it, except I got one gift. That gift was my mom showing me that I wasn't alone and that there was a way to get away from all of my bullying. She showed me through her crappy phone, the song that brought all my hopes up. That song just so happened to be the current song playing through the library speakers right now.
I remember I had a big smile on my face and looking up at my mom as she smiled down at me with her warm smile and whispered to me the words that I would remember my whole life.
"Aaliyah, do not let those words that people tell you to bring your flame down. You know they aren't true and you shouldn't listen to them because you know that they aren't anything but lies. So instead, take all those negative comments about you, hold it above your flame and say a little prayer before releasing them into your flame to let it grow stronger and bigger. Because the words that people tell you, will only make you grow stronger and them to grow weaker."
The sound of the school bell blares, snapping me out of my trance. I smile at the memory and look up at the ticking clock on the wall and let out a sigh. It was three thirty. School got out two minutes ago and if I want to leave the building and arrive at Tyson's truck without a busted open lip and a black eye, I should leave right now.
Gathering my things, I wave goodbye to the librarian before walking out the two double doors. The hallway was deserted, the only people in the hallway were Janitor Billy and some kid rummaging through his locker.
The school hallways at my school always cleared faster and quicker every Friday night. No one stayed to mingle by their lockers or even in the parking lot by their cars. They all wanted to go home and relax during their weekend away from the hell hole they call a school.
I mean I would too, but I never got the time to relax because of my job at the local diner downtown and my volunteer work at the old folks home in town, right across from the diner. There, I spent, most of my free time because that's where I feel more comfortable at and because I don't have to worry about getting an extra bruise from someone because no one dared to step inside a building where old people sat staring at a broken television and complaining about their joint pains.
"God damn. It took you long enough." Tyson snaps when I finally reach him at his black truck. I shake my head and look down at my feet releasing a sigh.
"S-Sorry. I-I had to v-visit Mr. B-Bush." I lied, knowing that I would get in trouble if he knew where I really was.
Tysons rolls his eyes and opens his car door harshly and gets in. "Whatever, I don't give a s**t. Just get in so we can get this done and over with."
I bite my lip and quickly get in and move a strand of my hair that fell out of my bun out of my face and put my seat belt on. Tyson doesn't wait for me to settle in my seat before hurdling out of the parking lot, burning rubber in the process.
I clench onto the seat belt and close my eyes, trying to ignore the unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach that I get every time I feel like something big or major is going to happen.
- Writer
