We are just roommates

Chapter 1

*** Kylie's POV ***

*

It was Monday and I was on my way to school. I was a senior in a high school in Chicago and I couldn’t wait for those three months to pass to get out of this hellhole finally and go to college. The only person who was keeping me sane was my best friend Myra. I hated school, but I was also a bit excited about going because I got to see my crush from afar. He didn’t know that I liked him and maybe he didn’t know that I even existed, but it was better that way. He was one of the most popular kids and I was just an ugly nerd in their eyes. I had plain long light brown hair, which I wore in a ponytail most of the time, grey eyes that I hid behind my glasses and a bit of chubby physique. I wore simple clothes and I didn’t really care about my looks, I just wanted good grades, so I studied a lot in my free time. Myra knew about my crush on Kevin, but no one else did. She was my best and only friend.

Usually I wrote about him in my diary and daydreamed about him, but I was always careful around nosy people that we had a lot in this school. They liked to bully the weak ones, especially a few people from the popular group. I always tried to stay outside of their radar, but since Kevin was one of them, I needed to take risks just to see him sometimes. He was very tall and handsome with a well-built body and broad shoulders. He had messy brown hair and big blue eyes with a sharp jawline. He made my heart flutter all the time I saw him and that smile of his was to kill for. He was the captain of the football team and he didn’t bully people that much like his friends did.

“Kylie… Kylie.” I looked around when I heard someone calling my name and saw Myra running towards me. I didn’t even realise I had reached school already.

“Good morning.” I told her cheerfully and she rolled her eyes at me.

“I was shouting after you for 5 minutes already.” She said breathlessly and I let out a laugh.

“Sorry, I was just….”

“Daydreaming again, I know.” She cut me off and now I was the one who rolled my eyes at her. She could be too dramatic sometimes.

“I was just thinking, that’s all. Let’s go inside, shall we?” I asked her and we walked towards the school with our arms folded with each other’s.

The popular kids were always hanging out next to the building, so my attention automatically went there every time I reached school.

“He looks so good today.” I whispered to myself, but Myra still heard it.

“Why don’t you try and talk to him?” She asked and I looked at her with an ‘are you serious?’ look on my face.

“Myra, we already talked about this, if I want to let him know about my crush, I need a big change. If I really want to have a chance with him, which I doubt will happen, then I need a total make-over, which I won’t do just because of a boy who has more girlfriends then classrooms in this school.” I told her and she nodded her head in understanding.

“True, but it’s so sad to see you looking at him and loving him from afar.” She said and I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I am already used to it and, anyway, you know I don’t like to attract attention to myself.” I told her while we headed to our first class, which was chemistry for me. Luckily, the teacher didn’t show up, so we could do whatever we wanted to. Since Myra was not in this class with me, I was bored so I looked around before taking out my diary from my backpack. I didn’t really like to carry it with me because it was risky, but I was glad I did today because I didn’t know what to do with myself for half an hour until my next class started. I opened it on an empty page because I had a few photos attached to some pages about Kevin and I didn’t want anyone to see them. I made myself comfortable on my chair and started to write down my thoughts and feelings.

I had written two whole pages already when suddenly someone snatched the diary out of my hand. I reached after it but I was too slow and she already started reading it loudly.

“My day started well because we didn’t have a teacher….”

“Give it back Jade.” I cut her off. She was part of the popular group and one of Kevin’s girlfriends too. She was the queen B of the school, but she had never bullied me before. “That’s private.” I told her but she was acting like she didn’t hear me and continued reading my diary to the whole class.

“He is more handsome day by day and my heart flutters all the time I see him. I wish he would notice me one day…” she continued shamelessly.

“Stop it Jade, why are you doing this?” I asked her and I felt my tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Awww… she has a secret crush, how cute.” She said and my hands started shaking. I didn’t want her to discover who my crush was. Luckily, I was able to snatch my diary back from her when she was distracted by her friends and she glared at me. I put the lock back on it quickly and put it on the bottom of my bag.

“Please, leave me alone.” I pleaded with her and she let out an annoyed sigh.

“Alright, but I am still curious..” she said and turned around to go back to her seat and her friends followed her. I let out a sigh of relief and swore to myself never to bring my diary to school again. What was I thinking anyway? Why did I take it out while I was in the same room as them? Jade is cruel, especially if it comes to Kevin. She has been obsessed with him for years already and always tries to make the girl’s life hell who he is currently ‘dating’.

I got up as soon as the bell rang and headed to my next class, which was P.E. Even though I was a bit chubby, I was good at sports and I liked P.E. Sadly, I didn’t have so many classes together with Myra, but I didn’t mind to be alone. She had other friends too, so she was with them most of the time. There were some nerds like me who I talked to sometimes when I was in a mood for company, but that was rare.

I arrived at the changing room and headed to my locker to start to change my clothes for the class. When I finished, I folded my clothes nicely and placed them in my locker along with my bag and headed out to the field with the rest of the girls where my class would take place, since the weather was nice.

Half of the class went by stretching and running and I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and I looked towards the bench to see Jade’s two minions, Jennifer and Amber, sitting and whispering while they were looking at me. I found it strange, but it was even more strange that I didn’t see Jade with them. I got a terrifying thought so I excused myself from the teacher to go to the bathroom and ran inside the changing room quickly.

My heart skipped a beat when I found Jade by my locker while she was reading my diary.

“What the hell?” I asked loudly, which startled her and she dropped my diary on the floor along with her phone. I picked it up quickly while she picked her phone from the floor and glared at me.

“My suspicion was right, it’s Kevin.” She said smugly and came closer to me while my eyes widened. “What were you thinking, he would stop so low to even notice you? Don’t make me laugh.” She said and walked out of the changing room with her head held high and I sat down in defeat.

“Great.” I told myself sadly. Now the whole school will know my secret, which I tried to hide for years. Kevin would think I was a crazy girl who was obsessed with him.

'What do I do now?' I just hoped she wouldn’t make fun of me and wouldn’t tell him about it either, but I knew I was hoping for the impossible.

I put everything back in my locker and headed back to the field. I didn’t see Amber and Jennifer anywhere. I guessed they were planning to humiliate me in front of the whole school already.

After P.E., I met up with Myra and she had a worried expression on her face.

“What happened, Kylie? How did Jade know about your crush on Kevin?” She asked and my heart started to beat faster and my face turned red.

“She read my diary.” I told her quietly and she gasped with wide open eyes.

“Why would you bring your diary here? Are you out of your mind?” She asked and I sighed in defeat.

“I know. What should I do now?” I asked her sadly.

“I don’t know, but she already told half of the school,” She said.

“Let’s just see what will happen.” I told her with a sigh and we went on our separate ways to our next class. When I walked into the classroom, everyone was looking at me, laughing and whispering and I knew why. I just walked to my seat in the last row with my head hanging low and sat down quietly. I wished the teacher would be here soon, but when I looked up, all my hopes flew out of the window. Jade was walking towards me with a smug smile on her face, followed by her whole group. Kevin was there as well. He was the last one who stepped into the classroom with an annoyed and bored expression on his face.

“Well, well, well… look who is here. Your crush, is he making your heart flutter at this time too?” She asked mockingly and the whole classroom burst out laughing along with her friends. I looked towards him, but he was not laughing, he just stood there and rolled his eyes at Jade with the same bored expression while his arms were folded in the front of his chest and he was leaning on the doorframe. My face turned crimson red and that made them laugh even harder.

“Look at her, she is blushing, she looks like a tomato.” Damian said while still laughing, and I just wished the ground would open up under my feet and swallow me.

“What do you want Jade?” I asked her with all of my courage and they looked at me with surprise, even Kevin. “Don’t you know that it’s rude to go through other people’s stuff without their permission?” I asked her furiously and stood up from my seat.

“Look at that, she has a death wish or she is just simply stupid,” Amber said, and they burst out laughing again. I looked at Kevin again briefly and found him still looking at me. His attention made me nervous and made my hands shake.

“I do what I want to, it’s not my problem that you are stupid enough to bring your diary to school with your secrets in it.” She said with a shrug. “But if you are stupid enough to have a crush on someone who was way out of your league, then I am not surprised.” She added and they burst out laughing once again. I felt so embarrassed, everyone was laughing at me and making fun of me. My eyes filled up with tears, but I refused to let them out in their presence.

“Did you really think that he would ever like you?” Amber asked. “Look at you… and even if you looked decent, who would like an orphan?” She said and the whole class gasped while she burst out laughing with Jade. I looked up at them angrily because this was the most touchy topic for me and I was hoping she wouldn’t get the chance to read that in my diary, but she did.

“Are you feeling better when you bully someone or are you doing it out of boredom? What if I am an orphan? Obviously, they raised me better than your parents raised you.” I told her while tears were rolling down my cheeks and they were gaping at me in disbelief. I used the opportunity to storm out of there till they were distracted, without even looking at Kevin at the door. I ran out of school and I didn’t stop till I reached my destination. It was a quiet clearing in the woods. This was the spot where I used to go when things turned bad, like today.

Yes, I was an orphan. I lost my parents in a car accident when I was ten and since then I have lived in that hell hole they call an orphanage. That was why I couldn’t wait for high school to end, because when college started, I would be out of here and I would never come back again.

I looked up at the sky and started crying even harder.

“Why did you leave me, why did you guys leave me alone? What can I do all alone in this cruel world? Why didn’t you take me with you?” I screamed towards the sky while sobbing uncontrollably.

When the sun could barely be seen on the horizon, I decided to go ‘home’ before I got in trouble once again. I didn’t know how I would face everyone at school tomorrow, but that was a problem for later. At the moment I need to deal with Mrs. Morris and her bad mood like always.