Where A Bunny Burrows

I had awoken to the sound of rain tapping on my window. I knew the day was going to be dreadful by the earth's weather choice for my town. It looked dark and gloomy in my room; I'm sure school would look the same way the entire day. It was April, and I lived in a boring town, Springville. It was located down in Utah County, Utah. We didn't have a very big population. A small town where everyone knew everyone. It didn't seem like I got any privacy. If people saw me out and about, I would have to be on my best behavior, or it would get back to my parents. Things were boring around here. Toaday, I chose to wear skinny jeans and a black/grey striped hoodie with a hole in one of the sleeves. My Converse were worn out, too. The laces were no longer white but grey, and the edges between my feet started to tear. I got downstairs and wasn't surprised to see that my parents had already left for work. I was always up after they left, and if they were feeling generous, they would leave breakfast for me. If not, I would have to fend for myself. Today, there was no breakfast. I settled for some toast with honey. I usually had a little appetite. This resulted in me being quite skinny. I was always noticed. This made people comment on how thin I was. Sometimes, people were trying to be innocent with their comments, but other people would be cruel. Mocking me; telling me to eat a burger, etc. I made it early to the bus stop, so I sat there in the rain feeling distant and frustrated. I wished I could have stayed in bed, and I dreaded the day ahead of me. I had an alternating school schedule, so today's half of my classes were my least favorite. I had math where I sat right next to Jessica. She would always pretend to forget my name and call me names like "Skinny Minny." I hated sitting next to her. I also had math that I wasn't really good at. My teacher, Mrs. Bradley, always picked on me to answer. It's almost like she knew that I wouldn't know the answer, and she wanted me to feel embarrassed. The bus arrived. I felt relieved that i was the first stop and the only person here. The bus driver gave me a smile, but all I managed was a nod. I sat in the very back with the seat squeaking meeting my wet butt. It felt like a long process getting to school. Stopping at each stop and waiting for everyone to get on. Thankfully, everyone left me alone. Once I got to school, I threw my backpack into my locker and pulled out a couple of binders for my classes today. When I got to science, Jessica was already sitting down, waiting to torment me. Surprisingly, she didn't notice me sitting down. She was staring at the front of the class because there was already an assignment up on the bored. We were currently working on the different types of relationships that occur in nature. Today's discussion was covering symbiotic relationships. This unit seemed to be the hardest one for everyone to concentrate on except Jessica. she was glued to the subject. It's probably because she's a blood sucking leach, and we talk about those often. She turned away from the assignment enough to notice me. "You're supposed to put your clothes on after the shower, not before." Gee, how original. Half the class is wet from the rain, and I've been insulted worse by a chicken sandwich, but I didn't want to get into it with her. I just rolled my eyes. Thankfully, science went by quickly. We worked individually on our symbiotic relationship assignment, and the class was quiet the rest of the time. When I got to math, we had a new student up at the front with Mrs. Bradley. He was pale with light freckles covering his nose. He had dark fringe that covered his forehead and eyebrows. His eyes were a dark brown, the color of a dark roast coffee. He had on black skinny jeans with the knees ripped out and an Invader Zim hoodie. "Class, this is Nico Vanderbilt. Our new student. Please show him the same treatment you would want to receive." Mrs. Bradley said seriously. The seat next to me was the only seat in the class that was empty, which meant he would be sitting by me. He shyly smiled at me as he passed my desk to sit down. I didn't know how I felt about it. I had never been one to return a smile, but I did this time. In math, we were working on linear equations, which I was clueless about. Mrs. Bradley passed out today's assignment with little to no instructions. I had no idea what I was even looking at. It could have been an alien language for all I knew. I sighed to myself and started to mess with the first equation. I looked over at the new guy, and he had already filled out the first 3 equations. I was shocked. I wasn't one to judge people by their appearances too harshly, but he didn't seem like the type of guy to just understand math. I immediately envied him. I felt a little embarrassed slipping my nearly blank assignment into my binder towards the end of the class. I immediately jumped up when the bell rang. I was so over this class. My next class was language arts, and that was my easiest class of the day. I enjoyed my teacher, Mrs. Taylor. She made the subject entertaining. The class always went by quickly, and we were working on a writing assignment. I was pretty good at writing. I enjoyed creative writing and spent a lot of time doing it. Before I could enter my class, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Nico. "Ugh, hey. I noticed you don't seem to get the math assignment. Um... I was wondering if you wanted some help with it." I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say. I just slowly nodded my head. He started to smile. "Great. I'll meet you here after your class." Great. I think I made a friend.