Living a nightmare

Chapter 4

Julie was in math class during fourth period as everyone waited for Mr Ford - the math teacher - to come. He was five minutes late already and the class was just rowdy and noisy in general.

She saw Audrey chatting away and laughing with Hailey and her friends, some jocks at the back were picking on a nerd - Samuel who just buried his head on the desk, some girls sat in a group giggling away as one the school's biggest playboy flirted with them while the rest did all other random things.

She didn't have any friends so she just sat there at a seat beside the window, looking at every other person and checking her phone from time to time.

When next she glance up after checking her phone, her eyes met Marco's who was smiling at her from his seat. Her heart missed a beat suddenly seeing him there. She hadn't quite spoken to him after the day she had seen him with Audrey. But it wasn't that she was avoiding him, it was more of her not getting to see him as frequently as she did normally.

Or was she actually avoiding him?

She wasn't certainly sure.

He waved at her and mouthed a 'how are you' at her making her to smile back at him and nod telling him she was fine.

Then she saw Audrey strut over to him and sit on his desk. She crossed her legs making her skirt reveal more skin than supposed while twirling her hair.

Audrey then turned and gave her a sly smirk before turning back to Marco.

Marco gave Julie a little smile then turned to face Audrey who now started a discussion with him about what she(Julie) didn't quite know about.

Julie turned away from them and looked out of the window, wrapping her hands round herself and wondering where it all went wrong with Audrey.

She could recall how close they actually were in Middle school without knowing they would turn out this way. She remembered them even owning friendship bracelets promising to be friends forever and always together.

And even how she always shared her lunch with Audrey. Audrey's mum always packed her Fruits and vegetables because she wanted Audrey to eat healthy while her(Julie) on the other hand would share her Cookies, candies and soda with Audrey. It was a good memory though, considering how after eating the sweets, they still had to split Audrey's lunch to eat so Audrey's mum won't be mad at her. And Julie would always be the one with the greater portion of vegetables and fruits. A few times, she even offered to eat all the vegetables for her.

Audrey was the one who stood up for her each time someone bullied her because she couldn't stand up for herself and even punched a few of them while her in turn helped Audrey with most of her assignments as she was smarter.

They had just been the perfect best friends everyone dreamt about.

Then during the second half of freshman year, Audrey started acting weirdly. She started avoiding her, she didn't sit with her during lunch, she didn't sit with her in class either, she stopped talking to her, she stopped coming over to her house. In fact to Julie, it was as if Audrey just became a new person over the night.

Julie had asked her severally if she had done something wrong or if something had happened. But Audrey's answer was always "no, nothing is wrong" or "You didn't do anything" or she just kept quiet and walked away. It continued that way until eventually, they started to grow apart. A month or so later, she saw Audrey begin to hang out with Hailey and her friends. The same group of people that Audrey and her hated together. The same group of people who would bully her and Audrey would stand up for her. She was now friends with them leaving her behind.

She had felt lonely and it had hurt quite alright seeing Audrey with them but Julie had thought that maybe one day, the same way Audrey had changed overnight, she would change again and they'd be best friends again.

But she was wrong. Very wrong.

Because the next time Hailey and her friends bullied her and locked her up in the Janitor's closet, it had hurt more than anything. That was one of the thing that had hurt her the most all her life. Sure she was used to Hailey's bullying, but the fact that her best friend was there, watching her and not doing anything, not standing up for her again, was what hurt more.

And then she had to swallow it with a pinch of salt, that her and Audrey weren't friends again.

But now, she didn't care again, they were different people. Audrey was among the popular girls in school girls looked up to and boys worshipped and she was just.. her. Nothing special. Nothing interesting.

Just then Mr Ford walked briskly into the class making everyone to settle down.

"I'm a bit late and I apologize for that," He said bringing out a bundle of papers from his bag. "I will now give out your test papers." He announced then started handing out the papers row after row.

He complimented those who had passed the test as he gave their papers to them while he told those who failed just how disappointed he was in them.

Soon enough, he was at Julie's roll. He started handing out the papers one after the other.

"McCain, I'm quite surprised you're topping the class these days." He said to the person behind Julie as he gave out the paper.

The name sounded a bit familiar to her but at the moment, she wasn't really interested in knowing who was sitting behind her. She wasn't sure she was that interested in seeing her test paper or even excited at the tiniest bit. She couldn't remember how the test went or even if she wrote well. She just wanted to leave there.

"I'm surprised too." A male voice replied making Mr Ford to laugh a little.

Then Mr Ford came over to Julie and examined her while handing her her paper.

"Thanks." She mumbled collecting it and seeing the red marker on her paper used to write the letter 'F'.

Mr Ford bent a little over her and adjusted his glasses. "What is wrong Miss Norman? He asked almost in a whisper but considering how quiet the class was, she knew that maybe the whole class was obviously hearing him. "I was dumbfounded when I marked your paper. You were always the top in the tests." He continued.

Julie bent her head and bit her lips. "I'll try harder next time." She responded turning her paper face down.

"If you have a problem, you can talk to someone or even myself." He said again.

"No I'm fine." She mumbled raising her head and faking a smile at him.

"Okay then." Mr Ford said then continued sharing the papers.

Julie could feel some eyes looking at her, especially Marco's. Everyone knew she was always the best in maths and two to three other subjects. And for rest, she got really good grades on them. And all of a sudden, she was getting a fail, for the very first time in highschool.

She sat with her head still bent low while she played with her fingers. Then she heard someone snicker beside her.

"Looks like Miss smarty pants failed a test." Hailey sneered while her friends laughed giving her high fives.

"Silence Miss Rodgers." Mr Ford ordered from where he was standing.

"Okay." She replied then plastered a smirk on her face still looking at Julie.

Julie ignored her and looked away knowing Hailey was only trying to get on her nerves again. She made eye contact with Audrey who looked away almost immediately. She then sighed and got out her book to write.

A minute or so later, Mr Ford had started teaching the topic they had for the day and she just sat mopping at nothing in particular and waiting for his period to be over. The book she had gotten out to write on was on her desk, open and empty.

She felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jeans. Her head snapped up to check if Mrs Ford was looking but fortunately, he was backing the class.

She then sneaked out the phone and checked to see who was calling her but it was an unsaved number. Hesitantly, she shoved the phone back into her pocket while reminding herself to call the person back. In less than five seconds, the phone was vibrating again.

She checked to see the same number on the screen and immediately, she tensed up. Her breathing increased and her hand shook as she tapped on the green receive icon.

She murmured a quick prayer hoping it wasn't what she had in mind that had happened.

"H-hello." She stuttered into the phone on a low voice.

"Miss Julie Norman right?" Came a lady's voice from the other side.

"Y-yes, yes." She answered holding her breath.

The lady let out a sigh. "Oh thank goodness, I've been trying to reach Ivy Norman's family. She is currently at the hospital and we expect you to be here soon."

Julie sprang up from her seat, grabbed her backpack and rushed out from the class ignoring the eyes that stared at her and Mr Ford's voice calling her back.

It was just what she had in mind that had happened

* * *

I'm here again. Yes me. How are y'all?? That's another chapter. You've read about half of Audrey and Julie's story. I said half cause you know, there's more that happened than just that. So you have to keep on reading.

Want to know what happened to Ivy? Next chapter is here to save the day.

Enough spoilers and wasting of your time. Let's get going!!

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We're stars and we all shine differently. ??

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Listen to *End of time by Alan walker, k-391 and Ahrix.

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~ a person, Mandy.