Love Beyond Words

Chapter 2

For a place that made me so miserable, Bedford High School really was a beautiful place.

Bedford happened to have the good fortune of being zoned in with the richest part of town, so it definitely did not lack for funds! The campus consisted of buildings made from bright red brickwork connected by hallways that were partially exposed to the outside, which benefited greatly from our relatively temperate climate.

Speaking of climate, it was a lovely spring day. The grass was green, the sky was a deep blue and the trees' leaves were finally starting to fill out as winter wholly gave way to spring.

Dad made a comfortably middle-income living, but that still made me "poor" by Bedford standards. It was only an accident of zoning that had me going to the fancy school. Most of my peers had cars of their own, and nice cars at that. As for me, though, I was still stuck with my bicycle.

Not that that was terrible, by any means. I may not have been strong or coordinated or anything like that, but that didn't mean I had nothing going for me as far as athleticism was concerned. I was reasonably fast for a girl my age, and had really good endurance. I even went out for cross-country my Freshman year, but it quickly become clear I'd never fit in with my teammates, so I ended up quitting.

I found one of the few bike racks, lucky to actually get a spot before they all filled. Not that I was really worried about anybody stealing my battered old bike, but there were plenty of kids around campus who would mess with it to mess with me, so I couldn't take any chances with it.

After locking up my bike, I made my way through the bustling halls. Most of the other students towered over me, and I always felt like I'd be trampled at any moment trying to navigate those halls. When I first showed up to Bedford I still held out hope I'd eventually grow a few more inches, but that never materialized and I'd since resigned myself to life as a 5'2" midget.

"Well well, Hannah! You look lovely today," an all-too-familiar voice said in a voice that made it very clear she thought I looked anything but "lovely."

Sure enough, when I turned around there she was. Annie Hanson, one of the most popular girls in schools and one of my main tormentors.

Annie was everything that I wasn't. She was tall and beautiful, with long strawberry blonde hair that never had a strand out of place and beautiful eyes that were a deep blue. Her skin was tanned and flawless. She had large breasts and all the curves I wished I had but never developed. She wasn't afraid to show off her body, either. She wore a pink tank top and short white skirt that I was pretty sure were technically outside the requirements of the school dress code, not that anybody would ever call her out on it.

Annie wasn't alone either. With her was Mike Williams. He was every bit as popular as Annie, and the two of them had recently started dating. Honestly I thought between the two of them they'd dated every other popular kid in the school, and so their getting together in a lot of ways seemed like it was just each others' "turn".

Mike was a linebacker on the football team and an absolute monster of a man. He was about the same height as my dad, but where Dad was kind of lanky, Mike was a walking mass of muscle. I was pretty sure his biceps were bigger than my waist! He kept his blond hair cut in a sharp crew cut. His eyes were an icy blue that along with his cleanly shaven chiseled jaw gave me soldier vibes. He was dressed today in a pair of camo-patterned cargo shorts and a red tee-shirt emblazoned with the hawk that served as our school’s mascot.

“H… hi... hi An... Ann," I tried to say, my stutter getting worse as nerves got the better of me.

“God, please stop,” Annie said with an eye roll, “I swear, how have you still not learned to talk. Are you, like, a total retard or what?”

I had to put up with a lot of insults at school, but being called a “retard” (or a “dummy” or “stupid” or any other variant of the word) more than any other. I hated it because it was the one insult I knew wasn’t true. I knew I was smart. I did good in my classes, for the most part. When writing I could put my thoughts down on paper as well as anybody else.

When it came to words though, well, that was a different story.

Not that I could really blame people for thinking I was stupid. Like it or not, verbal communication was how people communicated in the real world. If I sounded like a total moron when I spoke, I couldn’t really blame people for thinking I was a total moron.

“I… I’m… n… not a…” I tried to stammer out, but Mike cut me off before I could finish.

“Hey, it’s your boyfriend!” he exclaimed, pointing behind me.

I didn’t need to turn around to know exactly who he was talking about.

“L… leave M…. Melvin a….” I began, trying to defend my former-friend.

Mike and Annie paid me no mind, though. They walked right past me like I wasn’t even there, Annie just about knocking me over as she purposely plowed into me.

“Watch where you’re going, loser,” she said dismissively as she followed her boyfriend over to their next victim.

Up until not-so-long-ago, I’d have considered Melvin to be my best friend. He was almost as low on the social totem pole as I was. He was short as far as guys went, though still several inches taller than me. What he lacked in height, though, he made up in girth. He was probably two to two-and-a-half times my weight, coming in somewhere around 250 lbs. He had unkempt greasy brown hair, terrible acne, and glasses that were even thicker than my own.

I was never really attracted to Melvin, but for a long time I thought I’d end up marrying him one day. He was the only guy, the only person really besides my Dad, who seemed to genuinely like me. He was the person who’d gotten me into video games and anime and all my other major interests.

Then I’d gone and ruined everything.

“Hey dork!” Mike exclaimed as he closed in on Melvin, “we were just chatting with your girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Melvin said coldly.

“Don’t be shy, Melvin,” Annie said with a grin, “Heavens knows that girl can’t use that mouth of hers to talk, so she’d might as well use it to suck your d**k!”

I felt my cheeks go beet red at the implication. I’d certainly never done that!

“Just leave me alone,” Melvin sighed.

“Aww, come one, don’t be like that,” Mike said, “Come on, tell me how she was. I’ve never gotten head from a retard before! Though I guess if she’s not your girlfriend maybe I could give it a try!”

Mike looked over at me and winked, making my skin totally crawl.

“Mike, you’re going to make me jealous!” Annie shot back in mock annoyance, “I thought I was the only girl for you.”

“Oh, you are babe,” he replied as he wrapped his arm around her and gave her a quick kiss, “I don’t think Hannah really qualifies as a ‘girl,’ don’t you?”

“Totally not,” Annie agreed, “She’s got the body of a ten-year-old boy.”

“Still, she’s a good match for Melvin. He’s got the body of a sack of lard!” Mike added.

About that point the couple seemed to lose interest in Melvin and me and meandered off, not bothering with even a bach-handed goodbye.

“M… Melvin, I… I’m so… sorry for,” I tried to apologize, feeling terrible he’d gotten dragged into that mess.

“Hannah, don’t,” Melvin sighed, shaking his head and walking away.

I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes. Everything Annie and Mike had said had been cruel and hurt. But the way Melvin, the guy who had once been my best friend, my only friend, just shrugged me off, that totally broke my heart.

I made my way through the flood of students, hoping nobody would see my eyes redden and hoping to find a place where I could cry in peace.