The goodwill
It was almost time. A minute left on the
clock until it struck 3 - the end of school.
Gathering all my papers, I stuffed them
carelessly into my binder. At long last-
the weekend was here.
The bell rung and I remained seated,
hoping to wait out the crowd of 'kids
stampeding their way to the door. When
all was clear, I stood up, waved tiredly
to the teacher and trudged outside the
classroom and into the bleak hallways
It was a Friday, the last day of school
till Monday and honestly, there was
not a more joyous occasion. School was
a horror-ridden nightmare, especially
when spent alone
I sighed heavily and opened my locker.
Throwing my books in, I turned to glance
at myself in the small mirror attached
to the wall of the locker door, studying
my reflection. My brown hair was up
in a pony tail, giving a perfect view of
my face. Two brown doe eyes stared
back at me and I sighed heavily at the
blatant lack of effort I had given into my
appearance when getting ready every
morning
"You can keep looking, but it won't
change what you look like." A voice
sneered teasingly from behind me. whirled on my heel to come face to face
with Britney Sanders- otherwise referred
to as the girl who had bullied me as
soon as she was capable of forming a
full sentence. I hated her, but I couldn't
deny the fact that, no matter how fake
Britney looked, she was what I aspired to
look like. She was gorgeous. Her blonde
hair cascaded smoothly down her back,
outlining her slim jawline. She wore a
floral blouse and shin-length pencil skirt,
showing off her thin legs, her entire look
ending with ballet flats. Her face was
slender and a natural tan coloured her
face. She exuded the impression of a
Mediterranean goddess.
"What are you staring at?" Britney
snapped yet she was smiling slightly. Yes-
it was evident in her eyes that she was
aware that I envied her. She liked the fact
that I would do anything to look like her
However, this didn't stop the bullying
rather it encouraged it, acting as a means
for her to showcase her beauty to a
pathetic soul such as me every single
day, only increasing the envy I felt.
Britney chuckled slightly to herself.
'You're so pathetic." She squeaked
looking down at her nails. Tears threatened to sting at my eyes at the
remark and I looked around. Students
stood and watched as the scene played
out- most passed by and ignored my
plight yet a small few looked in sympathy.
Nonetheless, none of them stood up for
me. This always happened. No one came
to my protection. No one would be my
saviour. But I wouldn't cry.
No. I had kept a vow to myself that I
would never satisfy anyone by letting
them see me weak or vulnerable to their
taunts. I would never break down.
Britney scowled at me. She always did
when I produced no reaction unlike her
other victims. Suddenly, she reached out,
hitting the remaining books out of my
hand. She smiled, satisfied to have left
her mark and walked away, her shoes
making a tottering sound as she left
Everyone turned away from me. They
were bored. The entertainment had
left, but I was grateful that the attention
had been taken off of me. Picking
up my books, I looked to see where
everyone's attention had fallen now and
immediately rolled my eyes.
There, walking down the hallway with
his friends, was the schools 'golden boy'
I looked at a group of girls smiling subtly
in their direction, no doubt competing
with their friends for his attention and
all the guys smiled and greeted him as
though he was their best friend. Heck,
everyone wished to be his best friend.
He smiled cockily, walking down the
hallway as if it was his personal property.
On his right, a blond-haired boy stood,
walking equally as cockily, his muscles
were big and taut and every now and
then he would smile flirtatiously at a
girl, as they practically pleaded for his
mere presence. This made him laugh
raucously, his brown eyes twinkling with
amusement. His name was Daniel yet his
friends knew him as Danny.
My gaze fell to the left of the 'golden boy'
where a black haired boy stood, his grey
eyes bored and unfazed- a scowl etched
permanently in his features. His name
was Justin. I watched him eye the people
crowding them in distaste. He merely
waved off any girls who called for his
attention and stood texting on his phone,
looking up often to ward of anyone that
tried to approach them.
A lot of guys wanted to befriend them
and mostly every girl wanted to date
them. They were the populars, the bad
boys, the hotties and smack bang in middle was their leader.Aaron Walker.
He strode confidently down the hallway.
making small talk with girls who called
his name. His black hair was tousled
He laughed alongside his friends, lifting
his head into the air ever so slightly. His
laugh sent chills up my spine. His blue
eyes shone with mischief as he flirted
shamelessly with every girl, laughing
when they nodded animatedly at every
word that came out his mouth.
I rolled my eyes. I mean, I knew he
was good looking. Ok, I knew he was
gorgeous, but from what I had gathered,
by being made to sit with him in classes
is that he was a total ass who loved only
himself. He would have a girlfriend for
a short period of time and then move on
when he was bored. How could he still
have so many girls still after him?
I tore my sight away from the ridiculous
scene in front of me and focused on
taking out some books out of my locker.
It WAS the last day of school and if I
didn't bring my books I wouldn't be able
to study during the weekends and then I
would be left with completely nothing to
do.The only thing I did out of school hours
was study and... I shook my head to
clear my thoughts. I slammed my locker
shut and turned around. I let out a small
startled noise at the sight in front of me.
Right in front of me stood The 'Golden
Boy', his hands stuffed in his pockets,
smiling and his eyes were on me. I
blinked. I blinked again. The boy still
stood there, his smile replaced with a
look of impatience. I soon realised he was
expecting me to talk. My mouth opened
and then closed. I couldn't find the words.
What was I supposed to say?
Surely, he was supposed to start the
conversation. He did walk up to me
But he was Aaron Walker and whoever
he wanted to talk to had to talk to him
I suppressed an eye roll and looked to
him warily, meeting his gaze dead-on
The colour surprised me slightly. From a
distance, they seemed to be an ocean blue
yet up close, they were an electrifying
pale blue; a lining of grey shading his iris.
I straightened up rigidly, looking slightly
away when I had ogled for too long and-
much to my dismay- he had a bemused
expression, smirking at me. He was
clearly under the misconception I waS
'checking' him out.I cleared my throat at this and exhaled
through my nose, causing my nose to
flair slightly. He watched every action
intently.
"Can I help you?" I said curtly, a hint of
irritation bubbling in my voice.
He didn't seem to notice and opened his
mouth to speak, but closed it again before
looking around. A group of people had
formed around us now and I hated it.
Aaron glared pointedly to the crowd,
annoyance apparent on his features. The
crowd gradually started to decrease and
only Britney remained at the end. She
stared long and hard at me, venom clear
in her eyes. I stared back, showing equal
hatred.
I wasn't scared of any of these people.
Yes, I let them bully me, but only because
fighting with them wasn't worth the
trouble. I didn't, however, let them see
me cry. I was too strong for that. I had to
be strong
Aaron glanced between the two of us,
noticing the stares we were giving each
pther. He scanned around the hallways
tapping his shoe repeatedly on the
marble floor. He must have thought that
he waited long enough as his impatience got the better of him and he cleared
his throat loudly, ending the stare-off
amongst Britney and me.
Britney tore her gaze from me and smiled
flirtatiously to Aaron. He grinned widely
at this. I rolled my eyes. Oh, how he loved
being the centre of attention.
'Er, look Brooklyn," he started lazily,
gesturing tiredly with his hands.
"Britney," she piped up, sweetly.
He rolled his eyes. I bit my lip to stop
myself from laughing. It was pretty clear
he didn't care.
"Yeah, Britney. I really need to talk to...."
He raised his eyebrow at me, awaiting for
me to throw in my name
I supressed the scoff that was about to
leave my lips at his blatant disregard for
my existence when I had been in most
his classes since the start of school. It was
obvious now that the surplus of looks
was, no doubt, a guise for his lack of
memory.
"Alexis" I deadpanned, eying him with a
flat stare. He smiled in return.'I really need to talk to Alexis, so if you
don't mind...'
Britney's flirtatious smile faltered a little
bit causing me to grin toothily: I waS
enjoying this conversation way more
han I had planned. Nevertheless, Britney
brightened instantly.
"Yeah, I'm going, but you'll get back to
me about planning Madison's birthday,
right?" She asked, the desperation
practically seeping out of her words.
"Sure, er, Bridget,' he responded, his face
marred with boredom.
"It's Britney," she chirped, the sickly smile
never leaving her face.
"Yeah, I'm sure it is," he deadpanned,
eying his watch before looking up and
dismissing her with a small wave.
"Bye," she all but chirped out, her voice
coated with such a sick sweetness it made
me gag
With one last glare sent towards me,
Britney tottered down the hall, stopping
at the end, where she turned briskly put
her manicured hand to her mouth and
blew a small kiss in Aaron's direction.He lazily drew his hand up, not taking
his eyes off me, and captured the kiss.
With this, Britney smiled contently and
sauntered away.
Aaron stole one last look at her before he
turned his full attention to me, his face
turning from boredom to seriousness in
a matter of seconds. He cleared his throat
before speaking.
"I need a favour.'