What hurts more than when someone forgets? {Eng} PG

What hurts more than when someone forgets what once was?
What hurts more when you realize they're gone?
What hurts more than when someone you're close forgets your very existence?
What hurts more than when someone forgets your love for them?

Chloe is the new girl. She's been to so many different schools, and states, before that she doesn't even care. Well not until she realizes that someone in her grade needs her. And gradually she begins to realize... that she needs him too.

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Chapter one.
Chloe

“Now class, please calm down a bit, and let me introduce the new student.” Ugh, how many times haven’t I heard those exact words? Well it wouldn’t matter that much if it wasn’t for the fact that they were always about me. I’ve switched schools, and states, so many times now that I’ve actually lost count. And I’m not even nervous about the new class. I can’t even feel the least bit excitement over this school, as I’m sure it isn’t better than the last. “This is Chloe Lorissa Mathilda…” oh seriously? She’s actually going to say all of my middle names? I sigh and roll my eyes, “Abigail Addison…” I look at her with doubt. She can’t possibly know all my names by heart, as expected she’s looking at a sheet of paper. A few people in the class are starting to giggle a little. “Ellen Marlene-” I cough loudly and she looks up.
“Nobody is actually going to remember all of my names, so do us all a favor and get to my last name. Because there are like ten more names to go.” A few people laugh out loud.
“Now, now.” Mrs Crone says, “There is no reason to be ashamed of your names.” And then she smiles. I frown.
“I’m not ashamed of them. It’s just that my feet are aching and I’d love to sit down and you’ll probably mispronounce the last one anyway.”
“You can’t know that unless you try it!” she says happily and starts looking at the piece of paper “So-lang.” she says. I sigh.
“Solange, So-Lanzh.” I correct her and she blushes. “Can I sit down now?”
“You’re being rude now!” she tells me and shakes her finger.
“Oh really? I had no idea.” I say, she doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm in my voice.
“That’s okay sweetie. Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself before you sit down? Now we’ve heard you’ve lived in seventeen different states. Is that right.” I nod but don’t say anything. I want to make this as short as possible. I don’t like telling people I don’t know my life’s story. “How has that been?” she says and smiles like she really cares. I just shrug. She seems a little taken a back.
“What are some places you’ve been to then?” a girl says and smiles at me. Just by looking at her facial expression and the other student’s reactions, I know she’s the teacher’s pet. Everyone sighs and rolls their eyes. I decide to just please her and count up five states I’ve lived in. She nods and smiles like she’s heard of them all before. Mrs. Crone seems pleased.
“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?” another girl says. She seems curious for real. I smile and say,
“Mars.” Everyone laughs. And the girl that asked the question giggles. A boy says,
“I like this one already.” Immediately the smile is wiped of my face and I glare at him. He leans back and looks surprised. He holds up his hands in front of him as if to say, ‘Calm down, just kidding.’ But I don’t care. I am not an item. I don’t care if he didn’t mean it in that way. Mrs Crone seems to sense the tension in the room so she asks me if I have any talent I’d like to share.
“No.” I say.
“There must be something. Are you saying you’re not good at anything?” she says and laughs a little as if the idea is silly.
“That’s not what I said.” When she frowns I continue, “you asked me if I had a talent I’d like to share.”
“Are you afraid what we’ll think? Don’t worry, in here everyone’s like a big happy family.” She says and smiles, “Soon you’ll also realize this.”
“I seriously doubt that.” I say.
“What was that?” she asks. I roll my eyes. I was talking loud and clear. She heard me. When I don’t answer she says.
“You are really being extremely rude Chloe. I don’t know at what kind of schools you’ve been to before, but here we don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.” She says, stands up and towers over me. “Now these people,” she gestures to the rest of the class, “will be your classmates for the rest of the year and if you want them to accept you, you better start being a bit nicer.”
“Accept me?” I say. Okay now she’s managed to get me mad. “Do you realize that to all the schools I’ve been to nobody has ever, I repeat, ever, accepted me? So why should this class be any different! You’re not going to tell me how to act to be accepted, because it won’t work! It never has. So I’ll keep being who I am, okay?” I take a pause. I’m not angry anymore. Just tired. “May I sit down now?” I ask. Mrs. Crone looks absolutely terrified, but she manages to nod. That’s when I realize I’ve been walking towards her making her back away as I’ve been talking. “Sorry.” I say, “I overreacted.” and then I go and sit down in the back of the class. Nobody is going to have the need to say that I’m too proud to admit I was wrong.

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Chapter 2
Eric
I keep my head down low It’s the end of the school day and people are getting their books. It’s crowded and I’ve been lucky so far... Maybe he won’t see me today. I really hope so.
He’s a jerk, a perve, and worst of all seems to have some really strange, bizarre crush on me ever since it came out that I was bi. Ugh. I just really wish I were stronger. If I was, I would push him away, force him to stop bugging me. But I’m not. Actually I’m probably the weakest fourteen-year old in my school. And even if I was stronger he is two years older than me, and the strongest guy in his grade. I hold my breath as I try to sneak past his locker. I’m such a wimp really. I hear it everyday and I know it’s true. Suddenly someone grabs my wrist. I know who it is without having to look and I try to get out of his grip. Of course it doesn’t work.
“Hey blondie, come on, let’s have some fun.” Carl says and forces me to turn around. He grabs my other wrist.
“Cut it out!” I say angrily. And once again try to pull my hands free.
“Someone’s in a mood.” He says and laughs. So do his ‘friends’, or as I like to call them, his followers. Nobody reacts to the fact that I obviously don’t like what he’s doing. Everyone just walks past us. He pushes me towards the lockers and I can’t move. He’s too close and he’s still holding my wrists. I squirm, desperately trying to get free. He’s too strong. I try to step on his foot. Kick him. But I can’t get in a good hit and eventually I just stand still. Breathing hard. And he just smiles. He leans in towards me and I look away.
“Stop.” I say. He ignores me and kisses my cheek. He knows it makes me sick. And that’s why he does it. “Leave me alone!” I say a bit louder and squirm a little again. He kisses my cheek again and I can hear laughter around us as people walk past.
‘Why are you letting him do this!?’ I want to yell. ‘Why can’t you help me!?’ but I don’t. I’m not going to blame anyone else. It’s not their fault he’s doing this, right?
One of his ‘friends’ forces my face up I look around wildly for an escape. “Cut it out!” I shout. Maybe some teacher will hear me. Of course I’m out of luck. He leans closer and sneers. I squirm once again, one last time. Try to make eye contact with someone.
And it works. I catch a girl’s eye. Pleads silently. She looks confused, and a little angry. And just as Carl’s lips are about to reach mine I hear her say,
“Leave him alone!” Carl pauses and I let out a small sigh of relief. He turns around towards the girl, but still holds onto my right wrist. I take a minute to look at her. She has long black hair and is wearing a gray hoodie, a pair of baggy pants and some sneakers. I’ve never seen her before, even thought she seems to be in my grade. But then again it’s quiet a big school.
“Stay out of other people’s business.” He says and then turns his back towards her and looks at me. Well she tried, I think, that’s all she can really do. I close my eyes.
“I said, leave him alone!” I open my eyes in surprise. She’s going to try harder than I expected. He frowns and turns around, this time letting go of my wrists. He had been cutting off the blood flow to my hands and I rub them together trying to take away the numb feeling. Carl takes a step closer to the girl.
“And I said, stay out of other peoples business.” He says mimicking her tone of voice. She looks really angry by now.
“Can’t you see he doesn’t want to!?” She says.
“Hey, I’m just fooling around.” He says and shrugs his shoulders.
“That doesn’t matter one bit!” she says loudly. She’s causing a scene; people are beginning to turn around to take a look at the girl who’s actually standing up for Eric Jensen. Even I am surprised. Carl shakes his head and clicks his tongue. He takes another step towards her. She doesn’t try to back away.
“I can see you’re new here, but this is how things work here, people don’t meddle in other peoples business, okay?”
“No! Not okay!” she says, “Not if that makes it okay for fucking jerks like you to walk around like you own the place and the people!” A lot of students stop now, to watch Carl’s reaction. Once again he takes a step towards her.
“You’re a foul-mouthed little thing, aren’t you?” If anything I think that made her the angriest.
“Shut up! Shut up and leave him alone!” she shouts and shoves him in the chest. Carl shoves her back. Bad move Carl, real bad move. “Just leave him the fuck alone, you son of a bitch!” she says, now furious. And she shoves him with both hands as hard as she can so he is pushed into his locker. Hard.
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother!” he says angrily and rubs the back of his skull where he slammed into the lockers.
He starts walking towards her. Fast, and he raises his hand as if to punch her. A few girls gasp. And I hold my breath. I can’t move, even though what I should do is go stand up for her. But I’m too scared, a wimp. She doesn’t even blink.
“Ooo, touched a soft spot?” she says mockingly.
“Shut it,” he growls, “or else…” he doesn’t finish the sentence, but his raised knuckle makes the threat pretty clear.
“Or else what? Go ahead! Punch me. The consequences will be far worse for you than for me!” She doesn’t even seem scared! She just seems angry. He stands there with his arm raised for a little bit, as if waiting for a result. Then he slowly lowers it. Tells me to get out of his way and tells his friends to go with him. I look back towards the girl to thank her, but she’s already disappearing in the crowd. I have to talk to her. So I follow her. She quickly makes her way towards the girl’s bathroom, opens the door and slips in. I wait for a little bit. Then do the same.
She’s standing in front of the mirrors washing her face. I don’t say anything and she doesn’t react to me coming in. Maybe she didn’t see me?
“You do realize this is the girls bathroom?” she suddenly says and I jump.
“What? Well… yes… but…” Now that I’m finally talking to her I have no idea what to say. “I…mean…. Yes, I do know that, but nobody really cares about that.” She still doesn’t look at me and she doesn’t answer. “I just… eh, I dunno…wanted…ehm, to say thank you.” Why am I stammering? Then I remember that it’s the reason I never talk to people unless I absolutely have to… I’m extremely shy. It was such a long time ago I actually talked to someone who I didn’t have to talk to.
“Don’t mention it.”
“It was really brave.” Suddenly slips out of my lips before I can stop myself, “I mean…eh… the fact that… you just… ” I feel myself blush, and I start scratching my neck. A habit I have whenever I feel uncomfortable. “You…you… you weren’t even scared.” I say quickly. Realizing that if I keep stammering I’ll probably start hyperventilating.
“You kidding me?” she asks, “I was terrified.” I frown. “I mean if you haven’t noticed, the dude’s like two feet taller than me.” She continues and turns around. I’m about to point out that she’s over exaggerating when I realize she’s probably right. She’s really short and like a foot shorter than me. And Carl is about a foot taller than me… strange. She didn’t seem that short when I first saw her in the hallway.
“But… why… why would you…?” if she was that scared it’s surprising she would put herself through that.
“Because nobody else did.” She says and turns around to face me, “And people who abuse their strength or power makes me sick.” And I believe that she’s serious, because I definitely know that sick feeling. Suddenly she frowns. “What happened to your face?” she says.
“Huh?” I touch my face.
“Yeah, you have this big bruise on your left cheek.”
“Oh…” I blush. I know where it’s from. One of Carl’s ‘buddies’ punched me the other day… But I don’t tell her that. “It’s nothing.” I mumble. Is it really that big that you can see it clearly? Oh well…
“Okay well, I’ll see you around.” She says and turns around. That’s my cue to leave and I know it.
“Wait… I just…” I’m not really sure what I’m going to say but it doesn’t matter because at that moment she gets really mad. She twirls around takes three steps towards me until she’s standing so close I can feel her breath on my face.
“Here’s the deal, Eric? Was it?” I nod quickly. I’m breathing fast, “I didn’t do it for you. I would’ve done it for anyone else, it just happened to be you he was trying to kiss.” My heart is beating so hard now that I think it might explode. She must hear it… “This. Does. Not. Make. Us. Friends.” The last sentence she punctuates every word by poking me hard in the chest, “Capische?” I swallow hard and nod. “Good! Now get the hell out of here. Whether or not anyone cares it’s still the girls bathroom!” I don’t need more than that. I turn around, throw the door open and bolt out.

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Chapter 3
Chloe
What a complete douche! And how could all those people just stand there and watch him while Eric was trying get away! Seriously, this school is probably the worst school I’ve ever been to, and it’s only the first day! Eric didn’t stand a chance! I mean that perverted freak was like two years older than him and Eric is so skinny. Not a single muscle showing on that boy. He had almost been crying by the time I told the freak to lay off. Who knows for how long this has been going on? Maybe I was a little harsh on him when I shouted at him… he had only been trying to say thank you… Oh well. I open the door to my house.
“I’m home!” I yell. I hear loud footsteps in the hallway and I brace myself. “Oof!” I say as one of the twins jump into my embrace. “Hey Ellen!” I say as she hugs me, “Hey Lucas.” I add as he hugs my leg. “How was kindergarten?” they both proceed to tell me about their new teachers, their new friends, the new games they learnt, what food they ate and god knows what else. I smile and laugh and answer their questions, until Lucas asks
“What was your school day like?” I smile.
“It was okay, I got an interesting welcome.” They smile and say that that’s great and then ask me to go to the park and play with them. God bless six year olds and their innocence, I think and then help them tie their shoelaces to go out and play.

Eric
I walk up three stairs to get to my apartment. I open up the door and walk into my room. My heart is still beating to fast. I’ve been running home, away from the school and away from Carl. Ugh. Carl, why can’t he just leave me alone? I don’t understand it. But maybe now he will… he was humiliated after all. I sit down in front of my desk. Or maybe he’ll just get even worse now just to prove that some girl isn’t going to stop him. I put my elbows on the desk and bury my face in my hands. I want to start crying. But mom and dad will be home soon, and I don’t want to have to explain the tears. So I force myself to get the homework from Language Arts out and put it on my desk. Write a poem. What about? I can’t write. And poems are the hardest. The only poem I’ve ever heard and actually remembered is “Roses are red Violets are blue sugar is sweet and I love you” Ugh. Love poems are the worst. But grades are important to me. It’s the one thing I can control myself. I can’t stop Carl from doing what he does, I can’t stop people from pushing me around or punching me, I can’t stop my parents from shouting at me for no reason, all I can control are my own actions… and the only thing my own actions actually put a result on are grades. So c’mon! Why is it so hard to write a stupid little poem? The teacher said she wouldn’t read the poem to the class unless we said it was okay so why not just write about how I actually feel… I start scribbling with my bad handwriting. When I’m done, this is what the piece of paper says:

Why can’t you
Can’t you
I don’t understand
Why do you have to make me feel this way?
Can’t you see that what you’re doing really matters hurts?
Don’t you understand that I can’t handle it?
No, of course you don’t. Because to you, I’m just like anybody else.
Just another victim.

I feel quiet happy about it and I’m pretty sure I’ll get an okay grade on it at least. So I write it on another piece of paper, try to make my handwriting as neat as possible and put it in my backpack so I wont forget it the next day. Then I take out the math book and start working in that instead. Math, I’m good at. I have straight A’s on every piece of assignment I get. I’m already ahead in the book,
Ding dong! It’s the doorbell. I get up with a wrinkle in my forehead. Who could that be? My parents have the key to the house. Maybe mom lost it… again. I walk into the hallway and open the door. When I see who it is I slam it shut and lock the door. Carl. What the hell is he doing here? My heart starts racing once again. He can’t get in. I locked the door. So why am I so scared then!? And how the hell does he know where I live? Maybe he doesn’t? And maybe he didn’t have time to see it was me? Maybe he just- I cut of that thought. I live on the fourth floor. The odds are too small he just stopped to ask for directions or something like that. He starts knocking on the door.
“C’mon blondie! Come out, come out!” he says and the small hope within me dies. “Little girlie can’t help you now.” He continues to pound on the door.
But a locked door will, I think. So I keep the door shut, and there is no way I’m going out now. Which he must know... So what’s the point of coming here anyway? None that I can see! All it does is make me scared… And I realize that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want me to feel safe anywhere… Not at school. Not at home… and he’s succeeding. I want to call mom and dad. Right now. I want dad to come and force Carl away and I want mom to come here and hug me. To comfort me and convince me that everything is fine. Like when I was little. But even if I did call them all dad would do is probably talk to Carl, ask him to leave me alone and tell him that he’ll call the school the next day. Mom would freak out, thinking it’s her fault that people are treating me this way. And that would just make things a whole lot worse. So I sit still on the floor, in the middle of the living room. I don’t know why, but I do and wait until the pounding stops. Shortly after I hear Carl walk away, I hear the clinking of keys and the door opens, I stand up and see my dad. I instantly feel much safer.
“Hey, how was school?” he asks without looking at me and walks into the kitchen, I follow him. He already has his head in the fridge.
“It was okay.” I say, “There’s a new girl in my grade.”
“Really?” he says and looks up. I know he’s still trying to melt the fact that I’m not straight… so I’m guessing he’s now hoping that I’ll have some crush on her. “Was she nice?” he asks hopefully.
“Ye-” I take a pause. Was she? We didn’t really talk that much, and when we did she did tell me to get the hell away from her… but she stood up for me.
“Well?” dad is in front of me now eating an apple.
“I guess. I mean she was nice… just sort of… I dunno… strange.” I think that’s the word that best describes her… she stands up for me for no reason, and then she gets mad at me when I was saying thank you. I guess I was a little annoying at that point, but still.
“Strange? How?” I decide to tell him a little of the truth.
“Well this guy and his friends were kinda’ picking on me,” I say, he frowns a little but doesn’t interrupt and takes a bite of his apple, “no big deal really, they where pushing me around a little, I told him to stop and tried to push them away, but you know, I’m not that strong and they wouldn’t leave me alone.” Dad opens his mouth as if to say something but before he does so, I continue, “And then this girl comes up to him and tells him to leave me alone. He just tells her to butt out.” I wait a little. Dad’s still frowning, but doesn’t say anything. He takes another bite of the apple, “Anyway, eventually it comes to the point where he gets really mad, and threatens to punch her. She doesn’t even react.” Now dad is smiling.
“Let me guess, he reacted like a gorilla?” he says with his mouth full.
“Yea- wait, what?” A gorilla? I look at my dad, has he gone mad? He laughs and I guess that my face just shows the look of utter confusedness, “Like a gorilla?” I ask. He swallows his apple and explains,
“Yeah, you know when a gorilla comes up to you all big and scary it expects you to run away, right? Well if you don’t run away or react or even get scared it’ll get confused, and just wander off.” I blink stupidly.
“Yeah… well in that case he did kind of react like a gorilla…” leave it to dad to be smart in his own corky way, I think and when he turns around, to throw the left overs of his apple in the trash, I roll my eyes at him, but smile. In spite of the fact that dad is stupid, old fashioned and sometimes a bit unfair, he still has that humor that will always make me smile. Not because he’s funny, but because it’s a part of him that never changes.
“Wait? Why is that strange?” he says suddenly and turns around, “To me she seems like a really nice girl to stand up for you even though she doesn’t know you.”
“Yeah. I know, it wasn’t that really… It’s just that when I went to go thank her,” I didn’t think it was such a good idea to tell dad that I’d been in the girls bathroom, “she seemed not to care at all at first and then eventually she got really mad at me and said that this did not make us friends. Oh, and did I mention she actually shouted at me? I didn’t say anything wrong.” I think back to what I said just before she got mad, “I don’t think so at least…”
“Don’t worry boy, I bet she’s only playing hard to get.” He says with a wink and elbows my ribs as he walks past me out of the kitchen.
“Dad.” I say and roll my eyes.
“I’m sure you’ll get to her sometime!” Dad shouts from his room, probably to take a nap.
”Dad! Be quiet!” I shout back.
“Is that the way you talk to your father?” he says, but I can hear him chuckling, happy over the fact that he managed to tease me in a way that actually bothered me. I sigh. And mom and dad wonder why I never talk about school?

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Chapter 4
Chloe
“Wake up! You’ll be late for work!” I shout at mom and dad. They just mumble… I sigh. I’m the one who always has to wake them up in the mornings. I’ve always been a morning person. And nobody else in the family is. So it was always kind of obvious that I’d be the one to wake the family up.
“C’mon!” I say, “I made scrambled eggs and bacon! It’ll get cold.” This gets mom up.
“What’s the special occasion?” she asks sleepily and yawns.
“Nothing, I just had nothing to do and I was bored.”
“Ha. When you’re bored you go off and grab a book!” she says and chuckles a little.
“Is that the thanks I get for making my family a wonderful breakfast?” I ask, and kiss her cheek. “Gotta run!” I say, “I’ll be late for school, and if you don’t hurry up you’ll be late for work.”
“Crud!” I hear mom shout and I smile.
“I’m kidding!” I shout as I open the door and step out in the sunshine, “I woke you ten minutes earlier than usual.”
“What!? Why?” mom shouts.
“So that the breakfast wouldn’t get cold!” okay not completely true… really I just want to get out of the house so that I have more time to think about the school. I wrote a poem yesterday. One of the girls, teacher’s pet, told me it was homework for today and she didn’t think I wanted to fall behind. I don’t mind that much really. I like writing poems. It makes me feel less, what? Stupid? Because there’s something I’m actually good at? Yeah… that’s probably it.
As I reach the school building I remember I have a meeting with the principle this morning and I’m supposed to skip my first lesson and part of the second. I smile a little. I have math first. I hate math. And Social Studies are my second lesson and I don’t mind skipping that. This might actually be a good day!

Eric
I didn’t see her this morning in math. She was supposed to be there too. The teacher said so. Apparently her name is Chloe. And she’s not here now. I can’t help but feel a tinge of despair. I was hoping that I could maybe stick around her a little and then maybe Carl would keep his distance. But then I feel disgusted with myself. What was I thinking really? That she would be my personal bodyguard? I shake my head. No, of course not.
I try to sneak past Carl where he’s waiting by his lockers as usual. I have to pass his locker to get to my locker. And the best chance I’ve got is sneaking past. Unfortunately Carl sees me. He grabs my wrist stopping me. Then he pushes me into his locker. I try to get away, but even though I’m trying as hard as I can it’s still easy for him too pin me too the lockers. And it appears as if he’s not going to waste his time. He just kisses me. Right on the lips, I squirm. I feel sick and I want to puke. Maybe that would be a good thing actually, then I’d puke right into his mouth. But I’m out of luck. When he finally pulls away I feel nauseous. I decide to try a new technique. Something I’ve been thinking about, but then when it’s time to try it, it always slips my mind. I relax. Completely. And he loosens his grip of my wrists. Then I pull away hard. Try to dodge past him. I get my right wrist lose, but the left one is still stuck in his grip. I pull away with all my strength. He just laughs.
“Let me go!” I yell.
“Fine,” he says, lets go. I’m not ready and I fly into the opposite wall. “I’ll see you after class.” He says. Then he slips into a classroom. I sigh. My head is throbbing. I must’ve slammed it into the wall.
“Jerk.” I mutter but nobody hears me. I walk into class and ask the teacher if Chloe has Science with us. She doesn’t. As I sit down I try to think about how to possibly avoid Carl during lunch break. Maybe I’ll just skip lunch and stay in class. I could use the excuse that I want to catch up on schoolwork… then again… I don’t have any schoolwork to catch up on. I sigh. Or I’ll just try to hide and hope for the best. It seems right now as it’s the only option.

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Chapter 5
Chloe
“Hi, sorry I’m late. I had a meeting with the principle.” I say as I’m walking into the class. The Social Studies teacher looks up.
“That’s alright, now what’s your name?”
“Chloe.”
“Yes that’s right, you were supposed to be joining us. Take a seat wherever you like.” The teacher says and smiles. I look around and see that the only seat is left is next to a girl with long auburn hair… oh just my luck. It’s the teacher’s pet.
“Hi, Chloe!” she whispers when I sit down, “If you need any help, just ask me.” I nod and smile. Then I look away. I’m not paying attention at all, I’m busy looking at everyone in the class. I want to memorize all of their faces so I’ll know whom to look for if I need to ask someone for homework. Then again I can always ask Teachers pet. Unless she’s been sick of course… ah well… Suddenly she elbows me hard in the ribs.
“Ow! What!?” I say frustrated. She nods towards the front of the class.
“I was asking you, Chloe, if you know the difference between latitude and longitude.” The teacher says.
“What? Oh of course.” I say. I’ve known that since fifth grade, and god knows that I’m no good in Social Studies… are these people only just learning this?
“Well, could you explain?” she says a little impatiently. I start explaining. I notice a few people are looking a little surprised over the fact that I’m willing to cooperate with her. Probably because when Mrs. Crone tried to talk to me in front of the class I was pretty rude… But that has to do with my social skills. I don’t mind when teachers ask me questions about school, I mean that’s just doing their job.
When class is over I follow the crowd into the cafeteria after grabbing my lunch. Two sandwiches I made this morning. I sit down in a corner next to nobody. And just after I swallow three bites I’m about to throw it all up because of something I see in the hallway. It’s that jerk, I really need to learn his name, and Eric. Kissing. Okay, it’s pretty clear that Eric has pretty much given up on trying to get away. But I see that he’s not enjoying himself. I’m surprised no teacher has told them off, but then I realize that there are no teachers in the hallway. That’s weird, are they all still in their classrooms? I try to tell myself that it’s none of my business, That I already stopped this crap once and I don’t owe Eric anything. But of course my body doesn’t listen to my brain. I stand up and march over.
“Hey, jackass! Didn’t I tell you yesterday to leave him alone?” The bully pulls away from Eric and looks at me like he can’t believe his eyes. Eric just looks relieved. I can’t blame him.
“Hey, bitch! Didn’t I tell you yesterday to stay out of peoples business?” he says. And puts his hands on his hips. Then I see an idea forming in his mind. “You know what I just realized?” he asks with a sneer on his face, “I understand why you don’t like to see me kiss blondie! You’re jealous. Well don’t despair.” He says and laughs. “You can borrow him!” then he grabs Eric and push him into me. The impact makes both Eric and me tumble down on the floor in a big pile, and somehow when the world stops spinning Eric is on top of me with a terrified look on his face. People are laughing and honestly I can see why. Eric clumsily tries to get up, but he’s extremely slow, and the laughter is getting louder.
“Get off!” I growl and push him harshly aside. He rolls over and lands on his back. I stand up. The jerk and his friends are making smooching noises. I feel my face redden in anger.
“Aww! She’s blushing!” someone in the crowd says. I turn to Eric who’s finally on his feet and I know that he is actually blushing, not just angry.
“What the hell are you waiting for? Get out of here!” I tell him. Does he want to end up kissing that freak again? He backs away and the jerk laughs loudly as we make our way out of the cafeteria. My sandwiches are left forgotten at the table I sat at. Doesn’t matter, I’m not hungry right now anyway.

Eric
“Thank you.” I say quietly as we walk towards the Language Arts class. I found out a few seconds ago from her that we have that class together.
“Don’t mention it.” She says without looking at me just like she did yesterday. I don’t say anything else. If I do she’ll probably get mad at me like yesterday. She must’ve thought about yesterday too, because suddenly she says.
“I’m sorry I got mad yesterday. I was having a bad day.” She says, and looks up. I must look very surprised.
“You don’t have to say sorry. I mean you helped me big time, twice.” She smiles.
“I guess, but still, you were just being nice.” I don’t argue with her. She sighs.
“Did you write your poem?” I ask, in an attempt to change the subject. Then I remember that she only just started yesterday and we got the homework two days ago. But she surprises me by saying,
“Yes.”
“Oh,” then I smile “Did Sophie tell you?” she looks confused.
“Who?”
“Sophie, auburn hair, freckles.”
“Oh! Teachers pet?” she says and I laugh,
“Yes, but don’t let her hear you call her that. She got really mad at one of the guys who told it to her face. She started crying and didn’t come to school for three days.” She laughs, but doesn’t try to continue the conversation and before I can say anything we’re in the classroom. I sit down by the window and she sits down next to me. I feel my cheeks getting red but I don’t think she notices. She isn’t looking at me.
“Has everybody written their poems?” Ms. Lana asks as she walks around collecting everyone’s homework. As she passes Chloe she smiles and says,
“You can hand yours in next class sweetie.”
“I’ve finished mine though,” Chloe says. “Sophie told me.” Sophie turns around and smiles.
“That’s great!” Ms. Lana says and gives Chloe one of her big smiles. Ms. Lana is really nice, and I can tell that Chloe is already feeling a little more comfortable. I hand in my poem and when she’s done collecting all the poems she tells us to start reading in our books. I’m about to tell Chloe that Ms. Lana has a privet library when I see she already has a book out and I’m happy I can avoid a reason to talk to her. I’m far to shy. I try to look what book it is, but all I see is that it’s a pocket book and she’s already halfway through. After about thirty minutes Ms. Lana walks up to Chloe and I can hear her whisper,
“Would you like to read your poem to the class?”
“Why?” Chloe isn’t being rude, but she looks confused.
“I think it’s pretty inspiring and I would really like the class to hear it. If you don’t want to I can read it for the class and not tell them who wrote it.”
“No, that’s fine… I can do that. Now?”
“No, in a few minutes if that’s okay with you.” Chloe shrugs and continues reading. But I can’t concentrate on my book. Chloe doesn’t know this, but Ms. Lana has never asked anyone to read his or her writing aloud to the class before. So it must be a really inspiring poem that she’s written. And when Ms. Lana finally stands up to say something I’m so curious that I think I might explode.
“Now class. I’ve asked Chloe here to read her poem for the class.” People are giving each other doubtful looks, and I see people looking confused with their eyebrows raised. “I believe you’ll find it really inspiring. Chloe could you stand up here?” she continues and gestures for Chloe to come stand next to her. Chloe hesitates and for a second I think I see a flicker of nervousity in her eyes. But it’s gone so quickly that I might have imagined it. Chloe stands up; she walks in front of the class. She takes a deep breath and this time I see it clearly. She’s nervous. But then she starts reading out loud… or no, not reading. She isn’t looking at the paper in her hands. She knows it by heart. She starts reciting the poem. And everyone goes quiet. She’s saying it with such feeling that it seems like she believes in what she’s written. And maybe she does. Ms. Lana was right. It is inspiring.
She reads,
“While trying to survive

While trying to survive there will always be obstacles,
While trying to survive you can’t swerve every bump in the road,
While trying to survive you can’t avoid taking risks,
While trying to survive people will try to trip you, and sometimes you will fall.
What really matters is that you get up again,
What matters is that you keep going no matter what.
Nobody said it would be easy,
Nobody said there was a guarantee you’d be okay.
But if you just keep going,
If you just get up after every fall,
I can promise you,
You’ll have fun along the way.”

When she’s finished I can tell everyone’s as surprised as I am that she actually took this homework seriously. I’m pretty sure that most people just scribbled down some kind of rhyme or something… well, I didn’t, but that’s just because I wanted a good grade.
“That was great! Ms. Lana says and smiles. Thank you for agreeing to share your poem with the class.” Chloe shrugs.
“I just have one question.” The boy sitting in the chair behind Chloe’s says with a doubtful look on his face, “Did you really write that yourself?” Chloe rolls her eyes.
“Yes Mr. Suspicious! I did.” This brings some of the girls in the class to laugh. But I’m not laughing. I know this is one of the guys who looks up to Carl like a role model. And he doesn’t seem all that happy. I decide not to think about it. “Can I please sit down?” she says.
“Sure. No problem.” Ms. Lana says smiling, “Keep reading.” Ms. Lana says to the class. And we listen. That’s probably why what happens next is so surprising and confusing that I’m not even sure what happened. Just as Chloe is about to sit down the guy who is sitting behind her pulls away her chair from under her. She hits the back of her head on the chair. Freaks out a little. She tries to lean forward really quick and somehow smacks her forehead right into the corner of her desk.
“Ouch! Goddamnit!“ she yells and stands up with her hand pressed to her forehead. “What the hell was that for!?” she shouts and turns around to the guy behind her. I watch his reaction, at first he’s sneering, but then his expression changes and he starts stammering.
“You… I-I-I…” he stammers and I wonder why… he can’t be that afraid of her. Could he? Suddenly he blurts out, “You’re bleeding.” I look up at her face. And sure enough, blood is pouring out of a deep gash in her head.
“Huh?” she pulls away her hand which she still has on the gash and it comes away bloody. “Yeah… I am…” she says and giggles a little. If anything this scares me. Then she turns around and stumbles out of the classroom.
“Oh dear! Eric, will you go show her to the nurse?” Ms. Lana says when she’s gone. I nod and jog out of the classroom after Chloe. There is nobody in the corridors; everyone is in their class… But where is Chloe? Where is she? I feel sick when I realize she’s left a trail of blood after her, and it leads me to the girl’s bathroom. I rush in to find her pressing a bunch of paper towels to her wound. But they’re soaked with blood in a matter of seconds. I feel nauseous. Why am I here? I can’t deal with blood…
“Chloe! Let me show you to the nurse.” I say and grab her hand.
“No!” she shouts, “I’m fine! I just need to…” she trails off.
“Chloe, c’mon. Please?” she doesn’t answer. And all I can think of is the amount of blood she’s loosing… suddenly she somehow slips and falls to the floor. “Chloe!” I say alarmed. She’s sitting in a quite silly position on her bum with her legs spread apart and I would’ve laughed if it had been under different circumstances. I kneel next to her, although my whole body protests to getting closer to the blood, and she lies down.
“It’s fine…” she mumbles and closes her eyes, “I just need some rest.”
“No, Chloe. C’mon.” I say and pull her up. I try to steady her by putting her arm over my shoulder. But she’s too heavy and she falls to the ground again. I’m fighting against the panic now. I need to call an ambulance. This is out of the nurse’s hands.
“You look pale.” She says suddenly. She’s looking at me with big brown eyes. “Are you okay?” I can’t hold in a snort. I understand she’s confused.
“Do you have a phone on you?” I ask and try to press my hands on her wound. She moans, and I realize it must hurt. I take them away and almost faint when I realize that my hands are now dripping with blood.
“In my pocket.” She groans. I guess she’s finally realizing that she needs help. I pull out her phone from her pocket. And call 911.
“911, what’s your emergency?” a lady says. I’m breathing hard.
“Please! You need to come quick.”
“Please stay calm, sir. Do you need me to send an ambulance?”
“Yes!” I tell her what school I am at and that we’re both in the girl’s bathroom. “Oh god… oh god…” I groan.
“Sir! Are you hurt?” I shake my head before I realize she can’t see me.
“No, but a girl in my class is bleeding really bad, oh god… I can’t deal with blood!”
“Sir, don’t hang up.” She says, “What is your name?”
“Eric.” I say. I look away from Chloe and then I start hyperventilating.
“Eric! I need you to listen to me okay! You’re fine, the ambulance is on its way and will be there in a couple of minutes.”
“It’s only her second day!” I don’t know why I’m telling the lady this, but I do. “It’s only her second day and… and this happens!”
“Eric, is she unconscious?” I’m surprised by the question and I force myself to look at her. Her eyes are wide open and she’s looking at me.
“No.” I say.
“Okay, Eric. Don’t panic, okay? You need to stay calm because if you stay calm it will be easier for her to stay calm.” I have to chuckle at that.
“Honestly, she’s the one who’s still calm here. I mean, she asked me if I was okay just because I was pale…”
“You have grey eyes.” Chloe suddenly says.
“Huh? Yeah… I guess…” and suddenly she’s reciting some kind of poem.
“People with gray eyes are charming and graceful.
They are very dedicated and hardworking.
They are deep thinkers.
They are known for their wit and humor.“
“I think she’s becoming delirious!”
“Why?”
“She’s reciting some kind of poem about grey eyes.”
“They are very smart and suave.
They are trustworthy and altruistic.
They love to be around people and are generally extroverts.”
“Don’t worry, she’s probably just calming herself.”
“They are often encompass a rare beauty and are alluring in a mysterious way.
They are very loving and caring people who are almost never mean.“
I don’t even know what half of those words mean, I think to myself.
“Maybe… but…“ Chloe interrupts me with the last lines,
“They are also very good friends and are often the best friends you could have.
But gray-eyed people often don't let their true emotions show for the sake of other people.
They love to enjoy life to the fullest.”
Then she closes her eyes and smiles like a small child falling asleep after someone read her a happy ending of a story.
“She’s either falling asleep or fainting!” I say and just as I say these words I feel sick again, seeing all the blood on the floor and on my hands. “Oh god… there is so much blood everywhere!” then I hear the sirens. “Thank god.” I whisper, “The ambulance is here.” I drop the phone to the ground feel the dizziness take over. But I don’t faint. I just close my eyes. I hear people running and shouting. “OVER HERE!” I yell, and the door is thrown open. I open my eyes and someone puts Chloe on a stretcher and someone else helps me up. “Blood… Oh god, I can’t deal with blood.” I murmur.
“Oh, if I had known I would never have put you through that.” The woman helping me walk says, “I didn’t know the wound was so deep. I couldn’t imagine it being that serious.” I look up to the woman’s face and see Ms. Lana. Her face is pale and she has tears in her eyes. I wonder if that’s what I look like too. But I’m not crying. Then I see the boy who pulled out Chloe’s chair. He looks chocked. Standing there as the medics carry Chloe away.
I want to shout “YOU STUPID GIT!” at him, “Why would you do that!?” I want to yell. But I don’t. I just follow Ms. Lana as she shows me into her class. As I sit down on a chair I realize I’m shaking. The blood on my hands makes me sick again. And it’s so bizarre that I have to laugh. “Did I actually just do that? Did I actually just manage to take care of a person bleeding like crazy from her head?” I don’t realize I’m speaking out loud until Ms. Lana takes my hand and tells me to take some deep breaths and try to calm down. I do as she tells me to and gradually my breathing is becoming normal along with my heartbeat.
“I usually can’t even deal with people bleeding from their nose…” I mutter. Ms. Lana asks me if I need a ride home. I thank her and say yes. When I get home I realize I’m going to have to calm mom down when she sees the blood… I immediately feel that much more tired.


taaack