I was currently having a nervous breakdown in the corner of the janitor's closet. I'm suppose to be reading the poem I wrote today for English class but the thing is I hate speaking in front of big groups. Absolutely hate it. Why did we have to share this in front of the whole class? Why couldn't Ms. Davis read the poem her damn self?

  The door opened and a surprised gasped as the janitor stared straight at me shocked. I got up quickly and grabbed my things and bolted out of the closet as fast as I can. Looking down at the gold watch my grandmother gave me before she went on an extended vacation I saw it was 1:20, and that means that class is almost halfway over. If I can only  manage to not get caught skipping class then I wouldn't have to read my poem.

  I walked quietly down the hallways towards the bathroom and ducked in. I walked over towards the sink and slashed cold water on my face then I stared at myself in the full length mirror. I didn't mind what I saw, but I didn't like it at the same time. I had wavy black hair that reached slightly past my chest, hazel eyes, full lips and a fairly small nose that I think suites me. My figure wasn't anything special. I had a medium size chest and a flat stomach.

  I knew I was pretty, but I never really cared for my looks. I don't mean to sound cocky or full of myself , actually I'm nearly the exact opposite, it's just that my motto is Brains Over Beauty. If a guy only likes my for my looks then he isn't the one for me. I want someone who's smart and doesn't care about how you look. My looks should just be a bonus.

  I rubbed my glass on my shirt since it started to fog up and put them back on. I didn't really need my glasses but I like wearing them anyways. The only thing downside is that I can't read anything too close to my eyes or else it hurts and gives me a headache. I walked back into the hallway to go get a book from my locker to read.

  "Miss. Taylin why aren't you in class" I froze in my tracks for a split second recognizing the voice and slowly turned around and faced Mrs.Webster, my principle. She and I were really close, but I knew she wasn't scared to give me detention - which I never got in my entire life.

  "I didn't want to go to English." I told her ashamed.

  "And why is that?" She questioned me.

  "Because we have to read out the poems we wrote in front of everyone and I just can't do it because I hate public speaking and I knew I'm going to make a fool out of myself" I admitted to her causing her to look at me full of sympathy.

  "Rosa, you still have to go to class and I assure you, you won't make a fool of yourself." Ms. Webster-reassured me.

  "Fine. Does this mean I have detention?" I asked.

  "Well given that this is the first time you did anything wrong, emphasis on the anything. I won't give you detention. Now let's get you to class." She told me and started to escort me back to class. Once we approach the door everyone's head turned towards me. "Excuse her from missing most of class but she was helping me with something." Ms. Webster lied to my English teacher, Ms. Dumont.

  "That's alright. Now Rosalynn since your the last one that needs to read their two poems, come on up." Ms. Dumont told me with a smile. My heart was pounding, but I still gave her a small nod as I got my poems and walked towards the front of the class. My palms were sweaty.

  "Um....I found a poem online but it has no title and the author is unknown." I started off. I looked up and noticed that only a few people were looking and paying attention to me while the others were talking to their friends or goofing around. I took off my glasses because it was easier to read without them and took a deep breath. Then I began.

"True beauty is in the way she laughs. 

True beauty is in her eyes. 

True beauty is how she acts. 

True beauty is inside. 

True beauty is unseen. 

True beauty is only felt. 

True beauty is not mean. 

True beauty is herself. 

True beauty can't be cruel. 

True beauty is bare. 

True beauty within you. 

True beauty is always there" 

  I looked up when I was down with the first poem to find that everybody was paying attention to me.  I could practically fell Jacob's eyes staring at me or should I say at my lips, chest, and legs. I could only imagine what perverted thoughts are going through his head. I quickly looked down at my paper when he finally looked up into my eyes.

"Ok so the poem I wrote is suppose to be questioning poem I found.

If this is true beauty then why does everyone care about how big your bum is?

Why does society only care about your size then your insides?

If beauty is in my eyes then why do you not look at it?

If true beauty is not mean then why don't they call you names?

If true beauty is herself then why does society force her to change?

Most importantly if true beauty always there,

Why do we call the next girl ugly?" I read out, relieved that I was finally done.

   I looked up and a few girls were smiling and I noticed others had a glint of admiration in their eyes, probably cause I said out loud what they felt could only be written in their diaries. I rushed back to my sea, not liking all the attention that I was getting. That actually went way better than I thought.

  "Perfect as always Rosalynn." Ms. Dumont complimented me just as the last bell rang. I waited till everyone got up and rushed out before slowly getting up and walking towards my locker. I rounded the corner only to see Jacob and his friends leaning on it and joking around. I stopped for a second thinking if I should tell them to move or just carry my books home. I automatically thought about how heavy my textbooks are in my bag and walked straight up to them and cleared my throat to make my presence known.

  "Your blocking my locker." I pointed out as they stopped joking around and turned to look at who was invading their circle. They looked shocked and amused probably because I didn't greet them like a god, try to flirt with them, or fall at their knees. Thing is I really don't have time for them or their cockiness  because I have better things to focus on and and right now one of my focuses is getting to work on time.

  "I think there's a nicer way to say that." Jacob said earning him a very annoyed eye roll from me. Jacob was the school player and star quarterback. Everybody says he's the hottest boy in school but while that may be true he wasn't very smart. At least that's what I heard. Jacob does is objectify women and play sports.

  "May you please move out of my way." I demanded annoyed. A lot of people think I'm this nice shy nerdy girl, but in reality I'm a rude-and-sarcastic-when-I-want-to-be nice nerdy girl whose number one pet peeve is annoying jocks.

  "Looks like we got a feisty one here. I'll move if you give me something." He said and looked me straight in the eye. I notice he had a mischievous shimmer in his eyes and knew exactly what he was thinking.

  "I rather carry my stuff home." I spat at him causing his friends to laugh at him. Just as I turned to leave he pulled on my hand causing me to turn and bump into him then pushed me back into the locker. My heart started pounding and I was pretty sure he could hear it. He slammed his hand down next to my head causing me to flinch and placed his other hand by my stomach. I noticed from the corner of my eyes that nearly the whole hallway was staring at us.

  "Do you really think you can resist me?" He growled at me. My eyes widen and I could feel the annoyance take over again. He thinks that every girl is in love with him or wants to sleep with him. He's the biggest jerk I ever laid my eyes on.

  "I know I can resist you." I hissed at him.

  "We'll see about that." He whispered into my ear so only I could hear and dropped his hands and walked away with his crew following close behind. I blink a couple of times as I realized what he said. I saw the hallway staring at me and started to feel uncomfortable. Quickly turning around, I popped open my lock and opened my locker. I got out the unnecessary books in my bag and replaced them for my sweater and slammed my locker shut. Without another glance at the crowds that began to form in the hallway, I rushed out to my car.

  I unlocked the door and sat down inside. Once I closed the door I pushed the start button and backed out of the parking lot and drove furiously towards to my job. I parked in the same parking I parked in everyday behind the diner. I stayed in my car for a few extra minutes thinking over what happened over what happened only to get even more upset. I mean why does he have to suddenly be attracted to me when he never pay any attention to me before. I would never go for a guy like him. All he does is use girls to get what he wants. I wouldn't be attracted to him if my life depended on it.

  I went into the changing room and changed into my fluffy black skirt that stop at my mid thigh and a white button down shirt that I tucked in. I put on my rollerblades and tied my apron around my waist. I worked part-time at Roller Dan's café as a waitress and earned pretty good tips. It was a fun place to work at, but only con about it is that it's not to far from my school so therefore, the café as their hang out spot so it's not unusual to see a few of them. To be even more specific it's not unusual to see Jacob and the rest of the popular crowd here.

  I push all the hatred and anger to the back of my mind and skated out the changing room with a huge fake smile on my face.

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(A/N)

  Hi there! This is another contest story which turned out better (in my opinion) then I thought it would. Hope you like it! And comments some of your thoughts and opinions. Also pretty please VOTE! :)

[Edited 1/25/2021] This is actually my second update of this, it's minor, but made such a huge difference. Working on a new chapter coming soon that I hop you guys will like! To new readers thank you for reading and giving this a chance! Hope you stick around and enjoy! <3

~ Chelly