Evie grabbed onto her notebook, and clutched it tightly to her chest. The front was well worn, as the ends were strengthened with a sticky clear tape. There was a scribble of writing on the front that said Evie was here. Usually she had it hidden in the inside pocket, of her zip up binder. Today however, she was inspired. Mr.Barkley ended the class with an assignment, and she already started jotting down the words. He wanted each student, to write a piece on something that made them happy. This notebook, was were her personal thoughts, usually lied from all peering eyes. She wanted Mr.Barkley, to read her draft so far.

She made her way to his desk, after all the other students, have left for their quick break, before next class.

"Uhmm.. Mr.Barkley, sir." Evie came up to him, her eyes were focused on her DC shoes. Her voice also had a slight tremble, it was obvious that she was nervous.

"What is it dear Evie.?" Mr.Barkley asked.

"Would you mind, reading my piece?" Evie asked him, slightly looking up, and meeting his gaze for a second.

Evie's hands now got shaky, as she ripped a page of her well used notebook. Mr.Barkley took notice of the many pages of hand written pieces, in the book. He also watched as Evie leafed through two-thirds of the notebook until she got to the blank pages. She pulled out the last written page, and handed it to Mr.Barkley.

Mr. Barkley started to read it, and he suddenly felt a wave of unnerving emotions. There was a hard ball in the back of his throat, as he tried to hold back any tears.  He was about to talk to her, and compliment her on the written prose, but before he even got a chance to look up from the written composition, she was out of sight.

🌟----------------------------------------------🌟

Evie, bolted. She really wanted to show Mr.Barkley her prose, but she eventually got too anxious. She didn't know if he would actually like it, so she snuck off while he was reading it. She would rather refrain from embarrassing herself right now. She immediately regretted her decision, to give that part of her to anyone. Evie had an extremely hard time opening up to most people. What if Mr.Barkley finds her whiney, and depressed. What if he laughs at her, like everyone else has always had.

Evie made her way to the lunchroom, as it was her spare right now. It was also Minnie's spare, so Minnie would be meeting her in the lunchroom for a snack before they headed to the library or to the wooded area just outside the school.

"Hey girl," screeched Minnie, as her overly curly mop of blonde hair bounced about. She then ran up to Evie, as if they haven't seen eachother in years

"Geeze, how many Monsters, have you had already?" Asked Evie.

"Just one, so far." Minnie quickly answered back.

Evie was unsure if she could completely believe her best friend. Minnie, had quite an addiction to those things. It didn't help that she always appeared so hyper, so it really was quite hard to tell. Evie, just left it alone, and didn't question Minnie further.

For a quick snack, Evie grabbed a bottle of water, and yogurt tube from the cafeteria. Minnie grabbed herself a Monster, and a small sugary cake in a clear plastic packaging. Evie took a quick glance, and shook her head just slightly. If Minnie didn't settle down on her sugar intake, she was going to become a diabetic. Evie still however said nothing, she didn't want to nag out her concerns, as she felt it might just annoy Minnie. Evie, often held her tounge.

The two of them ate there snacks, and discussed whether they would take their spare in the library, or by the small Grove of trees outside.  Since the weather was rather pleasant, they decided on the latter. 

"So..." Questioned Evie. "What do you really think of that new English teacher."

"I think he is waaay to old for you Ev." Minnie now said, followed by a giggle and a slight punch in her arm.

"Geeze...Min, I don't mean it like that."

Minnie then laughed once more." Almost thought you had the hots for him, you kept staring at him, with this laser focus."

"I was only being attentive to his lesson, and being respectful, I feel like Mr.Barkley, deserves my respect, as he is quite reverent."

"Reverent?" Minnie now asked, eyebrows raised, not one to be on the same level of vocabulary as Evie.

"Another word for respectful."

Minnie now smiled back at her word-intelligent friend. "You and you big words Ev," 

The two now have made their way to the grove, and sat under a large elm tree. They conversed a little bit, about current events. Minnie, was gushing about her new celebrity crush. Each week, it usually was someone new, and it was hard to keep track of them all. Deep in conversation, they were then rudely interrupted.

"Have you heard?" Said Priscilla, who had a snide look across her face.

They ignored her, both knowing what she would say next

"Have you heard ..about the word." She now was trying to hold back some laughter. "A... B.b.b.b bird, bird, bird. Birds the word." Priscilla now threw her head back, and started to laugh maniacally. 

"Fuck off, Pisszilla." Said Minnie.

"Or what, looney tune."

"Minnie Mouse is from Disney you ignorant cunt, I though we already went over this."

Priscilla then rolled her eyes "what... ever, same shit, different pile." She then walked away, with a glorified smile on her face, like she just won some big sweepstakes or something.

"Fuck, her Ev." Minnie now said to her friend, who looked less than amused. 
"Yeah..fuck her..." Now Evie was glaring daggers at Priscilla, who now was walking away from them.

Memories then came back, to last year's talent show. Evie, should of known better back then, but was excited that Priscilla and her little follower Morgan Stepling, asked Evie to join them in there "act". What Evie, first thought was some apologetic move, ended up being yet again, another unnecessary scheme to embarrass her once again. Priscilla, and Morgan sang Surfin' Bird, from the Trashmen. As they sang they had poor Evie, stand in the middle of the stage. They made a routine for her, where she would dance around flapping her arms like they were wings. They said, that it was part of the routine, and all three of them would do the "bird dance." It was soon obvious to Evie, that this was just a harsh little game of theirs.

Did Priscilla get punished? Of course not. Considering both her parents were high up on the legal ladder, the schools authorities, just let it slide. It was always that way. Priscilla got treated like royalty, because no one wanted to lose their jobs. Morgan and Priscilla were best friends, so nothing happened to either of them. No punishment, not even a slight slap of the wrist. Evie once again became the laughing stock, of her entire school, and no body did anything to make it right.

All anyone ever did was point and laugh at her. All she was good for was a joke, a joke meant for other people to laugh at. All most of her classmates ever did, was mock and tease her.
Evie was broken away from her thoughts, as she saw her friend, giving her a worried stare.

"Hey girl, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Quit lying, you don't look fine at all. You're crying."

She couldn't help but let it go then, her tears falling like rain, in a torrent of uncontrollable tears. The tears began flowing faster, and faster, until they poured down her cheeks. She couldn't even hide them, anymore, as the floodgate opened wide.

"Oh Evie."

Her voice filled with sadness. "Come here!"

Her best friend, wrapped her skinny arms around Evie's waist, pulling her into a warm hug. Minnie slowly rubbed circles on Evie's back in attempt to comfort her, and stop her crying.

In her embrace, Evie finally allowed herself, to truly cry. She cried for everything; she cried for herself, for not being able to escape all of this torment, and the humiliation that she was feeling. Minnie gently stroked her soft brown locks, trying to calm her friend down.
Eventually, the weeping stopped.
The sniffles, and hiccups still lingered in Evie's throat, but that was it.
"You can go home. Take a day off from all of this. I will let your teachers know that you got sick.

"I don't want to go home..."

It wasn't the truth. She wanted nothing more, to curl up on the bed, in a dark corner.