Strong people stand up for themselves
But the strongest people stand up for others
You get to choose.

°^°^°^°

I ducked my head, not wanting to draw any attention to myself. However, it was nearly impossible. Whispers trailed behind me making my breath come out in a panicked state.

Attention...

God, I loathed it!

It's people's job to whisper, gossip, hurt.

Why did they do it? I never could understand.

What satisfaction could they possibly get from it?

Pretending to ignore their stares, I walked towards my locker. I stared straight ahead at the metal as I inserted the combination. Pulling the door open, I took out my calculus book and shut it again.

"Guess who?" A chuckle came from behind me as warm hands covered my eyes.

Almost involuntarily, a smile crept upon my face.

"Hmm, I don't know who you could possibly be..." I trailed off innocently.

"Think harder then," he huffed out playfully.

A laugh escaped my lips as I held the hands and pulled them off before turning around and smiling at him.

Lucas Fields, aka, my best friend in the whole damn world! In my whole world filled with darkness, he was a ray of light, my ray of light.

I gave him a once over. He'd grown taller during the summer and his perfectly dimpled smile greeted me as usual. There was no denying his good looks, no matter how much it killed me to do so. His light blue eyes complimented his slightly tanned features. He had dark chestnut brown hair which was messily sweeped to one side. He was wearing the school's jersey so I guess he had morning practice today.

I couldn't help but stand on my toes and hug him. He laughed softly before putting his arms around me.

Nowhere in the world could I feel safer than in his arms. It wasn't a familiar feeling for me, it was pretty rare. He was one of the people in my life who understands me. I love him for that!

For being my friend when nobody else was.

"I missed you shorty!" He chuckled in my ear as he ruffled my hair.

Of course, with his insane basketball skills he towered over not only me but most of our classmates as well.

Damn athletic bodies with their intimidating height!

"Hey, I grew two whole inches this summer," I said pulling away from him, not really helping my case.

"Yeah, sure." He drawled out lazily, looking down at me, quite literally!

The grin on his face disappeared slowly as he took in my appearance like I had done with him and his eyebrows scrunched up in worry. His expression then turned serious, "How are you now?" He asked me with concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine, I guess," I replied softly tucking my hair behind my ear, feeling unsettled talking about my health.

My paranoia and constant fears weren't something that was unknown to Luke. He was away when the doctor told me that my overweight could have serious repercussions in the future and I would have to do something to get back to normal. But my very much worried mother immediately confided in Luke as he was after all my only friend. He was adamant on coming home and putting some common sense into me but I promised him that I would become alright and that he had to stay there. The summer programme he was attending was important for him to get a scholarship and there was no way I could live with the guilt of holding him back.

"Well you look as beautiful as ever, if not more..." he smiled warmly "You look... beautiful-er" he said finally with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"Yeah, right," I muttered looking down. I had seen my face in the mirror. I never could seem to find a word better than 'ordinary' to describe myself.

"I'm being honest!" He claimed, tilting my chin up with his index finger. "I'm so proud of you," he said gently. I just gave him a hesitant smile.

Fiddling with my t-shirt, I saw people staring at me from my peripheral vision.

Luke noticed my discomfort and gave me a stern look. "Hey, you have nothing to be afraid of. They can't hurt you okay?" He assured me, giving me the 'I-know-you're-stronger-than-this' look.

But I wasn't.

How I wish I was, but I wasn't.

The bell rang at that precise moment and I just gave him what I thought was a reassuring smile. He let go of me and looked at the people around him with a calculative look.

Little did he know that the only reason nobody tried to hurt me was because of him. No one dared to come next to me when he was around. Our friendship unknowingly gave me protection. Words couldn't describe how grateful I was to him for that.

'What do you have now?" He asked and I winced when I realised I had swimming practice now.

"Swimming," I replied dejectedly.

"I have biology" he said, sighing. "God, Ally, I hate biology!" He complained, scrunching his nose.

I stiffled a laugh at that. Luke's hate for biology was pretty clear to anybody who knew him. The guy was a maths whizz so math was his favourite subject.

I know.

"I'll see you in maths, yeah?" He asked and I sighed begrudgingly.

Maths...

Why was it created again?

"Hope not," I muttered

Luke smirked at my distaste and shook his head, "Hey, it's not that bad when I'm sitting next to you," he said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, do tell!" I said sarcastically.

"You and I both know you love me!" He claimed, playfully and I couldn't really deny that so I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

"See you there, shorty!" He said patting my head to which I stomped my foot.

Once he was out of sight I looked down at the calculus book which I forgot I was holding and sighed.

Damn! I didn't get to read a thing!

Curse Luke and his timing!

I put the book back into my locker and walked off towards the pool.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I love swimming but I would just prefer to swim... in an isolated place or something like that.

Going into the girls changing room, I took out my new swim suit. The old one didn't fit after loosing 30 pounds. I looked at myself in the dirty mirror inside my locker. Touching it, I sighed. My eyes looked as dull as ever.

I waited till all the other girls left the room, not before hearing whispers which involved my name.

I shouldn't really be surprised. Wearing an oversized sweater in mid June, in Texas isn't the best way to go unnoticed.

Trust me, I just realised.

Pulling the sweater over my head, I looked at myself again.

I looked extremely different. Almost... younger. I lost my chubby cheeks and my tummy. Running my hand over my stomach, I realised, I looked, if I dare say myself... pretty.

My breathing became laboured.

I can't go out like this! What if they come back?!

Tears blurred my vision and a hazy yet completely clear memory formed in front of me.

"P-please," I whispered helplessly, shutting my eyes.

Sadistic laughter greeted me in return.

Tears escaped my eyes. My frock was muddy because they had pushed me into the puddle.

My ankle throbbed because of the awkward position in which I had fallen.

This was not what I expected my first day of school to be like at all. I wanted to scream for my mom to come and get me. She was unfortunately too far away to hear me. And anybody who did would probably not care enough to help.

Suddenly, somebody pinned my hands on the ground beside me and I opened my eyes to look into grey, scary ones.

As usual his face was half covered with a mask so were the other guy's faces.

I begged him through my eyes to just let me go but all he did was stare back at me blankly.

"This will teach you," the girl said as she drew the markers close to my face. I felt wetness on my forehead and cheeks as she scribbled away. I closed my eyes again willing for it to just end already.

"You're not pretty, you understand that! This is how you're supposed to look, nobody wants to see your ugly face."

The guys holding my hands laughed and so did the girl.

I scrunched my fists as my heart broke.

They left my hands again. They all opened the door and went out laughing. Only one guy stayed, the same one who had pushed me into the room in the first place. I looked up at him through the tears in my eyes.

He approached me and I immediately moved back, sobbing quietly, looking down, not willing to look into his eyes.

"Disgusting," he whispered, more to himself than to me.

But I heard him..

Did he even know I heard him?

Did he want to hurt me?

I saw his feet retreating and heard the door shut.

Trying to stand up, I yelped when my ankle throbbed again.

Using all the strength I had, I stood up and limped outside. The entire corridor was filled with children. They all looked at me.

Some laughed, some turned towards their friends and whispered while some didn't even notice.

I wanted to run to the restroom to wash myself but I could only limp.

Covering my face I willed myself to just walk some more.

Once I reached the restroom, I found it was empty and felt relieved. I then looked at my face which was covered with black marks and red spots.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. Not being able to walk towards the basin, I collapsed on the floor and sobbed my heart out, I cried and cried till I had absolutely no more tears left to cry.

"Alyssa!" A voice rang breaking my reverie.

Stunned, I turned around to see coach Millers. She looked very worried and I then noticed that my cheeks were wet. Hurriedly I wiped away the reluctant tears and turned away.

"If you aren't feeling well, I'll write you a permission note. You don't need to practice today." Coach said, looking at me with kind eyes.

Biting my lips, I looked down as she left the room. Pulling on my sweater again, I looked back at the mirror.

Did they never see how much they hurt me?

Or did they just not care?

What had I done to deserve it anyway?

The final thought almost took my breath away again.

It was the same doubt that creeped into my mind everyday, which didn't spare me even in my dreams..

What if they came back?

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With loads of love,
Angel.