Jenny and Allison were two girls in my high school and they were very popular, they had it all, money, looks, personality, and the adoration of almost everyone in the school; yet they couldn't have the one thing Jenny wanted most. Derick Quary, was his name, he was the cliche tall dark and handsome type, but I looked deeper, his eyes though a clear blue when he spoke to me always looked as if they were excited, he never stopped thinking and he was very intelligent, I was drawn to him. I didn't understand back then but for me Brains are a turn on, I would day dream about him, I would catch myself almost wishing things I knew that were better left not thought of especially because of my scars. During the summer gym class we would all sit and stare at the guys for most of them would wear a tank top or go shirtless while they would play baseball or basketball, I always wore leggings under my gym shorts and a long sleeve shirt under my gym tank which I felt was too revealing. Jenny and Allison would speak of how they thought this one or that one was handsome and they wanted to date him because his muscles turned her on, I made the mistake of whispering under my breath that I thought Derick was exceptional not just for his muscular body that rippled with sweat in the hot summer afternoon sun, but his mind was also equally exceptional and I had hopped he would ask me to the next dance. I didn't realize I had stated this loud enough for them to hear, and that was my big mistake. That day when we went inside to change for the rest of the day I didn't realize Jenny and Allison had overheard my ramblings and were jealous, they had brought in a camera and while I was changing to take a shower they snuck upon me and Alison held my arms behind my back while Jenny took photos of my scars, I tried to fight them but I didn't know how. I felt the cold fingers of fear grip my heart and all I could do was curl up in a ball screaming silently, while they laughed and ran away. I hoped they wouldn't do anything with the photos but I knew in my heart they were mean spirited enough to do something truly mortifying, I didn't know what to do, after they left I felt the tears come and I knew I still screamed finally when I was beyond exhausted I slumped against the lockers my face pale and all thought and feeling drained from me except the one feeling I could not run from.. fear. So when the gym teacher found me slumped against the lockers with out the usual enthusiasm I normally had she worried. she bent down and touched my arm and I jumped back shied away like a coward, I would later find out she reported she found me slumped and when she reached out to touch my arm I was as skittish as a doe caught in the headlights of a moving vehicle. For the life of me I couldn't remember why but a flash of memory where all I could feel was that uncontrollable fear grab hold of me was all I could feel and think of, it took Jaden and Brenda, two girls whom I hadn't talked to much but were neither enemies nor bosom buddies with, to help the teacher to calm me down. I floated through the rest of the day barely remembering what happened in class, at the end of the day I went to my Locker and was getting my things out when I noticed a few doors down people were staring at me. I turned to look and in their hands I saw a paper, I wondered If I had missed an announcement, Jaden came to her locker which was next to mine and instead of getting into her locker she put her arm around me and whispered in my ear. "Stephanie, I am going to walk you out of here, and take you straight home, Brenda will come by later with your homework, please don't listen to anything they have to say." I just looked at her for a moment and it dawned on me; what the students, my own peers held in their hands had something to do with me. I didn't question Jaden, she seemed to be the type I knew I could trust explicitly, I did exactly as she had suggested. As we left the building I heard a few people laugh but mostly I saw in the faces of those I passed a horrified look, I wasn't all that sure why they would be scared of me all of a sudden.
I went to school the next day and at my locker stood Derick, he leaned against Jasdn's locker as I opened mine and the hall began to fill with students. "Hello Derick, is there something you wanted to discuss? Perhaps a question you wanted to ask me? An assignment you wanted to go over?" I kept my eyes looking forward as I could feel the blush slowly creep up my cheeks while he just stood there watching me, I waited listening to his even breathing waiting for him to speak and slowly turned to look at him as I closed my locker door the books for my first class of the day held tightly against my chest. His eyes seamed full of mirth today, I smiled at this but should have known better, he leaned in and whispered "Pity I have to do this." He took a step back and I looked at him confused. I could see Jaden and Brenda trying to get to me through the crowd as I scanned those gathered around us but Jenny and Allison were in their way and not budging. Derick spoke in a voice that was so loud everyone would have to have been deaf not to hear him, "I cant believe you actually thought I would ask a deformed freak like you to the dance. You should have known better Freak." with that he walked away. my heart that had gone into my throat the moment he started speaking plummeted now into the pit of my stomach, Jenny and Allison started laughing and making fun of me, it wasn't long and all the kids were joining in with them. I just held my books tightly to my chest and holding my head high I walked up to Jenny looked from her to Allison and said, "Thank you." Jenny couldn't understand this and asked me what I was talking about. I simply replied, "Thank you for reminding me that it is simple minded people like yourself who have to lash out at others to allay their fears, where I know my fears are much greater than yours and still I don't lash out and harm other people just to make myself feel better. So thank you for reminding me of what it really means to be a coward and what it truly means to have great strength." With that I pushed past her and walked down the hall everyone was silent, not one word could be heard I turned the corner and ducked into the rest room where I hid in one of the stalls until the bell rang then I headed to the office and claimed I had a headache, they let me lay down in the nurses office for an hour before they let Jaden and Brenda come back to talk to me. It was rumored that Derick had asked Jenny to the dance, I couldn't blame him for his shortsightedness, eventually he would see the light of day and stop being led by people like Jenny, perhaps that day he would find someone whom would appreciate him for his mind and everything else. Little did I know that Karma didn't exactly Like Derick, after picking Jenny up he took her to the dance, they didn't stay long and he took her to a quiet little hotel, there Jenny got what she wished and Derick also got what he wanted. Derick took Jenny home and after dropping her off he was driving too fast and it began to rain, he lost control of his car and lost his life, Jenny a few weeks later was very ill in class and eventually we all knew she had gotten pregnant. Jenny whom would have gone to Harvard was now forced to stay home and give birth to the baby, I was certain her parents would force her to give it up but they were more strict than that,hey were heard, telling her several times, "You made your bed", I almost felt sorry for her. In fact a part of me did feel sorry that she would be forced to go through this alone because Allison's parents made her stop talking to Jenny and hanging out with her, and to Allison Jenny had become someone to shun due to the fact she would be weighed down with a child and no longer fun and pretty nor would Jenny be as popular so Allison had no problem obeying her parents on this one.
Through it all Mrs. Hawthorn was an angel, from the time Jaden brought me home she didn't question she just sat and waited always there to give an ear if I needed to talk, eventually I had told her what had happened and she just gave me a hug and said she was proud of me. Later that year I got a job and though the house rule was that I would only get to keep ten percent Mrs. Hawthorn let me keep seventy-five percent, on the stipulation I would put it away for my schooling, I opened a checking account and savings account and began investing. I knew one day I wanted to be a surgeon much like Erica Blakely the woman whom had worked on me after the fire. I graduated High school and began working while attending courses to become an Emergency Medical Technician. I remember the day I graduated the course, I received a diary from Mrs. Hawthorn, the card she sent with it was signed, "a little book to track your journey along the path to your goals and dreams." I knew I would begin working for Madison's University Hospital as one of their Emergency Medical Technician's, I was excited and I would save while I worked for them and in a few short years I would be able to attend University itself for the Medical classes i needed to get into a surgical school. Jaden and Brenda introduced me to Eric and the four of us became best of friends, Eric was someone whom Brenda had met at her new job, she would talk about him when he wasn't around and tease him when he was, I knew by looking at the two of them they liked each other yet neither seemed to notice. We would go to the movies once a week but mostly just because Jaden and Brenda didn't like to see me caged up in my home so much, I didn't have the heart to tell them I was at work more than I was at home. Every other Wednesday the two of them would come over and grab me for Pizza night, they would even bring pizza into work if they knew I had been pulling a double. Jaden would meet me every morning at three am for our run through the park, then she would go home and sleep for the rest of the morning until she had to go to her job. I would then begin my days, no use in burning up time that could be spent in productive work. And so my days passed, I worked as many shifts as I could often times pulling back to back double shifts. I got a small apartment and would walk to the orphanage and assist Mrs. Hawthorn when I could, I felt that in some small way I could give back to her some of what she had given to me. I lived like this for three years, until one fateful day when the very first mystery fell into my path. 289Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWAI1IXEpMH
