"What do you think we're doing?" Ana replied with a snort. She was still holding her ground, but this event was something that the class could ignore no longer. The chatter stopped, girls excitedly comparing phone cases looked up with upset expressions while guys cleared their throats awkwardly.
"You know, you acted a lot more lady like a second ago, when you where talking to me. Eclipse, stop lifting those books and set them down or I shall have to tell the teacher." Stated Rue, and Esther realized she was mad. In her mind, there where only two types of mad. A playful mad, where you joke with your friends, or so Esther supposed. She didn't have any friends, but the second mad would be when you get angry that someone stole your things, hung your shoelaces from a roof. That sort of thing. Esther decided that Rue had just made up a new type of mad, a mad where its absolute burning fury. Above her, the shadow lifted as Eclipse quickly did as she was told, setting the books right in front of Esther's face. Esther blinked in surprise and took the books, groping the floor in an attempt to look for her backpack without turning Ana to her blind side. Right. Esther straightened up, her ears hot as she remembered that Ana had taken it. Ana still had her backpack, playing with the zipper and small key chain on it. The key chain was the only thing that Esther considered to be "cute". Minus all the other erasers she had in her pencil case. And half of the other things in her house.
"How dare you?" Ana said, planting her feet and looking more and more like a spoiled kid who was just given a piece of cement in a phone case.
"Me?" Laughed Rue, and Esther felt a thrill of adrenaline at the sound. Rue was angry for her.
"Who else?" Asked Ana, flipping her hair over her shoulder and glaring at the slim girl.
"Im sorry, but you do realize that your the one bullying her?" Asked Rue incredulously, and Ana barked out a laugh.
"Im not bullying her. You've got it all wrong, me and Eason here are best friends." She said confidently, placing her hand on Esther's shoulder and gripping it tightly, her talon like fingers digging in.
"Im Esther, nice to meet you!" Esther said with a shy grin, hoping her eyes conveyed much more than her tone. Im not Eason. Did you see that slip up, Rue?
"Uh huhh... your best friends with her?" Asked Rue, turning her head slightly to Ana. Esther got up from her desk and leaned on it, casually close to Rue rather than Ana. Ana had no choice but to let go of her shoulder with a small hiss, and she stood there haughtily.
"I am." She confirmed, and Rue scoffed.
"Try to lie better than that. Go on, try again." She said, her blue eyes chips of ice against Ana's muddy brown ones.
"I-" She began, but was interrupted by the teacher slipping in and calling order to the classroom with a wave of her hand. Esther sat down immediately, ignoring the curious glances form classmates. She felt them prick at her hotly, and she snapped, turning to the nearest spectator. It was a pasty boy who looked confused and shocked that she made eye contact with her, and she said "You really should stop staring everyone once in a while." in a normal voice, ignoring the teachers huff of impatience completely.
He returned the stare and mumbled a "Yes. Sorry." under his breath, turning instead to face the front. Esther noted with a rather predatory glee that his ears where bright red.
[I got bullied today.. but the transfer student stopped them. Im going to go try to ask to walk home with her.] - 10:53 AM
After this little note in her journal, she expertly looked up towards the board. What greeted her where a bunch of symbols and numbers she couldn't care less for, and she could already feel herself slipping away from the classroom, becoming lost in a day dream. The images flashing through her mind where hazy, but most of them centered around this new transfer student. She was exotic, something unexpected in the late June. Esther gave her head a slight shake to clear it, and attempted to make sense of the mass of numbers on the board.
"Pass these down." Instructed the teacher, and she took the opportunity to glower holes into the back of her peer's head until he stopped playing on his phone and gave her the papers. Taking hers, she quickly passed it along offhandedly, already struggling with the numbers. They jumped together like some unseen enemy, and she quickly gave up after attempting the first problem. "You may work in pairs to complete the work." Added the teacher sullenly after a few attempts to get the class to interact with her. This had little affect as everyone continued to work in an oppressed silence, and Esther felt her heart leap. She would have a a chance to talk with Rue!
[I went to Rue's desk to see if she needed help on the math, or I could ask her for help. Whatever the case, its the first mission to becoming friends!] - 11:15 AM
Esther got up from her desk with a squeak of her chair, trying to subtly move over to Rue. Of course she miserably failed as she was the only one who got up, and even the teacher seemed to follow her every movement as she skittered over to her desk. Rue wasn't even working, Esther noted that the girl seemed to be more focused on drawing characters on the side of the worksheet rather than actually doing the problems presented to her. Esther presumed she already knew the material, most transfer students downgraded to the public school.
"Hello." She said unnecessarily, no doubt Rue must have noticed her staring at her paper like an idiot.
"What do you want?" Asked Rue, and Esther was taken aback. Where she expected ot be that light carefree voice there now was a cool, remarkably icy stare as Rue looked into her eyes.
"W- Well, I was hoping we could work... on our.. math together?" Esther stammered through the statement more than if she had stumbled through a speech, and by the end of it her cheeks where pink. She cursed herself for it, and was followed immediately by confusion. Why was she like this? It must have been her long term social anxiety resurfacing, that's why she didn't have any friends in the first place.
On that dejected note, Rue said "No thank you."
Esther was used to be rejected, especially when it came down to partner work. But this time she could only stare deeply at Rue, feeling her insides burn and shrivel up with the fiery anger overtaking her. She snapped for what seemed the be the second time today, and only said "Why?" with a barely controlled voice level.
"Because your weak."
I beg your pardon? Esther felt numb by the comment, so simple yet so true. She was weak. She was weak enough to let three girls bully her everyday, and probably would let the teacher bully her in front of the entire class if prompted to. Because she barely ever stood up for herself, and was so often rebuked that she learned to internalize. To cage up those emotions until they disappeared, similar to starving out a rabid animal. But now she noticed that it wasn't anger overpowering her. It was shame. Bright and burning, it scorched her way into her mouth and prompted her to say "I'm sorry."
Rue's eyes narrowed as she said "Precisely." with a sniff of disdain.
"Im... sorry that its hard to stand up for myself against a match I know ill never win." Esther continued on, taking a seat to glower at Rue with a barely controlled temper. Because she knew that she was right, and the fact that she so seemingly proved her point did nothing to dispel the anger.
Rue returned her stare with a neutral look, looking indifferent to he situation more than anything. "Don't you ever actually bother trying? Or do you just spend all your days bending over backwards for people to step on you?" She asked smoothly, and Esther gaped at her. She shut her mouth quickly, taking her pencil and beginning her math problems. As usual, she got stuck on the first one, how ever she found it easier to do when she knew that she was ignoring Rue, who she hoped would care about it. Peeking over once finished with the first problem, she found Rue reading a book calmly. Her hand quivered as the mechanical lead snapped, leaving her with an unusable lead. Too short, it merely receded back into the pencil when pressed, and Esther knew that she would have to get up to fix the problem. But what if she didn't want to move? She had an idea. Standing up, her chair scooted back a couple centimetres, she strolled over to the teacher, who looked up at her with mild surprise.
She called this teacher null in her head, and outright asked sweetly, "May I please move my seating chart next to Rue, so that I can show her what we cover in school? Im under the impression that since shes new she might want a friend."
Null looked surprised and looked at Rue questioningly. Esther turned to her too, and grimly noticed that she wasn't the only one. In fact, some of her classmates seemed to have nothing better to do as an outbreak of whispering swept the classroom, like windy blades of grass on a summer day.
"Would you appreciate this Rue? I think its a great idea." Null said mildly, her opaque bland eyes focused on some spot above Rue's head.
"Okay." Said Rue, who was staring daggers at Esther. She ground her teeth, a slight movement, but Esther noticed all the less and chuckled, smiling minutely.
"Thank you." She said to null, who looked at her with a mild stare.
"No problem." She returned, and Esther proceeded to get her bags and move over. Rue inhaled when Esther came close, and leaned away slightly, offering up more space that Esther thought she would get. However, the desks where separate from the chairs, so Esther supposed that that was merely an act of defiance.
"Look who's weak now, huh? You couldn't even say no to the teacher." Esther hissed under her breath, smirking. Rue looked mortified at the thought, and took to sticking her head prominently away from her towards the window, seemingly fascinated with the clouds. Anywhere but here.
