It was a calm spring day. The flowers danced in the wind and the clouds painted the beautiful blue sky. I see him down there, standing by my grave as I sing to him, though I know he doesn’t hear me. It feels good to know he’s thinking about me. I caress his cheek, though i know he can’t feel my touch. I confess my feelings for him, though I know he no longer feels the same.

    It started a long time ago, back when I was just a weak, fragile girl. Afraid to speak for myself. I knew I wouldn’t last long in New York. I walked into my new classroom, trying to act calm, when really I was freaking out. What if I said the wrong thing? What if i was wearing the wrong thing? I didn’t know what to expect. But what I got, disappointed me beyond belief.

    The second I walked into the room, I heard someone whisper, “Fresh meat girls” followed by giggling and chuckling. I stood in front of the class, as per usual when you’re a new student, and I began to introduce myself.

    “Um… Hello” I started, nervous. “Um… My name is Annabelle… I just moved here from Orlando Florida… I’m kind of shy but, I hope I can make lots of friends here in New york…” I said, stammering a bit. A few people giggled until the teacher, Mr. Elton, shushed them. “Thank you Miss Jinkins. Take your seat next to Trincy.” he said, pointing to an empty desk next to a girl with short red hair in a bob cut, freckles, and a huge smirk plastered across from her face.

    I nervously went to sit next to her, after she had a laugh by pulling my desk so I’d fall onto my butt in front of the entire class. I blushed bright red, scrambling to my feet and dusting myself off before she could do anything else to me. the school day went by slowly. I would dread every minute. Every spitball they sent at me had me clenching my teeth and choking back tears.

    Why? I didn’t do anything! Why are they being so mean? I said to myself, trying my hardest not to cry. I just wanted to go home. I wanted the day to end. I wanted my life in New York to end. Why did I have to move? I was fine in Florida. Everyone was so kind to me.

    Finally, the day ended. I never knew how good it would feel to come home after a bad day. Well… ALMOST home… This place wasn’t quite home yet. Our new home gave me the creeps. It would make weird noises in the night and during the day I can’t walk into the backyard without smelling rotten egg. Not to mention the completely awful shade of green that was used to paint my new room before it was mine.

    If there was one good thing about me moving to New York, -and there was- it was my little sister, Maria. No matter how bad things got, she always found the good in the situation. I loved Maria more than anything.

    When I came back from my first day of school, she was already there, sitting on the front steps with her bottle of soap and her bubble wand in hand. The second she saw me her eyes lit up and she darted over to me. “Sis! let’s play!” She said, excited. But i have homework… I thought to myself. But one look into her hazel brown eyes and I couldn’t resist. “Okay.” I said. “But just for a bit.” She immediately grabbed my arm and dragged me to the backyard. Though the smell irritated my nose, Maria seemed to not even notice it as she ran around, blowing bubbles and waving the wand with her little hands. Although I was having fun, I dreaded waking up in the morning for school.

    But fears have to be faced. I went to school that morning with my head held high. I thought to myself, I’m not gonna let myself be pushed around! Though that confidence didn’t last long. Anytime I so much as made a sound, someone would blow a raspberry or pretend to sneeze, and in case that wasn’t bad enough -and it wasn’t- then came lunch.

    I sat at my table, relaxed and enjoying the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that my mom had made me, until it hit me. Literally. I felt the back of my head, wet and slimy, it was like the goo I saw in a monster movie the day before I moved. I screamed in disgust, and that was followed by ruckus laughter. “Hey! you like that ya freak?” someone yelled from a few tables behind me. I looked back to see who it was, tears in my eyes. It was Trincy. “There’s more where that came from freak show!” She said with a smirk, holding up another glob of goo. My first guess was she made it in physical science.

    I screamed and dashed out the lunchroom, but I couldn’t get away before being pelted with goo. I called my mom and begged to be taken home, but she was stuck at work, and dad was on a business trip. I had to go the remaining two hours of school and the bus ride home covered in goo. Every room I entered people would scrunch up their nose and say, “Gross! One eye’s covered in slime!”

    It’s not my fault I had to wear a medical patch. I had a lazy eye. I had no choice but to wear it if I wanted to get better.

    Days past, weeks, a month, and still they talk about that day, calling my cyclops and goo girl.  But by far that wasn’t the worst. The worst is what they called my sister.

    She came home crying. She clung to me like I was the only person left on earth, telling me how her classmates started calling her snot clone and psycho sis. My heart sank. My flaws affected the life of my own younger sister. This had to stop. I had to end it. But how? I didn’t have the courage to stand up to anyone. All I had was my brains. What was I gonna do? divide them by three? That sure would make it easier.

    All I could do was wait and hope for things to get better. Long story short, they didn’t. At least, not for long. But that brief time period that it was? It was amazing.

    His name was Johnny, and he wasn’t much. He was scrawny and he was always tired, but he was also tall and smart. I met him in Algebra 1. I didn’t think he was much at first. He was shy and barely spoke a word, but after a while I guess he warmed up to me. We always talked, less so since he started getting bullied because of me, but still. One day he asked me to stay after school so he could show me something. Mom was gonna be home late so I figured why not?

That day i stayed after school and we met by the front doors. “You ready?” He asked. “Of course!” I exclaimed excitedly. He gave me a big grin before pulling out a notebook labeled college math from his backpack. I looked up at him with a puzzled expression. “Trigonometry?” I asked. He chuckled and opened it up, revealing doodles of flowers, skulls, meadows, all I could imagine. I stared at the pages in awe. “You drew these?” I asked, completely shocked. He nodded and flipped through the pages.

    We were there for hours staring at his drawings. I even watched him draw more. Eventually I went home and went to bed. -after mom scolded me for getting home so late-

    Johnny and I had become great friends, or so I thought. He suddenly got really quiet. He wouldn’t talk to me for days. I figured he probably just got tired of me, so I gave him his space. Months went by and we didn’t speak to each other, and then I heard this.

    “Ha! Freak show is so clueless! I wonder how long it’ll take her to figure it out?” Trincy said to her friend, not knowing I was sitting in one of the stalls, listening in to her conversation. “I bet she won’t figure it out at all!” Another girl said. Her name was milly. She was short and had a nasally voice. “I’ll bet on that too!” Chelsea said. Chelsea had a big mouth. I could hear her from five blocks away. “Her little boyfriend is never gonna talk to her again. Not as long as we have this.” She said. She was obviously holding something, though I couldn’t see it. Her friends laughed.

    All I could see was red. Trincy sabotaged my first friendship here in New York, and I wasn’t gonna let her get away with it. I bursted out of the stall, “Trincy!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, an angry scowl on my face. Trincy, Milly, Chelsea and Rhonda flinched and turned to look at me. “One eye!” Trincy said. I could see it now. She was holding Johnny’s journal.

    “How dare you! Hurting me is one thing, but hurting Johnny and Maria is another! And I’m not gonna let you get away with it!” I yelled. With that, I lunged forward and tackled her, both of us falling to the floor and rolling out the bathroom. The journal switched hands multiple times as we bit, kicked, scratched and punched each other viciously. After a few minutes the hallway monitors managed to pull us apart. We were both suspended for a week, but I still wanted revenge. Of course, Trincy felt the same.

    A few days passed, i thought I was safe. I was right. I was safe, but Johnny wasn’t. It was a normal day until I got home from school and went on my laptop. I went on skype and saw it. Under my messages it showed a mass skype text, saying ATTENTION: JOHNNY FAIRMONT’S JOURNAL STATES THAT HE- I snapped my laptop shut before i could finish reading it.

    They did it… They gave away his secret… and it’s all my fault…

    I went to school the next day, johnny was absent. Same for the next day, then the next, and the next… He was gone. Eventually I got too worried to stand around. I went to look for him. I looked for days. I looked everywhere. The park, the mall, downtown, anywhere I could think.

    After two days of searching, I found him. I barely recognized him. He was skinnier, paler, and obviously much sadder, as he held his blade to his throat. “Johnny!” I yelled his name, slapping the knife out of his hand and sending it sticking into a tree. I put my hands on his shoulders and shook him angrily. “Johnny! what’s wrong with you?! Why would you even think of doing something like that?!” I yelled at him. He was in tears. He looked at me with pure sorrow in his eyes. “Annabelle… I can’t do it… So many people laughing at me… I don’t want this…” He said, his voice breaking.

    I looked into his eyes, seeing his sadness. “Johnny… but… you’re not alone…” I said, wrapping my arms around him and hugging him tightly. We both sat there talking and crying for hours. We eventually decided it was best to go home. I helped him walk. We walked at our own pace. eventually He said he could walk on his own so I let him go and walked. That’s when it got bad.

    I walked, happy to have finally found my friend, and too distracted to pay attention to where I was going. “ANNABELLE!” Johnny called out my name, attempting to push me off the road, but failing, as he only moved me a few inches. I turned to yell at him, and that’s when I saw the car that my medical patch refused to let me see. But of course, at this point, it was too late.

    beep… beep… beep… beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

    That was the last thing I heard. That, and my mother and sister’s quiet sobs.

“To this day and forth, We remember and love Annabelle… I’ll never forget her smile… Her laugh… The way she brightened up a room when she stepped foot in it… I will never forget the harshness of this world… I will never forget this world for the way it treated her… an innocent soul… someone who did her best to make herself happy while others weren’t… I will remember Annabelle forever, and hopefully, she’ll watch us, from wherever she is.”