Always there | Teen Ink

Always there

March 13, 2023
By emilyleon2008, Santa Ana, California
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emilyleon2008, Santa Ana, California
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Author's note:

I think many people can relate to this and can seem to like this book. I worked very hard on this short book and hoping everyone who reads this will enjoy it. 

It was a rainy day, and I was walking to Starbucks. All of a sudden I see a homeless woman trying to get food for a dollar. The cashier said nothing in the food section would be a dollar. As she looks down in disappointment I decide to step in and pay for her food and any drink she wants. She greets me and tells me “Thank you so much, God bless you.” and gave me a hug. As she walks away with the things that I had just bought her, she walks up to what I was guessing were her children.  Both of her children looked very young as if they were below the age of ten. That exact day was my first day of school, my mom had dropped me off at starbucks. I walked to school in a cheerful mood and smiley. As I walked in the school everyone was staring at me as if I was some type of famous person or someone popular. As they crowd around me I decide to call my friends to get me out. 

As my friend group came up to me I felt relief in me. My best friend Valerie came running up to me and gave me the biggest hug after a long summer break. As my friend group walks to first period I stay with Val because the second bell doesn't ring till 8:00. We walk around for a while around the school and decide to talk about how our summer was. We decide to walk to the first period , when all of a sudden  there are people surrounding me with hugs and asking how my summer went. First period as we walk in my teacher tells us to introduce ourselves and say one thing we did in the summer. Once it was my turn I could feel all eyes and ears on me. I introduce myself and say “Hi, my name is Venus and one thing I did this summer was hang out with my friends a lot.” 

The bell rings after I introduce myself and its nutrition already. I sit at the nearest empty table in the cafeteria where usually me and my friends sit. I Facetime Val to ask where she is. She says “I'm almost down, I'm next to the library!” I then see people start gathering at the table trying to talk to me and asking for my socials. My friends finally came after a few minutes.

After nutrition I walk into my 3rd period. I heard in the announcements this morning that it was going to be an odd day. I walk into class and I can see that my friend Val is in that class and she is crying so I go to her and comfort her. As I tell her, “I'm always here for you.”She takes a deep breath and calms down. We both overhear people talk about their summer and how their first day went. As my third period class is over the bell rings so me and my friends walk to lunch. In my opinion I think lunch is better than nutrition. 

My friends and I decided to stay in the library because they felt social anxiety to go down. We end up doing TikToks and make funny videos with filters. Once we heard the bell ring after lunch, my 5th period began. I picked an elective where anyone can express themselves through art and decor. My teacher does her introduction. After that we got to do slides of five things we did during the summer. The slides had to be decorated nicely. I have about like half the class as my friends and ASB now after showing my slides in front of the class. As I finished the bell rings and all my new friends are asking for my social media I gladly give them it. I walked to my last period class which is math, the one subject I always struggle in. My teacher introduces himself and we get to know everyone so I did and I can see group of guys walking towards me so I look their way and as I am looking I can see the guy all the girls are fangirling for blushing and is hesitant over me so his friends push him and he asked for my socials. So I do and all the girls are looking at me with a jealous look but I go on and I talk to him and make a conversation. My teacher then tells everyone to end their conversation and head to our seats. As we do the bell rings and the day has ended everyone heads home or is walking or is waiting to get picked up. I walk out and I am so relieved that the day has ended. I look for my closest friends to hang out with after school to go hang out at Starbucks. 

My mom comes and picks me up at Starbucks 30 minutes after school once I've gone home I start with my homework. As I finish my homework I check my social media and see the new followings on my social media. I continue on with my day and head to bed at 10:20 to wake up at 6:20 a.m. I slept for a few hours then woke up. I first check my socials to see anything new but nothing much. It's ready the next day, same things that happened on the first day but except I already got drama on my back this year.

I  find out that the guy I like also likes my friend when hearing about this. It was nutrition that made my heart sink at the hearing of that first thing that popped up in my head was girl code. Girl code is liking your friend's crush which is breaking girl code. I continue to talk about it to my friends until the bell rings. As I am walking to class I see the same guy who asked for my Instagram walk up to me he tells me he wants to walk me to class so I let him. I walk into class with many people asking me if me and him are dating but I say we're just friends. He looks at me with a down face but I say we're friends but talking. I see him smile. I don't know why I said that if I clearly like the guy from my ELA class. This day passes by fast and I hear the bell ring. I get home and it feels like the same cycle. I feel empty even though I have many friends who will always find a way to make me smile. 

When finding out about this I thought about how I was always there for her even at her worst times and she decides to do this when I'm struggling. I really wanted to tell her something but at the same time I always thought about how I want to be the better person instead of being the worst. My mom screams at me and tells me to do the chores that I do everyday. as I am doing them I can see my brother playing on the ps5. I asked my mom why he isn't doing any chores as well as my sister. She says “they are busy”  but they really weren't. She was on her phone doing absolutely nothing. it's always the same thing everyday, always doing the same. I'm getting really tired of it. I finish up my chores and go do some homework. As I finish up I get ready for bed and I check my socials before I go to bed. 

I lied. I didn't sleep. I stayed up all night crying thinking about the fact everyone thinks i'm perfect but im really not. My beauty doesn't change the fact about my feelings. I go to school with no sleep and an empty stomach. As I walk to school I try not to ruin my makeup with tears. I'm always there for my friends but when I need them they say “you're too pretty to be crying.” He saw me crying. “CRAP” I say. He comes running up to me asking if I'm fine.  I say I am but he doesn't believe me. He gives me a hug and tells me “I'm always here for you” and I say “So am I.” We walk the rest of the way to school together. We talked about our summer and what we did. He tells me “If I met you sooner we could have hung out all summer”. The butterflies I get. We eventually get to class. He walks me to my first period. I tell him thank you but he says it's not a problem. I see his friends in my first period they're all saying “oooo you and Ulises?” I try not to blush but I smile. 

I tell my friends all about it. I see one of my friends is kind of looking down with a sad face. I ask her what's wrong. She texts me “I liked Ulises..” I already knew before. Should i be Shocked or not? I ask myself, my friends are in shock so I should've been as well. I forgive, I'm kind, every good thing that happens to me I give it away. I encouraged her to talk to him. My bsf didnt tell me that her friend was asking Ulises to talk to my friend. Or so what I called my “friend”.  I decided to not go to school the next day. Ulises texts me “where are you? Are you okay?” I tell him I'm fine. Instead he calls me and tells me about my friend. I say “Do you like her? She's so pretty” He stays quiet.. She's next to him. I know because I hear her laugh. I hung up. How was I so dumb?All I thought about was my friend. I was ALWAYS THERE for her. 

My parents figured that I wasn't okay, they talked to me but I started crying because I felt like i've never been asked if I was okay till people saw I wasn't. I got sent to a therapist, they thought it would help but my therapist requested a mental hospital because I have an “Eating disorder” and “severe anxiety”. I went there for about 2 weeks. I might think I made more friends here than at school. I saw so many teenage girls/boys there. My roommate had the same problem I had. I'm guessing the hospital puts people with the same issue in the same room. Her name was Andrea, such a beautiful name. Me and Andrea became very close friends.. Except she was from Texas and I'm from California. Her parents wanted a new chapter here in california. 

Two weeks later I'm out, I say my goodbyes but I'm glad I'm finally out. I decided to stay home the rest of the day. I had to eat dinner. It felt weird.. It felt awkward, as if I wasn't supposed to be here. I decided to make small talk with my siblings but I saw my mom tell them something. I'm sure she told them to not talk to me. I felt like I had done something wrong. I felt left out. I feel their eyes judging me. 

I go to my room and I decide to stay there for the rest of the day. I have school the next day, so I decide to take the bus this time. My mom got mad at me in the morning and decided to take my phone away. I act unbothered to get her more mad. I get to school and I start crying because My mom is always  blaming everything on me. I forgot to take my wristband off from the hospital so everyone looked at my arm. I start getting anxious. 

I end up forgiving. Even if it means having to let go of things. And even if it means apologizing for something I didn't do because I want to be a bigger person. But i knew it was the end of something beautiful.



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