Reflections of Wendy

Meeting Joey Vlaire

The next day wasn't much better, but to make matters worse, this time, Jordan was joined by her long-term boyfriend, Allister. I took the torture, as usual, and right as they left Monique popped up, next to my locker, out of nowhere.

"Why do you take that from them?" Monique, or Mona as she liked to be called, questioned.

"What else would I do, stand up to her?" I asked. Removing my math book from its spot.

"Umm... yeah."

"Ha, easier said than done."

"It's not that hard you know."

"Have you done this before?"

The bell rang before she could answer me, so we just walked to class.

Math was the usual kind of boring, with people sleeping in the very back and kids writing notes as if their life depended on it. I sit in the middle of the class usually doodling in my notebook. I wasn't paying that close of attention today, but I could see some triangles with missing measurements on the board. By the end of the class I had doodled an almost exact replica of my favorite band's logo. Once the bell rang I made a bee-line to my locker to put my math book away. Once there, I ripped out my doodle and put one of the many mini magnets on it so it hung on my locker door.

I didn't even hear them walk to my locker. I had I would have made a run for it, so when I turned around and saw Jordan, and her posse of one, almost directly behind me my heart started to beat so fast it felt like I had just run a marathon.

"Hey Wendy, what's new?" Jordan asked, snickering at Margret.

"Nothing," I mutter under my breath, looking at the floor.

"Omg, did you draw these Wendy?" Margret asked. I followed that question with a head nod, not daring to speak again. Now they surrounded me. I could now hear my heart in my ears and it was deafening.

"They're so ugly it's funny," Margret stated. They both laughed at this statement. Just then Jordan took her perfectly manicured hand and ripped off as many drawings she could get her hand on. My eyes followed them as they fell to the ground. I stared at them for so long that when I looked up they were gone, as if they were never here in the first place. I looked back down at the sketches, ripped and crumpled up on that nasty school floor. I looked back up at my locker and stared at the reflection in the mini mirror hanging on the metal door. What I saw were the inner demons I hide inside my soul, and for a moment I was sure that the irises of my gray eyes had turned red. I didn't even bother to pick them up off the ground. I started to run, to where I didn't know, and while running to nowhere, I bumped into a kid who looked genuinely concerned about me but I just kept running.

I made it about half way across the school when I saw an open supplies closet. I bolted to the open door. Once inside I slammed the door shut, flipped the light switch, and sat on an overturned bucket contemplating on what to do next. I had accidentally left my pills at home, so that option was out! And I didn't have anything else with me that could do any real damage. That's when I looked up and saw all the cleaning chemicals on the shelf. I grabbed a bottle of drain cleaner and started to twist the cap off when I heard a knock at the door.

"Hello? Are you still in there?" It was the muffled voice of a guy, but I didn't know any guy at this school. He repeated this about twice before I got up, still holding the drain cleaner in my hand, and opened the door. Once I opened the door a crack he pushed his way through the doorway, making me stumble back.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked. When I looked up, our eyes met and I saw that he was extremely concerned about this. Which came as quite a shock to me, since nobody except Mona seemed to care.

"Do I know you?" I wondered.

"Oh sorry, my name is Joey Vlaire." He reached his hand out to shake mine. When I didn't reach out he noticed the bottle of chemicals in my hand and I could tell he was curious, but more than likely, concerned.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Trying to make my world end."

"Yeah, I saw what Jordan did to you. She can be a real brat sometimes."

"You got that right." I snickered under my breath.

"Why don't you tell someone about what she's doing to you?" he inquired of me.

I looked at him straight in the eyes and said, "It's not worth all the trouble."

He opened his mouth as if to say something but when he didn't he just looked at the cleaning chemicals in my hand. I twisted the cap back on and slowly handed it to him. He put it back on the shelf and started out the door. He was on the threshold of leaving when he turned around, looked me square in the eyes and spoke.

"You have so much to live for, please don't do it." With that he left with the door wide open. I sat there for a little while longer, staring at the open doorway. I looked down at a puddle of water on the ground, and what I saw was a girl who looked like life beat the crap out of her but also looked relived that someone had stopped her. I started to cry tears of relief but just then the bell rang, which meant that it was time to go to class. The final class of the day. I wiped the tears away, stood up, and crossed through the doorway. Back to reality.