AWOS No One Saw It Coming CHALLENGE
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An AWOS challenge with the theme: 'NO ONE SAW IT COMING'.
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The Girl At Falls High
I walked through the high school's hallway, looking at the green metal lockers and all of the kids stacking their books or pulling out random papers for their homework. I didn't even bother to open mine. I was sick of this. I had finally had enough. And the last couple of hours had been the final last straw for me. Today the entire school seemed to have developed a new approach as to how they could put me down... Total seclusion. And I had thought that the bullying and throwing apples at me and such had been bad. At least they had recognized my presence and bad attention I guess was better than none. My heart sank as I walked past the usual group of jocks who used to taunt me and comment on my black and purple hair or on my weight. Not a word, not even a hateful glance. I had left the classroom without any of the papers, without anything... even the teacher had ignored my every attempt to actually answer any of the questions she had asked regarding the upcoming test. I felt like I didn't even exist, but that was really nothing new. Ever since I moved here people had been rude and abusive to me. Maybe it was because I lived in a trailer with my alcoholic mom or maybe it was just because I was different... spoke with a different dialect and liked things such as art and dungeons and dragons. Most of the kids here just played football, or went to cheerleading classes - even the nerds who I had actually managed to exchange a few words with some days ago were now also ignoring me. I bet someone had spread one of those awful rumors again. But why was I even thinking about this? I had no intention of coming back anyway, not ever. Once I was out that front door I would give this school and the last year of my life the finger, that was for sure. I might as well join my mom for a while... before...
"Melinda Schneider??? Soooo weird," someone mumbled behind me, but at this point I didn't care or notice. I just wanted out. Following some students through the doors to the cantina I had to control myself in order not to burst into tears. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives here... except me. Why were kids so cruel? What had I ever done to them except excelling in art studies and being from a different state? Walking through the cantina I looked at the kids sitting by their tables, having their crappy school lunch. Hooray, the dessert was the red jello this time - my favorite. But my stomach merely seemed to turn. As I walked past the cheerleders' table the loud giggling immediately hit my ears and I kept my glance pinned to the floor as usual. Just as I walked by one of the blonde and busty girls knocked over her milk carton, which splashed out on the floor in front of me, pouring milk everywhere. Loud giggling came again.
"Aww, Sharon...!" one of the girls said in a fake, sarcastic voice. I had stopped shortly before the milk had splattered out on my path between the tables, but in order to not make matters worse I decided to just walk right through the mess. I just wanted out and if anyone tried to stop me, by god, I would turn to violence for the first time in my life. Looking up I could see the door to the hallway which led out of the school, but any sort of relief wasn't even present in my mind. I just wondered if I would make it out of there before someone started messing with me - oh wait, no, today was 'ignore-Melinda-day'. So it shouldn't be a problem. No one cared. Not even me.
A rattling sounded from the speaker system and by old habit I turned around and looked up at the round, grey speaker in the ceiling corner. The noise in the cantina seemed to fade a bit as the principal's voice started pouring out into the room.
"Dear students of Falls High..." he began and the cheerleaders rolled their eyes as they were pushing each other lightly, grinning and fooling about. I sighed slightly.
"As scheduled we will at 1pm have two minutes of silence at the football field. Everyone is required to be there and there are no excuses," the rusty voice said and I frowned slightly. Well, we didn't have a TV in the trailer anyway, so how was I supposed to keep up with the news? Not that I cared at this point. I was about to turn around to walk again when I noticed the milk on the floor. I had walked right through it seconds earlier, but it seemed completely untouched. No shoe marks, no broken surface.
"What the hell...?" I uttered and looked down on my shoes. They weren't wet. Well, I had probably just missed the milk somehow. The speakers rattled again.
"The two minutes of silence is in the loving memory of one of our students, Melinda Schneider, who as you know was found dead at her home this morning. It is a terrible loss, and I urge all of you to..."
I didn't hear anymore. It was like I was frozen. Staring at the untouched milk chills ran down my spine and when I looked out one of the windows in the cantina, my reflection wasn't there. Only cheerleaders and jocks and nerds trying to hide were mercifully reflected by the glass. And I realized that I was no more... just as they had always wanted.
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An AWOS challenge with the theme: 'NO ONE SAW IT COMING'.
______________________________________
The Girl At Falls High
I walked through the high school's hallway, looking at the green metal lockers and all of the kids stacking their books or pulling out random papers for their homework. I didn't even bother to open mine. I was sick of this. I had finally had enough. And the last couple of hours had been the final last straw for me. Today the entire school seemed to have developed a new approach as to how they could put me down... Total seclusion. And I had thought that the bullying and throwing apples at me and such had been bad. At least they had recognized my presence and bad attention I guess was better than none. My heart sank as I walked past the usual group of jocks who used to taunt me and comment on my black and purple hair or on my weight. Not a word, not even a hateful glance. I had left the classroom without any of the papers, without anything... even the teacher had ignored my every attempt to actually answer any of the questions she had asked regarding the upcoming test. I felt like I didn't even exist, but that was really nothing new. Ever since I moved here people had been rude and abusive to me. Maybe it was because I lived in a trailer with my alcoholic mom or maybe it was just because I was different... spoke with a different dialect and liked things such as art and dungeons and dragons. Most of the kids here just played football, or went to cheerleading classes - even the nerds who I had actually managed to exchange a few words with some days ago were now also ignoring me. I bet someone had spread one of those awful rumors again. But why was I even thinking about this? I had no intention of coming back anyway, not ever. Once I was out that front door I would give this school and the last year of my life the finger, that was for sure. I might as well join my mom for a while... before...
"Melinda Schneider??? Soooo weird," someone mumbled behind me, but at this point I didn't care or notice. I just wanted out. Following some students through the doors to the cantina I had to control myself in order not to burst into tears. Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives here... except me. Why were kids so cruel? What had I ever done to them except excelling in art studies and being from a different state? Walking through the cantina I looked at the kids sitting by their tables, having their crappy school lunch. Hooray, the dessert was the red jello this time - my favorite. But my stomach merely seemed to turn. As I walked past the cheerleders' table the loud giggling immediately hit my ears and I kept my glance pinned to the floor as usual. Just as I walked by one of the blonde and busty girls knocked over her milk carton, which splashed out on the floor in front of me, pouring milk everywhere. Loud giggling came again.
"Aww, Sharon...!" one of the girls said in a fake, sarcastic voice. I had stopped shortly before the milk had splattered out on my path between the tables, but in order to not make matters worse I decided to just walk right through the mess. I just wanted out and if anyone tried to stop me, by god, I would turn to violence for the first time in my life. Looking up I could see the door to the hallway which led out of the school, but any sort of relief wasn't even present in my mind. I just wondered if I would make it out of there before someone started messing with me - oh wait, no, today was 'ignore-Melinda-day'. So it shouldn't be a problem. No one cared. Not even me.
A rattling sounded from the speaker system and by old habit I turned around and looked up at the round, grey speaker in the ceiling corner. The noise in the cantina seemed to fade a bit as the principal's voice started pouring out into the room.
"Dear students of Falls High..." he began and the cheerleaders rolled their eyes as they were pushing each other lightly, grinning and fooling about. I sighed slightly.
"As scheduled we will at 1pm have two minutes of silence at the football field. Everyone is required to be there and there are no excuses," the rusty voice said and I frowned slightly. Well, we didn't have a TV in the trailer anyway, so how was I supposed to keep up with the news? Not that I cared at this point. I was about to turn around to walk again when I noticed the milk on the floor. I had walked right through it seconds earlier, but it seemed completely untouched. No shoe marks, no broken surface.
"What the hell...?" I uttered and looked down on my shoes. They weren't wet. Well, I had probably just missed the milk somehow. The speakers rattled again.
"The two minutes of silence is in the loving memory of one of our students, Melinda Schneider, who as you know was found dead at her home this morning. It is a terrible loss, and I urge all of you to..."
I didn't hear anymore. It was like I was frozen. Staring at the untouched milk chills ran down my spine and when I looked out one of the windows in the cantina, my reflection wasn't there. Only cheerleaders and jocks and nerds trying to hide were mercifully reflected by the glass. And I realized that I was no more... just as they had always wanted.
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