Just Another Girl

Chapter 6

  I begrudgingly walked through the front doors to school. Again. I don't know why, I should be dead right now. 

  What's more, not only am I walking into to school when I should be dead, but I'm walking into school holding the hand of the most popular, out-of-my-league boy in the school. 

  The look on Chloe's face was priceless. Shock, anger, jealousy. And nothing she could do about it. 

  I walked numbly, led by Joey, to my seat. He sat down next to me, that seat was usually empty... I folded my arms on the desk and thumped my head down on them. None of this was real. It couldn't be. 

  I heard about three pairs of footsteps walk over. 

  "Hey ladies." Joey said with fake cheerfulness. 

  "WHAT are you doing with HER?" Chloe's snotty voice demanded. 

  "Well, why not?" Joey put his arm around my shoulders. 

  "Just look at her! She's just an average idiot girl." 

  "Don't talk about h-" 

  I couldn't let Joey ruin his popularity because of me... I wasn't worth it. I picked my head up and looked right at Joey and cut off his sentence. 

  "She's right Joey, I'm just another girl. Go find someone pretty and popular." I scooped my books off the desk into my bag and walked out of the room. 

  I left school, it wouldn't matter how bad my attendance was. I walked to the park and climbed up into the forked branches of a tree. 

  I just sat there thinking until I was interrupted by a voice. "Nicole?" 

  I closed my eyes. "Go away Joey. I'm not worth the trouble. Don't ruin your popularity for me." 

  "Ok fine, I'll only talk to you outside of school if that's what you want. But I really don't care, I never wanted to be popular." 

  "You saw what they think of me. You want to be treated like that?" 

  "Well... If I could make you feel better... Then I don't care." 

  I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was serious. "Joey, really all I want is to die. Please just give up on me and let me die." 

  He stepped forward and grabbed my hand. "Nicole. I have had a crush on you since I was ten. Maybe if I wasn't such a coward and if I'd told you sooner you wouldn't feel like this now... I can't just give up on you." 

  I jerked my hand away, tears stinging my eyes. "The world would be a better place without me! Nobody can or should love me! Even my own Mom hates me, you saw that! I'm just some miserable, useless, failure! I hate myself and my life, I'd be better off dead and everyone else would be better off without me!" I yelled,  then immediately regretted it. There were people staring at me now. 

  Joey looked shocked and sad. "N-nicole that isn't true..." He whispered. 

  "Just let me die." I sobbed out quietly. 

  "I can't do that..." He said, then after a second. "Here, I'll make you a deal. Give me two weeks, just two weeks, to give you a reason to live. To make you happy. You just promise you won't hold back and you'll trust me, and if you still want to die after those two weeks... Then I won't stop you. Deal?" He held out his hand.

  Two weeks... Right, whatever. Two more weeks of torture. What difference could it make? "Fine. Deal." I shook his hand stiffly.