Kissing the Concrete

Twenty-five minutes.

Twenty-five fucking minutes were left of the lunch break, and I was done eating after five. The people I was lunching with seemed to have left me for "more important stuff" and I was all alone with my study books. I took a quick look out over the grey-colored landscape that make up the school cafeteria. Most people were socializing. Not me. I was studying as I usually do, since most of my actual friends had classes at this hour on tuesdays. Then again, I don't have a lot of friends.

Fifteen minutes. I looked up to check the time occasionally, as I digged deep down into my chemistry text books. It has always been one of my favourite subjects, I am just generally fascinated by it. Just as I was about to finish the page, I heard a deep, raspy voice yelling behind me. Oh great, just what I needed. My bullies, including my one and only Nemesis.

"Hey, Feeney! What have I told you about stealing our table?"

I turned around to see Andy's face looking down on me.

"I'm just trying to study here. It is not like there are no other vacant tables in the cafeteria."

"You think you are so clever, don't you Iris? You do realize we will kick your ass if you don't move?" The way the tone of his voice changed indicated that he thought I was stupid. Behind him were the usual members of his gang; Ashley, Jake, Jeremy and Christian, always ready to make my life hell.

"Fine, I'll move. Just keep your hands off me." I was certain that they would not listen to that last sentence, but surprisingly enough, I was left unharmed while I left the table.

Five minutes. I went to my locker to grab my history books. It was going to be the last class of the day, then I would finally be able to go home. I was extremely tired, nightmares had been keeping me awake for the past few weeks and they had been stressing me out. One night, I would dream that someone was stabbing me, the next night I would dream of zombies eating me. Each night, I woke up, my heart racing and sweat pouring down my face.

Four minutes.

I got my pencils and my books, closing the locker with a bam. I really did not want to do this. I dreaded walking around in the hallway, knowing that Andy and his gang could be waiting around any corner, behind any locker, outside any classroom. I had to hurry, not much time was left 'til class was starting.

Three minutes.

After running straight across the hallway I found myself in a dead end. And by that, I mean the stairs were blocked by a certain group of guys in black clothing.

"Guess you're stuck here." Ashley said with a smirk on his face, as he grabbed my arm.

"Let me go, Purdy!" I screamed at him. "I've never done anything to you!"

All of the textbooks I had grabbed from my locker were ripped from my hands and taken away by Andy, the rest of the gang smirking at me. I would resist, but I was afraid they would actually physically hurt me.

"Give me back my textbooks! I need them for class!"

"Just fucking school stuff." Andy said as he flipped through the pages of my notepad. "God, could you be any more uninteresting?"

"Well why do you refuse to leave me alone if you find me so uninteresting?" I shouldn't have said that. I SHOULD NOT have said that.

Andy looked back at me angrily, dropped my books to the floor and grabbed my face with both hands, one on each side of my head.

"You are human garbage and a waste of oxygen. Some day you'll die, and the world will be much better."

I had a hard time breathing as he released his hands and the gang left me. Tears flooded into my eyes and I started running up the stairs, sobbing.

As I arrived on the right floor I almost slided through the hallway to get to the classroom. My long, blonde hair was getting tangled in the wind, but I didn't care. I was in a hurry, and my teacher would not be happy if I showed up late for class again, even though I've repeatedly made it clear that I only show up late because of bullies.

When I finally arrived to the door outside the classroom, I looked down at my watch a final time.

One minute.

I made it in time.

Notes

Hi!
I felt I needed a summer project and decided to start writing fanfiction. Yes, this is my first story, so don't be upset if it sucks. Hopefully someone might find it good on some level :)