That Girl

• Lucy Marsh, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2010

The students pass by, darting stares at her. Her petite frame is dwarfed in the corner of the two buildings, in the shadows on the cold hard bricks. Not many people have even heard of her; if they had their impressions are hardly something she could live by. She has her head hidden by her book ‘Anne of Green Gables’. A regular visitor to the Library she is.
Between classes she scurries off with her face pointed down towards her feet; buried in her mass of books. She is the right size to duck under all the people in the corridors and regularly turns up to class first. The teachers watch her silently working in class; she rarely puts up her hand. On the surprising occasion when she has an opinion everyone talks over her quiet -as-a-mouse voice.
The warm hearted girls feel sympathetic for her; but are too scared to approach that little ‘freak’. The teachers have tried to get her to talk to them, but she just shrugs and walks off. It’s as though she doesn’t want to be a part of the school, or having friends, or having any other involvement in the out-of-school social activities.
Her name is Alana, she’s quite the shy one.
Her parents left her, she lives without any fun.
I feel sorry for her, nobody cares.
Her face stays covered by her wispy brown hair.
Her older sister leaves for parties nearly every night.
If she keeps this up she won’t turn out right.
She leaps on the buses at the end of the day.
Having no one to love is not a price she should pay.