Jamie

• Mikaela Marsh, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

I hesitantly open the door to my school, and as soon as I enter the school grounds, I keep my head down while walking on the porcelain tiles. I look at my black sketchers as they pound rhythmically on the floor. I glance up briefly out of pure curiosity and notice that everyone else is either leaning on their lockers or looking at their phones,talking to their friends in whispers. When a kid looks at me, I instantly look down, but since I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I naturally ran into this guy. Regardless of how weak I am or how strong he is, he still manages to cause me to fall to the ground.

I’m lying on the ground, listening to my schoolmate's laughter. I want to get up as soon as possible so that I can just run away, get away from everyone and everything. I can feel the coldness of the tiles seeping into my skin, it sends shivers up my spine. I'm still lying there on the ground, staring at my trembling hands. Right now, I wouldn't dare look at any of my classmates at the moment, but suddenly I feel a hand take my arm and help me up. When I turn to see who it is, I realise it is the same person who had initially bumped into me. I meet his eyes as I'm looking at him and become engrossed in them. He has such lovely chestnut-colored eyes whereas I had those dark brown pupils that appear to be filled with nothing, as opposed to those pupils that appeared to be full of light and happiness. I suddenly realize that I've been looking into his eyes for much too long, giving the impression that I'm looking into his soul. I instantly break eye contact with the guy and turn to look at my fellow students. A couple of them are holding up their phones and giggling to themselves.

All of a sudden a shrieking bell breaks out across the school. Class is starting, soon the swarm of kids disappear into different corridors and I realize I better go to class. After class finishes I rush into the bathroom I had just presented my oral presentation about feminism and what people have done to support the cause in the past 10 years. So if you can tell I am quite exhausted anyway. back to what I was going to say. I’m Jamie. I'm a 14 year old in year 8, let me explain some more. Last year I was like any other girl. I had many friends and I was what you would call the ‘popular girl’ but in an instant that changed someone had spread a rumor that I had betrayed my best friend. I had known since we were babies. It's too hard to explain currently but maybe later. But anyway my whole life changed. I lost all my friends and I became alone.