Hope

Ryan was the bane of my existence, in the few days I was happy, he would put me back down. I don't understand why he did it, but looking back I think he liked the control, pushing me in the direction he wanted. Everyone thought that he was my friend, he was trying to help the poor socially awkward girl with no friends. He told everyone that I hated being crowded and found it hard to talk to people, so they left me alone, isolated, alone, vulnerable.

That day started pretty regularly, I went to school arriving just in time to avoid talking to anybody, I entered the classroom and sat in my usual seat, it was a double desk for two people, but no one sat next to me, the teacher entered and beside him was a new student. It was a boy, he was tall and good looking, he had a friendly smile, I knew he would be popular, "Class meet Karl, he will be your new classmate, you can sit next to Rose", pointing at my desk. The boy sat down and said hi, giving me a blinding smile, I quietly said hi back to him then looked towards the teacher again. I heard whispers in the class surprised I had answered; it wasn't like I couldn't talk I just didn't like to start a conversation was that so wrong?

That day at break time and lunchtime Karl made me give tours around various parts of the school, chatting along asking me questions. We found out we liked similar music and books, so this became our main topic of conversation, it was so nice to have a friend at school finally. During last period Karl had a different class, so I showed him the room then headed off to my class. I was halfway there when I felt someone grab my arm; I turned to see Ryan, he looked smug, "Always knew you were a little s**t" he told me pushing me against a wall.  He leaned in holding my shoulders firmly, and started kissing my neck, "W-wh-what are you doing, no please stop, please" I whispered.  Too terrified to shout, he pressed his body against mine, I could do something hard between his legs, he put his mouth to my ear and said, "Claiming what's mine, since you've been such a little s**t today I'm going treat you like one." My body shivered, I could feel tears pooling in my eyes, I hadn't done anything to deserve this, I just wanted a normal school life, my body frozen in fear I couldn't do anything. Then I felt Ryan being ripped away, "What the f**k are you doing?" Said a voice, my tears still falling so hard I couldn't see who it was, I heard a loud thud, then arms wrapped around me, "It's going to be ok now, we won't let him near you again," it was Karl.

He didn't have a pencil for his next class and wanted to borrow one, so he came after me, he saw what was happening, at first he thought we were dating and having a quick make out session between class, then he saw my expression and knew something was wrong. When he told the teachers, they were shocked. Everyone thought that Ryan was my friend, oh how wrong they were. They expelled him from the school saying his behaviour was appalling, no matter how shy and awkward I was, no one deserves that treatment. Karl became my new best friend, he helped me with my phobia, I was still scared, but no longer had a panic attack every time I saw one.

I'm not going to say life is easy; it's an uphill battle every day, I'm still scared of pens, I still ask the location of the pen aisle when I go shopping so I can avoid it. I got a job that allowed me to work freelance from home so that I could avoid pens.

This wasn't the end of my story just this chapter; it was a hard part of my life. Oh and Karl, we are still friends, he got married and had children, after many years of friendship he admitted that he asked me to show him around on that first day cause he thought I was pretty.