If It Wasn't For You

just a short-story i wrote about a girl who is having a tough time in life and a boy who decides to care...

“Hey Arianna, I heard that Mark over there said you are looking good today... I think he kinda likes you,” said the black haired boy menacingly from behind the tree in the field at recess. “Really?” she asked back looking hopeful yet skeptical at the same time. “Oh yeah, he’s been talking about you all day… why don’t you go over there and talk to him… he’s by the pavement with Ernie. “Alright” said Arianna, a smile playing around her lips, but stopped because she had the sudden feeling of déjà vu. She was nervous now; she could feel the lump in her throat forming as she walked towards him. She wasn’t very good at talking to boys. “H-hi” she stuttered as Mark turned to look at her. “Hi” he said looking both puzzled and annoyed that she had interrupted his conversation with Ernie. They never did talk much. “I just came over here to ask if it was true…” she blurted out quickly, blushing hard. “If what was true?” he asked, now ignoring Ernie who was staring strangely back and forth between Mark and Arianna. “T-that y-you said I l-looked g-good today…” she whispered, stammering and staring at the floor, trying to ignore the blood rushing to her head, and the heat that came with it.

Then, unexpectedly, Mark began to laugh hysterically, and so did Ernie. “I- never- said that!” he managed to say between his fits of laughter. “What?” said Arianna, shocked and humiliated. The feelings quickly turned to anger as she threw a sharp look back at the boy behind the tree, who was also laughing uncontrollably. She ran towards him quickly trying to control herself. “I- am- going- to- kill- you!” she said through gritted teeth as she approached him. “What? Come on Arianna that was hilarious! You should have seen your face!” he said still laughing. “I didn’t find it funny!” she said angrily raising her voice a little. “Well it was” he replied, his laughter dying a little. “Oh- I- otta” she roared, as she raised her hand at him. His eyes widened, and for the first time he looked scared.

“ARIANNA COLLINS!” yelled Mrs. Russell, their eighth grade teacher looking as furious as Arianna herself. “Step away from Dylan!” she called walking towards them as Arianna took a step back. “Mrs. Russell, she punched me!” he said holding his arm and looking as if he were about to cry. “I didn’t touch him! He’s making it up! Look at his arm! It’s not even red!” she said as she turned to the teacher standing in front of her looking for some consolation. “Enough! I don’t want to hear it! Arianna I am very disappointed in you!” the teacher said coldly and then turned to look at Dylan “Are you alright dear? Maybe you should see the nurse” she finished. “Oh yeah, I think that’s best Mrs. Russell” said the boy. As he headed off towards the building, he looked back and gave a sly smile to Arianna before running off to the nurse. “As for you, you’re going to have to come with me,” Mrs. Russell said grabbing her by the hand, pulling her towards the door as well.

Arianna was speechless; all she could do was look around at the crowd that had formed around her, watching in amazement. A few of them began to point and whisper, but most of them just stood there watching her being taken into the black hole that was the principal’s office. She could feel the tears welling up inside her along with the anger she felt towards the injustice. Then, her vision became blurry, and the hot tears began to run down her face, taking her mascara with them. She knew she was innocent, but what she didn’t know, was the impact that this incident would have on the rest of her social life. This was the day that Arianna gave up, she gave up on trying to cope, with everything; the endless bullying, the pressure that she faced at school, and the fact that she had no friends or support. It was all over, she was suspended for a week now, and it was the first blemish on her perfect record, but she didn’t care; she was starting to wish she had actually hit Dylan.

1 year later

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It was Arianna’s first day of high school and she felt more depressed than ever. She hated school, not the subjects or the work itself, but the people that came along with it. So she woke up, got dressed, put on her heavy eyeliner and headed out the door without notice as usual. When she got to school she was feeling a little better, and decided she would try and make the best of the day. She couldn’t wait for lunch, but she knew she had to endure math and computer class before she could get there, so she took a deep breath and began to walk down the unfamiliar hallways.

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“Hurry up Kyle you’re going to be late!” the woman called as she looked at her watch. “Coming mom!” he replied slipping on his sweater and running down the stairs. It was his first day of high school and although he was nervous, he was also a little excited. “Good luck!” said his mother sweetly as she kissed him on the cheek and watched him board the bus. Kyle had always been a very diligent student, and never had any problems making friends. When he got to school, he met up with David, his best friend, and they walked to their class together since they both had science first period. After science, Kyle had English, which always seemed to go by pretty quickly on the first day. Once he put his new text books in his locker, he headed off to the cafeteria for lunch. He found David sitting at a nearby table with some other boys as well, so he decided to sit with them. “Hey guys!” he said looking around the table awkwardly. “Hey,” the other boys responded sluggishly. It was strange to sit with people he didn’t know very well since he had always been popular at his other school. He ate his pizza, and then something caught his eye. All alone in a corner, Arianna was sitting eating her chicken sandwich staring at the floor looking like she couldn’t wait to get up and leave. David noticed him looking, and asked “Oh hey is that the girl you guys were telling me about?” looking around at a blond-haired boy sitting across from him. “Oh yeah that’s Arianna,” he said nonchalantly. “Who is she?” asked Kyle still fascinated by her long black hair and her pale complexion. “She’s nobody,” said another boy at the table, looking eager to change the subject. “Alright, I’m gonna go talk to her, she looks lonely.” said Kyle. “NO!” the boys yelled in unison, “You can’t!” “Why not?” said Kyle looking shocked and confused. “Because she’s strange!” said David. “What? Oh come on guys don’t be mean, she just looks nervous about her first day” he said getting up from the table slightly until one of the other boys grabbed his arm. “No! You can’t go! I heard she doesn’t like people, and she punched a guy last year!” he said. “So what? It doesn’t hurt to try does it?” Kyle replied, slightly annoyed now. With that, he got up and started to walk over to her.

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She saw him coming, but what did he want? Arianna thought. Had he not heard the rumors about her? They had surely spread like wildfire throughout the school by now.

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“Hi, my name is Kyle, mind if I sit?” he said gesturing towards the empty seat beside her. “Sure?” she whispered looking away from him. “What’s your name?” he said sliding his chair closer to hers. “Arianna” she said simply, sliding her chair further away. “That’s cool” he replied with a smile, he couldn’t stop staring at her. “Ok why are you talking to me? Honestly, what do you want? If you want to know something just ask! Aren’t you scared of me like everyone else?” she said very quickly looking away again and blushing. “Actually, no, I just wanted to meet you because I thought you looked very pretty from where I was sitting, and” he said slightly embarrassed as well “I’m not afraid of you, because I don’t listen to rumors; I think they are unfair prejudices about people that you don’t really know, that other people spread due to their own insecurities.” he said very quickly with a smirk. “Oh…” said Arianna looking into his eyes now, “but I bet now you changed your mind and would like to go on with your day so I’ll excuse you,” she replied. “No, actually I haven’t changed my mind, quite on the contrary, I think you are even more beautiful up close,” he said. “If someone put you up to this I suggest you leave because today has been bad enough without you.” she said harshly, feeling skeptical about Kyle’s motives. He began to laugh, “You think someone told me to say this?” he said between his fits of laughter. “No, actually they told me to stay away from you, but as I said before, I don’t listen to rumors. Do you want to go to the mall on Saturday? We can have lunch,” he said confidently, “only if you want of course.” Arianna stared at him blankly, she couldn’t think of anything to reply with except “Um, I don’t go to the mall.” she blurted out. “Really? Ok, well we can do something else?” he asked surprised. “No it’s alright, I have to get to class,” she said flinging her book bag over her shoulder, “don’t want to be late on the first day, bye.” she said as she walked away. “Ok, bye,” Kyle called after her.

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The week passed and soon it was Friday afternoon. The rumors continued to spread, and nobody seemed to want to even get near Arianna. She was beginning to feel very insecure again, yet she couldn’t get Kyle’s voice out of her head. Nobody had spoken to her in an entire year, and all of a sudden this boy wants to go to the mall with her? What did he want with her? She asked herself. He kept talking to her in the hallways too, even though he got strange looks from others. Even his other friends began to ignore him when he was with her. “So are we going to do something together tomorrow?” he asked at lunch that day, slightly nervous. “Um, sure, you seem like the only one who wants to hang out with me, so I guess I could go,” she said with the slightest hint of a smile. “Alright! So where do you want to go?” he asked enthusiastically. “Hmm, I’ve given it some thought, and I was thinking to meet at my favourite park,” she said blushing again. “Sure! I love the outdoors!” he said with a huge smile. For the first time in her life Arianna was actually looking forward to something exciting.

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Arianna woke up early Saturday morning and decided that she would wear something different today. She looked through her dresser and picked out her best pair of jeans, and the most girly top she could find. Since she started getting bullied in around 4^th grade, she had let herself go, and didn’t really care what she wore, as long as it was a dark colour, and baggy so that she wouldn’t stick out in a crowd. She never even bothered to fix her hair, the only thing she did was wear her thick black eyeliner. But today was different; she didn’t want to wear her usual make up, because she had a reason to look good, she wanted to impress Kyle. When she was finally happy with the way she looked, she left the house and walked over to the park across the street where she waited for Kyle.

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After a few minutes, she saw him approaching the tree where she was sitting. She stood up and could feel her heart beating against her ribcage like a lion trying to escape her chest. He looked very handsome today; his crisp white shirt and dress pants looked perfect together. “Hey!” Arianna said, the weakness in her legs getting stronger and her voice shaking. “Hi” he said smiling and putting his arms out for a hug. Arianna looked puzzled, she wasn’t used to hugging, her own parents barely even showed her any affection. He must have sensed it, because he asked “What’s wrong?” She didn’t know what to say; “Nothing, I’m just… shy” she managed. He seemed to find it amusing because he said “No worries!” and began to chuckle, bringing his arms back down to his sides. “How about you come and lie in the grass with me, I like to just sit and watch the clouds sometimes, I find it really peaceful.” she gestured, looking slightly embarrassed. “Sure” he replied slowly, looking deep into her eyes. As they sat, they talked, and laughed, trying to find different shapes in the clouds. “See, it’s not so bad is it?” Kyle asked still laughing. “No, it isn’t” Arianna agreed, then suddenly felt uneasy, and decided to change the topic. “So what do you do on your spare time?” she inquired. “Well, I like a lot of things, but my favourite is painting. I love art!” he replied, his eyes widening with excitement and passion. “No way!” she said, her jaw dropping slightly, “I love art too!” “Really?” he said excitedly. “Yeah! I have my sketchbook here, do you want to see?” she said, rummaging through her book bag. “Yeah! I’d love to!” he said taking the book from her. He began to flip through it, and fell completely and utterly silent. “What? I-is something wrong?” she said trying to read his expression. “No, they’re beautiful! You are very talented” he said finally looking up at her, “but I have a question…” he said slower now, looking confused. “Ask away” she replied. “Well, I couldn’t help but notice that there is always a sad girl in the corner of every drawing, is there a reason behind that? ... Is it you?” he asked cautiously. “Oh, um… yeah it’s me… it sort of relates a lot with my past…” she said feeling shy again. “Really? Well since I don’t listen to rumors, can you tell me what really happened?” he hesitated. “Well, I’ve always been bullied… and unfortunately I’m too gullible for my own good. One day, this boy in my grade told me that another boy had said I looked good that day. He told me that he may kinda like me to, so I was excited at the news. Thinking he was telling the truth, but when I went to go talk to him he burst out laughing in my face. The boy hadn’t really said anything about me; it was all a prank to watch me make a fool of myself. So I got really mad at the boy who told me this, and I was about to hit him, but I stopped when the teacher called my name. He lied to her and said I did hit him, he gets to go to the nurse for a fake injury, and I get sent down to the principals office for a fake offense. I got suspended for a week… my life has not been the same since.” she said looking down at the grass that she was picking out of the ground blade by blade. “Wow…” Kyle replied, apparently speechless. “Arianna…you can’t worry about what other people think because it’s who you are that really matters, I know they spread rumors about you but it’s only because they don’t know the truth! If they did do you think they’d do it?” he said trying to sound comforting. “No, I know, but it’s hard… I haven’t had a friend since kindergarten, and that only lasted for like half a year.” she replied. “I know it’s hard, I was bullied to, for being a science geek.” he looked down and gently took her hand in his. For once, she didn’t pull her hand away, didn’t even flinch, she felt safe. “Really?” she said looking confused. He nodded, and this time, Arianna was the one to hold out her arms for a hug. Kyle smiled, and embraced her, “Oh I almost forgot! I have a surprise for you!” he said, “but you’re going to have to close your eyes.” he said with a shy smile. “Ok” she said returning the smile. He got really close to her and whispered in her ear, “I don’t care what anyone thinks… I think you’re beautiful,” and then he gave her a kiss. She opened her eyes quickly from the shock. “Kyle…” she started, but he put his finger to her lips to say “shhhh,” and kissed her again. This time she kissed him back, and when they finally stopped, she said “Thank you.” “For what?” he replied. “For saving me from myself.” she answered.

The End