Kandace (1)

Kandace

“Kandace!”
        “What?”
        “Don’t forget your lunch!”
That’s my mom. She’s like that.
        “I won’t.”
        “And make sure you have your homework!”
        “I have it, Mom.”
That’s me. My name is Kandace. But most people call me Kandy. This is usually how my morning begins. Mom reminds me about EVERYTHING, and then-
        “Ew, Kandace what did you do to your hair?”
Right on time. That was my brother. His name is Max. As you can maybe tell, he’s not afraid of speaking his mind.
        “I didn’t do anything except brush it out…”
        “That’s the problem! If you want that Thomas dude to like you-”
Oh right. Thomas.
        “I don’t like him!”
        “Yes you do!”
My brother is insufferably annoying. He thinks I like this dude from my school, Thomas. Okay, MAYBE I have feelings for him, but its not like he even knows I exist. Thomas is cute and he’s really popular. I, on the other hand, am not. Therefore, he will never notice me.
        “The bus is waiting! Grab your lunch and go!”
Crap. Why is the bus ALWAYS so early? Its like it wants me to be late. I grab my lunch off the table, and run out to the bus stop.
        “Kandy! You almost missed the bus again!”
That’s my best friend Alexis. She’s pretty nice.
        “I know, I know! But I made it, didn’t I?”
        “Yeah, you did.”
I open my lunch. Yuck, PB&J? Mom knows I don’t like PB&J. She must have forgotten.
        “Hey Alexis, you want my lunch?”
        “What? But then you won’t have anything to eat!”
I shrug.
        “Meh its fine, I don’t like PB&J”
        “But you do this every day, you’ve got to eat something!”
She’s right, I’ve been giving my lunch away to people on the bus for a week.
        “I’m fine, Alexis. Just not hungry.”
        “Well, if you say so...”
The bus stops a few more times before school and the last stop before they drop us off at school is Thomas’ stop.
        “Kandy! Kandy look!”
        “What?”
She points Thomas out to me.
        “It’s Thomas! Are you gonna ask him today?”
        “No!”
        “Why not?”
        “Cuz he’ll probably hate me”
        “Oof, right you are, rat’s nest.”
Oh yeah. That’s Collin. He’s supposed to be really popular and cool, but really he’s just a jerk. His favorite thing to do is bully people, especially me.
        “Bug off Calvin!”
        “No, Alexis, it’s fine.”
        “No it's not! He does this to you everyday!”
She’s right. But what can I do?
        “It doesn’t matter. Did you get your homework done?”
        “Yeah I did but-”
        “Good.”
The bus pulls up at the school and we all get out. I head to my locker and Alexis heads to hers. Fortunately and unfortunately, Thomas’ locker is right next to mine. I look over at him and he’s talking to his friends. Doesn’t even look at me. Typical.
        “So what are you guys up to tonight?”
That’s him talking. His voice is so deep, but not too deep. It’s cute, just the way I like it.
        “Aw nothing much, just hanging out with my girlfriend.”
That would be his friend Josh. Josh isn’t a terrible person but he’s not the best either.
        “Lucky. Everyone I’ve asked already has someone!”
Wait, what? Everyone is rejecting Thomas? He’s like the hottest guy at school! Maybe Alexis is right, I should ask him.
        BRRRRING
Shoot! That’s the warning bell! I’m gonna be late for class! I run through the hallways and run into someone. You guessed it, it’s Collin.
        “Hey! Watch it loser!”
        “Sorry, sorry!”
Collin usually lets me go after I apologize. Not today. He shoves me up against the wall.
        BRRIIINGG
Great. There’s the first bell. I’m officially late for class. Unfortunately for me, Collin and his gang don’t have a class right now. So they’re free to do whatever they want.
        “I told you yesterday, the next time you run into me there’s going to be trouble!”
        “I said I was sorry!”
        “Sorry doesn’t cut it!”
Collin shoves me to the ground.
        “You need to learn your place, loser!”
He punches me in the eye. Ouch.
        “AH!”
Collin kicks me and then walks off with his buddies. I can feel my eye already swelling. Ugh, great. Thomas is in my class! And I’m late too… I run to class.
        “That’s right! You better run, loser!”
I rush to the door. It’s already cracked open. I walk inside and mumble an apology to Mrs. Einhen. Keeping my head down I walk past Thomas’ desk and to my own, which is in the back of the classroom.
        “Well, as I was saying before Kandace walked in-”
Wow. Thanks for calling me out, Mrs. Einhen. Really appreciate it. I pull out my paper and start to take notes. Mrs. Einhen keeps hinting about an upcoming test. Woah. Wait a minute.Thomas is looking at me. He’s not just looking at me, he’s staring. His brows are furrowed in… concern? There is no way that Thomas is concerned for me. I reach up to touch my eye. It’s swollen. Probably purple too. I look away from Thomas and pay attention to the lesson. It’s probably just my imagination.
        BRIIIIIING
Finally, After half an hour of writing notes I can finally leave. I don’t have any classes right now, so I can meet up with Alexis because she doesn’t have a class either. Shoot. Alexis! Now I’ve got to come up with some story about why my eye is bruised. I start thinking. Did I run into a door? She might believe that.
        “Kandy! Oh my god what happened to your eye?”
        “I ran into a door.”
        “Oh.”
I don’t think she bought it.
        “Ignoring my eye-”
        “No. I am not ignoring your eye! What REALLY happened?”
        “I ran into a door, already told you!”
        “There is no way you got a black eye from running into a door.”
        “Well, that’s what happened!”
        “Was it Collin and his friends again?”
I don’t answer. She’s right, it was. But I can’t retaliate because then only God knows what they’d do to me.
        “Was it?”
        “Yeah, it was.”
She looks at me with an expression of what? Pity? Empathy?
        “Oh Kandy… You’ve got to tell someone!”
        “Tell who? And besides, do you know what they’d do to me?”
I know what they’d do. They’d humiliate me in front of everyone. In front of Alexis, in front of Thomas. Everyone would hate me. Trust me, I’ve got this all figured out.
        “They won’t do anything!”
        “That’s not true, and you know it!”
Alexis doesn’t say anything, she knows I’m right.
        “You can’t just let them push you around like this!”
        “I have too. Anyway, I’ll see you at lunch?”
        “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
This is the only time besides lunch when Alexis and I get to talk in school. We don’t have any classes together. And now that this break period is over, I’ve got to wait another two classes before I see her again. Both of those classes have Thomas in them. I head to my next class early, determined not to be late. Just my luck, someone’s already in there. Thomas. I walk in anyway, what harm could it do? As I walk past his desk he looks at me. In the same way he had done before, with that strange expression on his face. Like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if he should. I ignored it and walked to my desk. I still had five minutes before class started, so I took out a piece of paper and started sketching.
        “What’re you drawing?”
I froze. Did Thomas just say something to me? I look up. He’s staring straight at me. Calm down, this is your chance!
        “O-oh um…”
I held up the paper for him to look at. Using the paper to cover my blushing face I said,
        “It's just a guy…”
        “Cool. You’re really good at drawing.”
I lower the paper and set it back down on my desk. I’m sure my face is as red as a cherry, and I bet he sees it too.
        “U-um thanks.”
He squints at my face.
        “What happened to your eye?”
Dang it. I look down at my desk, hiding my face from him.
        “Oh, uh, it's nothing.”
        “Sure doesn’t look like nothing. What happened?”
        “Ran into some people in the hallway”
I mumbled that last part. Half hoping he didn’t hear me, half hoping he did.
        “Is that why you were late to class?”
        “Y-yeah…”
        “Who did it?”
        “I can’t tell you.”
And I CAN’T tell him. Word would get out, people would know and make fun of me, and Collin would find me and do who knows what.
        “Yes you can. I won’t tell a soul.”
        “Well-”
I look back up at him. He’s still staring at me, with that same expression on his face that Alexis had. I’ve decided now that it’s a mixture of empathy, sorrow, and pity.
        “C’mon, just tell me!”
        “Collin.”
        “Collin? That jerk?”
        “Yeah. Collin and his friends.”
What is wrong with his face? Why does he keep changing how it looks? First its empathy, then sorrow, then pity, and now I don’t know what it is! It almost looks like he’s about to cry.
        “Oh my gosh, are you okay?”
        “Yeah I’m fine, it’s not the f-”
I stop. Thomas doesn’t need to know that it’s not the first time I’ve been hit.
        “Not what? Not the first time?”
I don’t answer. Instead I look down at my paper, willing the bell to ring. He walks over to my desk.
        “Your name is Kandace, right?”
        “Yeah, but Alexis calls me Kandy.”
        “Just Alexis?”
        “Well, yeah… She’s my only friend.”
        “I can be your friend, if you want”
I manage a smile.
        “That’d be nice”
BRRRING
There’s the bell. Thomas takes out his pencil and scribbles something on the top of my paper. I read it.
605-336-7845
Is that his number? Did the literal most popular guy in school just give me his number? As the other students file into the classroom I look up at Thomas. He’s looking at me with a smile on his face. I smile back. It’s a real smile this time.
        “What’s this?”
Oh yeah. Collin and his gang are in this class. I forgot.
        “A drawing.”
Thomas looks back at me. He sees Collin standing next to my desk.
        “Well it looks like sh*t.”
Collin takes a pen out of his pocket and scribbles all over my drawing. I keep a straight face.
        “There.”
He walks away to his desk with his friends. Thomas is still looking at me. He raises an eyebrow. I shrug. He slowly turns around. Class starts.
        “So, if any of you remember the lesson from yesterday, you’ll know that we finished up a unit. This means new seating arrangements!”
I almost forgot! Mr. Johnson is the history teacher, and every time we finish a unit, the class gets new seating arrangements.
        “I will randomly assign you to a new desk. Please move there without talking, and do so quietly!”
He starts calling out names and pointing to desks. I listen for my name.
        “Kandace. You’ll sit just over here.”
Perfect. Right in the back of the classroom in the corner. My favorite spot. Mr. Johnson likes me because I always have an A in his class. This makes me wonder if he chose that spot specifically for me.
        “Thomas.”
I cross my fingers. There’s a seat to my left, and a seat to my right. Hopefully Mr. Johnson will put Thomas in one of them.
        “Sit to the left of Kandace.”
Yes! This is great!
        “Collin, you sit to her right.”
No! This is horrible! Why Collin, of all people?