The Boarding School

-21-

We return to the school. Ms Perison gets out, helps me out of the car then grabs my things. I just glare at her.
"What?" she asks, noticing I was staring at her.
"You planned for this to happen" I say roughly.
"Maddie, no, the steering stop working on the car" she says.
"I don't believe you" I say, moody.
"Alright Maddie. Think what you want, but it was an accident, now c'mon, lets go inside" she says. I stand still.
"Where's Arianna?" I say quietly.
"She's here, she didn't get too hurt from the crash. She didn't have to go to the hospital, she just saw the school nurse" She says and grabs my hand and walks me inside.
"I don't want to be here" I grump.
"You don't have any other choice. Your Aunt won't let you go home, and your father is in a coma. The only option is to stay here for now" she says. I take a big exhale, I can feel the air rushing from my lungs. Ms Perison takes me back to the bedroom and sets my stuff down. A couple girls were in the room, they just took a very long glare at me. I look away.
"Your going to go back to classes tomorrow" Ms Perison says.
"But I think I should have another day to rest" I say.
"You're going to class tomorrow, end of discussion" she says sternly and leaves the room. I feel a punch of despair. I sigh and sit down on my bed. I sit there silently for a while. Then everyone gets out of their classes and rush through the hall, Arianna walks into the room. Her eyes light up with excitement and she runs right over to me, throwing her arms around me into a hug. I smile and hug her back.
"I missed you!" She says happily.
"I missed you too" I say quietly.
"How did you end u back here? I thought you would've went home" she says. My feeling of despair worsens.
"My father is in a coma" I say very quietly, Arianna barely hears me.
"Oh, I'm so sorry" she says quietly. I just nod once, she pats my back.
"It'll be alright" she says, not very convincing. I put my head in my hands. Arianna frowns and rubs my shoulder. "I'm sorry" she says.
"I have to go back to class now, but this is last class, so I will see you soon" she says and stands up, leaving the room. I lay down quietly and just lay there, deep in thought. I just daydream for a whole hour. Arianna comes back to me and sits next to me on my bed.
"I had only half classes today. Want to go get some lunch?" she asks, then grits her teeth, forgetting that I have a sore jaw.
"Alright" I sigh. We go to the lunchroom. The lunch lady sees the brace on my head, and serves me mashed potatoes and smashed peas and a carton of milk. I sigh and take the tray and sit down. Arianna grabs her lunch then sits across from me. Many of the other girls stare at me and start whispering.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" I ask. Arianna just looks down, then continues eating. I start eating, even though my jaw is a little sore still. I eat slowly, while a bunch of other girls watch me. After lunch we go and sit outside at our usual spot. And then Alison walks up to us...
"Coming back for more Alison? I could really kill you if I wanted to, I suggest you stay the hell away from me" I snarl.
"But your vulnerable this time, where'd you get the brace? Is it supposed to hold your tiny brain inside so it doesn't fall out?" She sneers.
"Really? Is that the best you can come up with? Please go away" I growl.
"Why'd you come back here? This school isn't a place for losers" She threatens. I can feel anger, but I'm trying my best to maintain my emotion.
"Oh, you don't belong here either then" I say.
"Funny. Heard rumors that your father is in a coma. Hopefully he never wakes up" She says. That did it. That set me off. I jump at her and knock her to the ground. I put my arm against her throat.
"Ever say anything about my father ever again, you're dead" I threaten.
"He must be so tired from putting up with you" She sneers, taking short breaths by the pressure on her throat.
"Bullshit!" I yell, pushing my arm against her throat.
"Maddie stop!" Arianna yells, running over to me and trying to make me move.
"You ever come near me again, you're so dead" I growl and stand up. Alison coughs and slowly stands up and brushes the dirt off her clothes. Arianna stands behind me nervously. I growl, then run into the forest.
"Maddie!" Arianna yells, trying to call me back, but I don't listen. I continue to run, running hard, pushing the branches away as they scratch at my face and arms. I keep running and eventually bump into a tree. I slowly kneel down to the ground, suddenly feeling extremely weak. I sit down on the ground in a bunch of fallen leaves. I start crying, hiding my face in my knees, wrapping my arms around my knees. This is all way too much for me to take in. Dad's in a coma, Aunt Lisa hates me, Alison keeps bothering me and I've almost killed her more than once, and I'm still getting really mad. I cry harder, making sobbing noises. I sit there for a while, then that teacher I don't know very well, Ms. Quinn, comes walking into the woods and walking up to me, silently putting her hand against my shoulder. I look up, my eyes teary and red.
"Ms. Maddox?" She says. I nod. I slowly stand to my feet.
"Are you alright?" She asks in a concerned tone. I slowly shake my head no.
"Whats going on?" She asks. I start to cry again.
"My dad is in a coma, my aunt is evil, and I hate it here" I whine. She doesn't say anything, she just grabs my arm and starts walking me out of the woods and back into the school. I pull my arm away and walk away to the rec room and read a book by myself. An hour later, Ms Perison comes over and scolds me for choking Alison again,  I just ignore her when she was talking, so she slapped me. I then go to dinner. I sit with Arianna, though we barely talked at all. After I watched tv, then Arianna and I went back to the bedroom and Arianna helped me study up for the classes I've missed. A couple of Arianna's acquaintances entered the room and studied with us, those girls were okay, they didn't make fun of me or accuse me of anything, but I don't think we would be friends. We study till it was time for bed. I put on my pj's and brush my hair, though it was hard because I'm not  allowed to take my jaw brace off. I take a quick shower. After, I sigh and lay down in my bed. It takes me a little while to fall asleep, the room was cold and I kept hearing sounds from outside, like someone left a window open.
I wake up and it was freezing cold in the room. I shiver and cover myself with the blankets more, then a teacher walks in telling everybody to get up. I go to class. My teacher yells at me for being away, and scolds me about all the stuff I had to catch up on. I try my best to tune in with the current things we needed to do.
I get to my forth class, I sit next to Arianna. The teacher plops a bunch of papers on my desk and tells me that all of this is homework and it needs to be done by tomorrow. I get overwhelmed and my eyes get watery and a few tears roll down my cheeks, I cover my face in my arms.
"Freak" one of the girls in class said.
Then I came to realize, she's right, I am a freak.