Roam If You Want To

My face went full red when Roam's lips hovered so close to me and whispered into my ear, and it took my a few minutes to recover from what had just happened. Eventually, I exited the bathroom, a blush fading slowly from my cheeks.

I wandered down the hallway at a sluggish rate, with my feet practically dragging across the floor, until the bell rang. I had to quicken my pace to class. I was never usually late, but for this class it wasn't such a big deal - it was an elective.

I snuck into the back of the classroom in the last seat, thanking god that the teacher hadn't seen me. I listened to her drone on about kitchen safety while I doodled in a notebook. This Culinary Techniques class was ridiculous, we weren't even allowed to cook until seven weeks into the course.

As I tried to block out the annoying tone of my teachers voice, who sounded a lot like Fran Drescher, I thought about Roam. I was glad that I had made friends (well sort-of friends? Because who knew if she even thought I was cool?) with her, especially since she was so.. attractive, and of course witty and strange, but in a way I enjoyed.

I woke up out of my day dream by the sound of yet another bell and shuffled off to my next period class. The next four classes were plenty boring, but eventually I made it through until ninth period and when the bell rung once again, I sped off to my locker. I dropped the books and I didn't need and grabbed the books I did and rushed out of the building.

I walked past all of the buses and watched the many faces getting onto them, and classmates looking for theirs, until I was almost off the school property. I spotted Roam jump into a car and speed off with a male driver. The site made my stomach squirm.

She was new here, and she had already made friends? Who was the guy? Probably her boyfriend.. what was I thinking? Just because she was bi didn't mean that she had to like the only lesbian girl at school, with her looks I wouldn't be surprised if she turned another girl bi for her, plus, there are plenty of guys who, if they looked past her punky exterior, would love to get to be with her..

As I wallowed in self-pity, Marlee caught up with me down the street. She took her sweet time typing out a text message and sending it before looking up to me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, looking at me briefly before recieving another text and reading it.

"Nothing." I sighed.

And as I suspected, she was uninterested, because she didn't push further.

"Kay. Well have you seen the new girl?" at that sentence, I perked up.

"You mean Roam?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I guess. The tall, skinny, scary one? I mean, have you seen her outfit? With all that black? Like please, go back to wherever you came from, freak, right?" she giggled.

Normally, I would nod in agreement with Marlee, as if it were automatic. This was mostly because I either didn't know the person she was gossiping about anyway, or I didn't want to upset her. It's not like I had any other friends to defend. But this time was different. As the word "freak" fell from her lips, it sparked a fuse in my mind.

"No, you're not right, Marlee. I happen to like Roam a lot, and I don't think she's a freak. I think you are."

With that, I stalked off in the opposite direction, which meant having to take the long way home. But it's not like I minded. I had finally stood up to Marlee, which is something I wouldn't have thought I'd be doing a mere day ago.

I didn't turn back to see her reaction, but she didn't care enough to yell out to me. I wasn't going to let her talk about my only friend now. Marlee couldn't even be considered a friend. Friends don't let other friends harm themselves. But I liked this pain, so maybe I should thank her. But she wasn't a friend at all. And although when it I yelled that Marlee was a freak I didn't really mean it, as I stepped forward, I truly considered it.

You don't have to be different to be a freak, you have to be exactly the same as everyone else. That sure was Marlee.