Say Anything

I took my time walking home after school. I decided it’d be fun to stare down at my feet and count my footsteps instead of rushing home. A light bit of snow was formed over the ground and I was happy to see that my footsteps were the first to step on it.

I pulled my thick mustard colored jacket closer to my body and continued to walk when I heard a cough coming from behind me. I ignored it and picked up my pace, but I heard the person behind me walk faster to catch up. My breathing quickened and I almost burst out in a sprint when the person pulled me by my wrist and spun me around.

“Woah calm down, Baylin.” Derek said and grinned. I just looked at him and angrily yanked my wrist from his grasp. “Okay, I know you’re probably mad at me.” He stated and dug his hands in his coat pockets.

“I can’t be mad at someone I’m not friends with.” I muttered irritably and I saw astonishment dawn across his face due to the fact that I actually just spoke to him.

“I guess you’re right.” He replied and reached up to scratch the back of his head. I scoffed, turned around and continued to walk, only to see he was walking with me.

“Don’t you have a car?” I asked quietly.

“What?” He asked, obviously not hearing me.

I just rolled my eyes and darted to the opposite side of the road to walk on that sidewalk, but he just followed behind me. Usually I would just not speak and continue walking, but this was really starting to piss me off.

“Why are you following me?!” I asked and bit down on my lip.

Crap it’s cold.

“I don’t know, really.” Derek muttered. “My car is in the shop, so I decided I’d walk home and then I saw you.” I glanced up at him and frowned at his handsome appearance. Obviously his good looks are the only thing he has going for him.

I then looked back down at my shoes and sighed.

“Why don't you go hang out with one of your slutty girlfriends?” I remarked and immediately covered my mouth. Did I seriously just say that?

I glanced up at him and he raised an eyebrow.

“Wow, for someone who never talks, you really do have quite the mouth today.” He responded and pushed his hair out of his face.

“For someone who seems to be so cocky and independent, you really don’t have enough guts to stand up to your friends.” I muttered while Derek smirked in return.

“I really didn’t know you were like this.” He replied amusingly.

“You don’t even know me at all.” I remarked and kept walking.

“You’re right I don’t.” He stated, still walking to the side of me. “Enlighten me?”

“No.” I replied incredulously. “How dare you even try to stand here and try to be my friend again Derek, after all of those hurtful things you did and wrote.” I added and dug my hands in my pockets further.

“Look, I’m so-“

“Don’t even apologize.” I muttered sternly. “Just leave me alone like you usually do okay?” I asked. By now I had stopped walking and tears were beginning to well in my eyes, but I held them back as best as a I could.

“Baylin.” Derek said quietly and reached up to touch my cheek. I quickly slapped his hand away from my face and pushed him away, hard.

“Leave me alone.” I repeated and ran away as fast as I could.

-x-

I finally reached my house, while shivering obnoxiously. It was getting colder and colder, and when I was about fifteen minutes from my house, it had began snowing.

I opened the door, shook off the snow from my jacket and walked over to the closet and hung it up.

“Seems you managed to come home on time.” I heard my father say sternly. I turned around to meet his face and quickly looked down at my feet.

“I was late one time, Dad.” I remarked. “I had to meet a teacher and-”

“Stop with the excuses, Baylin!” He yelled. I flinched and closed my eyes as I heard him breathing angrily by me.

“I’m not trying to-“

“Room.” He said strictly.

I nodded and quickly darted up the stairs to my room. I opened the door, closed it and plopped on my bed. My father is a retired Army sergeant who withholds strict rules on me, and if I do one thing wrong, he pretty much holds it against me for the rest of my whole entire life. He has this whole fixated frame of mind on who I am, and as much as I’d like to punch him in the face and tell him he has it all wrong, I know I’d just be punching a wall. And in the end, my hand will be the one hurting.

I buried my face in my pillow, but immediately sat up when I realized that I was supposed to write a letter to MM and place it in the nurse’s office tomorrow morning. I grabbed a pen and laid the tip on a piece of lined paper that I retrieved out of my backpack.

He wanted me to tell him about myself. Truthfully, I barely even know myself, so this is probably going to be pretty hard for me.

MM,

Well, how lovely of you to tell me that you have brown hair. Now thanks to you, I’ll think every brown haired boy at this school is you.

I’m glad to see that you agree on me with the whole Derek thing. Oh, I forgot to mention that the boy I was talking about in the previous letter was actually Derek Woods, so yeah, there we go. He tried to talk to me after school today, but I made sure that I made it blatantly clear that I never wanted to be friends, let alone talk, with that boy ever again.

You’re probably confused, yes?

Thought so.

Derek Woods and I used to be best friends throughout part of elementary, all through middle school and the first couple of weeks of High School. I was still the same shy, weird, awkward girl that I am now, but he chose to look past that and befriend me. I didn’t talk a lot, but he accepted that, and did most of the talking and on my part. I didn’t mind. But then high school came around, and then he kind of realized that I wasn’t quite the coolest girl in the world to be hanging around with, and met Alex, who then showed him to everyone else. Ever since then, Derek had been out to ruin my life, or atleast Alex has, and Derek just went along with it.

I know, jerk, right? So I really don’t want to associate myself with that piece of crap ever again, especially if I have any say on what goes on in my life.

Now that I just ranted on about someone that I truthfully would NOT mind having jump off a bridge, I guess I’ll stay true to my obligation and tell you a little about myself.

I enjoy painting and drawing, and that’s what I usually do on my spare time besides homework and walking. I think walking can be the most calming experience, just reflecting your thoughts on the day, plus you get exercise, so I guess that’s a perk.

Actually, you know what? I’m going to stop right there. If you want to remain such a mystery and have the only thing you tell me about yourself be the fact that you have ‘brown hair’, then I’m not telling you any more about myself. I mean, you already have a step up on me, being the fact that you ACTUALLY KNOW WHO I AM.

So I’m going to end this before I go on ranting about how much I want to know who you are, and how much I'd love to talk to the infamous MM to his face.

Sincerely,
Bay.