ANGELINA

Angie looked around her third-period classroom. Nothing much was going on, except for the singing of course. This was choir, after all. She listened to the sweet voices of the talented girls in the class and the deep voices of the boys. The bell hadn't rung yet and it wasn't her group's turn to sing yet so she was just sitting there, doing nothing, like always. Angelina sighed then looked around the room. There was a set of drums and cymbals that were there for the band students that's class was after hers. There was also a big shelf full of different instruments that belonged to the band students as well. One of the instruments stood out to her more than the others. It wasn't the normal gold looking kind, it was pastel pink and had pom poms on each button. The instrument was a baritone. Angie puzzled at the sight of the weird baritone. She felt herself drifting off, wondering what bold soul it belonged to.

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder, it was her friend, Poppy Willseed.

"Sing. It's our turn. You'll get in trouble!" She warned in a whisper only she could hear.

"Oh, sorry, didn't notice." She replied under her breath.

After class Angelina and her new best friends, Alice and Aspen walked across the campus to the main building. She had become great friends with the two over the course of the month and she was glad for it, for they were much less self-centered than Jazelle and Oakley. Angie looked over at the two, noticing Aspen and Alice were talking excitedly about something Angie couldn't understand, maybe she would've understood if she had been listening to the whole ordeal. She looked at the ground, thinking. Her friends didn't even notice she had gone silent, they kept on talking, but that was fine for her because she needed to think and she definitely couldn't do that with them talking to her. Angelina first thought about the strange... vision? Dream? She wasn't sure what it was, to be honest.

So what exactly did I do? I know, awakening, but was it a vision or a dream? She asked Juniper suddenly.

Well... Long story. First of all, it's neither a vision nor a dream. It's actually a mix of foresight and delusion. She stated.

Foresight and vision are the same things and delusion is the same thing as a dream, at least in our world... Angelina pointed out.

Yes, you're partly correct, but it is a different kind of foresight and delusion. We have, how do I say this, a strange kingdom... Not like yours.

Ok... But Walton City isn't a kingdom, it's a town, She thought sarcastically. How many kingdoms are in Elysia, Juniper?

Two... The good and the bad. The Elysian Kingdom being the good and the Black Kingdom being bad. You do not want to cross paths with them unless you must.

Noted, Angelina Barrings simply replied.

Suddenly, she looked up and noticed her friends had gone silent and were looking at her with curious faces. They looked at each other then looked at Angie.

"Angelina? Hello? Earth to Angie?" Aspen called, waving her hands in Angelina's face in a joking matter.

"Oh, um, sorry. I... was just daydreaming," Angelina sighed in a small voice.

"Ok..." Alice said turning to Aspen, starting to talk about Alice's crush, Alden Louis.

Angie hurried faster so she could get to class earlier, leaving her friends to their gossiping. The bad thing was Alice and Aspen didn't even notice she was gone, which partly surprised her since they weren't like her last two friends but hey, she was used to having to be in her own world. She was always ignored and overlooked. Who cared anyway?

"Wow, great friends..." Angie growled underneath her breath.

She opened the door and went to the second floor of the building for social studies. As she turned the corner she saw Victor with his friend group, laughing their cold laughs. Why did Victor hang out with them? They're bullies. Angie walked into the social studies room and took her seat at a desk by the teacher's desk, sulking into her chair, trying to catch her breath for it was hot in the room. A minute later Victor walked into the room with Zeke and Jax at his side. They sat down altogether with a few empty desks away. Angie rolled her eyes, she wished she could hang out with Victor... just him and her. The school bell rang and the teacher, Mrs. Rulluer, began talking about the social studies test tomorrow. The class groaned. Angelina made no noise, to empty inside to feel emotion towards the upcoming test. Mrs. Rulluer said it was going to be easier than it seemed. Angie looked around the room, everyone was slouching, even the smartest kids. She was surprised. When the teacher let them continue assignments that they had already started they started talking as they did them. Angelina was silent while she did her assignments, glad she had no one to talk to. Friends were a piece of work anyway, at least that was what she thought. She noticed Victor and his friends playing games on their computers and shook her head. Maybe the teacher would notice, then maybe, just maybe she would punish them with detention.

Do you care? She heard the sweet voice in her head ask tenderly.

What do you mean? Angie was puzzled.

What Victor does, She continued.

She didn't answer Juniper's question. It was complicated. She just wanted to make sure he doesn't expose the secret to the whole school that was all. Or so she thought. Maybe it was more than that. But, she didn't care for him in any other way than neighbors, she didn't have a crush on him or anything.

The teacher stood up and declared she was going to go to the restroom and told the class to keep working, ordering them to be quiet. Angelina knew well enough that rarely anyone would listen. As Angie worked she felt a balled-up paper hit her in the shoulder. Angelina sighed, mad, picking the ball off the floor where it had landed. She looked around noticing Victor, Zeke, and Jax snickering. Angelina looked at them, confused, then returned to her work. Of course, it was them. They hit her with another ball of paper. Angelina rolled her eyes and once again returned to her work, ignoring their ways of annoying her. Then, they hit her with another balled up paper for the third time. Angie had enough of it. She got up all red-cheeked and stomped over to them.

"Would you stop, I'm trying to work, unlike you guys." She growled, wanting to tattle on them for their foolish behavior.

"She's a bossy one, Victor." Zeke snickered, his black hair moving with the movement of his head.

"I know right!" Victor laughed, showing his wicked smile. "We will stop, Sweetie."

"Don't call me that, you know I don't like that name!" Angelina cried as she stormed back to her seat, her strawberry-blond hair swaying in the breeze that was just let in through the opened window.

She sat back down and then wondered where the teacher was. She didn't think she could put up with those imbeciles any longer. Suddenly, a piece of an eraser hit her in the side of her head. She spun around to face Victor and his friends, they were chuckling. Angelina glared at them and then picked up the eraser and hit Zeke, then grabbed the previous two balls of paper and threw them at Victor and Jax. They immediately became aware of what she had just done. They mainly looked at her with confused faces. She loved the expression on their face, clearly saying, "How did she hit us with such accuracy." She laughed at them.

She heard Zeke and Jax say something with harsh faces, and then Victor stopped them and said something else. They glared at Victor for a good minute then returned to playing games on their computers. Angelina returned back to her work, finally free of the fools. The teacher walked in and sat at her desk, everyone immediately shutting their traps. The overworked teacher continued her work, grading assignments, oblivious to the ordeal that just went down. When the bell rang for lunch most of the kids piled out of the room, hurrying so they could get a good seat at lunch. She didn't blame them. Angelina gathered her stuff off her desk and said goodbye to Mrs. Rulluer, and then walked out by herself, not being bothered by her loneliness. Angie nervously looked down the halls, careful not to run into anyone, for she did not want that kind of attention appointed to her at that moment. She carefully glided down the stairs to her locker on the main floor. Her locker opened easily and she shoved her notebooks, her pencil bag, a reading book, and her computer then slammed the door. She walked to the lunchroom, watching birds fly through the sky, and bees buzzing around people's heads. She felt her stomach churn as one came towards her for she had a deathly fear and was allergic. When she got to the crowded room she went through the line, grabbed a tray, then gathered the food she would hopefully eat. Today the lunch was breadsticks and fries, with sides of oranges, cucumbers, and cauliflower. Once she sat down at her table she was greeted by a few of her friends. After a while of just picking at the food with a fork, the teenage girl decided just to go find her new best friends. As she walked out of the lunchroom she saw Aspen and Alice rushing toward the school.

"Aspen? Alice? Where are you going," Angie asked.

"We have lunch detention for arguing in class," Aspen answered as she ran by.

That meant she would have no one to hang out with, she couldn't hang out with Oaklyn and Jazelle because they were also in detention, and she couldn't hang out with Sabastian because she was still scared and worried.

As she walked around she went to her favorite place to just sit and not be bothered, the Apple Cherry Blossom tree in between the small space of the gym and the school. She sat down by it watching the pedals of the beautiful tree. It often nagged at her at how the tree was still alive. It barely got any sunlight at all and the janitor never watered it or anything. It was surrounded by broken, cracked cement, the tree stump bulging out of the cement. She closed her eyes listening to the soft breeze rustling the cherry blossom's branches.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching her. Her eyelids flung open. It was Zeke, Jax, and Dexter. Victor wasn't in sight. She knew trouble was well on its way.

"What do you want now?" She ordered. "Where's Victor?"

"Oh, nothing, he got lunch detention for turning an assignment in really late, the usual," Dexter answered, laughing.

The dark alley just became even darker as they walked towards her, blocking more sunlight. Zeke grabbed Angie's arm and pulled her up.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled, startled as she tried to get away.

"Pulling you up. What does it look like?" Jax snarled meanly.

They forced her up, her legs shaking. The three boys smiled wickedly. Zeke walked closer to her, his smile the sickest of all.

"Stop making Victor soft. You guys cannot be friends!" Zeke demanded, his hot breath lingering in her face.

"What do you mean? We don't even hang out!" She cried.

"You know what we mean, stop lying!" Zeke demanded.

Angie stood startled and afraid, afraid of what her fate would be. Jax and Dexter stood there, looking at her from aways. Zeke came even closer. The smell of the cologne he wore stung her eyes and her nose. She looked away from him.

"Look at me!" He roared in a loud whisper.

"No! I don't have to listen to you!" Angie cried.

Zeke pushed her with a hard shove. Angie's head hit the tree trunk of the blossom tree and she sagged down to the ground, her body aching as the pain spread throughout her. She tried to get up but failed. Angelina felt the bullies harsh eyes glaring at her, laughing. Finally, with all of her body strength, she got up slowly. She was up, but her legs shook more than ever. She decided she would not let them win!

"S-s-stop. P-p-please." She demanded in a quiet voice, letting the fire behind her eyes show.

"Awwww. Is Angie not feeling well." Zeke sneered in a baby voice. Dexter taunted her.

"Zeke, don't you think this is too much? You could hurt her badly.." Jax cautioned. Was Jax actually worried for her? She looked into his eyes seeing a bit of pity hidden behind them. She felt bad for the peer-pressured boy.

"Put a cork in it, Jax! Why would you care, you ungrateful swine!"

At that note, Zeke and Dexter shoved her and she hit the brick wall of the gym, her body going limp, her head hitting the cracked cement. Her eyesight went blurry and she felt dizzy, aware of the blood running down her neck. The world began slipping away, slowly, but surely. She watched as the two boys walked over and kicked her in the gut then walked out of the alley, leaving her helpless. There was so much pain in her body that it stunned her. Was this how her life ended? A thirteen-year-old girl was harassed by school bullies, their assault leading to her very death? Would she ever be able to see her family and friends again? Her mind buzzed but then strangely so went flat, allowing her mind peace. Angelina Barrings helplessly watched her world grow black and she felt her body grow numb. She knew this was the end of her journey, yet for some reason, she did not care.