LEAVE ME ALONE

Lenny fell to the ground from the impact of getting hit. Her cheeks throbbed as lay on the floor. She looked around her and saw everyone's gaze on her. They were all whispering to each other, a few of them chuckling slightly.

Lenny picked herself up from the ground and saw what had hit her. It was a volleyball. Lenny looked over to where the girls were gathered and examined the whole area. She wasn't too close to them and from the way they were all positioned, there was no way the ball could've change trajectory and hit her. Someone did it intentionally.

Lenny just sighed and picked herself up. She couldn't bother herself to find out who threw the at her intentionally and why they did it, well at least she could use this as a free pass to skip P.E. Lenny patted her hands on her shorts that was full of grass and dirt as she walked away from the group.

"Lenny Mae, where do you think you're going?" The P.E teacher, Miss Keith bellowed from where she sat.

She walked over to Lenny, a stern look on her face, the look you'd usually get before a scolding.

"Where do you think you're headed to? The P.E class isn't over yet."

Lenny grimaced inwardly as she looked up at her P.E teacher. It was unnerving the way she towered over Lenny. Her height was intimidating and Lenny hated standing close to her.

"I got hit by a volleyball and It hurts. I need to go to the nurse's office."

Miss Keith's face softened as she took a few steps back.

"Alright, get going." She approved.

Lenny didn't waste any time. She took long strides across the field, hoping to reach her destination soon. Low thudding footsteps resonated through Lenny's ears and before she could turn back to see who it was the person had already grabbed her wrist, spinning her around.

"You walk so fast despite having short legs." Niel pants

Lenny frowned and pulled her wrist away from his grip.

"Why do you want?"

Niel swiped his sweat filled forehead as he breathed heavily.

"I saw what happened, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lenny said and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Niel asked as he jogged to catch up with her.

"Thats none of your business, now leave me alone."

"But I'm worried about you, your face looks pretty inflamed."

Lenny stopped walking and glared at him.

"I'm feeling pretty shitty right now, so don't make it worse." She snarled.

Lenny kept walking and was thankful that he had stopped following her.

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"Tomorrow's the last day of school before the summer holidays. I'll be handing out the outline for your projects. Make sure you don't play too much and forget to do it." The teacher said.

The last bell for the day rang a few minutes later, and The teacher took their leave immediately. Seems likes it isn't only the students that can't wait to get home. Lenny packed up her books quickly to get away from her noisy classmates that wouldn't stop chattering about meaningless things incessantly.

"Weirdo." Lenny could hear someone mutter.

She brushed it off as usual. Lenny didn't get bullied, but she did get isolated because everyone around her had labelled her as a "werdio". Maybe it was because of the permanent dark circles under her eyes, or the fact that she always wore neutral coloured hoodies with jeans and sneakers. Sure she didn't dress all skimpy the way the girls in her class did, maybe that was why she didn't fit it. But fitting in wasn't something she wanted.

Lenny slung her bag over her shoulder and heard someone hollering her name. She turned and saw Niel standing at the classroom door, gazing at her. Lenny frowned as he began to walk towards her.

"Let's go home together." He said as he smiled at her.

Lenny was frustrated. Why was he so hell bent on not leaving her alone when she had made it clear to him times without number that she didn't want to be around him?

Treating him like he was invisible, Lenny brushed past him and breezed out of her classroom. She walked down the hall way quickly, ignoring the hurried footsteps behind her.

She had reached the school gate and Niel was still fast on her heels. Was he going to follow her all the way home? Lenny paused and turned to him. Niel finally slowed down and came to a stop in front of her.

"What do you want? Why do you keep following me like your life depends on it? I told you to leave me alone."

"You know the reason why. I'm in love with you and I want us to be as close as we used to be in the past, remember?"

Lenny scoffed and shook her head.

"You're the only one that wants that. I don't. So stop pushing your selfish reasons on me and leave me alone for Pete sake."

Niel looked at her, a solemn look in his eyes.

"But why? Why do you keep telling me to leave you alone? If o did something wrong, then tell me. I'll fix it."

Lenny felt her blood boiling with anger, and emotion she hadn't felt in a long time.

"You really want to know? Fine I'll tell you."

Lenny bit her inner lip and glared at him.

"9th grade, art competition, does that ring a bell?"

Niel wrinkled his face in confusion. He obviously had no clue on what she was going on about.

"Of course you wouldn't remember."

Niel was getting anxious.

"What happened during the art competition."

"The art competition, each contestant had their work posted on the board and mine was up there. It was a very obscure drawing and a lot of people called it weird, or the drawing of a mentally ill patient."

Yeah, Lenny could remember it like it was yesterday. People crowding in front of the board, the weird stares she got, th whispers and the harsh words spoken to her, all because she expressed her feelings on a paper. And among the crowd, was Niel.