Short Story

It was six a.m., and the buzzing of the alarm clock was all that could be heard throughout my room. It was time for me to wake up and prepare myself for school. I slowly dragged my feet across the floor towards the dresser, dreading what Soph, Liv, and Lex had planned for me that day. Were they going to make fun of my clothes, “accidentally” spill food in my hair, or even worse, make fun of me not having a dad anymore… again? Losing him four years ago when I was ten was bad enough for me, but the bullying from the girls made it unbearable. Every day I would pray, hoping that one day the torture would end, and I could finally be happy. I threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie and combed my tangled, wavy brown locks. After I finished getting ready, I headed out to the bus stop. It was a typical day in Seattle, Washington: rainy, gloomy, wet. It gave the neighborhood an eerie, grey look, and the absence of people made it look almost like a ghost town. The bus finally screeched to a halt in front of my house, and I slowly got on board. “Good morning,” said Ms. Hellvy in her raspy voice. I forced my best half grin and took my seat in the front of the bus all alone. I always liked riding the bus in the mornings because of the time I had to myself. The trip to school gave me time to emotionally prepare myself for the torture that I would later have to endure. I also did not mind looking out the window at the grey world around me. I was the last to be picked up in the mornings, so when the bus made an unexpected stop two blocks from my house I could not help but to look over towards the doors. A tall boy, who looked to be about my age, stepped onto the bus. He had brown hair just above shoulder length and blue-green eyes that were bright enough for me to notice from my seat. Looking at him, it was the first time that I had actually found a guy to be attractive. After smiling at the bus driver and receiving his form to be filled out by his parents, he began to approach me. Me of all people! Why couldn’t he walk up to Janet across the aisle or Tim a few seats back! I knew it was his first day, but everyone knew I was the most socially awkward person alive. The emotion I displayed must have been really apparent, because a smile took over his face as he came up to me. “Is this seat taken?” he asked genuinely. “Um yes… I mean no! No it’s not taken!” I spurted out. My cheeks turned a blush shade of pink, and I scooted over in the seat to make room for the new guy. He giggled under his breath as he sat down next to me. “I’m Greyson. Grey for short. What is your name?” “Um… I’m Chandler.” I was fidgeting with the sleeves of my sweatshirt in my lap. “Cool name! I’ve never met a girl named Chandler before.” “Oh well thanks,” I responded, still blushing. Most people would have stopped talking to me at this point, but not Grey. He pursued to have a conversation with me, telling me about where he was from(Portland), what he liked to do, what he had done, and even asked me questions about myself. Upon arriving to school we even found out that we had our first three classes together. Grey’s personality was remarkable; he was sweet, kind, and a good listener. The longer we talked, the more comfortable I became around him and from what I could tell it seemed like he felt the same way about me. We chatted throughout our morning schedule, though he was the one to do most of the talking; Grey picked up on the fact that I was shy very quickly and adjusted. Lunch finally came around and the two of us walked to the cafeteria together. It smelled of hamburgers and chicken patties, both of which sounded appetizing. “So can I eat lunch with you today since I don’t really know anybody else?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “Yeah. I sit over here,” I nodded my head over towards a table at the far side of the cafeteria. As we were approaching the table, three girls blocked us off. The girl up front said in a whiny, high-pitched voice, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Chandler Morgan.
Facing Grey, she then said, “I don’t know if you know this, but she’s probably the biggest loser in school. I wouldn’t be hanging around her to much if I were you.”
“Oh shut up, Soph! Just leave me alone!”
Soph just started to laugh and flipped her long, blond hair right into my face.
“Well it’s true! You’re just a little nobody!”
“Yeah, just a nobody!” her entourage chimed in!
“Look I don’t know who you girls think you are, but lay off of my friend!” Grey countered back at the girls.
“So now you’ve got a little bodyguard, huh, Chandler. Well he can’t protect you from everything!” Soph took her lunch tray and poured it all over me!
“Oops!” she laughed and walked away with her little clique.
“Chandler, are you okay!” Grey instinctively asked.
Flushed with embarrassment, I responded, “I’m fine…” But in reality, I wasn’t fine. I was covered in food, and the only person who ever even considered me a friend had just found out how weak I was. I couldn’t even stand up for myself to those bratty girls. A tear slipped from beneath my closed eyelids and ran down to the tip of my nose.
“Don’t cry. Those girls aren’t worth your tears. They are nothing but bullies, and you should just ignore them.” I looked up into his eyes, and I knew he was right. It was just harder than it looked. I told him about how they had been doing this to me for the last four years ever since my dad died. He couldn’t believe that the girls would be so cruel as to do something like that. At that moment, I had realized that a guy I had met less than four hours ago cared more about me and my struggles than anyone ever had before.
After cleaning myself up in the bathroom and changing into my PE clothes, I ate my lunch with Grey and pretended that the earlier events hadn’t even happened. From that point on the day went by slowly and was uneventful.
When I got off the bus that afternoon, I didn’t go straight home. I was still upset from the encounter with Soph and her crew, and I wanted to walk around my neighborhood to relieve some of my stress. I put my headphones in and began to sing to a tune as I wandered aimlessly along the narrow streets. I could smell the rain that was soon to come in the air and was so preoccupied with my thoughts that when I didn’t even notice Grey when I ran straight into him.
“Oh I’m sorry!” I exclaimed. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking.”
“It’s fine. No worries. But I must say you have an amazing voice. I had totally forgotten that I was singing, so his comment had surprised me. “You know, I saw posters around school for the talent show. You should totally participate in it.”
“Oh no way! I could never perform in front of the whole school. I can barely hold a conversation with someone!”
“You’re good enough that you could win it! I’ve heard that pretending the crowd is in their underwear helps with the nerves.” The two of them laughed together at the idea of everyone being practically naked in the crowd.
“I don’t know if I should. No one has even heard me sing before.”
“Yet another reason why you should do it. You would blow everyone’s minds!”
Hesitating, I said, “I don’t know –”
“Oh come on!”
“Fine!” I finally gave in. If he had the confidence in me to do well then I would have that same confidence. “I’ll go to the talent show.”
“I’ll be there to support you, too,” Grey smiled at me. “See you tomorrow and good luck!”
Then we each went our separate ways. I went back to my house and began to settle down for the night. When I went dozed off, it was the first time that I had a peaceful sleep ever since my dad had passed away.
After a week had passed it was finally the day of the talent show. I had been practicing all week nonstop, and I was excited to show Grey what I could do. I put on a pair of mint colored skinny jeans and a lacy top instead of my usual apparel of loose jeans and sweats. I headed to the bus stop and hopped aboard once the bus pulled up to my house. As usual, I was greeted by Ms. Hellvy and took my seat at the front of the bus. Once Grey got on the bus we conversed just as we had been for the past several days.
“Good-morning, Chandler. Ready for the talent show?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be, though I’m still kind of nervous.”
“Just remember to picture the crowd in their underwear and you’ll be fine.”
We chatted for the rest of the bus ride and all throughout the day until it finally came time for the talent show. I was the last student to perform which only built up my nerves. I didn’t realize how many talented people there were until the show actually started. There were dancers, musicians, magicians, and even one other singer. At this point I was behind the curtain waiting for my turn, but when I looked out into the audience Grey was nowhere to be found. I had just seen him not even an hour earlier in the halls at school, so I had no clue where he could have been. I just knew one thing for certain: I was not going to perform without him in that audience. Mrs. Holly, who was running the show, informed me that I had two minutes before I had to go onto the huge stage in the school’s auditorium. Just in the nick of time, Grey ran through the auditorium’s doors and took his seat in the front row. And then it was my turn to perform.
I walked out onto the stage and became instantly nervous. I felt exactly the way I did when I met Grey for the first time. I wanted to run at that moment more than anything, but my commitment to Grey was what made me stay. The music began to play, and I began to sing the lines to “All of Me” by John Legend. I pretended that I was ten years old singing to my dad like I used to. No one else was in the room; it was just me and him. I wasn’t nervous anymore, and I sang with more confidence than I ever had before. By the end of the song tears were beginning to slip down my face at the memories of my father. I sang the last line and then opened my eyes. The crowd was roaring and applauding like there was no tomorrow, and Grey was looking at me as though I was an angle that had descended from heaven in that moment. Mrs. Holly came out onto the stage and tallied up the votes to determine the winner.
“And the winner of this year’s annual talent show is… Ms. Chandler Morgan!”
The crowd cheered for me as she walked onto the stage and accepted my prize. I couldn’t believe that I had won. It was like a dream that I couldn’t wake up from. I ran down into the audience and gave the biggest hug that I could!
“Thank you so much for pushing me to do this! I owe it all to you!” I cried out while still hugging Grey as tight as I could.
“You really shined up there today, Chandler. I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. You were amazing!” he reached down behind himself and handed me a bouquet of flowers. “This is for you.”
“They’re beautiful! Thank you!” I looked up into his bright blue-green eyes and smiled. He smiled back down at me, and for just a moment, it felt as though we were the only two people in the entire room. He slowly leaned into me, and while genteelly brushing my check with his hand, kissed me for the first time. I blushed as he pulled away, and a smile grew across both of our faces.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said and grabbed my hand. We left the auditorium and, to my surprise it was no longer raining. That was the first day in weeks the sun had shine in the city. I believe that on that day, I was shining just as bright as the sun, if not brighter. It was the first day that I had been truly happy in a long time, and I was going to enjoy it.