In Los Angeles, America, in the library of a school sat a smart sixteen-year-old girl who was sitting at a table tucked into the corner of the library.
On her lap sat a book and in her grasp was her lunch, a cheese sandwich. She took bites out of her lunch while reading the book. She nodded along after she turned each page, as each page was a piece of knowledge she could soak up.
This smart girl was named Everly Madison, and she had green eyes and brown hair that always seemed to be tangled. But, like no other teenager, Everly always preferred to be with books instead of friends.
Her mom had offered countless times to help her find a club or even make new friends, but, as each time Everly declined, her mom got more restless, and eventually, she gave up on helping her daughter find friends.
"Hey, loser!" Everly heard a shout behind her. She jerked her head to the direction of the shout to see the person she hated the most: Jackson Rocka.
"Jackson...." she hissed. Just then, Jackson's brother, Justin, came and stood beside him. "Look at her," Jackson sneered. "The only friends she has are books. I don't know if she's just too shy to make friends or just a complete weirdo who doesn't want to have friends."
Justin laughed and took a book from the closest rack. He held the book to his chest and said, "Oh, look, I'm Everly Madison and I'm a weirdo, and even I don't know why I don't have friends. Oh! I do have friends. I meet my friends in my dreams!"
The pair of brothers laughed and Jackson took an empty coke can from his backpack and threw it at Everly. "Here's a friend. If you can be friends with books, why not rubbish? After all, rubbish is useless and you're useless too. Uh, now I'm confused. Justin, is she considered as a human or rubbish?"
"She's definitely considered as rubbish. If not, what would she be? An animal?" Justin answered. The two brothers smirked evilly and left the library.
Tears streamed down Everly's eyes and she quickly wiped them away before anyone noticed. The things that the brothers had said lingered in her mind as the scene refolded in her brain.
She stared at the book in the lap for a long time then placed it back on the rack. 'Were books really considered as friends?' she thought. 'Of course not. The characters in the books are only considered as friends.'
'Yes, I may not have real friends, but all of my friends in the books are different species or have powers or something cool, which makes me friends with species of all kinds, all shapes and all sizes. That's what makes my book friends so special.' Everly thought and grinned from ear to ear. Today had just turned from the worst day ever to the most special day ever for her.
********************************************************************************************************* "Okay, class, remember about the test tomorrow!" Mrs. White, Everly's class teacher said. It was a few minutes before the end of school and everyone was packing up to leave.
"There are thirty questions and you have an hour to finish," Mrs. White said but no one-except Everly-was listening. The class was busy talking to each other and some were already walking out of the classroom.
"Jackson, Justin, for goodness sake, there are still ten minutes 'till school's over. That's plenty of time to listen to my lecture about the test. Why are you rushing out?" Mrs. White said when she spotted the brothers running out the door.
"And for the rest of you," Mrs. White said and looked at the class sternly. "You have a lot of time to chat on Talkapp. Why don't you use these ten minutes to listen to me? Or do u want to fail the test tomorrow?"
With that, the whole class sat down obediently and a boy raised his hands. "Yes, the boy in the back?" Mrs. White called.
"Um, Mrs. White, the app we use to talk isn't Talkapp. It's Whatsapp." the boy said and Mrs. White rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. It's whatever you call it. Now, can you listen to me already? God me, I have no idea how your parents bare you and your silly apps and iphones. Now, as I was saying, there are thirty questions on the test and you have a hour to finish it. I want to see all the questions filled to the brim with answers, you understand me? I don't want to see an single empty question."
The class nodded and took note. With that, the bell rang and the whole classroom emptied out as Mrs. White shook her head. "Youngsters these days. Too involved in iphones and silly things."
********************************************************************************************************* Everly was sitting on the school steps while waiting for her mom when Justin came over. "Honestly, I'm not surprised you came. Yes, I know I'm a weirdo. Now leave me alone so I can hang out with my book friends," Everly said and took a book out from her bag.
"Actually, It's not about that..." Justin said and twiddled his thumbs. "I...um, came here to say sorry. Bullying is a really wrong thing. Forgive me?" he said and held out a hand for Everly to shake it.
Everly thought about this for a moment and reached out to shake Justin's hand, but to her surprised, once her hand touched his', a jolt hit her hand and she pulled back to see a red mark on her hand.
Suddenly, someone started laughing. Everly recognized that laugh, and the person she suspected was right. A second later, Jackson came strolling in on Justin and her.
He held up Justin's hand to reveal an electrifier. "We pranked ya. You are the most easier person in history to get pranked, y'know?"
Justin smirked. "Did you see how easily she fell for that prank? As if we would ever apologized. It's more likely that she would be apologizing to us!"
Jackson nodded. "She sure is and emotional bookworm! Oh wait, I forgot. Bookworms are better than her. Even bookworms have real friends. She doesn't even have a single friend." he pointed to a group of bookworms giggling as they shared book-ish gossip.
Everly was about to punch Jackson when she saw a familiar red car stopping at the school's parking lot. "I....I have to go," she said weakly. She started to gather her things and ran to the car. Behind her, she could hear Justin saying, "You know you can't stop us! We're way more powerful than you! What are you gonna do? Run away crying to your mommy?"
Everly picked up her paste and ran faster, reaching the car in record time and she shut the car's doors once she got in.