On Her Own

Chapter from Dawn's point of view.

Dawn Rose Shyne wrapped her darkly tanned arms loosely around her dark, bare legs. Then she pulls her long legs, folding them as she did, to her chest, pressing them tightly against her torso. She sighed deeply, and nestled her long, folded form between two roots of a large, old oak tree, facing towards the courtyard where many other teens her age sat. They were all chatting among themselves and ignoring her as completely as she ignored them.

          It was time for lunch for the juniors of Crystal Hills High School. It was about 12:00 in the afternoon, and the hotter part of the day at nearly 100 degrees outside. And while they could be eating inside the cafeteria if they liked, they were savoring the last really warm days, and it wasn’t raining for the first time in a week. Dawn was outside everyday anyway, no matter the weather, at lunchtime. In the same spot at the same time, every single day. Not that anyone had ever noticed or cared, of course, except for her teacher when she showed up for fifth period soaking wet when it had been raining outside. That was the only time anyone ever cared at all.

          The early autumn breeze rustled softly through the yellow, golden, orange and green leaves, blowing some gently out of the oak tree to drift to the ground around her. Dawn rested her chin on her knees, just as a golden leaf landed in her hair. She glanced downwards, catching a glimpse of her short dark denim shores, and her black, gray, and white patterned halter-top.

          Her simple, heart-shaped face showed no emotion, as usual, and to any onlooker, no one could tell what she was thinking. Her caramel-colored skin shined slightly in the dim lights, the shadow almost completely covering her. Her eyes, a pure and bright emerald green, with the outlines of her pupils and irises were smudged with black, roamed the space in front of her. Her honey blonde hair curled and waved softly to the middle of her back, around her shoulders and framing her face. The leaf that had landed on her head matched it almost perfectly, but different slightly from the natural platinum blonde highlights and dark brown undertones made her hair very unique from most other people’s hair, and made some envious. Anyone who looked at her would call her appearance nearly perfect. Anyone would accept her into their groups, if she wanted them to.

          But Dawn sat alone by her own choice. She knew she would easily be accepted into any group she wanted, simply because of her perfect looks, and not for her personality. Everyone knew it. And while her choice made no sense to anyone else, especially to the popular crowd who would love to use her to heighten their own social status. But, then again, they would never understand her reasoning for not wanting to be part of their group. They would make her queen of the ‘Populars’ if she wanted it, and it would get her to be part of their group. But she had justified being alone, if only just in her mind, since no one else would really understand, or even listen.

          Her simple reasoning was this; if you had no friends, you couldn’t be betrayed or stabbed in the back. She had been stabbed too many times and she didn’t want it to happen one more time. So she distanced herself from everyone else as she survival mechanism. Dawn had learned that, in order for her to survive, she had to build her walls high to block out the pain. And that is how she had lived her life for about three years now. No friends, no people, no pain.

          For her, this philosophy had been confirmed when her supposed ‘best friend’ had abandoned her for a girl who had a higher social standing. Her supposed best friend had been Summer Silverado. Summer had become with her new best friend Sarah Snow, one of the most popular girls in their school, where she happily ruled the rest of the students in their grade with fear. And, to be honest, she acted like a royal b***h. Full female dog version.

          And not to mention the other ‘Populars’, as Dawn referred to them. They were mean, and so full of themselves they didn’t even know what an actual friend was. Dawn always thought that they didn’t have any brains what-so-ever. One example that was easy to see was that the most popular girls automatically dated the most popular guys, no matter what. It didn’t matter if they liked each other, they just wanted to place themselves higher above everyone else than they already were. Right now Summer and Zach Ride, the most popular guy in the whole school, not to mention freakin’ adorable! Were together. And then there was Sarah and Derrick, another one of the most popular guys in the school.

          Dawn sighed and unwrapped her arms from around her legs, straightening one of them, and leaving the other partway bent up. Her eyes roamed absentmindedly over the courtyard as she thought about anything that came to mind. She was wrapped in her own mental world, yet again. And, because of that, she didn’t happen to notice what was happening on the other side of the courtyard, opposite of where she sat.

Author's Note

This is the new version of this chapter; I added details to make it more interesting and longer!

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed the chapter. I like the logic of this girl. I like the internal thoughts and the way the girl was thinking. Life can give us many choices. To be in a position to not hurt another is a interesting concept. Thank you for a entertaining and fun chapter to read.
Coyote

[JanuaryDreamer♥]

interesting :) i can really relate to this character... write more! i wanna read more!! the attention to detail was uh-freakin-mazing and you are one hell of a mental picture artist :) great job becca! awesome job!
~gabbz

[♥Lugar Para Siem..]

Another book worthy piece in my oppinion Becca, I think the title on the Face page is perfect too :)

[Naomi Roseღ]

This was great! I am really interested in this book. The description of Dawn was perfect.
Wonderful chapter