THE DEADLY GIFT

Annabelle Lopez sat slouched in the chair sitting opposite the blackboard in detention. She sat amongst all the other troublemakers at Sunnyside High School, North Colorado.

 

She wore a long black gypsy skirt with a black top and black boots. Annabelle had black nail varnish on her fingernails and wore black gothic makeup on her face and  she had pink streaks through her long black hair.

 

The students called her names such as 'freak' and 'skank', but Annabelle didn't let those cruel remarks get to her even though it pained her inside just because she was different and not part of the 'in - crowd'.

 

There was a group of girls who thought they were better than anyone else especially a girl named Brittany Hardwick who was a rich, spoilt, and spiteful snob just because her family were rich and she grew up in sunny Beverly Hills, California. She looked like a typical Californian girl as well with her long blonde hair bleached by the sun, tanned athletic body, with blue eyes. The guys were falling over themselves trying to talk to her but she wasn't interested as she was going out with the guy Annabelle Lopez was secretly in love with. Ben Jacobs. One of the most popular guys at the school.

 

The classroom door opened and Brittany Hardwick and her friends walked in casually and walked to the back of the room and took a seat.

 

"Miss Hardwick, you're late," said Mr Walsh, a short, sturdy man in his fifties with a bit of belly. His hair was thin on top of his balding head.

 

"Sorry, Mr Walsh, I just got my period so had to go to the restroom," Brittany said sweetly, grinning even wider than she had been as the teacher's cheeks turned red and was flustered.

 

"Well, I'll let you off this once as it was women's' troubles," he replied.

 

Everyone started to laugh at him except for Annabelle. She kept her head down and scribbled in her notebook.

 

One of Brittany's friends named Maria Harris noticed Annabelle scribbling something down so she stood up from her desk and looked over Annabelle's shoulder and her green eyes widened then gasped out loud grabbing everyone's attention.

 

"What is it, Miss Harris?" Mr Walsh askedd, sighing heavily.

 

"Annabelle Lopez has written she loves Ben Jacobs, sir," she replied.

 

"And Miss Harris?" he asked.

 

"Well, Ben is Brittany's boyfriend, sir. Everyone who's anyone knows they're together. And girls know that Ben is with Brittany so he's off limits to anyone," Maria exclaimed quickly, shocked that the teacher wasn't getting how serious this was.

 

"Everyone is entitled to who they have a crush on," Mr Walsh replied. "Miss Harris, return to your seat, please."

 

"But sir..." the teacher cut her off with a lift of his left hand.

 

"This is detention that means no talking!" he rose his voice.

 

Maria returned to her seat.

 

Annabelle glanced over at Brittany and her friends and they shot her a look of daggers.

 

 

When detention was over, Brittany and her friends cornered Annabelle into a corner by the lockers with their hands on their hips.

 

"You stay away from my boyfriend, freak. Ben is mine. He'd never think twice looking at you," Brittany said angrily. Even when she was angry she still looked pretty.

 

"Don't worry, he doesn't know I exist anyway," Annabelle replied.

 

A group of guys from the school's basketball team walked up the corridor towards them from the gym. They put their arms around the girls. A tall guy with short blonde hair and blue eyes wrapped his arms around Brittany's waist and kissed her cheek.

 

"Hey, babe, what's going on?" he asked.

 

Brittany turned around and kissed him passionately in front of their friends taking him by surprise. "Oh, Ben, I've missed you honey," she cooed deliberately, at Annabelle's expense.

 

Ben noticed Annabelle Lopez watching them. He pushed his girlfriend away and looked at Annabelle then smiled kindly. "Hi," he said nicely.

 

"Baby, don't be nice to that freak," Brittany said, threading her arm through his.

 

"Look what Annabelle's written in her notebook about you," Maria said, pulling at the book from Annabelle's tight grasp.

 

"Leave her alone, Maria!" Ben said angrily. "You can see she doesn't want to show." he pushed her away.

 

"Why are you defending her?" Brittany raised her voice.

 

"I don't care what she's written in her notebook about me. I admit I am a little curious. But I don't like you picking on her or anyone else because they get under your skin," he said.

 

"She wrote she loves you," Maria said, laughing. And her friends started laughing as well.

 

Ben glanced over at Annabelle and saw the humiliation in her face and that made him angry.

 

"Why don't you all leave me alone! What have I ever done to you? Just because I dress differently and I'm not part of the 'in - crowd' you think it gives you the right to treat me like this. So I like you, Ben," Annabelle said angrily, tears glistening in her brown eyes as she turned to him. And their eyes met. She turned back to Brittany and her friends. "You know what, sod the lot of you," she barged through them and rushed away. But her notebook fell to the floor and it fell open to the page where she had written she loved Ben Jacobs.

 

Ben jogged over to pick it up and read what Annabelle Lopez wrote about him. He clenched up the muscles in his jaws and hands then turned to Brittany. He was so angry. "Brittany, you and I are through," he said, sending shocked gasps amongst their friends.

 

Brittany held her head strong and walked over to him not letting her friends see she was hurting inside. "Babe, why are you getting so upset over her for? she's a freak. Unless you like her," she said with a laugh.

 

"Perhaps I do," he said, sending another shock to his friends and Brittany. "At least she doesn't pretend to be someone she's not," Ben looked down at her. "And for the record, Brittany, you don't own me, so you don't get to choose who and who I can't be friends with. I can't be with someone who is cruel and heartless who takes pleasure in tormenting someone whose different." Ben held the notebook tightly in his hand. "If you excuse me, I have to return this notebook to someone worth speaking to." His eyes looked up at his shocked friends. "Catch you guys, later, yeah?"

 

"Sure, man," said a tall, athletic African - American black guy named Paul Roberts.

 

Ben looked at Brittany one last time and then turned and jogged down the corridor in the direction Annabelle Lopez went.

 

Brittany's eyes narrowed angrily. Ben Jacobs and Annabelle Lopez was not going to to get away with humiliating her in front of her friends.

 

 

"Annabelle, wait!" Ben shouted out, he caught her just in time she left the school.

 

Annabelle stopped at the top of the steps leading into school. She sighed heavily and turned to him with her arms folded across her chest. "What?" she snapped. "Have you and your friends come to humiliate me even more?" she began walking down the steps.

 

"No, not at all. I just wanted to give you back this," Ben said, following her.

 

She turned and her eyes widened when she realised it was her notebook. Her cheeks reddened.

 

"I have to say I was impressed back there. The way you spoke to Brittany like that," he said, smiling.

 

The corners of Annabelle's lips turned up into a smile.

 

"Do I detect a smile," Ben teased. She smiled even more. He laughed. He handed her back the notebook.

 

"Thank you," Annabelle replied, taking the notebook from him. "So, does Brittany know you're talking to me?"

 

"I broke up with her," he said.

 

"I would say I'm sorry but I'm not," she said. He laughed.

 

"So, where are you headed?" he asked.

 

"Home," Annabelle replied. She walked towards the exit of school grounds followed by Ben Jacobs. Her heart pounded excitedly for him. "I don't think Brittany would be too happy to see you with me," she pointed out to him.

"Who cares," Ben responded casually, shrugging his shoulders walking beside her down the street.

"Well then, you may walk me home," she said.

"Friends?" Ben said, his right hand extended out for a hand shake.

Annabelle shook his hand and smiled. "Friends," she replied. 

They continued walking down the street unaware that they had been watched by Brittany and her friends from the top of the stairs to the school. An actual tear sparkled in Brittany's spiteful right eye underneath the sunlight.