Never Changed

I take a seat in the back of the class, in the only seat that was open. Lucky for me, I was sitting right between Stephan (aka Steph) and Alberto (aka Ally).

Fantastic. Now I didn't just have to deal with their crap in the halls, now in the freaking classroom.

"Hey" I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to a the devilish smile plastered on Miroslav (aka Miro)'s face.

"What do you want?" I ask, hoping for an answer that won't involve me in a choke hold.

"He just wants a pencil pip squeet" Stuart (aka Alex) says, shoving me lightly.

"I don't have one" I say, trying to stay quiet.

"What was that?" Steph asks. I just ignore him and continue my work.

"I think he said he doesn't have one" Ally says.

"But you're using one right now" Alex points out.

"I don't have an extra one" I say, even though they know exactly what I meant.

Steph shoves me and I fall out of my chair. Miro snatches the pencil from my hand. He snaps it in half and gives the other half to Alex.
......

I speed walk out of the room. If I'm fast, they might miss me. I close my locker, soon to get shoved into it.

I turn around and try to walk past them. Steph pushes me towards Alex. I try to squirm awat, but Alex keeps me in place. Miro punches my stomach, then elbows my forehead.

"Is that the best you got?" I try to stay tough. I get a kick to the face. Overwhelming pain fills my nerves. My vision blurs as I hit the ground and watch them walk away laughing.
.......

I hold my hand to my eye. It never makes the pain stop, but it's worth a try. Finally, biology class, the only place where I feel safe. No Alex. No Miro. No Ally. And no Steph. But there is that one thing.

"What happened?" He asks me as I sit down next to him. He examines my black eye until I tell him to leave it alone.

"Sorry, what happened?" He asks again.

"I fell" I lie. I don't want to see him worry.

"E, you made that excuse yesterday, i happen to know you're not that clumsy"

"Luis, just don't worry about it" I plead.

"What's going on?" He asks.

I couldn't lie to him more than once every 5 minutes, "the league" I mumble.

"Thoughs jerks?"

"Yeah" I say quietly. "The League" is what they call their little group.

"Why didnt you tell me? Lets beat their-"

"No Luis, I can't, I'm me" I say, looking at my skinny arms, and the fact I am in 8 grade and feet don't touch the floor when I sit in the chair. Yeah, I'm that short.

"Is that what they tell you?" He asks.

My mind drifts to words long from forgotten~

"You will never be strong enough to face my little sister"

"Please, you don't even need us to show you how useless you are"

"How- no why do you live like this?"

"You should just die, even death is an improvement"

"Come on E, just give up already"