I'll Be Here For You novel Chapter 1

A single walking stick tapping the ground filled the hallway with its sound, the laughing and the endless chatter stopping as it approached them. The clicks of the object striking the ground prompted the whispers to start all around it, empty phrases hanging in the air.

"She's all alone."

"Poor thing."

"Freak."

I was not a freak.

My walking stick hit a nearby shoe and I muttered a small apology. The minute I sensed the pungent smell of too much perfume filling the air, I knew a simple apology wasn't enough. I didn't have to have eyes to know that Cora Burton, head cheerleader and classic bitch was standing in front of me.

"What the hell, Louisa! Are you trying to kill me?"

I ignored her, moving forward past the lockers that I knew surrounded me on both sides. I could sense the other students' eyes on me, trying to gauge my next move. I wanted to scream at them to leave me alone and find entertainment somewhere else, but that would only attract more attention to myself. Besides, there was always a crowd around Cora, so no matter where I tried to hide, her and her posse would always find me.

A vise-like grip snatched my hand from the air, forcing me to drop my walking stick on the ground. I could feel Cora scowling at me, looking down at me with utter disgust, "Are you deaf too, Louisa? Next time you don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you. Do I make myself clear?"

I stared straight ahead, not turning my head towards her. She wasn't going to get whatever the hell she wanted whenever she wanted it. If she had a problem with me, then she could tell me without the entire school holding their breath as they watch our conversation. She had screwed with me one time too many, and I was done.

"Go to hell, Cora," I said as I bent down to pick up my walking stick.

That was the wrong answer.

I heard the whoosh of air as she moved her hand, but it was too late for me to react. Cora's hand came down across my right cheek, causing my whole face to move with the motion of the slap and turn to the side. My cheek stung and I bit back tears, trying to not let the whole school see how much it affected me. No one should get away with physically assaulting their peers in the hallways, and this wasn't the first time Cora rose a hand to me. But what could a blind girl do to a person who could see my every move?

The hallway burst into energized conversations.

"I heard this wasn't the first time that Louisa got slapped! What did she ever do to Cora?"

"Why does she even go to this school? She doesn't have any friends and she just gets bullied all the time."

"Aren't there special programs for the blind anyways?"

"I heard she couldn't afford to go to those fancy schools and get help adjusting after that accident."

"Shut up! She's walking this way..."

I ignored all of them, continuing my pilgrimage down the high school hallway, finally coming to the end of it as the chatter ceased. I slipped into my classroom, my walking stick hitting the desks to alert me of their presence and avoid them, even though I knew where they were anyways. Sliding into my desk near the middle of the classroom, I pulled out my earbuds and shoved them into my ears, blocking out the rest of the world with music.

I sighed, looking away from her, "I know that, but they're lying to protect their precious queen bee."

I could feel my mother's gaze on me and I squirmed in my seat, "Can you stay there one more day while I try to figure out what our next move should be?"

"You said the same thing yesterday," I said, still not meeting her gaze.

She paused, obviously trying to recall the conversation that we had. I could tell the wheels clicked in her brain when she said, "I just needed more time to figure it out. Please, honey, one more day?"

Keeping my eyes turned to the floor, I nodded slowly.

"One more day."

I had only told a ground breaking one person at 7:30 am that today would be my last day at school. I didn't know what was more impressive; how fast the news spread to the entirety of the school or how fast Cora and her lackeys formulated a plan to make it the worst day ever.

By 7:45 the entire school found out, the news spreading like wildfire. When I went back to my locker at 7:50 to grab my books, I found out that Cora was already at it making my life a miserable hell. She trashed my locker, covering the outside with a sticky substance that I later found out was maple syrup. It seeped through the holes at the top and now coated my books and school materials. But not all of them, the books that I needed for my first period class were missing.

Leaving the locker and the mess that accompanied it, I went to my first period class. The teacher scolded me for not bringing my textbooks, since she didn't have an extra copy of the brail edition and no one else could share with me. I sat there, having a hard time understanding the lesson. Because of this, the teacher thought that I wasn't paying enough attention, so she tried to ask me questions that I didn't know the answers to, which made it worse.