Regan sat down, trying to not look at anyone. However, students kept glancing and even staring at her. She didn't know why they couldn't mind their own business and leave her alone.

But this had been going on for so long. Literally everywhere, and she didn't have any better thing to do. They had their own mind. She wasn't going to force them not to look.

She knew that the looks were disdainful and mocking. She couldn't help but blame her appearance, although she had years that she had stopped worrying over her appearance.

Just when she thought that was finally eating in peace, she noticed a red haired girl coming closer to the table.

Her red hair was long and dyed. She wore light makeup and her outfit was cute for a popular girl though, with a pink top paired with a black miniskirt, transparent leggings with black and pink hearts, and black shiny boots that made her look taller than she already was. There were two other girls behind her, both giving the same vibe.

This school doesn't even have dress code, Regan thought. She was grateful that no one said a thing about the knee ripped jeans she wore, even though it wasn't very notable.

"Hey, so you're the new weirdo I've heard about, right?" the red haired teased with a mischievous smirk.

Regan rolled her eyes at the nickname. A lot of people have called her a weirdo. But today was her first day, and she didn't expect jokes and taunts that fast.

"Yes, why?" she replied tersely with a cold voice showing disinterest.

"So, you're agreeing that you're a weirdo?" The girl mocked with her dumb fake sweet voice. "I'd do the same if I had such a signature scar in my face," her voice was louder and got the attention from other students, making them chuckle at her remarks.

"And? What's your problem?" Regan snapped.

"Problem? What kind of problem could I have with a nerd like you? You are stupid and you're ugly. You're not fit here and should be grateful you're in that school," she sneered and took a sip of her soda.

Regan's blood boiled at her words, and her fists clenched. She saw how everyone was watching the theater. From their faces she could straight see the mockery.

"I don't owe you anything," Regan retorted, "Just mind your own damn business and you'll be good."

The crowd from the cafeteria gasped. The girl's expression darkened.

Regan quickly felt insecure, wishing that she could have stayed quiet like always or to not have come in the cafeteria at all. But the fact of being insulted didn't get along with her pride.

"How dare you?!" the meanie hissed with an annoying high-pitched voice, "Do you know who I am?"

"Who the hell cares who you are?"

"Look there you idiot, I so easily can expel you from here, and you won't be able to do anything about it! Understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've been hearing that a lot. Now, get out of my sight. Or better, I'll get you out of my sight." Regan stood and headed out of the cafeteria. She heard her ranting a bunch of bullshit but didn't care.

She walked outside and thought about eating there. At the same time, she was fuming with anger.

A few people were around, Regan didn't like crowded places, but she didn't like deserted places either.

She sat on the shade of a tree in a bench and began to eat but then heard footsteps. A girl was coming and when Regan noticed, her frustration raised. Why was this girl coming? Was she one of those jerks?

She had long brown hair and with pink curtain bangs. She was fancily dressed, with a white long shirt underneath a black corset, tight black pants and black boots that reached her knees. Kind of different, considering most wore ankle boots and sneakers.

Regan let out a tired sigh, and continued to eat like she didn't notice.

"Regan, right? We're in the same class," the girl spoke, her accent weird and unheard.

Regan didn't notice her in the class. Maybe because she wasn't looking at anyone. Maybe because she was trying to escape the mocking eyes.

"Yes?" she replied uncertainly.

"I saw you at cafeteria and-"

"And you're going to make fun of me now."

"No no no no, it was brave of you to show Olivia her place."

Regan didn't consider what she did 'brave'. She thought it lame to fear a specific annoying person in a school.

"That's not brave. It's just standing up for yourself," she retorted.

The girl dazed a bit, but shook her head. "My name is Vesper by the way," she said smiling, "Nice t-shirt," she remarked while looking at Regan's t-shirt.

The most apparent thing about that tee shirt, were the words written in bold, "STAY AWAY".

"Nice name," Regain replied, "You have a good fashion sense."

Vesper sat beside Regan, with her food that wasn't noticed earlier. Regan glanced at her, seeing she was trying hard to hide a smile. She kept quiet and didn't say anything for a while.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"You know, do you want to be my friend?" Vesper suddenly asked.

Regan was surprised and confused. They had just met. Skeptical, she started to contemplate all the possible reasons of why this girl would want to be friends with her.

"Well, I don't know what to say, but sure, we can be friends."

"Perfect. Let's exchange phone numbers!" she cheered.

Regan insecurely gave her the phone number, still worrying if she should have.

Lunchtime passed and she talked with Vesper during that time.

What was even more surprising, Vesper's house was in her new neighborhood.

Vesper talked mostly about random things, and told a bit about herself. Apparently, she had an older sister that she hated and chill parents, which she was grateful for. Her parents worked out of the city.

After lunch, Regan had PE which wasn't very amusing. She hated PE and couldn't wait until the class would be finished. It was the end of her first day, and she was already bored to the core. As soon as the bell rang, she saw once more the meanie girl from earlier. That time, she was talking with her puppies and didn't notice Regan.

Vesper told Regan about her, she was a spoiled and popular girl, daughter of the headmaster. Being everyone's favorite, she bullied directly or indirectly, but people still would support her. Thinking that what she does is right, instinctively.

Regan wasn't surprised. Society worked that way.

After school, she walked towards the gate with her phone on her hand. She would use the map on the phone, because she didn't want to get lost.

"Reeeegan, where ya going?" a voice called behind her.

"Home," Regan replied as she turned around to see the girl with pink bangs.

"Well, we can go together! We're neighbors, did you forget?"

"Sure," she said, trying to sound excited.

Why was she trying? Maybe she didn't feel very excited. Still, she blamed herself for her mistrustful nature. That girl was willing to be her friend and not judge her, but Regan, being Regan, would still find a small thing that seemed off.

However, they walked home together.

They walked quietly and when Regan arrived home, she sighed in relief. Not because she was alone, but because the whole walk, she felt perilous, like someone was following her.

She kept turning behind, but it didn't seem as anyone was following her. Vesper noticed her unease, but didn't show complaints or suspicion. Regan thought that her mind was playing tricks on her.

She was tired and bored and hoped that Vesper wasn't a fake friend.

Monica wasn't home at this time. Regan wasn't hungry, and even though she felt bored, she started to do her homework. She'd rather lose her mind in studies, then to overthink of what she felt when going home.

But it started to creep up again on her. She started to feel it again, maybe because she was paranoid. She was inside her room and windows were open.

Suddenly, the pen's ink ran out and she cursed under her breath. She searched for another one, but she didn't have one. Great. She was very lazy to go buy now. And then, as she looked at the pen again, it was filled. How? Was she seeing things now? It even started to write briefly.

***

"So how was the first day?" the aunt asked Regan as she sat down on the couch.

Regan didn't want to tell her about confronting someone on the first day. She'd start lecturing her about how she should be more sociable.

"It was okay," Regan said.

"Did you got any friends?"

"Yes, I kind of got a new friend...how about you, how was your day?" she asked, trying to shift the attention.

"It was good," Monica sighed. "I'm going to take a shower." She went upstairs.

Regan thanked God that her aunt didn't ask more.

After they ate dinner, Monica went to her room to do her work assignments and Regan played a game in her laptop. Later on, she read some fictional book and then wondered about something that Monica told her. It was a surprise in the morning, and Regan was curious about it.

She lay on the bed and tried to sleep, trying to not remember the non-belonging feeling or the scary stuff about being watched. It was no use.

She took her phone and decided to surf the internet. Then, the feeling of being watched grew stronger.

"Another one now. That one is new," she muttered to herself, her voice sarcastic.

She sat a bit higher, eyeing the room warily. The only light source was from a bedside dim light. The suspicious sense, like someone would come and get her, rose on her and crept a tremble through her body.

She kept overthinking about it and let the lights on. She scrolled through social medial, then fell again on the bed, rolling and tossing until she finally drifted off to sleep, full of intrusive dreams.

The next morning, she woke up from the sunlight resting on her face brightly. She hadn't slept that bad and was thankful for that. Well, she was very thankful.

The surprise that her aunt mentioned last night came into her mind and she was wondering what surprise could it be.

Getting up from bed, she went to the bathroom and then got dressed with oversized, but preppy clothes.

She walked out of the room and saw Monica downstairs.

"Come and see the surprise," Monica said, smiling, as she was stepping outside the main door.

Regan followed her cluelessly and Monica led her outside, gesturing to a white Range Rover. She told Regan that was her new car and Regan wasn't surprised. Her aunt was a car's lover.

Then, Monica told Regan she'd give her the old car, so that she could use it. Regan couldn't believe it for a moment and then thanked her aunt, hugging her tightly. She had been driving that car before, so she was good at it.

She went back inside to get her backpack, and tied her hair in a ponytail, which showed her numerous ear piercings.

"Ain't you coming?" Regan asked her as she was entering inside.

"I would love to, but I have some work to finish on my laptop," Monica said, "Goodbye, dear.

"Goodbye."

She liked the car and was happy that her aunt gifted it to her, when she could've sold it. She turned on the radio and started the engine, driving to school.

When she arrived, she stepped out and could feel people looking at her but she only looked forward and buried her head in her phone.

Only to see Vesper's missed calls and messages at 3 AM.

"Hey girl, you're awake?"

"Are you there?"

"Ya told me you stayed up till late..."

"Reeeeegan!"

What a weirdo, Regan thought. She had told her she stayed late, but not the specific time. She hadn't expected Vesper to stay up that hour either.

Her first class was literature. As she entered the classroom, all eyes went to her and she tried to swallow it up. She didn't look at anyone and sat somewhere in the middle of the row.

Vesper was sitting on the desk before, her face giving off an annoyed, almost irritated expression.

"I texted you at night, why didn't you answer?" she asked, quite coldly.

Regan's eyebrows furrowed, "I was sleeping at that time, what did you text for?"

"But you told me you stayed awake late at night."

"Yes, but not up 3." Well, she stayed up that hour, if her mind decided to play the sleepless state a little longer. So, it was something she couldn't really control. She wanted to sleep earlier but her mind had other plans.

The literature teacher started the lesson and Vesper turned away.

Regan sighed, annoyed at Vesper's reaction.

She followed the lesson and did the assignments. On the class breaks, only a few would still glance at her. That was all she noticed because she herself wasn't looking at anyone at all. And the boy that stared at her from the day before, well, he was seated somewhere else and was minding his own business. That made her feel better. It was good when they minded their own business and no one messed with her.

She looked at the phone and only five minutes were left for the bell to ring. Vesper had skipped her classes and when the bell rang, she came back, getting her things.

"Are you leaving?" Regan asked.

"Huh? No, just getting my phone," she answered.

"You left your phone here?"

"Yeah," Vesper replied nonchalantly. "Are you coming with me to the cafeteria?"

"I... yes, I was going." She didn't want to go there at all, but she couldn't stay all alone in the class.