Melanie/Crybaby's P.O.V.

Johnny had been a little confused when I told him my name and thought I was joking until I explained.

On my first day of kindergarten, I had been bright-spirited and innocent. I thought life was a total fairytale and that everything was all unicorns and rainbows.

Without thinking it through, I walked up to some girl and said "Hi, I'm Melanie! Do you wanna be my best friend?"

She gave me a look like she thought I was crazy and rolled her eyes, sneering at me. "Ew, no! Why would I wanna be friends with a freak like you! Just look at your teeth!"

I hadn't been expecting that and before I knew it, my bottom lip was trembling, my eyes were getting watery and my nose was starting to get runny.

The tears poured from my eyes like a waterfall, crashing to the ground.

"Ugh, such a crybaby!" She said and it got even worse. By now, everyone was staring at me and laughing.

"Look, that girl is crying!"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Why is she crying so much?"

All of their words made me feel worse and I started crying even more. They all laughed and pointed at me, chanting "Crybaby! Crybaby!"

I ignored them and dropped to the floor, burying my face in my hands. I didn't know why I was freaking out so much.

They didn't stop chanting and suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore and shot off of the ground.

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" I shouted angrily, using the new word I heard my daddy say one time.

Everyone got quiet immediately and it was then that I saw the teachers who had come to lead us to the classroom.

"She said a bad word!" All of the other children shouted, jabbing their fingers at me.

One of the teachers walked up to me and grabbed my wrist, leading me inside.

"This is unacceptable behavior!" She was saying as she led me to the classroom, the other kids following.

Once we got inside the room, she had everyone sit down at tables of four and let everyone color while I had to sit in the corner by myself.

I cried some more, but quietly. I didn't want anybody to hear me.

Suddenly, a ball of paper flew through the air and hit me in the back of the head. Wincing slightly, I picked it up and smoothed it out.

CRYBABY!

I turned and saw the girl I had tried making friends with giggling with some other kids while they all pointed at me.

Why did she want to be their friends and not mine? What did I do wrong?

Grumbling to myself, I balled the paper back up and crossed my arms.

From that day on, everyone called me Crybaby. It got to a point where I'm pretty sure no one remembers my real name.

It only got worse after that. I got home and cried to my mommy and daddy about what had happened. My daddy said it was okay as long as I promised not to say anymore bad words while my mommy was embarrassed that I had gotten into so much trouble.

That night, I heard my parents yelling at each other. I cried silently and crept to my older brother, James' room. He told me that I could sleep in his bed with him if I was scared.

When I woke up again, I heard the door slam my daddy's car pull out of the driveway. My mommy was crying downstairs and I wanted to go comfort her. As I tip-toed downstairs, I saw her sitting at the table with a strange bottle in her hands.

She leaned her head back and downed the entire contents, tears streaming down her face and ruining the makeup she always spent hours trying to perfect.

She saw me standing in the doorway and blinked at me for a few seconds before her expression turned sour.

"You! This is all your fault! If you weren't such a damn crybaby, this wouldn't have happened!" She accused, pointing a nicely manicured nail at me.

I felt my bottom lip tremble and ran back upstairs to my room. I buried myself underneath the blankets and cried myself to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, my mom was sleeping on the floor. My dad suddenly walked in through the door looking tired. He ignored my mom and pushed past her.

There was something weird on his neck, it was pink and looked kind of like a kiss. I paid it no mind, but my mommy did. She wouldn't stop staring at it and finally just grabbed another bottle like last night and trudged upstairs to her room.

My life changed after that, my parents didn't love each other anymore but they kept pretending to in front of others. As I got older, I realized what was happening. My mother was an alcoholic and my father was cheating. My brother caught on before I did and took up drugs as a form of comfort.

We tried to shut out the neighbors as much as possible but whenever they came over, we would put on an act and pretend to be the perfect family they thought we were. If only they had thought to push back the curtains.

Then one night, things took a flying leap downhill. My mom was drunk downstairs as usual and James was off somewhere probably in a ditch. My dad must've been drunk as hell because for the first time ever, he actually brought a girl home. Usually, he went to their places or something but he never took them here.

They were making a lot of noise and my mom woke up, freaking out when she saw the woman. Her leash on her sanity finally snapped and she murdered both of them that night. She drugged me to sleep in an attempt to erase my memory of what I had witnessed that night.

In the morning, I saw the sheets she had covered them with and all of my memories came back. I grabbed the phone and called 911 as fast as I could.

They came only ten minutes later and arrested her. She shouted profanities and curses at me as they shoved her into the back of the car. All of our neighbors came outside, surprised to see the oh, so flawless dollhouse had chips in the paint.

The police allowed my brother to become my legal guardian as he was 20 so we stayed at the house. James didn't have to work because even though he cheated, my father still had a great job and made lots of money. I guess in a way, he still cared for us because he left two ginormous trust funds for both of us. As expected, James blew almost half of his in a week on drugs.

I however, managed my money as responsibly as I could. I tried to make sure I only bought the essentials though there were times when I would just have a ball in vintage toy stores.

But even though my parents were no longer there to make my family life living hell, I was still miserable. I had no friends to talk to about this. James and I used to be close as children, but when he was fourteen and I was eleven, he stopped talking to me unless it was necessary.

I was completely on my own with no one to count on. I tried once to get rid of my sorrows by going to a carnival that came to our town. I met a boy there who I immediately gained a crush on. He didn't see me the same way however and treated me like his kid sister. That ended quickly.

So I was still lonely. I stopped going to school for a while because I didn't want to face my peers. I knew what they would say. They wouldn't have any pity for me losing both of my parents. If anything, they would just torment me even more.

Most days, I just stayed inside my house playing with my vintage toys and crying. One day, I found a guitar in my parents old room. I remember my dad teaching me how to play a bit when I was much younger and our family hadn't fallen apart yet. There were some skills I still had, but I would need lessons to actually be able to play.

After some contemplating if it was a smart financial decision, I started taking lessons at some shop in the mall. It didn't take long for me to learn and soon enough, I didn't need a teacher anymore.

Music was slowly starting to piece my life back together. It was an outlet for all of my emotions. I even wrote a few originals songs about my family. There was one I wrote specifically about my mother called Birthing Addicts. She sat back and let all of these things happen to me yet still claimed that she loved me simply because she was the one who gave birth to me.

Despite this, it still would've been nice to have someone to talk to. I thought about going back to school before but chickened out multiple times. Unfortunately, I received a letter from the school that I had been absent too long. If I missed anymore days, I wouldn't be able to graduate.

As I got ready the next morning, I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible this would be. I knew that hell was waiting for me right inside those school gates.

As soon as I walked in, conversations started. I could hear them all whispering about my family and myself. I tried my best to ignore it but I couldn't. This was all expected, I didn't believe anything would be different.

But now, all of that might change. Because for the first time in twelve years, someone wants to be my friend.

Johnny listened to me as I talked. Of course I didn't tell him everything about my life, just what happened that day in kindergarten and how everyone bullied me. I didn't want to scare him off.

He told me that he didn't care what other people said about me. That he thought I didn't deserve any of it.

For the first time in twelve years, someone made me smile.

<~•~>

Everyone was shocked that the new kid was hanging out with me, considering it social suicide.

He would defend me if people got to be too much, held me when I cried, and always listened when I needed him to.

It took me a while, but I finally figured out why my heart beat faster when he was around. Why my face always felt hot when he complimented me. Why there were butterflies flapping around wildly in my stomach if he even looked at me.

I was falling for him.

I was frightened of course about how this could change our whole friendship. If I told him how I felt, he might reject me and then we wouldn't be friends anymore. It would be too awkward. And then if he did reciprocate my feelings (which was incredibly unlikely), the second it didn't work out, our friendship would crumble.

I didn't know what to do. This has never happened to me before. No boy had ever even gotten close enough to me for me to even think about this.

And the fact that Johnny was my only friend made it hard for me to avoid him. Which meant extra torture for me. Yay!

We were at the park one day, walking and just talking about anything. As he strided beside me, I couldn't help but stare down at his hand. It looked so soft and like it would fit perfectly in mine.

"Crybaby?" I blinked and looked up, Johnny's hand waving in front of my face.

"Sorry, I got distracted." I smiled sheepishly.

"It's okay, I was just saying how nice the weather was. Yesterday was kind of windy, but today it's really sunny." He said.

"Yeah, it is. Perfect weather to be outside." I say, basking in the sunlight.

I turn to my side and see him staring at me. Insecurity was gnawing at me as I tried not to let him hear my hammering heartbeat.

"Um, Johnny?" I say softly. He looks confused for a second then casts his gaze downwards, a blush on his cheeks.

He muttered something, but I couldn't hear it. We walked together in an awkward silence, neither of us wanting to make the first move.

My legs were starting to feel a bit tired when I noticed a bench. "Do you um, wanna sit down?" I asked nervously, pointing to the bench. He didn't say anything, just nodded and we sat down.

The silence was still there and I kicked my legs back and forth.

"Do you... Wanna hear a joke?" He asked suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sure." I said, biting my lip.

(A/N: Okay guys, no lie. This is seriously a joke my dad told me because we made a bet that if he made me laugh, I had to get up for school. Long story short, I lost the bet. Badly)

"Okay, why did the frog jump in the pond?" He was smiling now with an amused look on his face.

"Why?" I ask, playing along.

"Because he wanted to go swimming." He was trying really hard not to laugh as I stared at him.

What?

A smile broke out on my face and I started to laugh loudly. That was the worst joke I've ever heard in my whole life. He laughed too and my face was starting to turn red.

"Where did you get that from?" I asked between my giggles. He shook his head, "I don't know. I just made it up."

"That was so horrible. You should be arrested for telling such a bad joke." I kid, punching him lightly in the arm.

"Oh, you loved it." He teased.

"I love you." I say casually before I realize what the hell I just said.

My eyes widen and I tended up immediately. What on earth did I just say to him?

I didn't dare turn to see his face. No doubt it would be a look of disgust.

Neither of us said anything for a while before I stood up. "I have to go. There's a um, a thing. That I have to go to. Yeah, a really important thing. Gotta go!" I lied, about to take off. (Gotta blast 🚀🚀🚀)

"Wait!" He called, taking a hold of my wrist.

I gulped as I turned around, not moving an inch.

"Look, Crybaby. For a while now, I've wanted to tell you how I feel and the truth is... I like you. A lot. And I've been meaning to ask you out." He confessed, taking a deep breath as he waited for my response.

"Wow, Johnny. I-I don't know what to say." I tell him honestly. Never in a million years did I think he liked me back! This was a dream come true! Somebody pinch me!

On second thought, don't pinch me! Even if this isn't real, it's better than what actually is.

"I understand if you don't feel the same way." He said quietly, letting go of my hand and starting to walk away.

"No! I like you too!" I shouted, a few of the other people in the park staring at me.

He turned around and had the biggest, dorkiest smile on his face ever. "Really?"

"Really." I confirmed, taking his hand in mine.

We smiled lovingly at each other as he enveloped me into a hug.

This was the best day of my whole entire life!

•~•

another crappy update I know but I'm trying! Life is hard man.
Anyways, see ya next time guys! Peace!