A/N : Hello there, my lovelies! This is the new side story I've started to give me and you guys some refreshment, so here it is. If you haven't already started reading my first story - Love and Crosses - Please do check it out! This is my second venture and I really hope you like it! Don't forget to tell me in the comments! Love you guys xxx

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice."

~ Robert Frost

"There she is, in the very corner, reading whatever it is that she's reading."

"Always got her nose buried in a book"

"What a nerd"

I had gotten used to these murmurs and the stares and pointing. It didn't make a difference to me anymore. Yes, it did hurt to hear them, but I tried my best to shut it out. The reason I was even in this school was because I needed to finish my studies, then it would all be over when I went to college, leaving all of them behind. 

"Hey there, pimp" A high-pitched, voice yelled at me. It was unmistakably the voice of my arch nemesis, Iris Holland. What she said was followed by giggles and taunts from the other girls. I kept my eyes on my book until a heeled foot kicked it out of my hands and onto the floor. I raised my eyes to look up to Penny Burke, Iris' right-hand girl.

"Look at her fume!" Penny laughed evilly, throwing her head back, her heavily scented self irritating my senses.

"What is it, little pimp? Did Penny kick your precious book..." One of the other girls laughed, mimicking a baby voice. 

Don't rise, don't let them think you care.... I tell myself repeatedly, fuming inside.

"Leave me alone" I say, curtly. Iris' expression shifts.

"Or what are you gonna do, pimp?" She says, pouting, challenging me to do something I've told myself repeatedly not to.

Don't rise to it, don't rise to it....Breathe in, breathe out....it's okay.....it's okay...

"What will she do? She can't stand up to us, the weakling that she is" One of the girls, Kim, says.

"Yeah, right. Pimp." Iris snaps, beckoning her minions with a swift wave, her manicured nails almost hitting the closest girl in her eye.

I was glad they didn't bother me more than that, because I doubted that I could keep my cool for longer. I was generally bad-tempered, but this school and the students of this school, made me like that. I leaned over to my side and picked up my book, trying to find the page I was at. Just as I was about to continue where I left off, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break.

Great. Just great. Now I have to get through class all over again. At least with all the teachers around, they won't bother me. I pick my bag up and shove my book inside, keeping my head low and walking silently down the corridor. I reach class and sit in my favorite seat, the one in the dark corner, where the lights don't reach as much. I take my book out and continue reading, these novels being my only solace. I find myself in an alternate world, where things aren't as they are in my life. Where everything is different. Where I don't have to think about everything. It's like my very own fantasyland. 

When the teacher comes in, I put my book back inside. I'd had a previous incident before, where I couldn't wait to get to the climax of the story, so I had continued reading. The teacher caught me, and a quick chat with the principal was all, where I just had to nod and listen, not say a word. But I didn't want it to happen again. Not that I cared, but because it gave Iris something to crib on about, and my mum another reason for her infinite worries.

After all the classes are finished for the day, which is pretty quickly since I just walk in and out of them wordlessly, I pack my stuff up and leave the premises, leaving Iris, Penny, and all the other things behind. I whip out my book again, reading and walking, so into my own fantasyland, that I don't notice a bike coming right at me. I look from my book to my right, alarm flashing across my features. Whosoever it was driving the bike, braked just in time to see invisible me.

"Watch where you're going! You could've been crushed" The boy on the bike says, the lines on his forehead creasing. I've seen him around before. Popular chap. I hope there's no drama after this.

"I-I'm sorry. I wasn't looking" I say quickly, walking as fast as I could, trying to get as far away as possible. 

"Hold on, hey!" He says, but I don't turn back, afraid of the taunts going to follow.

Once I'm out onto the main road, I relax, my shoulders drooping. Best not to take that book out next time. As I reach my house, I walk up the steps and ring the bell. My mum comes out, her blue eyes, reflecting my own, her worry-lines distinct.

"Oh, come in, come in. Go change. I need your help" she says, ushering me inside the cramped place I have to call a house. It's small, but that's all we can afford with mum's business and our daily purchases. She runs a home-based thing, selling rag dolls to little children. When she says she needs my help, it probably means I have to design wooden bodies for the rag dolls, because she's gotten an order from someone who is interested in antique rag dolls. Honestly, Barbie's sell way, way more than us, it's even an unfair comparison, but these rag dolls are made with an age-old technique, not that anyone appreciates it. 

My mum is a believer in heritage, antiques and ancient things. Take my name for example. Who names their kids 'Estella' anyway? Apparently, my name means 'star', and my mum says I was the light of her life after well...I don't want to continue. Estella Elizabeth Taylor  is also the Duchess Of Cambridge's niece and they have a ritual of using traditional and ancient names.

I get down the stairs wearing my only apron, used for paint and woodwork. She's already started with painting around 5 doll faces already, each of them unique with their own designs. I sit down wordlessly, like always, and start snipping cloth to clothe the rag dolls with. This is how my afternoons go by. Silently, just the sounds of snipping cloth and carving wood, and a smell of paint. After the order is out, I get up, after 3 hours of sitting in one position, my thighs cramping up. I wince and trudge back up the stairs.

 I get inside my tiny room, shutting the windows, because even from the neighborhood, kids throw stones and what not  through them. I shower and sit in my plain top and pajamas, doing my minimal homework for today. I sit in the silence for a while, and my mum calls from downstairs.

"Estella! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!" I call back, getting up and going down the stairs. Mum has set up the table with some cheese on toast. I pull the chair back and start eating. Mum sits down and starts eating as well.

"How was school?" She says. I'm sure she knows the answer to that, she's only trying to make a conversation.

"Okay" I shrug, expressionless. She nods and returns back to her food.

After we're done eating, I take up the dishes and start washing them in the sink. Once I'm done, I walk back up to my room and take my book out, and get lost in my fantasyland, where the characters have better lives than me. Around 10 pm, I finish my book, coming out of my fantasyland, where my dark and lonely world awaits me yet again. I check my phone, more like the toxic gadget which makes me feel worse than I already do. And I'm right.

A meme of Penny kicking my book out of my hands stares at me from the screen, almost taunting me at how helpless I look. I watch it over and over again, reading the comments and all the mean stuff they've written about me. Some boy watching the fun took this video and made a viral meme out of it. I almost feel like crying, but I've done that too many times already, and all it does is make me feel like I'm wasting it on them, because they don't care about how I feel. And none of them ever will.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------That is it for today! I will update, but hopefully after I get some positive comments about this one! So glad you guys read my work!

Love you guys xxx

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