"I'd rather die of passion than boredom"

~ Van Gogh

Song- Crawling back to you; artic monkeys

After helping Cam, and by helping I mean doing the entire assignment, class was over. We turned in our work and left the class. Cam walked next to my down the hall "accidentally" bumping into me every couple seconds.

"Would you seriously stop it?!" I snap shoving his shoulder.

"I'm not doing anything!" He argues flicking my head. I flick him again and by the time we reach the library we're full on slapping each other. Cams a lot lighter than my hits.

I spot all of my friends sitting at a round table for study hall. Flicking Cam one more time on the nose I skip up to them pulling out a chair.

"Hey bitches" I slide off my backpack and set it on the floor.

"Hey loser" Theo mumbles with his mouth full of food even though lunch is in an hour.

"How was art?" Miles asks looking up from his school work

"Great" I say at the same time Cam says "horrible"

"He's being dramatic, it was fun" I point my thumb to Cam who's legs were propped up on the table.

"Fun for you maybe but not all of us are Van gough" he replies, Theo, Asher and Addie all laugh.

"Now you know how I feel when you make me play sports" I say full of disgust.

"Hey! At least baseball is easy"

"Easy for you, I attract pain. A game with objects flying towards face is not fun." Addie and Theo both laugh quietly while Asher rolls his eyes.

"Trust me, we know" Cam huffs.

"Remember the time you were sitting in the stands and Theo hit a ball that magically found your face and broke your nose" Miles recalls causing me to grab my nose at the memory.

"Yeah, even after that mom wouldn't let me get a nose job" I pout.

I really wanted that nose job.

"Don't laugh, I had to wear a nose brace for picture day." I scrunch up my face in disgust thinking of all the jokes my friends made after that.

Addie and Theo even went as far is to print out the picture and hang it all around my room. Miles poked my bottom lip teasingly and I tried to bite it in retaliation.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me!" Asher exclaims with a sick smile that lets me know he's going to be taunting me about this for weeks.

"Who assigns this much work on the first day of school!" Theo complains looking at a single piece of paper.

"Theo, all you have to do is read the syllabus and sign your name" Brianna glances over the paper and hands it back to him.

"Yeah, too much work" he slides the paper over to me. "Mar, sign it for me"

I roll my eyes scribbling down his signature and handing it to him. Miles, Theo and cam start playing paper football while Asher sleeps on the table. Bri starts reading her book and Addie paints her nails.

Why she brought finger nail polish to school I'll never know.

I pull out my phone texting Grayson and Connor to see how their day is going before going onto Tik tok and scrolling through my for you page.

After a long study hall where we all ended up playing a very intense game of Rock Paper Scissors. It ended with Asher and I going against each other.

He did paper and I did scissors winning the game. All of my friends erupted in cheers and Cam lifted me in the air shouting winner.

The entire library stared at us as if we were insane but we didn't care continuing to shout and holler until the librarian (who strongly resembled the librarian from monsters university) threatened to give us detention if we weren't quiet.

When the bell rung we all hurried out of the library and to lunch with a quick stop at the lockers so Bri, Theo and I could grab our lunches.

The cafeteria had multiple long rectangle tables all around. We head straight to the one we've been sitting at since freshman year in the back corner which is perfectly out of sight from all lunch monitors, perfect for getting away with anything.

After walking through the line so everyone could get lunch I sit down with Bri on one side and Cam on the other. Addie sits next to Bri and Asher sits on the other side of Cam. Miles and Theo sit across from us.

"Hey guys" Grayson says sitting next to Theo, right across from me, Connor next to him.

"There's my little freshman" I coo leaning over and pinching their cheeks. They slap my hands away from their face .

"You're annoying" Connor comments stabbing a fork into a piece of chicken .

"You love me" I reply opening my own lunch box. I go to eat a carrot when Cam slaps it out of my hand. "What the hell!" I exclaim ready to punch him.

"You need to check your sugar" He reminds me holding up my diabetic bag. I ignore him going to eat another carrot which he slaps out of my hand again.

"I will punch you" I threaten.

"And I don't doubt that but check your sugar first." He insist grabbing my finger.

"I'll just take correction later" I try to get my finger from him but his strong grips stops me.

"Mar" Theo says lowly. I glance at him with worried eyes before looking to everyone and seeing them looking just as worried.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bri questions softly. My face turns slightly red but I cover it up with fake confidence.

"Guys, I'm fine" I chuckle airily.

"After everything that happened last year, no one expects you to be 'fine'" Miles tells me. I ignore their gaze looking at my feet.

I quickly grab my diabetic bag checking my sugar and giving myself insulin. I then gather all my lunch and leave without saying anything else.

I hate being treated like a baby just because something bad happened. Bad things happen every day. It doesn't make me special.

That's why I can't tell them the whole story. They all treat me like I'm fragile from the small part I told them, if they knew the whole thing they wouldn't let me breath on my own.

There's so many bigger things going on right now and I don't need anyone to worry about me on top of that. I can take care of myself.

I make it outside feeling the hot air and sit down on the bleachers where Theo, Cam and my initials are carved in from when we were just 7 years old and Cam got a pocket knife for his birthday.

As I'm eating my food I hear 6 pairs of footsteps walk up the bleachers. Not looking up I grab my water taking a sip. Bodies sit all around me and I can feel there eyes burning in me.

I look up at them challenging them with my eyes. They all glance to Cam for him to speak. He huffs grabbing the water bottle I was flipping in my hands.

"Marlee" He says but I don't look at him. "We're all really sorry for pushing you"

"We're just worried about you" Bri cuts in. Addie and Miles shaking their head in agreement.

"You don't need to be worried about me" I protest.

"We care about you Mar, that means we are going to worry about you just like you worry about us." Miles explains sending me a soft smile.

"Well I hate it"

I sound like a 2 year old right now.

"Yeah, we know" Theo chuckles earning a smile from me.

The conversation turns much lighter from their for the rest of lunch. We hear the bell ring from inside the school signaling lunch is over. I stand up packing my lunch up as Miles outreaches his arm.

"Ready for class honeybuns" A playful smiles plays upon his lips.

"As always sweet cheeks" I smirk interlocking our arms and waving by to our friends before walking down the bleachers.

We head into the school ignoring the glances at me. Miles and I playfully flirt with each other as always walking to chemistry. We get into the class and take a seat at one of the lab tables.

"Let's explode some stuff" I have an evil smile on my face as I look at all the different chemicals.

I'm sure if we just mix them all they'll explode.

"Let's not" Miles replies deflating my hopes and taking the beaker of a mysterious liquid out of my hands.

"You're no fun" I pout slumping in my seat. He laughs poking my nose before pulling out his laptop.

I really wanted to blow something up.

I stand outside the world history room with a disgusted look when I see Cam and Serena sucking faces in front of the door blocking my way in.

Couldn't they find a broom closet or something like the rest of the hot dogs in this school do?

I glance around at the students waiting outside the door that the pair were oblivious to. A couple girls spot me before whispering( rather loudly I may add).

"Did you hear what happened to her?" One girl whispers.

"Such an attention seeker" the other girl cackles looking straight at me.

"What a whore" the first girl scoffs as her boyfriend who's on the football team comes up to her.

"Who's a whore?" He asks with 2 of his buddies behind him, all in football jerseys even though it isn't a game day.

"Marlee Gardner" the second girl tells the boys. Pointing towards me as if I couldn't see them out of the corner of my eyes. My fist tighten so tight my knuckles whiten. I take a deep breath and try to focus on something else but the only other thing is the two losers eating each other's faces.

"I can't believe she made all that up instead of just taking responsibility for her actions" the second guy nods his head.

That's enough.

I spun around and March up to the group. The girls hide behind the boys and the boys look at me with fear in their eyes.

"And I can't believe you have nothing better to do with your pathetic lives that talk shit about other people!" I snap glaring at them.

My short figure doesn't even come close to the tall buff football players but I could give them a black eye if I wanted to. The entire hall quiets and stares at us. Even Cam and Serena take notice. Cam quickly walks behind me crossing his arms and glaring at the guys.

"What is this, middle school? Grow up!" I turn and start storming away bumping into Theo who looks down at me.

"Mar are you okay?" Theo asks but I just walk past him.

"Let's go" Cam waves Theo along but Serena stops him.

"You're seriously going to follow after that" she sneers looking my way.

"She happens to be one of my best friends so yeah, I am" He brushes her off while I keep making my way down the hall. Theo and him jog to catch up to me as I walk outside.

"Mar" Theo calls while Cam calls "Lee" I sit at the usual spot on the bleachers at the baseball field taking a deep breath to calm down.

I promised myself I wouldn't do that.

I told myself I wouldn't snap. I would just ignore all the comments but after a day full of snide comments and dirty looks I couldn't take it anymore.

I've always had a short temper but I was hoping I could control it. Instead I let myself down. I sigh leaning against the bleachers and facing the sky letting the warm Georgia sunshine hit my face.

I hear the boys sitting on either side of me. Cams ocean scented cologne enters my nose calming me down. Theo clears his throat before speaking.

"So what happened?" My twins asks causing me to look up at his chocolate brown eyes.

"I just got so sick of everyone saying all those horrible things about me" I whisper looking at my shoes tracing the sunflower with my finger. "I tried not to snap but I couldn't take it anymore"

"It's okay, it's not your fault" Cam grabs my hand and holds it in his.

"I should've held it in, I shouldn't of let them get to me" I shake my head leaning it against the fence that surrounds the bleachers.

"I couldn't even hold it in" Theo chuckles "I yelled at a bunch of girls in the middle of my science class this morning" he tells me.

"I punched a guy earlier when he tried to write something else on your locker" Cam adds joining Theo.

"Well you guys are idiots" I scoff. They both smile reaching up and ruffling my hair.

"There's my Marlee" Theo coos pinching my cheeks before they both tackle me into a hug.

"We'll get through this" Cam mutters twirling a piece of my hair. We stay in each others embrace and I remember how lucky I am for my two best friends. The people who are always with me through anything.

They may be idiots but they're my idiots.

We head back to class a few minutes later all sitting at a seat in the back. After the class let's out I have to basically shove Theo out of the chair to wake him up.

"You guys ready for gym?!" Addie asks as her, Bri, Miles and Asher meet us in the hallway.

"Yeah! I'm so excited to run around for an hour!" I say in a girly happy voice with a big smile before dropping it "said no one ever"

"Gyms not that bad, at least we don't have to do work" Theo grimaces wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"I'd much rather copy Miles answers for an hour then run around with a bunch of sweaty guys" I look at Cam and Asher.

"Hey! We aren't that sweaty!" Asher argues glaring at me. Cam gives him a deadpanned look.

"I think you mean I'm not that sweaty" Cam corrects. I laugh reaching up and fist bumping him before locking pinky, doing the 'bro shake' and fist bumping again( our handshake since we were little).

"I hate you guys" Asher grumbles.

"You're welcome to find other friends" I offer sending him a defiant smirk.

"Shut up" he snarls and before I can make a snappy remark Miles cups a hand around my mouth.

"Now, now. Let's get to gym without killing each other" I lick his hand and he grimaces letting go.

"What's the fun in that?" I ask while Bri opens the door and let's everyone walk in. I curtsy playfully. "Why thank you kind sir" I say in a posh accent.

"Anytime m'lady" she replies in the same tone. We both giggle while catching up to the group.

We got to play dodgeball in gym today which worked out for me since I got to pummel Asher and Cam with the ball the entire time. That was until the gym teacher took me out of the game for "being too competitive".

I didn't even want to win I just wanted to hurt them.

What? I have a lot of pent up aggression and I'm still mad at Cam for slapping my carrots out of my hand earlier. Asher is just Asher. It's fun to hurt him.

After school we all pile into Cams truck. I took over the aux and played some music so loud I'm sure we were going to get a noise complaint.

The only bad thing about this small town is you can get anywhere in the span of 10 minutes which meant I only had time for 2 songs.

We make it to a familiar spot where Cam parks in the grass. I stand up and grab Miles hand to help me hop out of the trunk bed. The only thing around us is the dirt road and trees.

A old abandon water tower sits in the middle of the small cleared section of woods. The fence around it was broke from previous years of being broken into.

Nobody knows about this spot besides us. It's been our place for years. Theo pushes open the gate and lets everyone walk through. I run and hop up onto the metal bars holding on with one hand and looking back.

"You losers coming?!" I call before reaching a hand down and helping Bri up.

"Thanks" she smiles holding tight on the bar. She has the biggest fear of heights but never lets that stop her from climbing 150 feet in the air.

After climbing the climb I do at least once a week I reach the top. My friends follow close behind. Although I see the view all the time it always leaves me breathless.

2 miles of trees surround us all on sides. Past that you can see the town, all the neighborhoods, the stores and shops. Even the school. On the opposite side is the lake we spend most of the summer at.

A smile forms on my face. I take a seat on the edge, resting my arms on the metal bar and looking out at the lake erasing the negativity from the day.

We all gather around the edge enjoying the view and talking for a couple hours. Eventually we head back to the truck seeing as Miles has to help his dad at the ice cream shop and Addie has a shift at the local grocery store.

"You should've punched the bitch" Addie tells me while I recall the story from earlier with her and Bri as we walk to the truck separate from the boys.

"No she shouldn't have, she would've got detention. I think you handled it perfectly" Brianna flattens hair slightly.

"I guess you're right but it would've been more fun she punched her" Addie wraps an arm around both of our shoulders.

"I agree but mom would kill me if I got detention on my first day... again"

More like for the 5th year in a row. Don't ask me how it happens it just does. I'm a magnet for trouble.