"Hey honey, welcome home," my aunt smiled as she spoke with a voice of pure honey. "How was school?" She questioned with a softness to her tone as she noticed my shoulders slump and a sigh which forced it's way out of my mouth. The number of times I have been called 'new kid' in a single day was uncountable by now. "Two students beat me up today," I said as I raised my sleeve to reveal a dark blue bruise which formed on my shoulder. "Oh, honey," my aunt spoke in a tone which apologized for itself. She walked into the kitchen to pull out a bottle of medication oil and started applying it to the bruise.

"So, have you made any friends?" My aunt spoke as she attempted to brighten up the mood. I thought about it, had I made a friend?  "I would like to think so," I mumbled as she rolled my sleeves down and placed the medication oil back into the cabinet. "Well, why don't you go ahead and wash up and well go out for ice cream?" A smile spread onto her face, a smile which always had given me hope, even when there was no hope to be found. 

I slumped my body down onto my bed, letting the sheets mould into my form as I smiled a smile of relief. I was finally back home, back into a familiar surrounding, a familiar smell. I opened up my laptop and opened up Facebook, hoping to find someone I could talk to, even if I had no friends.

My first instinct was to type in Amber's name, searching for her profile. I scrolled through a couple of random profiles till I stumbled upon a picture of a girl, with a large smile spread widely across her face. I laughed at her look of pure bliss, she was adorable. I scrolled through her pictures, laughing at the sight of each of them, one dorkier than the other. I scrolled till I stopped at a picture of her and Krystal. They were both smiling, so happily, so cheerfully. Krystal looked so different from the obnoxious, bitter woman I met in the cafeteria. For once, I actually believed she could be a lovely person.

All her pictures, they just proved how amazingly open and fun Amber was, and how opposite she was from me. I compared her photos to mine. Somehow, she gave people this joy, this happiness. Whereas when people were around me, all they seemed to want to do was leave. Was I that repulsive? I sighed as I changed out of my clothes, deciding that I definitely needed some ice cream.

'I would like everything,' I thought to myself as the lady in question asked which flavor of ice cream I would like to purchase. "Pistachio," I sighed, disappointed at my failure to voice my thoughts. I took a seat inside the shop, waiting for my aunt to join me. 

I wanted to hide, literally hide. I glanced around the room, looking for a hiding spot as I watched Amber and her group of friends, slowly approaching the ice cream parlor. Unable to find a suitable hiding spot, I ducked underneath the table, praying that they wouldn't find me.

I heard my heart pound in my chest as laughter filled the room, with footsteps approaching. I watched as the feet steered away from my direction in relief. I shut my eyes and sighed, thanking God that no one had seen me. "Ruth? What are you doing under there?" . "Come out," my aunt laughed. I felt a blush of embarrassment consume my face as I slowly raised my head from under the table. "Ruth?" Amber called from behind me as she bursted out in fits of laughter. Great. I turned around, completely ashamed and embarrassed, not even being able to lift my eyes from the ground. 

"were you hiding under the table?" She spoke as soon as she paused for a breath from her laughter. "Well... I uh," I rubbed my neck and thought about a random explaination as to why I decided to hide under the table. Well, I just saw you come in and I panicked, so hiding under the table seemed suitable? No, definitely not.  "That's adorable!" Amber laughed as she slung an arm around my shoulder. "Hey, you know Krystal, Jack, Peter," she turned us around to face familiar faces, including Krystal's monsterous stare. "Uh, yeah, well, got to go!" I nervously laughed as I attempted to avoid Krystal's eyes peircing into my soul.

I turned around to my aunt, clearly clueless. I rolled my eyes, grabbed her arm and ran out of the store as fast as possible. 

I am never going out for ice cream, ever again.

 A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for not being consistent with the udating of this story. I had a but load of exams this week. As some of you may know, being a senior in colledge requires more work than you may think. Anyway, thank you for sticking around even after my crappy excuse for not uploading... I'll try to write another chapter in the next few hours so stay tunned for updates! :)