Looking up from beneath her eyelashes, Whitney looked at the teacher droning on about whatever homework he had assigned the other day. Another assignment missed. Whitney smirked to herself, a thing she hardly does, as she realized nobody was paying attention. The sky outside was a brilliant blue, the sun a warm glow, and just a faint spattering of snow white clouds off in the distance. Whitney dropped her eyes back down to her drawing she was working on, a drawing of a night sky and a bright sun burning behind it. Whitney had been working on it all day, through all her classes, and nobody had noticed. People at school, people in general, had learned to ignore her. Who would want to pay attention to her, a random Freshman in High school? Besides, Whitney didn't want to be noticed, to be seen. She had too many scars, both physical and mental. Whitney bit her lip at the unpleasant memories and forced herself to not think of her adopted parents, Marrie and Tobias Harenfiher, or about the events preceding her being taken away from her parents about five months ago. Instead, Whitney added another layer of red to the burning sun she was drawing. It was looking pretty good, she noticed, and then the bell rang. Lunch time, great. Whitney heard the teacher call out to her to stay, and Whitney made sure to lose herself among the crowd.
Once she had her lunch, Whitney went outside to her usual picnic table, and awaited the arrival of the only person that she ever talked to, Lia Vendette. After a few minutes, Whitney heard Lia sit down and she looked up at her. Lia's silky smooth red hair clashed brilliantly with her bright blue eyes, and even more so with her purple T-shirt and denim blue jeans. The effect was beautiful, though everyone else disagreed. Whitney looked down at her sandwich as Lia looked to see what she was wearing. Whitney knew what Lia would see as she looked at her, her common mousy brown hair and eyes, her faded dark skinny jeans, dark blue jacket, dark makeup, and silver hoop earring's. Whitney knew Lia wished to know what was wrong with her, why she was the way she was, but, luckily, Lia was too nice too mention anything. Whitney looked down at her uneaten lunch again, "I'm not eating this stuff. You want it?" Whitney asked Lia. "You're not eating lunch, again? Please don't tell me your starving yourself, you must weigh what, like, 80 pounds now!" Lia said, accusingly. Whitney shrugged her shoulders and as she did so her jacket caught on the picnic table, revealing her scarred arm. Great, another mistake. "Oh my god." Lia gasped, her face in an expression of shock. "What?" I asked, trying to play it off like nothing had happened. "Your arm, it has scars on it. Are you cutting yourself?" Lia didn't look judgemental just.. pitying. Whitney almost said yes, but she didn't. She was a coward, she wouldn't ever admit to doing anything like this. Whitney silently shook her head. "What happened?" Lia asked softly, and Whitney knew she wasn't referring to her loss of appetite or scars on her arm. She was referring to before, when she had parents.
"You really want to know?" Whitney asked, hoping she'd say no. She said yes, she caught her bluff. She thought for a moment and thought of an answer that might make her forget everything. "My parents were so strict. I couldn't go anywhere, do anything. My Dad was a Doctor ," Whitney began her lie, laughing inside at the thought of her father, the man that denied being her father until her Mom could afford a house, and then moved in and spent all their money. "My Mom was a Therapist. That's all. They didn't want me anymore so, here I am." Whitney finished, knowing that Lia wouldn't believe it. What sort of rich, strict parents would abandon their child? Whitney began to walk away, almost laughing for some reason. Surprisingly, Lia didn't say anything, that is, until Whitney made another mistake. She began to laugh, and couldn't stop. She couldn't get over comparing her father, a verbally, and physically, abusive man, to a doctor that saved lives, and her mother, a gambler, to a therapist that helped people get over their problems. Whitney somehow managed to stop as she turned around and saw Lia, whom looked outraged. "You know what? You have a problem!" Lia said to me, not quiet a yell, not quiet a normal voice. Suddenly, Whitney remembered something, Lia's mom was a therapist, and her father a doctor. That's why those two professions just popped in her mind, because Lia had talked about them not even a week ago. Another mistake, great.
"What's wrong with you? You have problems and you need to get over them, on your own. You just think it's all about you, well it's not. I have feelings too, and I don't want you talking about my family. In fact, I don't want to talk to you again. Ever." And off she stormed. Whitney could have kicked herself, had she not been thinking? That was the dumbest thing she's ever done. People were starting to look around at her, no longer was she purely invisible. Whitney began walking back to the school, inside it, and to the office. Whitney looked both ways, and strode through the front doors, unnoticed, unseen, and outside. She began running, as fast as her legs would carry her, and she didn't stop until she had reached the streets. There was many people, a perfect place to be. Whitney slowly slunk forwards, looking out for people who would notice a High schooler out of High school on a school day unaccompanied by an adult. Soon, she made it to where she was headed. An alley. When she had reached it, she ran into the darkest, deepest corner, and slipped away into the shadows. Falling, endlessly falling in her own deep reverie, within the protective confines of the shadows. She was part of the shadow, she was the shadow. She was complete,
she was whole, she was a shadow.