Alpha Girl Read Free

it didn’t matter what anyone thought of me, as long as I was true to myself. She’d been terribly bullied in school because of her brightly colored hair and piercings. Her uniqueness was on-purpose though. I, on the other hand, had no choice.
    The rest of my shift passed without incident, and I left the café at eight o’clock on the dot, stepping out into the street-lamp lit pathway. I walked everywhere, as my house wasn’t far from the school, or the coffee shop. It would only take me ten minutes.

Thursday – 19 days to go

     
    Gym was by far my most hated subject, not because I wasn’t very good at it. On the contrary, I had excellent reflexes, and was not unfit as I walked almost everywhere. I hated Gym for an entirely different reason; Gym shorts. Those little black things they make you wear, that come far too high on the thigh. I despised them.
    Being highly unpopular I am always picked last for team sports. They’ll choose the kid in crutches before me. It doesn’t really bother me too much – I’m used to it, and I couldn’t care less what anyone thought of me.
    However, I wanted to keep my scars a secret, as I knew it would only give the other students more ammunition against me.
    In today’s Gym class we were playing volleyball. I should have guessed what was going to go down.
    ‘Hey mutt!’ one of the boys on my team class to me. ‘Fetch!’
    He proceeded to hurl a volleyball in my direction, which I dodged easily. I didn’t bother retorting. What was the use?
    The gym teacher, Mrs. White blew her whistle and sent the boy in question off the court. I continued to play, but tried to remain inconspicuous amongst my other teammates.
    It was towards the end of the lesson where everything began to go downhill. Due to the physical activity, my shorts had begun to ride up my thighs, and the students sitting on the sidelines were beginning to point and whisper. It took several minutes for me to notice, as I usually tried very hard to ignore the murmurings.
    Only too late did I realize that the scars on my thigh were showing under the hem of my gym shorts. I straightened them at once, my face flushing pink.
    The boy who had thrown the ball at me began to bark, while his friends howled.
    I bubbled with anger, but repressed it.

Monday – 15 days to go

     
    The following week I handed in my assignment on The Colour Purple , and was eager to find out my results. I’d tried really hard on the essay, only to be disappointed.
    When Mr. Stone handed back the assignment a week later, my face fell as I stared at the C+ on the top of the page. I’d been so sure that I’d get a B+ at least. Angry with myself, I stuffed the essay into my bag.
    ‘How’d you do?’ hissed Sadie, leaning over to me.
    ‘Okay,’ I mumbled.
    Sadie waved her essay in front of my face. ‘I got a B plus,’ she said. ‘I guess Mr. Stone is a tough grader.’
    ‘You did better than me,’ I said sourly.
    I remained in a foul mood for the remainder of the lesson.  
    My shift that evening was a dull one. We hadn’t seen a customer all evening. It was so quiet that my manager Estelle left me the keys and went home early, asking me to lock up. It wasn’t the first time this had happened. I’d closed the café many times before now.
    I spent the evening cleaning, and daydreaming. That was, until Mr. Stone arrived at the café at a quarter to eight, fifteen minutes before closing time. He wore the same, quirky attire as usual; mismatching shirt and pants that cut off at the ankles, and an old blazer. I could see his navy socks and lace-up boat shoes.
    ‘I’m not too late, am I?’ he asked, stepping into the shop.
    I stood up abruptly, wiping my hands on my apron.
    ‘Uh, no, of course not,’ I said. ‘Gluten-free skim latte?’
    ‘Yes, please.’
    Mr. Stone put his hands into his pockets while I worked on his order, pacing the shop. When it was done, I slid it across the counter towards him. He pulled out his wallet, but I