E101

Quick Disclosure: Almost everything in the story is made up. As far as we know, these characters and events are nonexistent.

Forty years ago, a young girl named Clarabelle went to our school. She was a weird kid-- like, the type that barks at other students in the hallways for attention. Needless to say, she had no friends. Everyone insulted her behind her back, and gave her no respect.

"Ruff! Ruff! Grrrrrrr..." She skulked around other students in the hallways. Frankly, she was a very irritating person. 

Every day, her fourth period class was Spanish, in room E101. She had been very excited to start learning it at the start of the year, but it was her least favorite class. Her teacher, Mrs. Forker, treated her just like all of her schoolmates. Even though she was well behaved in class, and got incredible grades, the teacher despised her. Mrs. Forker had heard about Clarabelle's social behavior and status, and always made sure to not call on her. The educationalist seemed to care about popularity quite a bit, and always called on the cool kids. Also, when our protagonist was called on, it was to be asked useless, humiliating questions with answers that the class never learned.

"Yes, Clarabelle? What is it?" The teacher would sneer at her. Clara would feel her face get red in embarrassment. She was treated poorly enough already.

"I just would like to answer the question." She would mumble.

"You know what? You have gone a lot recently, and other kids deserve a chance. How about you get a fun, special question? How do you say..." 

I think you get the point. This teacher was awful! Mrs. Forker gave surprise questions to Clara often. So, to ensure that she was always prepared, Clarabelle made sure to stay ahead of her class. She would study for an hour every night, until it got to the point that she was more fluent than her own teacher, who had not worked on their Spanish in years. Mrs. Forker just knew what was learned in the year's curriculum. Mrs. Forker found this very irritating, but was too lazy to actually try to improve her own fluidity.

Once Clarabelle had surpassed her teacher's skill level, she realized that learning such a high level of Spanish had been an escape from her real issues. The poor girl had no friends! I mean, in the end, it was her own fault. The only way she related to her peers was by scaring and irritating them. She was incredibly lonely, regretful, and felt stuck in her situation. Everyone saw her as the creepy girl, and the damage was irreversible.

So, she trudged on. She continued being rude, because she felt that there was no hope left, and she might as well take advantage of the situation. Spanish was getting worse, even though she was top of her class. Mrs. Forker hated how Clara was so weird, yet so smart. She bullied her target whenever she could. The rest of the class actually began to feel bad for their peer. Rumors began to spread about her situation with the teacher.

"I heard that Mrs Forker swore at her."

"Really? I heard that Clara cheated on her exam." 

The hushed gossip surrounded Clarabelle's life, until it was just noise in the background. At that point, it was springtime. The air was warming, leaving her emotions behind. Her parents recommend she see the school school counceler about it all. She refused, though. 

"I can handle it!" She insisted one day. "It's not that bad!" This was a lie.

"Alright, alright. I do not think it is appropriate how everyone is treating you like this, though." Her mom responded.

Clarabelle needed help from someone. However, she felt like if she started to expose her teacher, she would get more emotional and become an even larger mess. Recently, her anxiety had been really bad, too. Neither her mother nor her father knew what was going on with her in-school behavior. She hated lying to them, but was very embaressed about what she had been acting. 

Then, on a cloudy April morning, everything changed. Clara was sitting is Spanish, breezing through her daily starter. Suddenly, a short girl with two frizzy red braids stumbled into class. She looked like she was new, which was interesting. For a second, Clarabelle's heart sung. A second chance! She hasn't met me yet! She thought. But wait- she's probably already heard about me from the other kids. Whatever. 

Still, she glanced down hopefully at the empty seat next to her. The classroom had many open seats, so having this new student sit next to her was unlikely. She had practically fully diminished all of her own wishes when the girl sat down beside her.

"Hi! I'm Sandy." Sandy smiled at Clara. 

"Hello... I'm Clarabelle. Or Clara for short." The words felt like they were coming from someone else's mouth. Sandy seemed so innocent. It didn't seem like she was disgusted. Maybe, just maybe, this relationship could be normal. At least for a little while. "So... are you new here?" The frazzled girl asked.

"Yup. Just moved here from Colorado. And you? Probably not, right?" She laughed. She laughed. It had been so long since someone laughed around Clarabelle without it being at her.

"Yeah... what do you think of it so far?" 

"Dunno, everything's so new! What are your impressions--"

"CLARABELLE! Stop distracting our new friend. I'm so sorry, Sandy. Quiet!"

The girls did not talk to each other for the rest of class, but at some point, Clara passed a note to her new acquaintance.

Sit with me at lunch?

Yes            No

The wait for Sandy's response took what felt like forever, but when there was only five minutes left of class, she answered.

YES!

Clarabelle had never been so excited. At the end of class, they walked to the cafeteria together. Then, they chatted as they stood in line for food. When Clara bought a bag of chips to go with her meal, the girls shared. It was amazing! 

The only awkward moment was when they got to Clarabelle's table. It was not empty, but since she had no friends, she normally sat silently with the outcast boys as they chatted about video games. Sandy was chill about it, though.

From then on, the girls hung out all the time. Clara tried not to be clingy, and succeeded for the most part. It was hard to deal with her emotions when Sandy spent time with students other than her. She was fairly popular, so this was unavoidable. 

Otherwise, everything was amazing. The two were alike in so many ways! They liked all of the same tv shows, books, clothing, etc. In fact, they discussed those topics very often.

"Like, I love the new Madonna album!!!" Clarabelle commented one day during lunch through a bite of a peanut butter and jelly. 

"Totally! She is so talented." Sandy agreed.

"What's your favorite song off of it?" Clara asked as she watched jelly seep out of her sandwich. She waited a second for her friend to answer, but the eventual response made no sense.

"Hi Richelle! How's it going?" Clara, now confused, turned around to see Sandy chatting with Richelle, one of the most popular girls in the grade. In a moment, Clarabelle had gone from the best friend of an awesome, interesting kid to a lonely, weird girl who spent her time listening to other people's conversations.

. . .

Because Clara couldn't hang out with Sandy all of the time, when she was alone, her behavior still was not great. She did not make animal noises at her peers anymore, but she shot rude comments to others in the hallways. At this point, even though she did not notice it, she was a bully. 

The pair never discussed her poor behavior, and their relationship was better that way. It was fun to hang out, but though neither thought about it, they could not rely on each other.

 Towards the end of the year, things got very heated. They were in Spanish together that day, passing noted like usual. They were discussing what grades they thought they would get on the upcoming science test. The topic was very light-hearted, but suddenly, Sandy's face became solemn while writing. Clarabelle saw this in the corner of her eye, and got worried. Without thinking, she whispered to her friend.

"Sandy, are you okay?" That single hushed sentence was such a huge mistake. Mrs. Forker's demon teacher hearing picked up the sound right away. 

"Girls, do you have something you would like to say to the class?" The woman hissed. 

Sandy's pencil dropped. Clara gave her a look, like, Oh no, we're so dead! Then, she thought to herself, No, you're so dead! No matter what, she would always get the worst end of the punishment. Everyone saw Sandy as such a goody-two-shoes; even if they did the same thing.

"It seems you were writing to each other. Brainstorming, perhaps? Lets see what you thought up." Clara felt her face turn red, irritated by this ridiculous teacher. She thought she was so much better and smarter than everyone else. 

She looked at Sandy once more, and noticed that there was something more than just nervousness on her friend's face. She looked devastated! Maybe even... guilty. Clarabelle was getting worried at that point. What could be wrong? Sandy could not just be worried about getting in trouble; something was up.

Mrs. Forker slithered towards the girls' desks. Slowly, she picked up the newest note that Sandy had been writing. "May I read this to the class, children? Thank you." With a sharp intake of breath, the teacher began.

"Clarabelle, can I sit with Richelle, Stacy, and Jennifer today? We can talk about why later. Write back!" As the meaning of those words dawned on Clara, she felt herself turn even redder. She had just been ditched by her only friend in forever, in front of her entire class. Also, this happened because she was weird, rude, and creepy, and everyone knew it. Promptly, she grabbed her things, and ran out of the classroom with tears streaming down her face.

From almost anyone else's perspective, this scene looked like a clingy girl having a tantrum because she wasn't getting enough attention. It looked like Sandy was the only victim. However, really, they both were. 

Sandy had every right to explore multiple friendships. It was not fair of Clarabelle to consider herself, "ditched." Friendships do not need to involve constant interaction. Clarabelle was the sufferer of Mrs. Forker's awful behavior, and the gossiping students. 

Clara did some very wrong things, too. She never should have bullied her classmates, even if she was hurt by them and her friend. So, actually, her peers were also victims. 

Overall, the situation was to messy to repair. Clara's family was soon emailed by Mrs. Forker, and they found out what had happened. They visited the school to find out more, and the Spanish teacher elaborated, and explained all of and they decided that she should move to a private school. There were very disappointed in her. 

"Your behavior was unacceptable," Her father scolded. "Not only did you treat your classmates terribly, but you were dishonest with us about how you were spending your time at school. You will definitely need to be transferred to a stricter environment, and have a fresh start."

. . .

Sandy was shocked, but not really sad, to see that all trace of Clarabelle was gone at their school after that.

"Um, do you know if the furry goes to our school anymore?" She asked awkwardly to a boy named Max in her math class, a few days after the incident.

"The girl? She ate that world history teacher who's been gone since last week, and the school found out. She's in a correctional facility for psycopaths now." Max stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh, okay." Sandy almost felt relieved to hear that. Something about this emotion made her feel mean, but she let it go. There was too much going on in her life to think about some failed friendship. She practically forgot about the situation by the next week.

Room E101 is still here today, and it is still a Spanish classroom. Thankfully, the current teacher is much nicer than Mrs. Forker. Also, every Wednesday, after school, Newspaper Club is held there. The events of this story are long forgotten, but if you ever step into that room, know that lives were changed in that room. Not even just Clarabelle's, but those of thousands of other students, and lives will be changed in there for years to come.