A Friendly Reminder

Ring!

"Alright class, that's it for today. Enjoy your lunch."

All the students attending Deerhurst Academy got out of their seats and headed for the cafeteria. I was the only one who stayed back.

My name is Jennifer Kaiden. I am a senior at Deerhurst Academy, and I hate my life.

"Jennifer, will you be heading out for lunch?" My teacher, Mrs. Ortega asked me.

I grabbed my stuff and got up. Before leaving through the door, I turned and said, "No."

I walked towards the cafeteria. Normally, I don't eat there. In all honesty, I hate the cafeteria more than I hate Math class, which is saying something. But in order to leave school and eat alone like I always do, I have to leave through the cafeteria.

As soon as I stepped into the cafeteria, everyone's gaze shifted towards me and the students quieted down.

I may or may not have forgotten to mention that I was the class freak. Scratch that. I was the school freak. Some kids started a rumor that I was a witch and now, everyone is scared of me. I have zero friends. Even some of the teachers flinch when I walk into their class.

With my head down, I walked towards the exit where I sit outside by myself. As I made my way there, I could feel all the eyes of the students looking at me, cautiously watching me, as of to make sure that I wouldn't curse them while they weren't looking.

Finally, I made it outside. I took a deep breath and my moved my long, wavy auburn hair from my face. Looking around, I spotted an empty bench to my right.

Just as I was about to sit down, a kid came out of the cafeteria exit with a tomato in his hand.

"Take that, you witch! Why don't you just leave this school already? Huh? Nobody is ever going to like you here!" Before he threw the tomato, a couple more kids, whom I assumed were his friends, came out to watch that kid throw a tomato at me.

I watched as the tomato was launched from his hand and landed a foot away from me.

"Dude, you've gotta fix our aim. That was the only tomato I could get from the cafeteria," I heard one of the kids mumble.

This is the kind of stuff that I was used to here. My father refused to remove me from this school. He said that I have to learn to deal with this kind of stuff. Of course, he doesn't really know what's going on here. It's not like anyone would believe me anyway. I decided to ignore them, but it still hurt. Lunchtime was very limited. I sat down. My eyes teared up, but I wouldn't let them see me cry so I fixed my gaze on my shoes and I began to eat my lunch.

The kid who threw a tomato at me pushed his blonde hair back and squinted. His facial expression went from disgusted by me, to annoyed by me. There may have been a bit of fear in the middle.

"You're just going to sit there like the coward you are! I thought maybe, just maybe, you'd be less of a coward than you're father! Maybe that's why you're mom left you guys. I don't bla-"

He stopped talking. I looked up to see why.

He was shooing a black cat away. "Go away! Don't make me hurt you! You set this up, didn't you?"

I shook my head. How would I know about his phobia of cats?

The cat scratched his leg.

"Ow! What was that for!" He turned to his friends. "Let's go back inside and leave these creeps alone."

I looked at my lunch and started eating in silence. Halfway through my grilled cheese sandwich, the black cat sat next to me on the bench. It was the same one that made those bullies go away. it had a white nose and some of its whiskers were cut short. It looked like it hadn't eaten in days. I noticed a scar on its left back-leg. It got comfortable and sat down next to me.

"You want a piece?" I put a piece of my sandwich on the bench and the cat ate it. I finished my lunch.

"You don't think I'm a witch, do you?" I asked the cat.

It purred and sat on my lap. I stroked its soft, black, silky fur. "You're lucky nobody treats you the way I get treated. If they do that to you, I'm sorry."

The bell rang and the cat and I jumped.

"Looks like I have to get going. It was nice talking to you." I ran to my next class, leaving the cat on its own.

Finally, the day was done. Since my house isn't too far from school, I usually walk home. This way, I don't have to deal with all of the kids on the bus.

I opened the brown door of my house and walked in. The smell of fresh-baked brownies lingering in the air.

"Hey, honey! How was school today!" My Dad's voice called from the kitchen.

"Um... Great," I lied.

"Well, that's good. I made your favorite dessert today. Brownies!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

You don't sound too excited, what's going on?" He walked up to me. Flour and chocolate fudge covered his apron.

"I told you. It was great," I said with gritted teeth.

He seemed to catch my warning and dropped the subject. "Well, dinner will be ready in an hour."

I went up the stairs and into my room. I opened the window so I could breathe and stared out the window for a while. I must have fallen asleep at the window sill because I woke there when a sudden clashing of metal woke me up.

I went downstairs to check if maybe it was my Dad cooking, but he was fast asleep on the couch. I checked the clock in the kitchen. It's been two hours and I still didn't eat.

"Whatever," I said as a went back up to my window sill.

Clang!

"Jeez, what is it now?" I looked out the window. A small dark figure came onto the street. I squinted at it. It looked like a cat. But what is it doing here? I watched as a couple of stray dogs rounded up the cat. I counted six dogs in total. From my open window, I could hear hissing and barking. The dogs started closing in.

I got up and went outside to help the cat.

"Leave the cat alone!" The dogs looked at me and stopped barking. They backed away. The bigger one barked and they all retreated. It felt really good to defend someone.

I kneeled down to pet the cat and noticed the scar on its leg. It was the same cat from lunch!

"Thanks for helping me out today."

Meow!

I smiled. I don't think I can remember the last time I did that. A couple years? It wasn't since my Mom left my Dad and I. I got up and started heading back inside when I turned and saw that the cat was following me.

"Ok, wait right here. My Dad will probably freak if he finds a cat in the house."

I went inside and opened the fridge. There were always leftovers. I grabbed them and put them in a bowl from one of the cupboards.

As I started to head out, I realized that the cat left.

"Oh," I said disappointedly. I put the leftovers on the table and went upstairs. I had a long day today.

After getting ready for bed, I sat down on the soft white covers of my bed and stared out the window. Why did the cat leave? Why would those dogs try and harm one cat? How much trouble can one cat cause?

A sudden wave of exhaustion passed over me and I began to drift off into my sleep when a loud scream woke me up.

"JENNIFER! WHAT THE- GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Seriously, I thought.

I went downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

"What?" my heart skipped a beat because I felt something rub against my feet. I looked down only to find the cat from today. How did it get in?

"How did that she-devil get into the house!"

"She-devil? It's a girl? How do you know?"

I studied cats when I was in high school because I wanted to get over my fear of them, but, as you can see, that didn't work out very well."

"It's just a cat. It helped me out today so I helped it out. I didn't know it would come into the house."

"So you're keeping a stray cat in our house?"

"It wasn't on purpose!"

"Whatever. Do whatever you want. Dinner is on the stove if you're hungry."

"Thanks."

I watched as he climbed up the stairs and slammed the door of his bedroom.

The cat rubbed against my feet, purring.

"So you didn't leave, you just came into my house and almost gave my dad a heart attack. I'm tired so I'm going to go upstairs and sleep. Want to come?"

It went up the stairs.

"I'll take that as a yes."

I got in bed and the cat sat down beside me.

"So you're a girl huh? What if I name you... Luna?"

It purred so I assumed that it liked the name.

"Luna it is. Thanks for helping me today. Usually, I just let them bully me, but you helped me. It made me realize that I should stand up for myself. I didn't do anything to those bullies. They started the fight," I said as I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

I woke up for school and got ready. It was Friday which meant that next, came the weekend.

I got to school at 8:15 AM. Usually, I go super early to avoid the other students, but today, I'm not going to let them get to me.

I walked into the school and all eyes shifted towards me. I could hear whispering.

"Isn't that the witch of the school?"

"Why is she here?"

I looked at the girls whispering about me. "I'm here because I attend this school. And no, I'm not a which. Don't you think that if I had a witch's powers I would've used them on you bullies by now?"

The girls stared at me with their mouths hanging open. "Whatever," they said simultaneously before walking away.

I smiled to myself. I did it. I actually stood up for myself. And it felt good, too.

I silently thanked Luna for helping me remember that I should stand up for myself and walked down the hallway with pride.

As the day passed, so did my depression. I got more and more confident with myself.

Now it was lunchtime and I was heading towards the cafeteria. Today, I won't sit outside by myself. I scanned the cafeteria for an empty table and came across one with one shy looking girl sitting by herself. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a messy bun and she staring at her lunch. I began walking towards her until a group of kids came up from behind her dumped water on her head.

The boys started laughing and soon, everyone in the cafeteria was laughing.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" I yelled as I walked up to them.

"And why should I listen to you, witch?" One of the boys called back.

"Because... if you don't, I'll use my witch powers on you. I am a witch, after all, right?" I looked around the room to see if anyone had any objections as to what I was saying. Of course, none.

"You're bluffing," another kid said.

"Am I?" From the corner of my eye, I saw Luna walk up to the kid from behind. Everyone backed away from it. I smiled to myself.

It rubbed against one of the bully's feet and he freaked out and started screaming. This threw the rest of his group into a panic. Soon they were all running out of the cafeteria.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"

I chuckled to myself and then knelt down to pet Luna. "Good girl." She purred in response.

I turned to the girl that was bullied.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"T-thank you, m-miss. What you d-did is greatly appreciated."

I sat down next to her and started eating my lunch. "What's your name?"

She looked up from her food. "My name... My name is Emily. Emily smith. What about you?" She said, her voice as soft as a butterfly.

"My name is Jennifer Kaiden, let's be friends."

"I would like that," she replied.

"Likewise."

Emily and I grew closer over the rest of the year and Luna became a part of our friend group. The rest of the year passed by smoothly. No bullying. No dumping water on somebody's head. We graduated from Deerhurst academy and went to the same university. I studied Law because I was able to stand up for people in court, while Emily studied Business.

Every day, before I go to bed, I remember Luna. I remember how she was the one who sparked the happiness in my life. It was her that gave me the strength to stand up for myself. And it was her who I thank every single day. Without Luna, I would have been lost. But because we found each other, we helped each other improve, and to that, I owe her my happiness.

THE END