The Sidelines

Ellen sat in front of her window, watching the rain fall. Its consistency, rhythm, cleansing scent and feel calmed her, centered her...made her feel as if she was not alone.

It had been a long day. Her alarm had not gone off until 9:30, making her late for school. When she finally got there, she realized that, in her rush, she'd left her books at home, along with her student identification card.
She'd completely missed her first period class, Pre-Algebra (not that she minded), and had to make up the work during her free study period, which she usually used to write the novel she was working on (and that she minded.). By the time she tumbled into her third period class, Biology, she had been squished by AV Jocks, tripped by the cheerleaders, reprimanded by her gym teacher for running in the halls, given a citation by the hall monitor for jogging, and detention for being in the halls at all after the late bell by the teacher whose class she had just accidentally barged into.
With all eyes on the red-faced, out of breath wreck who ripped open the door, dropped her purse and was now scrambling to collect its contents, no-one saw the mysterious, shrouded figure at the window, who watched intently as Ellen stood up, smoothed her hair, and walked, with her head down, to the empty seat in the front of the class beside Everett, the local dweeb.

"Thank you, Miss Bosley, for deigning to bless us with your presence this fine afternoon." the teacher, Mr. Reede called. "Open your book page 276, and follow along with the class please."
"Um, I...I left my book at home, sir." Ellen stammered sheepishly, looking down at her knees.
"Well, then look on with Everett, Ellen. I won't allow to waste everyone elses time." Mr. Reede stated firmly, turning back to the board, just as the bell rang.
"I want every one to read chapters 6 through 8 tonight, and write a 3 page essay about cell form and function. We would have read those chapters in class today, but we were interrupted by Miss Bosley's attempt at a dramatic entrance."
There was a collective groan from the class, and a boy in the back shouted, "Nice going, Retard."
Ellen stood up, and, following the group of students out of the classroom, tripped over a bag still sitting on the floor. She landed on the floor with a thud, her bag sliding across the floor.
"Oh, my god! I am so sorry, I didn't see your bag--" Ellen blurted, pushing herself up off the floor.
"Watch where your going, bigfoot! That's a brand new Prada purse!" The girl sitting at the desk beside the bag snapped angrily, pausing in her conversation with her friends.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I didn't see it. I-- I'll be more c--careful next time--"
"S--sorry, I, I, I..." The girl mimicked, laughing with her friends.
Ellen picked up her bag and hurried out into the hall, her cheeks burning as tears rolled down her face, their laughter still ringing in her ears.

And that wasn't even the worst part of her day! She remembered vividly the look of disgust on her principals face after she'd vomited on his shoes after Gym class. They had been running laps around the gym, and going without lunch had made her nauseous. After her 12th lap, she'd asked her teacher if she could sit down for a little while, and, of course, he had said no. In fact, his actual words were, "Quitters never win, Bosley! Get those knees up! Go, go, go! You have 8 laps to go!"
Her head throbbed as she remembered the laughter from her surrounding classmates... and her gym teacher...and the principals secretary had retched! Oh, she was so humiliated!

But that was all over now. The rain always made her feel better, so all she had to do was look out the window, watch it fall, and wait for the feeling of peace to come to her. Ellen curled up on her window seat and pulled her mothers afghan over her. After a little while, her black cat, Aelphaba, climbed up and sat on her lap, her green eyes glowing in the dim light, almost hypnotic. Ellen rested her head on the window and stared into the cat's eyes. She began to feel very sleepy, looking at a drowsy cat, especially when Aelphaba began to blink in the way that cats do, just before they fall into a deep, deep, sleep.......

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