• heart Troublesome Friendship heart

    Marlene raced down on her bike to Salara High School Academy, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. She was new here, and wanted to see the school before she officially started it. She really liked the city compared to her home country. It was different from the country; there were so many cars, and a lot more people. As she got closer to the school, she noticed that there wasn’t much nature surrounding it like her the one in her home town. There were trees, flowers and benches on the sides of the side walk that made it look like a pathway to the school. As she approached the gate entrance to the school, she noticed a cute looking boy. He had dark brown hair, fairly tall, and looked around 15 years old, just like her. “Hey you!” she screamed to the boy, “Move out of the way!” Crash, she slammed into the gate, falling off her bike. “Ouch,” she said rubbing her ankle.
    “Are you okay?” asked the boy, crouching over her.
    “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said getting up. As she stood on her feet, she felt a throbbing pain at her ankle. She stumbled almost falling, but the boy caught her.
    “Oh, you sprained your ankle,” the boy said picking her up. “Hmm, you might as well rest right now,” He laid her on a nearby bench.
    “Thanks, my name is Marlene Frost, what’s yours?” she asked still confused of what just happened.
    “I’m Mark Fox, and I go to this school right here” he said pointing to Salara High school. “Why are you here? This school is unknown to people unless they are students and I never saw you here before.”
    “Actually, I’m going to be attending to this school starting tomorrow”
    “In the middle of November?”
    “Yeah, oh well I better get back to my apartment, Snowflake must be worried sick about me”
    “And who is Snowflake?”
    “My cat,” she said getting up, and staggered to her bike. She started Wheeling her bike towards the direction of her apartment, wobbling every step of the way.
    “Do you need any help?”
    “No it’s okay, thanks anyway. I hope I see you tomorrow”
    “Yeah, me too” he said sarcastically. He really wished she went far far away.
    “Did you say something?”
    “Nope, bye”
    “Bye” she waved and walked away. Mark Fox, hmm, what a nice person she thought.
    The next day when Marlene woke up, she found herself in her clothes for the day before. What happened she thought, oh yeah I crumbled into my bed last night. She sat up and yawned, her hair was a mess. “Meow” said Snowflake jumping onto the bed and she licked Marlene’s face.
    “Snowflake, that tickles” she said laughing. She got out of bed and walked to the dresser. Fixing her hair, she took out the uniform she received at her home town. She looked at her alarm clock, “Oh no I’m going to be late, and it’s my first day too. She ran to the school and met a man who appeared to be her teacher at the front gate.
    “Hello my name is Mr. Gatton” the teacher said, “follow me.” She followed him into the school, and noticed the students staring at her in a strange way. When she entered the classroom, she heard so much chatter. “Settle down, we have a new student joining us today” said Mr. Gatton. Everyone was staring at her in that strange way like before and she started to feel strange like if you were about the sing in front of thousands of people.
    “Hello, my name is Marlene Frost, and I will be joining your class.” She said in a small timed voice, almost a whisper.
    “Please take a seat at that desk Marlene” said Mr. Gatton pointing to an empty desk near the window at the back of the classroom. Marlene walked to the desk with all eyes staring at her.
    “Mr. Gatton please come to the office, I repeat Mr. Gatton come to the office” they heard the speakers say.
    “Well I will be back, please wait a moment,” said Mr. Gatton “What is it this time” he muttered. Marlene looked around the class, they looked pretty rich, fancy, neat, clean and she didn’t fit there. Then she noticed Mark. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. She looked around and saw everyone staring at her like she did something wrong.
    He turned around and she said, “Hi Mark, thanks for helping me last night, I’m happy we are in the same class” with a big grin on her face.
    “How dare she talk to the prince that way” whispered a girl named Ruby to her friend.
    “I know, she can’t act like she’s friends with him right?” answered the friend named Emily
    “Who are you?” asked Mark with a puzzled look on his face. Marlene felt a pain in her stomach like she lost something really important.
    “Phew for a second I thought she actually knew the Prince” said a girl named Laura in a low voice
    “No one is friends with the prince” whisper a boy named Jason
    “What a fake, Miss Marlene thinks she’s the prince’s friend” said a girl named Rose
    “I know, like seriously, who does she think she is?” a girl named Lisa said looking frustrated. What do they mean by Prince? How am I a fake? Mark has no friends? Marlene thought.
    “Um, Mark, don’t you remember I bumped into you yesterday?” asked Marlene still confused about everything.
    “Look I don’t know you, get it? I don’t know what you are trying to do, but stop acting like I’m your friend! Do you under-”said Mark but he was cut off.
    “Marlene, Mark doesn’t know you and we all know you don’t know him so stop acting like you do. Everyone knows that the prince doesn’t have friends so don’t assume you are one!” said Rose
    “Um okay but- WAIT what do you mean he doesn’t have friends?” asked Marlene more confused than ever.
    “He’s the prince, so he doesn’t need friends; they are no need for him”
    “Well you can at least call him by him name, Mark not this Prince person.”
    “Everyone calls him Prince! That is his name, he doesn’t mind. He is rich, and beautiful, and we all adore him!”
    “Yeah but-”she was interrupted by the teacher.
    “All right class, please make Marlene feel welcome here. I assume you already did, so let’s begin class. Everyone go back to your seats.” said Mr. Gatton.
    Marlene walked home tired and shaken. She was confused, Mark said he needs no friends she thought. I told him that I’m determined to be his friend but I don’t know if that’s possible. I know he’s a kind person, I’m positive! I saw it myself, yet the person I saw today can’t be the same as the boy I met yesterday. The wind blew through her hair and she shivered. It sure is cold and my first day is the worst. I thought I would make friends, I thought it was going to be different. Maybe I should go back to my grandma’s place. I miss my friends and I don’t belong here in Salara Academy. But I think I will stay, for a bit and then if things don’t turn out well I’ll leave. She collapsed into her bed when she got home.
    Things were the same for the next couple of days. The class laughed at her and she made no progress at all. One day Marlene passed a flower shop on the way to school. She loved nature, especially flowers and the flowers looked so pretty. She almost walked past when she noticed a bouquet that was pink and blue so she decided to give Mark that flower bouquet. When she got to school she handed him the flowers. She expected him to accept the flowers, especially since there were lots of classmates already, but he took the flowers and threw then on the floor and then crushed them with his shoe. He told her to not do such a stupid thing again, and yet she decided she would try and try until he accepted her friendship. She soon learned that flowers weren’t allowed inside the school. What a strange rule she thought. I never heard flowers weren’t allowed in a school. They said artificial flowers are okay though. I haven’t seen any flower in school though. I guess I’m going to have to change that rule since flowers are life. A week later she found out that the class was going to give ideas for electives. She decided to put her idea into action.
    “Mr. Gatton, I have an idea for an elective,” said Marlene. “Why don’t we have a gardening club?”
    “Well that’s fine, but you know flowers aren’t allowed, so how is this going to be a gardening club if you aren’t allowed to plant flowers?” Mr. Gatton asked
    “We can plant artificial flowers then, I mean it still is flowers and it will make the school prettier.”
    “That’s a good idea” he turned to the class, “Anyone wants to join Marlene’s gardening club?” No one raised their hand.
    Marlene turned to Mark and said “Want to join Mark?”
    “Are you crazy?” Mark asked, “I’m not wasting my time on such stupid things!”
    “Trying to be your friend isn’t stupid” she mumbled under her breath
    “Hmm, did you say something?” he asked curiously
    “No nothing” she said backing away. She felt frightened all of a sudden. Of who? she thought. Of him, of Mark .But why? He should be no threat to me and yet he shows so much power.
    “I will join the gardening club, it sounds pretty interesting” said Rose
    “Um okay, sure” Marlene stuttered. If I remember correctly, she was the mean girl who called me a fake when I saw Mark on the first day of school she thought.
    When the day was over Marlene packed her bag and walked home. What terrible day she thought. First Mark rejects the gardening club, and then I started feeling threaten by Mark, after that Rose who acted like she hated me decides to join the club and becomes my friend. Can it get any worse? Marlene tripped on a rock and SPLASH she fell into the muddy puddle. Oh great, luck really isn’t on my side. She sighed and ran back to her little apartment. She took a shower, changed into her pajamas and went to bed.
    A couple days later December arrived. Marlene felt guilty, because the day before they were talking and she felt it was her fault Rose was being made fun of. She had told Rose that they shouldn’t be friends but Rose said it was fine. The next day Rose was looking for Marlene and found her planting flowers.
    “What are you doing?” She asked
    “Planting flowers, can’t you see?” Marlene answered
    “You going to get in trouble you know, maybe even suspended”
    “Yea I know, but I’m going to take that risk”
    “I would help you but, I don’t want to get suspended. Anyway why are you planting in December?”
    “Well these flowers should blossom around February which means they will be ready for Valentine’s Day.”
    “Oh I see, I’m really sorry Marlene, I need to go, bye” Rose said leaving.

    * * *

    Mark was walking down the hallway when he noticed something interesting outside the window. Oh it’s Marlene, she must be working on her stupid gardening club he thought. He looked more closely and he noticed her digging up something. What the heck is she doing? All of a sudden he noticed that she was planting some plants. “What is she thinking? Is she insane? She’s going to be suspended!” he said with a very shocked voice.
    “Yeah I know, I warned her too, but she’s a stubborn girl who won’t listen once she has an idea” Rose said appearing out of nowhere.
    “Oh, I see, but aren’t you Marlene’s best friend?”
    “Who said I wasn’t?” Rose said turning away and disappearing into the dark hallway of the school.
    “What a weird girl” Mark mumbled to himself
    Soon after, Christmas was around the corner. Everyone was handing out presents and Mark got so many. He even accepted Marlene’s present. January passed by in a fly and Valentine’s Day was coming up. All the girls were making chocolate to hand out. Marlene’s gardening club was put off till March and the class still picked on her. The flowers never even blossomed. Everything was the same, nothing changed until one day Marlene didn’t appear at school. She was sick with a fever and she decided to stay home. It started raining and Marlene remembered that she had watered her garden the day before. Luckily the teachers never found out about the garden, well not yet. Marlene rushed to her garden after school still carrying her fever with her. Oh god she thought. My poor flowers will die from too much water. She rushed into a shop and bought a black plastic bag. When she got to her garden, she threw the bag over the flowers. The bag covered and protected them from the pouring rain. She started to feel dizzy and light headed. Everything became a blur and then she collapsed into darkness and she felt someone catching her.
    When she woke up, she saw Mark staring at her. “Oh, um, hi Mark” she said her cheeks turning bright red.
    “Are you okay?” Mark asked looking very concerned. His hands reached for her forehead and he felt a burning hotness from it. “You have a fever, quite a high one; you should be resting at home, not caring about stupid flowers.”
    “Yeah, um, I guess flowers are really important to me” she said trying to giggle but not succeeding.
    “Look, I’m going to bring you home so can you tell me where you live?”
    “Sure,” she paused and then added” See you are really nice, I knew I was right”
    “Shut up” he said and carried her in the direction of home.

    * * *

    Rose walked down the hallway and noticed Marlene in the garden. She didn’t really care about that girl, and she almost passed by the window, but she noticed Mark walking towards Marlene. Rose rushed down stairs to see what would happen. When she got down stairs she saw Mark carrying Marlene. OMG she thought, why the hell is Mark carrying Marlene. I hate that girl! She’s going to take him away from me. Mark started walking away with Marlene and he walked out of the school. A powerful rage wave clouded Rose and she started to hate Marlene more than ever. She ran to the garden and started ripping the flowers Marlene planted. I love Mark, how dare she take him away from me! I hate her so much. She’s going to suffer, just like me. I’m going to make her wish she never came here. She will regret it!
    The next day, Rose set her plan into action. She called her best friends Lisa and Laura and the game started. Gossip started spreading, and things got out of hand. Rose let the gossip go on for about a week and then she began her plan. She walked up to Marlene at the end of class one day, there were still a lot of people.
    “Marlene is this true? People told me that you called me a mean person and that you were using me for your gardening club!” Rose asked
    “Huh? I didn’t say that, I have no clue what you are talking about” Marlene said very confused
    “Oh, but I heard that you called Rose the girl who was a fake” said Laura who was behind Rose with Lisa
    “I heard that you hated her because she wouldn’t help you when you were planting real flowers” said Lisa
    “Yeah, I heard that too” said a class mate and soon lots of people crowded around to hear the commotion or add onto it.
    “You see, everyone agrees with me. I don’t understand” Rose said
    “No it must be a misunderstanding “Marlene said, Rose will believe me she thought.
    “Marlene, you’re the worst!” Rose said and then leaning forward, “do you want to know something? I hated you from the beginning.” Her scary angry eyes glared at Marlene. She walked away down the hallway all of the classmates flowing her.
    “You hated her too?” one of the classmates asked.
    “Of course” Rose said and Marlene was left alone in the classroom with Mark who was just reading a book, acting like he didn’t care about anything that just happened. Walking home Marlene passed her garden and found it all tered up, she felt lost. Her heart was filled with so many emotions, anger, revenge, hate, betrayal, loneliness, and all of them made her feel weaker.
    Still she stayed at Salara Academy and one day the classmates start to mess up her notebooks and steal her homework. Mark watched all of these things happening still saying nothing and the teacher never found out. A couple of days later, Mr. Gatton told her that she’s going to fail her classes and get kicked out of Salara high school because she kept on missing homework’s. When her classmates heard she was going to get kicked out of school, they kept stealing her homework and ripping it up. Rose was very happy, this is what she deserves for messing with me she thought. Mark was getting impatient. One day when Marlene was getting picked on and she thought it was over for her Mark stood up for her. “Everyone, seriously stop this! Is this the way teenagers act? I really think you should stop picking on Marlene” Mark yelled to the class. Then he turned to Rose, “And you” he said pointing to her “stop your laughing, you’re the one who started this and you’re the one who ruined Marlene’s flowers, am I right?”
    “I, um…” Rose stuttered clearly annoyed “Well um yeah I did” Rose was pissed at Marlene and then she started hearing things from her classmates
    “I can’t believe Rose would do that” whispered a girl named Maya to her friend
    “I know, I mean I thought she was the best, I always looked up to her” Her friend whisper back. People started t walk away. I can’t believe this girl. Marlene Frost is the worst ever. It’s not Mark’s fault, it’s not! Marlene is the one who caused all of this! It has to be her Rose thought. She turned away and walked home.
    After that, Mark started hanging out with Marlene and he started to open up to her. They became best of friends that are inseparable. School was finally peaceful and Marlene finally found the friend she was longing for. Rose was consumed with hatred but she didn’t dare make Mark angry with her. She knew she lost and she ended up accepting it. One day Marlene got a phone call from her grandfather telling her that her grandma is sick. She rushed to Mark to tell him the big news.
    “So what’s up?” Mark asked
    “My grandma is sick” Marlene answered
    “Um, Marlene, may I ask you a question?”
    “Yeah, sure, what is it?”
    “Well, where are your parents?”
    “My parents died when I was five years old.” Mark was shocked, he never heard this before. “They were in a car accident and well they didn’t make it. Lots of relatives invited me to stay with them but I decided to stay with my grandparents on my mother’s side.”
    “Oh I’m so very sorry”
    “It’s okay, I lived with my grandparents for a long time and so I’m going to visit them on Sunday. I already got the plane ticket.”
    “I see, but you’re coming back after right?”
    “Actually I’m going to stay. I don’t want to give my grandparents anymore trouble and well, staying far away is really troublesome.
    “Oh I see.” Mark said, very sad
    “Marlene will be going back to her home country on Sunday” Mr. Gatton said on Friday.
    “WHAT!!!!!” everyone yelled. Marlene stood up.
    “It’s true, I will be leaving Salara high school” Marlene said
    “Why?” Rose asked, she was happy that Marlene left but she was curious
    “Sorry that’s confidential” Marlene said
    When Sunday came, Mark went to greet her off. He was sad and upset but he tried not to show it as they separated. When Marlene arrived back at he grandparents house she found a letter from Mark. It read:

    Dear Marlene,
    I believe that we will see each other again. Till then stay strong and don’t forget, I’m your friend and we will always be together. Good luck, bye Marlene
    From your best friend Mark

    There was no return address which meant that was it. Tears swelled in Marlene’s eyes as she reread the letter and finally she realized that Mark was more than a friend. She had fallen in love with Mark Fox.