They'll Never Hear a Word We Say: Part Seven

Mel stood in front of the mirror in her bathroom. The same mirror she remembered standing in front of four years before, on her first day of school. Looking at the same person that she was looking at now.

    She kept staring at herself, wondering how she had ever become what she was. She didn't like how she was bitter towards her family and her friends and her classmates, and just about everyone she knew. She wanted to be who she used to be. But she knew that if she turned around and left her life and friends behind, she would lose everything she had worked so hard for all those years.

    Her eyes started to swell up, and she stared harder in the mirror, telling herself not to cry, not to let herself break down about this once more, but she blinked and the tears came and she leaned against the counter, grimacing and holding herself in pain. She just sat there, letting the tears fall from her eyes, until she knew what she had to do.

    The next day at school, Mel tried to enjoy her last moments of being popular with Chad, Sam, Mikey, Garret, Krystal, and Kira. They were all around her, laughing and having a good time as usual. She saw other pets looking at them, glowering, as they stood in their own groups, wishing so badly to be one of the Seven.

    Believe me, you don't want to be one of us, Mel thought to herself, as she stared down at the ground miserably. She didn't want to leave her friends behind, but she knew that she had to in order to be a better person. And that was what mattered most. Wasn't it?

    The bell finally rang, so everyone went off to their classrooms. Mel, Garret, and Kira went to Hedbird's class, and Krystal, Sam, Mikey, and Chad ran off to Vasen's. Mel knew they weren't doing anything important in class today, and that it would be a good day to put her plan into action so it wouldn't get in the way with anything school-related.

    A red Aisha named Nellie sat next to Mel. This was whom Mel decided she would talk to. It was the easiest way to get kicked out of the Cool Kids Club, after all. All she had to do was start up a conversation and make sure that Garret and Kira were watching when she did it.

    "Hey," Mel whispered to Nellie. Ms. Hedbird was explaining the instructions for a writing assignment. Nellie fidgeted in her seat, shifted her eyes around nervously, and then looked at Mel.

    "W-Why are you talking to me?" she asked, giving Mel a puzzled look. She obviously knew that Cool Kids never, ever talked to people like her.

    Mel gave her a dirty look. "What do you mean? Is it a crime? I'm just trying to be friendly, here. A nice 'Hello' would be nice, you know what I mean?" she said tartly. Nellie rolled her eyes and raised her hand.

    "Yes, Nellie, what is it?" Ms. Hedbird asked, her long neck jerking towards the direction of the small red Aisha and Mel. She poked her glasses up her Lenny beak and squinted.

    "Mel is talking. Please, Ms. Hedbird, make her be quiet."

    Mel heard Kira gasp from across the room. She glanced over at the yellow Cybunny, who had her hand clapped over her mouth and was wearing a shocked expression on her face. Mel shot an innocent look at Kira, who only shook her head and gave her a worried and disappointed stare in return.

    When the bell for recess rang, Mel didn't see Kira anywhere. She must've already gone out to tell Sam what I did, she thought hopefully. The sooner she was out of the group, the better. She went to the closet and threw on her big coat and tied her scarf around her neck. She jumped when she suddenly felt an arm on her shoulder.

    "Hey." It was Garret. He frowned as he looked into Mel's eyes. "Listen, I saw that you were talking to What's-Her-Face a while ago, and I just want you to know, I'm not going to tell Sam or anything, because I really don't want you do leave the group, 'cause I, uh, I like you a lot, and well, Sam's one scary girl, I mean, she is like really powerful and I know that sounds weird but yeah, just thought I'd let you know," he blurted. He had been talking so fast, Mel didn't know half of what he'd just said.

    "Well, it doesn't matter now, Kira's already gone to tell her," Mel replied, trying her best to sound miserable. She looked up at Garret then, and saw that he looked hurt.

    "Why'd you do it, anyway? You knew real well that it's a rule never to talk to anyone other than one of us."

    Mel didn't answer. She walked right past Garret, tightening her scarf around her neck, and never looked back at the Eyrie.

The New Life

    What happened after Sam found out that Mel had been talking to Nellie was predictable. Naturally, Mel was kicked out of the group, and was left to find her own friends. The only problem was, no one wanted to be her friend. She tried over and over again to get acquainted with her fellow classmates, but no one was interested in getting to know her.

    "Why does everyone hate me?" Mel asked herself one day at recess. She was sitting on a swing, slowly swaying back and forth. No one else was around. "I'm a loner now. This really stinks. I get myself thrown out of my own group on purpose, and then I can't make any friends. I'm supposed to be the most popular girl in school! Why aren't people crowding around me, asking me to come over to their house or build a snowman with them or sit under a tree and name it after ourselves?!"

    The yellow Usul started to cry now. She had been crying every single day since she was kicked out of the club, and had realized that she couldn't make any friends. Crying at school was certainly not a strange thing to her now. It felt normal. Even though she was afraid of what everyone else had thought of her before, now she really didn't care. Let them see me cry, she thought, not bothering to dry her eyes. I don't care.

    "Don't cry," came a voice from behind her. Garret sat down on the swing next to hers.

    "What do you want?" Mel snapped, and turned her head away from him to wipe the tears off of her face. "Go away before Sam sees you talking to me, or you'll be a loser as well."

    "They're all inside this recess. Sam said that it was too cold, so she said she'd stay inside today. Everyone else did, but not me. Don't worry, no one's comin'."

    "I see. Well, why are you talking to me?"

    "I just... wanted to see how you were doing, that's all. It's been really lonely these past few months without you, Mel. Really has. Everyone seems different. And I don't think it's a good thing. Just isn't the same anymore," he admitted. Mel looked up at him and raised one of her eyebrows.

    "So? I'm not coming back anytime soon. So just go away and never talk to me again. I hate you, I hate all of you! And tell Kira that I hate her the most! She ruined my life!" Mel screamed, kicking snow at Garret. He sighed, stood up from the swing, and looked at Mel again with saddened eyes, which seemed to be as black as midnight. Mel should have felt ashamed for what she had just said about her old friends. After all, it was her plan in the first place. But she was so caught up in just thinking about herself she didn't care about any of them.

    "Fine. You're just so selfish. Never really wanted to be friends with someone as lousy as you, anyway. Thought you were different, Mel. Bye," he murmured, and then walked off.

    Mel listened to the sound of his big Eyrie claws crunching the snow beneath them as he walked away from her. The sound became softer and softer and then she didn't hear anything. When she was sure she was alone, the Usul let herself cry again, for she had just realized her problem.

    "What have I done?" she whispered to herself as she kicked her dangling feet back and forth in the snow. "I left my friends to become a better person... and now I can't make any new friends because I'm still the one I used to be..."

    A single tear fell from her eye and splattered in the snow.

    "And I always will be."

    She stood up from the swing, making clumps of snow fall to the ground as she did so. The little yellow Usul then made her way across the field, where no one was playing. She was glad that all of the other kids were under the covered area of the playground that day, since the snowfall was so heavy.

    Mel headed over to the tree that held so many memories dear to her heart, the tree she wanted to forget about, but she made herself sit under it anyway. The trunk of the tree was frozen. She grabbed a thick stick off of the ground and started to carve out a circle out of the ice. She then removed it very carefully; to reveal the words she and Sam had carved in the very tree two years before.

    "Samel Forever," Mel read, frowning. She then placed the chunk of ice back where it belonged, like a big puzzle piece. Like the last puzzle piece needed in order to finish the picture.

To be continued...