Childhood was easy for Selena.
She had some aquaintences, but her best friend was Jennifer, or Jen as she called her. To Selena, she was like a sister. Together they developed an intricate fantasy world they played out themselves or through their dolls. They created characters, towns, and lore. Any time they could, there was sleep overs at one another's houses. Together they discovered and honed their skills. Jen the artist, Selena, the writer. They had a goal that one day Selena would write books. Jen would design the covers and pictures to go be interspersed throughout the books.
Then puberty hit.
Suddenly, Jen wasn't interested in Selena at all. The girl was confused at first. She persisted in trying to hang out with her, but Jen kept blowing her off. Selena would some times meet in their usual meeting place for hours, and Jen never came. She called Jen again, and finally she told her to stop calling her. She doesn't want to see her anymore. As Selena would find out, Jen had new friends. Being with them showed her what "normal" friends are like. Nothing about Selena was right. She talked too formally. She walked weird. She was into more obscure things. She didn't like to text. She didn't know how to interact with anyone. Her face was always blank. Her voice too monotone. Selena wasn't merely lame, she was creepy. That's the conclusion she came to, and she couldn't figure out a way to fix that. It was like with every passing week, she found some new way in which she was different, and none of them in a flattering way.
At fourteen years of age, Selena's one of the shortest girls in her school. Her dark framed glasses matched her shoulder length dark hair. She always looked like a scholar, usually with some buttoned up blouse and skirt, with shin high socks and flat heeled shoes. Looking at her, it wasn't a surprise she was a very good student. and at the least, she didn't really draw the ire of other students, until one day. Walking home from school, she had spotted Michelle and her two friends smoking behind the school, where she usually passed on her way home. She went right by them. She didn't think they had even noticed her. They must've for what happened next to have occured. They were reported. Certainly not by Selena, who wasn't in the habit of causing a stir.
As she headed home, her backpack was yanked right off her back. Simutaneously, she heard a ripping sound. Michelle got in front of her and slapped a strip of black electrical tape across her mouth.
"MMM!" she cried out.
Michelle's friends held her arms while the girl herself slapped on a few more strips of tape.
"Report me now, mouthy bitch." Michelle said as the trio forced the whimpering girl to walk further along.
The school was very close to a forested area. The further they went, the more Selena tried to plead, but she was told to shut up. She was too scared to try to struggle, and given what a scrawny runt she was, she wouldn't have likely succeeded anyway.
She was pushed against the tree, as Michelle's friends wound tape around her and the tree.
"Your bag's back there. Someone will see it and come find you, won't they?" Michelle asked.
Selena shook her head. "NMMM!"
"No? You don't have any friends? Maybe if you weren't a tattle tale, they'd like you better."
"Nmmm, mmm, mmmm!" she pleaded.
Michelle patted the tape bindings, going from Selena's shoulder to her waist. "I heard it's supposed to get cold tonight. I hope the tape keeps you nice and warm, dear."
Selena whimpered, Michelle pinching her cheek.
"Buh bye. Try not to tell on us, okay?"
"MMMM! NMMM, MMMMPH!"
The trio laughed themselves silly and walked into the distance. Selena spent the next several moments yelling out and trying to rip herself from the tree. The tape held her like death. She grunted and writhed, throwing herself from side to side, but scarcely did she budge an inch either way. Lifting one leg up and pushing off with it didn't help much. The tape stuck well on her mouth, so her attempt to work if off by moving her cheeks about was also a failure.
Her phone was in her backpack, so she couldn't try texting her parents. Slumping in defeat, every now and then she would try to call out. Selena is so far off any typical path, it wasn't likely a student could just walk by and find her.
Time ticked away with only brief intervals of her attempting to escape.
Selena's eyes watered up. No, this wasn't because she was scared. It was another one of her "moods". For the past few years she would fall into fits of self loathing, where she would dispragae and hit herself before crying. She couldn't move or speak, so the tears came out on their own. At least she couldn't tear up her latest writing as she often did. She hated that she only wrote fantasy, and would, in these moods, scream at herself for being so childish. She didn't use her childhood world, not like it would've mattered. The work reflected the author: weird and unrelateable. She couldn't create anything she felt agreeable, and as the days grew on, she thought more and more of giving up.
Sinking into these thoughts must've clouded her senses. She didn't hear the foot steps coming up behind, or even notice that someone was near her. What brought her out was a tissue dabbing the tears on her face.
Ripped from her pitying thoughts, she looked into the eyes of another girl. She was much like her: dark haired, scrawny and short (in fact she was almost the exact same height). She wore a sleeveless black tanktop that barely fit her. She had dark purple eye liner beneath her eyes.
"This isn't fun for you?" the girl asked.
Selena shook her head. The girl searched her own pockets.
"Sorry, I don't have the scissors. Hold on...sorry, guess you can't do anything else."
She patted Selena's cheek and gave her a comforting smile as she dialed her phone. Selena flinched slightly from the cheek pat.
"Katy, hey. Listen, could you come over with the scissors?...I found this girl tied up...Yeah, I'm being real...She was crying. I asked too. This isn't a game...You're not that far away, are you?...He can take it...This girl needs help...No, I can't. Whoever did this used up their entire effing roll...I'm not calling the cops. Just get over here...Then untie him...You still owe me...I could call your dad and ask if you'll help...yeah, thanks."
She hung up.
"You'll have to wait a bit to get the tape off. I can take care of the gag if you want."
Selena nods, and the girl, very carefully, got the tape off.
"This is why I hate tape. Looks cute, but it's just mean, you know?"
"Thank you very much." Selena said in a cracked, high pitched voice as it was removed.
The girl dabbed her eyes again. "It's too bad you had to be tied up by pricks. You look pretty cute this way, but now you're traumatized." the girl said matter of factly.
Selena fell out of reality for a bit at the "cute" comment.
"Lucy." said the girl.
"Oh, Selena. and thank you."
"I get it, you're welcome."
"I'm sorry." Selena said, looking down.
"Don't apologize so much." Lucy said, moving the hairs from Selena's face.
This little motion made Selena giggle, but she clamped her mouth shut.
"Don't do that. You've got a nice laugh."
"Thank you, thank you." she said quietly, her eyes darting about.
"You blush like your cheeks are about to puff out fire."
Selena looked away again.
"Sorry." she said lowly.
Lucy took her by the chin, forcing Selena to be eye to eye with Lucy. "There's nothing you can say or tell me that's going to weird me out. If you're a serial killer you can keep that to yourself, but everything else, just say it. I don't like people being nervous around me."
"Sorry."
"No apologizing, or I've got a sock with your mouth's name on it."
Lucy smiled. She let go of her chin and leaned on the tree near her.
"This might be a bad time, but would you be interested in my phone number?"
"I, huh? Well, I mean, if you want..."
"Don't worry, I'm not a prick. If you say no, I'll still untie ya."
"No, I'd, I'd be fine with your number." Selena said.
Lucy's cell rang again.
"Hey...really?...I'm not leaving her alone...Start looking if you're so worried...I'm not leaving her alone. Deal with it."
It took another ten minutes before two of Lucy's friends arrived. The tomboysih red head, Rika, and the brown haired Katy. Selena had to admit, the latter had some fine legs. and eyes, with those pretty long lashes. It was her who finally cut through all the tape on Selena. The freed captive thanked them endlessly, until Lucy put her hand on her mouth. Selena pulled away reflexively.
Katy strolled up to Selena.
"Are you okay? Can you tell me what happened?"
Selena knew this was a temporary thing. They'd comfort her, and then it would be business as usual. She wasn't willing to believe she had just found her new closest friends. She learned her lesson from Jen.
Fortunately for Selena, she was wrong.