Disney, a person, a channel, and a common word in all households with children under the age of 8. But for Maggie, it was a lifestyle choice. She lived with the dream idea of living a hard life of shame, just to be eventually swept up by the hunky man of her dreams. That handsome hunk, was Noah. Maggie watched Noah like he was an amoeba underneath her microscope, she examined his every move and memorized every quirk, every glance, and she knew all the words he had spoken to her by heart. She recited them every night like they were a prayer:
“Hey, Move, Sorry, Pass the paper.”?It was fair to say that Maggie was a helpless nerd in a hopeless love with the man of her dreams.

Her story began in the 2nd grade, Mrs. Baker’s class. Maggie’s assigned seat was next to Noah. She arrived every day 5 minutes early so she could write a note to him and put it in his desk. The note usually read something like:
“I like your shirt yesturday, yelow is my favrit color 2.”

The intensity of the notes increased until Maggie’s own personal doomsday arrived. It was the last day of school and she arrived 5 minutes early. She ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and began writing. After 3 minutes, she had finally finished. She slipped the note into his desk and waited, painfully. Every second that passed was like a day without Disney channel, terrifying. The bell rang and Noah rushed to his seat. Noah was the best looking guy she had ever seen. All she wanted was to swim into his deep blue eyes. He took off his backpack and received the note from his desk. He pulled out a pen from his desk, and for the first time, wrote her back. This is it, she thought, he likes me! He handed her the note and she quickly tore through it, like a present on Christmas morning. She read her question and his response quietly to herself,
“I like you. Will you go out with me? Check yes or no...
No! Thats gross I like Katie!”

Katie, she thought, Katie?! He likes Katie? Tears were brought to Maggie’s eyes like rain being brought to the ground. She flew out of her seat and tore up the paper. She gave a sob or two while staring at Noah, then ran out of the classroom. Maggie hasn’t spoken to Noah since that day.

The lunch bell rang and Maggie hurried to her locker to avoid the crowd of hungry teenagers. She opened her locker and took out her lunch. She took the long way through the school to get to the lunchroom, so she could avoid everyone and have more time to talk to her friends, Carol and Quinn. They didn’t say much though, probably because they are imaginary.

Maggie, Carol and Quinn all sat down at a small table in the corner. Maggie had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as usual. Carol and Quinn both had turkey. It was a quiet lunch. No one spoke, and no one wanted to. They all liked the sound of silence. It was soothing. There was nothing better than sitting in a corner in silence.

The only thing disturbing Maggie’s peace was Katie Olsen. The most popular girl in the school, flirting with Noah. Part of Maggie wanted to cry. The other wanted to go over there and rip her in half. She didn’t listen to either. Instead she shrugged it off and started towards class.

After school was Maggie’s favorite part of the day, volleyball practice. This was a place she could take out all her anger and put it into her hits. As she put on her kneepads in the locker room, Katie approached.
“I saw you staring at Noah and I at lunch today.” Katie said.
Maggie didn’t respond.
“Why don’t you ever talk you freak?”
Still no response.
“Fine. Just stay away from Noah. We all know you have had this creepy little crush on him since like, second grade. But, he’s mine.” Katie threw her dirty sock in Maggie’s face and walked away.

Maggie was filling up with anger in the locker room. She wanted to throw herself at Katie. She stomped out of the locker room and into the gym. She immediately started hitting. As she went up to spike the ball, she spotted Katie just in range of her hits. She jumped up and hit the ball with such a force, that had it actually hit Katie, she might have had a concussion. The ball missed Katie’s head by a millimeter and nearly gave her a heart attack. She turned around to see the guilty party and watched as Maggie snickered at her and walked away.

Katie charged at Maggie with full speed. She stopped herself before she made it to Maggie’s legs. She couldn’t. Noah would hate her, as would the rest of the school. On the other hand, Maggie had no reputation to keep. She took Katie by the shoulder, pulled her in close, and flipped her over.

She said nothing but the fire in her eyes explained more than words could. The audience silenced and the coach brought practice to an end.

Maggie walked home in silence, without Carol or Quinn. She was lonely, but that was how she was punishing herself. She knew when she stepped into school tomorrow, everyone would know, and everyone would react. She was dreading the next day ahead of her, and knew it would be bad.

She was right. When she opened the door to her first class, everyone stared. The worst part, was that Katie and Noah were both in that class. The teacher wasn’t there and there was no one to protect her from what lay ahead. The words came at her like a round of punches. Each insult worse than the one before. At first, she just took it. After the 11th person said something she dropped her stuff and ran out of the school.

Since she lived within walking distance of the school and her parents weren’t home, thats where she went. She immediately went to her basement and unlocked her parents alcohol cellar. She had seen on television shows that alcohol makes people’s problems disappear. She figured it must help her in some way. Glass after glass of vodka, she started feeling sick. Suddenly everything went black, and after that day her life would never be the same.

By morning she still felt sick, but shrugged it off to make sure her parents didn’t suspect anything. She left the house with no breakfast and no words. Carol and Quinn walked with her to school. Still, no one spoke.

The school day flew by faster than expected. It was Friday and everyone was going to the Homecoming dance tomorrow night, except Maggie. She was one of the only people not asked. She didn’t care though, she didn’t really want to go anyways.

As Maggie was about to leave the school, Noah ran after her.
“Wait! Maggie, wait up!” Maggie stopped in her tracks. Could it be? She thought, Could Noah Tate seriously be trying to talk to me? Maggie was appalled.
“Maggie, I, uh, have something to ask you,” he held out a video camera, “Is this yours? I found it taped in the corner of my room. My mom said you stopped by and told her you left your backpack at school and I had it. Why would you say that?”

Maggie was overwhelmed by all of this. Suddenly she started to put together the pieces. She had a flashback of her on her scooter pulling up to Noah’s house. Oh no, did I seriously try to spy on him? How could I do this? She felt the vodka coming up her throat. No, Maggie. Don’t do this! She couldn’t stop herself. She puked all over Noah Tate’s pants. Everything went black again, and when she woke up, she was not at home.

Wherever she was, she could see nothing but white, padded walls. Her arms were wrapped around herself and still, she was speechless. No one was there. Not mom or dad. Not Noah or Katie. Not a cop. Not even Carol or Quinn. No one. For once in her life, she was completely alone.