Chapter 1
CPOV
I can't believe that I was going to school on a Saturday, but I guess skipping school to 'shop' was frowned upon. To be honest I am not the goody good prom queen everyone think, I normally skip school to drink, and it's the only way for me to cope for losing my dad. He was in the war in Iraq and he died serving his country, he was all I had after my mom left us, and my sister moved to Africa. I walked to the school to see Eli Goldsworthy, the school's emo boy, Drew Torres, the schools starting quarterback, Adam Torres, my best guy friend, and Alli Bhandari, my other friend. I knew why Alli was here, but the other three I wasn't quite sure about.
About ten minutes later, Simpson came to let us in the library, commanding us to sit at different tables, telling us he'd be back in an hour. As soon as he left, Eli spoke up, "Clare Edwards, I never thought I'd see the likes of you here," he smirked, "And I never thought hearing my name would sound so gross," I rolled my eyes. Truth be told, I thought Eli was really hot, but he was a total jackass. I pulled out my phone:
Alli-
How are you doing?
-Clare
I waited for her to get the text and reply,
Clare-
I am so scared right now
-Alli
I heard a sniffle and saw that Alli was crying and I ran over to comfort her, "Oh tin man, you do have a heart," Eli cooed, "Will you shut the fuck up; I don't need to deal with your shit, alright?" I shouted. The door burst open, "What the hell is going on here?" Simpson demanded, "Nothing, sir," he gave me a look that told me he was going to object to me sitting with Alli, but the one shred of humanity he had stopped him and he left, "So, what has your thong in a twist?" Eli asked, sharpieing his nails, "Maybe I'm tired of heartless bastards always giving me shit," "You don't even know me," he insisted, "You don't know me either," I retorted, "You're the classic prom queen, you stamp your feet and daddy buys you whatever you want, you could have everything in the world, but you just want attention, you probably got detention for skipping school to shop," he scoffed, "That's where you're wrong," I said, my voice wavering, "Yes, I did cut class yesterday, but it was because I woke up to a man at my house telling me that my dad- the one member of my family I had left- died in Iraq the other day, and after both my mom and my sister deserting me, it was a little hard to handle, so I went to the Ravine to drink, so I don't need some asshole telling me he knows me, and maybe I don't know much about you, but when you never do anything besides say stupid shit to me, it's kind of hard to assume that you're some great guy, and you're right; I don't know you, but I'm sure as hell that I don't want to," I was crying and everyone was just staring so I got up and left. I went into the gym and just sat there on the ground. I just didn't understand how all of this happened to me, I had no one now, besides Alli and Adam, I didn't even know where I would live. I heard the gym door open and Alli sat down next to me, "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, "I don't like calling you when I'm drunk, I never know what I'm going to say," I confessed, "I don't care what you say, you know that you can tell me anything," It was silent for a moment, "Where are you staying?" I shrugged, "Clare, you're telling me that you don't have anywhere to live?" she asked incredulously. Simpson stormed in, "Okay, now that your gossip session is over you can make your way back to the library," he barked.
EPOV
I honestly felt like such a low life. I never meant to make her cry, I just hated how she always used to look down on me and my friends, I guess I just couldn't stop holding a grudge. I wanted to go and apologize, but Alli got up first and after giving me a glare, she went after Clare. We were quiet for a moment, "Women," Drew muttered, I would have agreed, but I actually did feel bad. Adam smacked his arm, "What?" he asked, "Those two are my best friends," Adam said, so Adam the transgender, was friends with the prom queen, and Backwoods Bhandari? "So what are you here for?" Drew asked me, "I walked out of class after bitching out the teacher for waking me up," I said, "And you?" I asked them, "Drew was caught in the boiler room with Bianca, and I honestly had nothing better to do with both my brother and my two best friends in detention," Adam said, "What Alli, what she is here for?" I asked, "I don't know, she's only told Clare," "Doesn't that bother you?" I asked, "She's supposedly your best friend, but she won't tell you why she's here," "It's her thing to tell," he shrugs. He had a point. Simpson walked in asking where the girls went, but none of us actually knew, so we stayed silent and he stormed out, "You don't think they'll get in more trouble, do you?" Adam wondered, another answer we didn't know.
AlPOV
Clare and I walked back to the library with Simpson right on our ass. We walked in, "You had better stay put this time, or you can count on being here next Saturday," he warned. We sat back down all the way in the back, "So Backwoods," Eli said, I hated that name, it reminded me of him, "What did you do to end up here?" he asked, "You have a lot of fucking audacity…" Clare began, "No Clare, it's alright, I'm here because I tried to kill myself,"