"Iggy! Time for school!" Mom calls up to me from the kitchen, down the hall. I woke up 30 minutes ago, dressed in my tan shirt that used to be white, dark pants that are falling apart at the seams, and grey socks, with my black sneakers, the only "new" part of my outfit.

Were you expecting better? Expecting me to say designer jeans and a clean shirt? Expect that my house has two floors? Nope.

Since my dad ditched my mom and I eight years ago, when I was eight years old, we've had almost nothing. My mom had to get a job, we had to move out of our decent sized house into a crummy apartment, and we could barely afford to eat, buy clothes, or pay rent. But my mom managed.

She worked as a waitress at a diner, making decent wage but between rent and food and school taxes, I could only get one new pair of shoes a year, new clothes every couple months. But still, I didn't complain. Because my mom didn't and she had it way worse than me.

So I trudged into the kitchen, with my red backpack falling apart, and sat down in an old chair that creaked when I sat down. And I'm 20 pounds underweight.

My mom put down a small plate full of scrambled eggs in front of me. They looked good, my mom was a great cook, a skill she wanted to pass down to me, but there was so little of it….. But like I said, I can't complain.

"Thanks Mom," I forced a smile to my face and she gently smiled back.

"You're welcome Iggy," she said with a gentle smile, and brushed some of my neck length strawberry blonde hair off of my forehead.

I shoved the last of my eggs into my mouth, it only took a minute to eat, and I quickly went to the sink and washed the dish and put it away.

"Bye Mom," I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek and headed out of the door, to the hell known as "school."

"Bye sweetheart! I love you," my mom smiled and waved at me.

"Love you too," I called back to her and started jogging, I lived about a mile away from the bus stop. My mom couldn't drive me to school or she'd be late to work, and it's the closest bus to our apartment. But god, I wish it were closer.

But hey, it keeps me in shape. How else would I be able to run from the bullies every day? They're jocks, after all.

When I got to my bus stop, there were a couple of other people there. I didn't have any friends, of course, so I just kept my distance. But of course, they had to come to me.

"Hey Iggy," one of them said in a mocking tone. "How's your mom doing? Killed herself yet?"

I made a small fist.

"Not worth it, not worth it, not worth it," I chanted over and over in my head.

"No wait, I'm sorry. Andrew," another boy said, turning to the boy that had spoken before. "Don't you know anything? She wouldn't kill herself."

"No," he continued with an evil gleam in his eyes. "Iggy has his FATHER to do that, doesn't he? There's no NEED for her to do anything."

The other boys laughed with him as the bus came. I walked past them and got on as quickly as I could, taking a 2 seater in the middle and placing my backpack next to me. Luckily, they left me alone on the way there.

But as soon as I got off, it started again.

"Hey Griffiths!" Some girl yelled from inside the school. I didn't bother to look up, but I knew she was talking to me. Griffiths is my last name.

"I'd ask you out, but your DAD wouldn't approve, would he?" She cackled with her bitchy friends. "Why don't you ask him? Huh?"

"Oh wait, I forgot," she said innocently. "You're fucking GAY! You like men, you creepy asshole!" And her friends laughed as I walked past them, tried to ignore them. But I just couldn't. I heard them, I wasn't deaf.

I don't even know why they called me gay. I guess poor people who live with a single parent are all GAY these days. Or maybe they just couldn't think of a more creative insult.

I walked on silently, with my head down. Someone purposely ran into me, then shoved me down.

"Get out my way, you gay son of a bitch!" He yelled and then laughed as he walked away with his friends. I got up, angry. They didn't even know me, and they judged me. I wanted to kill them all, but I wouldn't.

I could, potentially. I took self-defense classes a few years ago, and, let's say, extended my training. But I was too nice, and I was determined not to sink to their level. I didn't want to hurt anyone, even if they deserved it. And if anyone in the history of the universe deserved it, these people did.

Sighing, I just picked myself up and continued to my locker, before I was stopped by the four main guys who picked on me. Of course. The jocks.

The four of them were the stars of the football team. They were all best friends, and "women magnets." I didn't know why.

They were all jerks, to everyone except each other. Especially to me. Their main target.

The leader of the pack was Jeb. He was anything but attractive and had an ugly sneer on his face 99.9% of the time. The only thing attractive about him was his eight pack that he got from running around all the time, by playing football. He led the physical beatings on me. And loved to insult me.

Next was John. I'd say he wasn't that bad. Not as bad as the others, anyway. He just went along with everyone else, if they were kicking me, he'd join in. If they were taunting me, he'd join in. But he didn't seem to care either way.

Then Sam. He was pretty "hot", with chestnut colored hair and a six pack. His "claim to fame" was that in his 16 years of living, he had fucked 16 girls. I don't get why he'd be proud of that though. And although I get why girls would like the outer him, you'd have to be blind and deaf to not realize that the inner him was an asshole, who didn't give a shit about anyone.

Finally was Dylan. He had to be my least favorite, mostly because HE was gay, and had a crush on me. It was disgusting. I don't get how people could all make fun of me, being "gay", when I wasn't, and Dylan obviously was, and nobody gave a fuck. He had dark blonde hair and blue "Caribbean" eyes. People knew that he had never had a girlfriend, and yet people STILL couldn't piece that together, so all the girls wanted HIM to be the one to lose their virginity to.

"Iggy," sneered Jeb, pushing me back a step.

"Move," I said softly, barely loud enough for him to hear.

He laughed in my face. "Hear that guys? He wants US to move."

They all laughed along with him. My hands curled into fists.

"Iggy, I'm a little concerned, haven't heard anything about your father in a while," Jeb said with mock concern. "Are your mommy and daddy getting along?"

"I heard," Dylan started, coming forward to rest his hand on my chest. I stumbled backwards. I can't BELIEVE nobody notices this!

"That your dad beat you with a stick," he purrs as I shudder. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Or maybe…" Sam started with a smirk. "Your mom beat you."

They moved closer to me as I tried to back up.

"Let's see all your scars Iggy," Jeb sneered. "The NEW and OLD!"

They moved closer to me, and Dylan tried to pull off my shirt, but I smacked his hand away and he growled suggestively. I shuddered again.

"Leave me alone," I said, louder than me.

They just grinned before someone came up from behind me and pushed them all back at once.

"He said," the person said softly. "Leave him alone."

I got a closer look at HER, well the back of her anyway. She was a little shorter than me, maybe five foot eight. She had chocolate colored hair, with a red streak going through it. She was pretty actually.

Which proposes the question,

Why did she stand up for me?

The four jocks stumble for a moment, then get a good look at her. And then they all grin seductively at the same time, except Dylan's looking at me. Ugh.

"Hey babe, why are you sticking up for a loser when you could have all of this?" Jeb grins at her, gesturing to himself.

She backs up a step. "Ew." And I can't help laughing. But I laugh quietly.

Jeb looks insulted and angry before Sam steps forward.

"You're right, he's not great," Sam smiles at her seductively. "Not great in bed. Not like I am, baby."

She glares at him. "First of all, I don't know you and I can already tell you're the slut of this school, which is sad, because usually the slut is a girl. And second of all, I'm not your anything. Now fuck off. I'm off limits."

John comes forward and grabs her wrist, turning her toward him, so that she's looking into his eyes.

"Baby, you're telling me that you honestly don't want to fuck this?" He asks, gesturing to himself. She wrenches her arm away.

"Go fuck yourself," she hisses. "Because no girl wants to fuck you."

Dylan licks his lips and seductively smiles at me. She notices and raises her eyebrows. She walks up to him and pushes him back a couple steps.

"And you're not flirting with me. Why not?" She asks innocently.

He turns red, but tried to manage his composure.

"I don't think you're worth it," he manages to spit out.

"Well I don't think you're worth shit, so get out of my sight!" She growls at him and he backs up a step.

"Why are we letting a chick tell us what to do? She's just a little bitch," Jeb argues, and steps forward, but she kicks him in the nuts.

"Ah! Fuck!" He curses.

"Go. Away," she says, making her voice low and scary. They take a look at each or her, then quickly walk away and Dylan blows me a kiss. Kill me now….

I turn back to the girl who helped me. She has a satisfied smile on her face.

"Thanks," I manage to say.

She smiles at me, the first time I ever saw her smile. "No problem! I love beating up people who deserve it!" I smile tentatively at that.

"I'm Kate, but my friends call me Snow," she introduces herself.

"I'm Iggy and I have no friends," I joke lightly and shake her hand.

She frowns slightly. "You have no friends?"

I shake my head. "Nope, everyone here knows my story and hates me." Then I take another look at her and realize something. I've never seen her before, not even once.

"Are you new?" I question.

She nods. "Yeah. And everyone hates you because you're poor? That's dumb."

I shake my head. "That's not all of my story…."

She smirks. "Well I also can tell that people think you're gay when you're not, and that one of those jock guys has a crush on you."

I smile slightly. "Exactly! And they call me the gay one…."

"How can nobody tell? It's SO obvious…" She agrees with me and I smile. My first real friend in 16 years.