Disclaimer: Harry Potter and related characters, situations, settings, and plots are the original work of J.K. Rowling and under copyright. While I enjoy playing in her sandbox, it's not mine and never will be.

Disclaimer: The song lyrics mentioned in this chapter come from Lucy Spraggan's "Last Night" ("Beer Fear"). While I greatly admire her work, it is hers and only hers.

Story Title: Being Bad

Chapter 1: Meet the Bully

January 3, 2006

It was the Tuesday back from winter recess, and three shivering figures stood on the sidewalk surrounded by mounds of dirty snow piled on the sides of the roads that were blocking their view of the school bus. The youngest of the three was the only male: a six-year-old boy running like a bullet back and forth between the two girls, spraying bits of snow in every direction.

One of the girls, the one with brown eyes that matched his exactly, sat on a cleared section of sidewalk, already on the thirteenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The other girl, with a cruel glint in her eyes, tripped the boy and immediately averted her eyes as he fell with an "Oof!" into a hard pile of snow. Wiping snow out of his tear-stained face, he stomped up to the girl and said in a boisterous voice, "I'm gonna get my big sister to beat you up." He then stomped over to the seated girl, and dragged her out of the magical world of Harry Potter and into the face of a girl significantly larger than her. "So you gonna beat me up?," asked the vicious girl, amusement evident on her face. "Yeah, if you touch him again," replied her opponent, sure that the bully could see the lie written on her face. And so, Aruba ended up boarding the bus with a bruise on her left shoulder, where the older girl, ironically named Angel, had pushed her.

September 28, 2007

From that day forward, Aruba felt the horror that was bullying at the hands of Angel. Every day Aruba held her head down on the bus,not wanting to talk to anyone, with her brother at her side, speaking loud enough to compensate for both of them. She would try and make him be quiet so Angel wouldn't notice her. But Angel did anyway, and she would make sure to say something about her clothes,her hair, and her brother. And sometimes, when something especially spiteful were said, Aruba could depend on an adrenaline rush to boost her voice louder than her size. All would then be well for a few days. She did not get many breaks though.

Except one day that she would remember fondly for the rest of her life. Aruba was sitting idly in class, when a rumor going around about Angel falling asleep in class, and peeing herself, reached her ears. Aruba was very anxious to see if it was true or not. So Aruba got on the bus, and sat in the third seat on the left, and people just kept piling on, and piling she walked in, Aruba's tormentor for the last few years. She sat in first seat on the right, and Aruba smiled triumphantly at the clue; Angel never sat at the front of the bus. Aruba then realized that words have a magic of their own, capable of acting as a bandage for years of suffering. So Aruba asked slyly, "Hey Angel, what's that smell". Angel replied, "Shut up, I don't smell nuthin." Smirking knowingly, Aruba said, "Why are your clothes wet?". Her eyes not leaving the hands in her lap, Angel replied, "The roof was leaking in class, and I didn't see and sat down in it." Aruba then asked, "You peed your pants when you took a nap huh?" not getting an answer. Unfortunately for Angel, the bus driver misheard Aruba and exclained, "Who peed on my bus!" Raucous laughter echoed throughout the bus, as Angel sat blushing furiously. Then Aruba turned and yelled to the back of the bus, "Angel peed herself!" .

From that day on Angel never said another word to Aruba, good or bad. Any guilt Aruba felt was quickly suppressed by memories of when she went through hell from Angel's verbal and physical abuse.

December 31, 2012:

It was a booming party, and Aruba found herself pulling a hand through the crowd-whose hand it was she wasn't entirely sure. Under her breath she sang, slightly slurred "Last night I asked you to marry me, that's when I remembered the brandy.I wake up and claim I didn't say it, screwed if I ever wake up in Vegas."

Suddenly, a body grew out of the hand, and a face appeared on top of the body. Confused, she stumbled for a moment, not able to clearly make out anything except a calculating look in the most enthralling green eyes she had ever seen.

Aruba covered her ears, her train of thought interrupted by the sudden screaming. Apparently someone had accidentally thrown a lighted cigarette into the puddle of alcohol that had accumulated in front of the toilets. The toilets themselves were made unusable by the vomit, feces and empty beer bottles. The green-eyed boy- no man- turned and pulled Aruba toward the closest exit. However, the pushing crowd caused them to be separated, leaving Aruba's hand feeling bereft of the warmth it had felt before. She was swept out of the burning building by the crowd and soon found herself in the back of a pickup truck with a bunch of random party-goers. She couldn't really remember the name of the girl who had pulled her on truck but did recognize her from Statistics class.

"Beep!"The pickup truck stopped unexpectedly, causing Aruba to almost fall out. There was a group of oddly dressed people blocking the road off. The pickup truck's driver, a man who looked scarily similar to Jesus, stepped out to talk to a man with a beard so long and white, it make Aruba's hands itch as she thought of braiding it. Jesus's doppelganger then came back to the pickup truck asking for "Rubie...They been askin' for a Rubie..Ain't there no Rubie here?" Receiving no reply, he was about to go back, when a realization dawned over Aruba, and she stood up calling, "Hey! I think they mean me, maybe." She walked to the woman now standing in the front of the group, straightening her skirt as she walked, as the screech of the pickup truck leaving behind her echoed into the darkness. The women greeted Aruba by holding out her hand and saying, "Long time, no see, huh, Aruba?" Prompted by Aruba's silence, she continued. "I'm Angel."

Well, Fuck.

Author's note: This is the first 1049 words of the first chapter of the first story I have written. Please Review, even if it doesn't seem like much, yet.