Notes: I've used some lines out of the books for some parts which you can probably tell, so I'm just putting this here to say that I'm not claiming to own anything that you recognise from the Harry Potter books. The only things that are originally mine are all the non-Harry Potter characters and the story plot and stuff.

This story also has swearing in parts of it, and mean insults, so if you don't like that sort of stuff, I wouldn't suggest reading. But yeah. :D I hope people like this, because I think it's pretty unique.

Chapter 1

I'd always been a calm person. People could insult me for hours on end, but I'd never have the heart to say anything back because I always thought 'Oh, maybe they have a bad life, Maybe this, Maybe that…' but that kind of attitude would never get me anywhere. All I ever did was think of other people, and all they did was walk all over me… but something was different when I woke up that morning. Today, I wasn't taking shit from anyone. I was angry.

I woke up to my ten-year old sister Veronica jumping all over my bed.

'Get out of my room!' I groaned.

'Dad is saying you have to get up.'

'And I'm saying GET THE HELL OUT!'

I never usually yelled at her like that, so she did as she was told, and luckily she was smart enough not to go and dob to Dad.

I hated Dad. He was not a good father. Seriously.

Half of his life was spent sitting in his room drinking vodka and beer until one of us gave him an excuse to come out and yell. A few years ago, I had dubbed him 'The Caveman' and I'd been calling him that behind his back ever since.

I had no plans whatsoever to go to school that day, because it was the last day of term for the year and I hated school with a passion. Normally, I would have killed to stay at home, but after hearing the way The Caveman was bellowing from the kitchen, I decided that it wasn't a good idea to ask for the day off. I had vegemite on toast for breakfast, smearing it on thick like I always did. My uniform looked even stupider than usual because it was all crinkled, but I wasn't in the mood to go and iron it. I put some eyeliner on and tried to make my hair look at least half-decent, but it wouldn't do anything interesting so I just shoved it into a ponytail and stuffed my feet into my lame old shoes. The only thing I liked about my appearance was the purple streak I'd dyed into my plain brown hair not too long ago.

I ended up late for school as usual, which meant I had to sit in a car with my dumb brother Jake and his ditzy girlfriend Vanessa. To be honest, I would have rather walked forty minutes in the scorching heat. According to The Caveman though, I didn't have a choice.

Jake was the dumbest boy I knew. He was seventeen but acted about five. There was always a bunch of stupid pranks up his sleeve which he thought were the most hilarious things in the world, but really, they were dumb. Just like him. Vanessa was just as dumb as him… so they deserved each other, but I still found it impossible to understand how any girl would ever want to date him. He was dumb, AND ugly.

He started to crack one of his jokes, but luck was on my side because as soon as I got angry enough to snap at him, his brakes stuffed up and the car nearly smashed into a fence.

'Woah, what the heck?' He yelped.

Vanessa sat there screaming like a two year old.

'Maybe you should learn to drive, retard.'

The words escaped my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. I grabbed my bag and jumped out of the car before Jake could get his revenge, then I legged it down the street to school. I felt lighter for some reason, and running seemed unusually easy. I had no idea what had come over me today, but I liked it a lot. It was going to be an interesting day.

The office ladies had the usual bored expression on my face when I went to get my late note.

'Do you have a reason for being late every day?'

'Sleeping in.' I replied blandly.

'Do you have a note from your parents?'

'No.'

'If you are late again, A letter will have to be sent home because you haven't been bringing a note.'

'Does it look like I care?'

She shot me the filthiest look I'd ever received in my life.

'I didn't think so.'

Smirking, I snatched the late note and ran away, not giving a crap about getting in trouble later. I barged into my Science classroom without knocking, but the teacher was too involved in explaining the boring lesson to pay attention. The girls up the back were whispering things as I sat at the table in front of them. Usually, I would have just ignored them, so I did exactly that… for about five minutes before I turned around and screamed 'SHUT UP!'

All they did was laugh, which pissed me off even more because I was expecting they'd at least be a bit intimidated. Rochelle, the skinniest one with the thickest makeup ever and over-bleached hair just sneered at me and said 'Wow, Little Lara finally got the guts to say something for once'

'Yeah, too bad she's still just a sad little junkie with no friends' her friend Tabitha replied.

'I know, I'm so sad that I don't have any friends in this shithole of a school because you're all just so FRIENDLY aren't you… You know, I've ALWAYS wanted to be friends with you girls especially, because you're just such nice people and not try-hard judgemental bitches or anything…'

'GIRLS!' The teacher yelled.

'You're such a grotty little weirdo.'

'Did you steal that thing around your neck?' Tabitha laughed.

'Obviously, how else could she afford real gold?' Rochelle answered for her.

I squeezed my hand tightly around my mum's necklace. It would have usually soothed me, but at that moment all I could feel was an angry balloon swelling up inside me.

'Imagine what her parents are like. How else could someone as ugly as her be possible?' One of the boys added.

'Yeah have you seen her dad? Full Alco.'

'Imagine what her mum looks like…'

'Probably just as ugly and—'

'DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TALK ABOUT MY MUM!' I screamed so loud that the whole class just shut up. Rochelle went to laugh and after that, everything happened so fast that I could barely register it. All the lights in the room sparked and went out. The glass cabinets on the wall smashed into smithereens and my stool flung across the room and hit Rochelle in the head. Everyone gasped and looked straight at me, and it was then I'd realised that I was the one who threw the stool. I didn't remember it. I didn't remember even picking it up… but no one else could have done it.

The next thing I knew, I was in the principal's office.

'and the consequences of your actions are very severe. Blah blah blah Rochelle has received serious injuries Blah blah blah I cannot believe that you Blah blah blah irreplaceable damage to school property blah blah blah I will have to decide—'

'Look, She got what was coming for her and if it hadn't been me throwing that stool at her, I'm pretty sure she would have got hit by a bus or something'

He looked at me with a bewildered expression on his face.

'Just expel me already. You know you want to.'

He did exactly that.

He went through the computers and did a bunch of stuff. The deputy principals were coming in and out, saying stuff that I didn't care enough about to listen to.

'Are you able to call your parents to pick you up?'

'No.' I replied bluntly.

'Why not?'

'Cause my dad doesn't drive' I lied. I didn't really feel like dying in a car crash today.

'What about your mum? Can't you call her to come and get you?'

'No.'

'And why not?'

'Because she's dead.'

He made a noise that sounded like a wounded animal before saying 'I'm sorry…'

'Whatever. I'm gonna go now. Bye' I turned around and walked out and nobody in the room had the heart to say anything. Dumb bastards. They should have known about my mum. There were never any contact details or any mention of her in my school file so did they think she just magically appeared when she was needed or something? Idiots.

I was dancing down the street on my way home, ready to throw a party. Getting expelled from that hellhole was worth a trillion dollars. I'd always hated it there. I didn't care about education and all that dumb crap, and I really didn't think it was worth it to put up with a bunch of stuck-up teenagers and unfair teachers who all hated you. Was it worth it to be teased every day of your life? Was it worth it to be judged and insulted for no reason at all? Was it worth it to sit through dumb exams and do like a thousand assignments just to end up with a percentage on a piece of paper? The answer was no. I didn't care. They could all get stuffed.

The Caveman cared though. He got a call from the school and I heard him throw the phone and bellow like a baboon. He came running out into the hallway, yelling so loudly that he was practically screaming. If he'd been out of my view, I would have thought that he was an elephant on speed.

'WHATS THIS ABOUT YOU BEING EXPELLED?'

'Well, I got expelled.'

'CLEARLY!'

'Then why'd you ask?'

'DON'T BE SMART WITH ME GIRL! YOU'RE IN DEEP SHIT NOW!' He smashed his alcohol bottle against the wall. 'THIS IS BULLSHIT! I DIDN'T PAY FOR YOU TO GO TO SCHOOL FOR TEN YEARS SO THAT YOU COULD GO AND PULL THIS SHIT!'

I found it kind of sad that the only thing he was worried about was all the money he had payed, not the fact that his daughter had nearly killed someone with a stool.

'OH WELL IT WAS A HOLE AND I GOT TREATED LIKE SHIT! Oh wait; I get treated like shit here too! FAR OUT DAD YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!'

'DO YOU THINK IF YOUR MUM WAS ALIVE SHE WOULD BE PROUD OF HOW YOU'VE TURNED OUT?'

That was something that just shouldn't have been said. He was the one who was an aggressive, uncaring alcoholic. He hadn't turned out any better than me. The balloon of anger welled up in my chest again.. I swear I didn't even move, but The Caveman flew back and smashed into a wall like a rhinoceros had just rammed him down.

'Dad…?' I whimpered, but he was out cold. Not dead, but knocked out. I didn't know what to do, but I wasn't calling an ambulance because I knew they'd blame me. I slowly shifted back into my room and sat in silence, wondering why the hell everything was so weird today and how all of a sudden I was speaking my mind to everyone. I'd never done anything like that before. It was like I'd been holding back everything for so long that it was all finally coming out. I was definitely going to get charged for all the damage I'd done to the science lab… and to Rochelle… and I was scared as hell that The Caveman would wake up any second and break my door down. Why was I like this?

Then all of a sudden I thought of a possibility. I'd been holding my necklace when the stool flew at Rochelle.

'…Mum?' I whispered.

But there was no response.