"Hey did you know?" a static voice buzzed through the emptiness. "That games always have rules."

Her eyes snapped open. The ache in her chest increased. Just another day, this one was. Get up, get ready, go to school. It was no different from the last, or the one before that. Just the same ol', same ol'. Her toes on the scruffy carpet floor after rolling out of bed only just reminded her of that fact, too. In the bathroom mirror, the same face looked back. Dull blue eyes were framed by intimidatingly long brown locks, which was a hassle most of the time. More times than none, it was left in a knotted mess that somehow managed to untangle itself over the course of the day. Brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, returning to her room to change into something similar to the outfit she wore yesterday, this was the routine. Jeans and a plain white tank-top was her choice of the day, followed up by the usual, over-sized teal hoodie and black shoes. In the living room of the small trailer she lived in, her mother was passed out on the couch, empty beer bottles and cigarette butts surrounding her. There was a stench in the air of whatever drug her mother happened to pick up that night. She sighed, shook her head at her mother, and left the trailer, adjusting her backpack as she quietly closed the door behind her.

The way to school was, simply, dull and ordinary. The early morning air came like a rush into her lungs and made the attempt to get her to shiver, failing to faze her. It was mid-spring by now, and the buds on the trees were starting to bloom, but it didn't change the fact that it was just another day. She wasn't exactly in a hurry, as she always left early from the trailer to ensure that she'd never be late for the subway train that took her to the station outside her school. She sighed again, sitting on the bench at the station. She had to work again later that day, after classes. Her mother wouldn't pay for schooling expenses, so she had to work for it. Just a decent education, that was all she wanted. No college, no university, no high-end Ivy Leagues. All she wanted was to graduate high school and she'd be content. At least, that's what her sister would have wanted. Her elder brother had agreed with this thought.

She sat between an old man who smelled of sweaty gym socks and a small brat sucking a lollipop on his mother's lap. Nothing new there. The school gates were just opening when she got there, not that that surprised her either. She enjoyed the silence of an empty classroom, before it was filled with ignorant pricks and stuck-up preps. Sure there were some kind people, but it was the same either way. She always got the same seat every day, the window seat four rows back. Homeroom, which was the first class of the day, was on the third and top-most floor. It provided a large overview of the school grounds. On any given day, she would just turn and face out the window, daydreaming, drifting in and out of lessons enough to pick up what was important. She always made the mark, though, when called on by the teachers. She had never gotten a question wrong and it always managed to disgruntle her classmates with how she never paid attention and was never wrong. She was frequently accused and blamed for cheating, but this was always wrong. In her classes, no one spoke to her, as she never spoke back, content with just staring out the window onto the grounds. No one invited her to eat lunch with them, as she never had anything to eat, too poor to afford anything in the cafeteria. No one was ever partnered with her in group activities, as she always did it by herself, regardless of how the project was to be graded by team cooperation.

At the end of the day, the walk to her work wasn't too far, but enough to release the tension in her stiff muscles from staring out the window all day. It wasn't exactly the most exciting line of work, it just paid for what she needed it to - all minimum wage, of course. What she had left from her checks after her bills, she spent on her younger brother. When she arrived, she changed into her uniform, something you'd see a waitress at a diner wear in a cheesy film, and got straight to work. Since she failed miserably with her people skills, her job was to bus the tables and wash the dishes. She was at the bottom of the food chain in the establishment, but she didn't have the ambition nor motive to climb higher. It wasn't an odd sight for an indignant man to harass her. It was a sort of hobby for a pair of them to come in on the days she worked just to try and get a reaction out of her. Never worked, though.

"It's decided from the beginning..."

The train ride home was as it was earlier that day, and the same as it was every other day. The only variant would be if she worked, like that day, or not, wherein there would be students piled into the train's compartment instead of drunken ingrates and tired people just being released from their own jobs. Then the walk from the station to her house, where the sun had already set long ago upon her arrival. Her mother had left, she could tell by the door being locked and the lights being off. It was as though her mother didn't want her there and she never acted like it either. For as many times as she asked for a spare key, she was denied just as many times. This brought her into the habit of leaving her bedroom window unlocked, leaving a rusty stepping ladder outside it, just inside the trailer's thin metal siding. Hiding it was the only option, as her mother would otherwise try to sell it to some sad soul for extra cash. Popping off the screen, she opened the window, tossed in her book bag, and crawled in, closing the window behind her. She unlocked the front door, the living room now clouded in a different stench. This was definitely no place for a young boy. Outside, she replaced the screen on the window and hid the ladder behind the siding and then returned to the house and locked the door behind her.

She was careful not to touch more than she had to. If something was moved, her mother would instantly blame her for some nonsense theft or misunderstood happening and would then continue to beat her. Her mother was crafty about it, too, careful to never beat her anywhere it would be visible, but where it would still hurt. She was lucky, though, that her mother was out. This gave her the opportunity to shower and perhaps read that novel for English class. However, this outcome was unlikely. As it turned out, after her shower, she quickly left no sign that she had ever used it, and quickly went to bed. It was well past midnight and there was still another couple days until the weekend, which was really no different than the weekdays. She still left early in the morning, making sure not to disturb her mother and ended up walking around the city until it was her scheduled time to work. If she didn't have to work, she usually found herself either at the beach on the west side of town, taking in the salty scent of the ocean, or at the zen gardens on the east end, sitting under the cherry trees napping. When the option was available, she took her younger brother out with her for a play date. Anything that didn't involve having to deal with people, she was all for it. She would come home when the mood struck her, usually long after the sun had set. Most nights, her mother would be gone, doing who knows what. But on the rare occasion that she was, she prayed that she was in a good mood. If not, it was insured that there would be a new mark to the collection that marred her skin. That day, it was another one to her chest.

Definitely no place for a child.

This cycle went on for so long, that it became the only thing she ever knew, or at least, ever cared to remember beyond that of the bright smile of her younger brother. She surprised herself at her strong will to at least achieve being nothing like her mother. She never drank a drop of alcohol, never puffed a single cigarette, and never partook in drugs. Though one would think that it would make her boorish life's cycle less depressing, she refused to partake in any activity her mother was involved with. It was only a personal achievement, but one that empowered her, none-the-less; Empowered her to become in her late sister's image, and become someone her younger brother could look up to.

At the end of the weekend, the school week began anew. However, against her expectations, there was something new that day, nothing drastic, but something note-worthy. An exchange student from another country was placed into her homeroom. She was a cute kid, average height and weight, with sandy blond hair and green-blue eyes. Clad in a blue dress with white accents, the most striking feature she posed was the blue and white striped knee-high socks and the ruby red Mary-Janes on her feet.

She bowed slightly, what seemed like a force of habit. "Hello," she smiled brightly. Her voice was soft and matched her appearance. "My name's Alice Liddel."

"You knew that, right?"