Re-uploaded so the text is actually readable! Don't know what happened before. This is just the introduction chapter, so stick around for more and review if you have ideas! :)
Chapter 1
It's the end of August, which can only mean one thing—summer is officially over.
A warm breeze flows through Brittany's open window. The sounds of birds chirping and chimes swaying in the wind move through the air. It's a peaceful, calm, summer morning. Brittany shifts in her bed, a smile crossing her face as she hears the sounds of summertime. "BRITTANY!" she here's a voice scream her name and jolts upright in bed. She's quick to pull the sheet over her head when she realizes that it's her sister Quinn, calling her down for breakfast. "Ugh," she groans and peaks her head out to look at her clock on the nightstand next to her bed. It's 6:31am and Brittany knows that her and Quinn can't be late for their first day at their new high school. Quinn may be excited, but Brittany is not looking forward to their new start. Not that it could be any worse than her old school. But their dad was offered a better job so they had to make the move to small town Lima, Ohio. Reluctant, she drags her slender frame out of bed, side-stepping all the moving boxes scattered across her floor. Great, just when I thought bullies were the only thing I would have to side-step...Brittany is quickly pulled out of her thoughts by a tapping on her bedroom door.
"Britt?" she hears Quinn's muffled voice.
"One sec!" Britt reaches out to open the door.
Her older sister smiling from ear to ear, typical Quinn. It would be an understatement to say that Quinn is excited about their first day. She's your typical popular high school girl; captain of her cheerleading squad back at their old school, lucky with the boys, smart, beautiful, the list goes on. The nice thing about Quinn though, is while she is the essence of popularity she's also sweet. Perhaps she developed her sweet side after watching Brittany get bullied for years. Perhaps it was her sister's countless fallen tears, or the days she begged their parents to let her stay home from school. Perhaps that has something to do with it.
"Britt you have to hurry or we're gunna be late!" Quinn says to her sister.
Brittany turns on her heels and grabs her glasses from the nightstand and places them on her face.
"Now that I can see you clearly, I have to ask…" Britt starts.
"Okay?" Quinn waits for her sister to finish.
"Do you always have to be this enthusiastic on the first day of school?" the girls share a laugh.
"Britt, I love you, but you know how I feel about these things," she starts. "You just have to tell yourself that today will be a great day, and then it will." Quinn gives her a smile and a little shoulder squeeze before she turns, but pauses before she walks away completely.
"For such a good student, you really hate school," Quinn begins. "Kind of ironic huh?"
Brittany shifts on her feet and puts her head down. Quinn gives her a sad smile and walks away. Brittany picks her head up. "Yeah Quinn, kind of" she whispers into the summer air. So much for a good morning.
It's 7:03am when Brittany slinks down the steps. She's wearing her black RayBan glasses, a white v-neck t-shirt with a royal blue cardigan over top, black skinny jeans, and a pair of beat up blue converse sneakers. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun. Sure, her fashion sense isn't quite like Quinn's, who might I add is dressed in a white and red sundress with matching red pumps, but Brittany feels comfortable in what she wears. She doesn't really like to stand out. She would much rather go to school, do her work, keep to herself, and be able to come home unscathed. She can only hope for the best, but given her past, she can't help but feel uneasy about entering her new high school.
Flashback: Moon High School, Pittsburgh (Brittany is a freshman and Quinn is a sophomore)
"Come on Blondie, stand the hell up!" one of the jock's from the football team yelled at Brittany in the school hallway.
"I-I, please just leave me alone," Brittany manages to say.
"Excuse me?" the jock sounds appalled.
"I'm just trying to get to my locker, and get my things," Brittany says standing up.
"Oh, now someone seems to have found their voice?" the jock smirks. "But I don't appreciate being talked back to."
"O-oh, I-I, I was just, uhm…" Brittany trips over her words, fear pumping in her veins once more.
"Guys!" the jock yells out, and his group of friends appears. "Take care of this stupid loser."
"Wa-wait, what?" Brittany tries to resist, but two of the bigger guys grab her arms and pull her into their locker-room. They continue to shove her up against the lockers and the one gets in her face.
"You think just because she spoke to you once means you're some hot shot now?" he yells in rage, spit flying from his mouth and smacking her in the eyes. She winces.
"I-I-I, n-no I didn't mean anything b-by i-i-it," Brittany averts her gaze.
"You're just a poor little loser, sweetie, no girl or boy is ever going to want you, especially her," he states harshly. "I'm surprised your parents haven't kicked you to the curb yet, you, you waste of space!"
Brittany can't help the tears that start falling. All she ever wanted was a friend. A real friend, not her sister Quinn or her parents. Someone to call when she has a bad day, someone to eat popcorn with and have a movie marathon, someone to dance around with to bad pop music. The tears keep falling, even harder now.
"Oh, poor baby, did I make you cry?" he says. "You gunna run to big bad Quinn now? Tell mommy and daddy?" Brittany doesn't move, she just keeps her head down.
"They're never going to be able to save you, hun, so just give up now while you still can," he states finally and shoves Brittany across the locker-room where she falls into the wooden benches on her left side. The guys just laugh at her mangled body balled up on the ground and they walk out of the locker room. She tries to move, but a sharp pain shoots through her ribs on her left side. She lets out a small whimper. She's sure one of her ribs is broken, or at least severely bruised, much like her self-esteem. Mustering all the strength she has, she uses the bench to pull herself up to a standing position and leans against the red lockers. She pulls out her phone and sends a text to Quinn right away, not caring if her action makes her a coward.
To Quinn: I'm in the boys locker room, please hurry.
To Britt: What? Why! Are you okay? I'm on my way Britt…
To Quinn: They found out about…her…
To Britt: Shit. Just hang on Britt.
Suddenly the boys locker room door bursts open and in comes a worried looking Quinn Pierce. Brittany is lying on the bench she was thrown into, trying to muffle her cries of pain, but it's almost too much to bear.
"Britt!" Quinn calls out.
"Over here," Brittany says in a tired tone, trying to conserve her energy.
"Oh my god, Britt," Quinn begins to say. "What happened babe?" Quinn runs over to her sister and kneels down next to the bench that Brittany is lying on. Quinn takes her sister's hand and begins to rub small circles on the inside of her wrist.
"They found out about that one girl," Brittany finally says.
"I don't understand…" Quinn begins.
"She was the only person that ever tried to get to know me," Brittany says sniffling. "She was the only one that seemed to care about me and now she's just gone."
"Britt don't say that, you don't that for sure," Quinn says.
"Yes I do!" Brittany yells as she attempts to sit up, but winces audibly from the shooting pain in her left side. Quinn raises an eyebrow at her sister's discomfort.
"What happened?" Quinn asks.
"The jocks happened…" Brittany says with a sigh.
"Brittany, what did they do to you?" there's a hint of anger in Quinn's voice.
"Th-they, u-uhm…" Brittany's voice trails off, but Quinn isn't giving her any chances to escape telling the truth. Finally Britt gives in.
"Fine, they cornered me at my locker…" Brittany begins, frustration laced in her voice. "…a they knocked my books to the ground. They pinned me to my locker and called me stupid, a loser. He said she just felt sorry for the pathetic excuse of a person I am. That I'll never have any real friends, and to give up now while I still have a chance." At this point Brittany is sobbing into Quinn's shoulder, and Quinn has her arms wrapped around Britt's neck, holding her close for comfort.
"Britt, what else?" Quinn whispers to her.
"Th-they dr-dr-dragged me i-into the locker room a-a-and spit on me and threw me i-i-into the be-bench," Brittany barely managers to get out in between sobs. Quinn's eyes begin to water at the thought of her poor baby sister being bullied so severely. "Quinn, I th-thi-think my ribs are br-brok-broken," Brittany holds onto her left side in agony and continues to cry.
"Shhhh, Britt it's gunna be okay, I promise," Quinn reassures her and rubs her back soothingly, but secretly she doesn't know if it really will be okay.
"I can't do this anymore Quinn, I just can't," Brittany mumbles into her sister's shoulder.
"Britt do you have your keys?" Quinn asks as they walk out their front door.
"Right here," Brittany holds up her car keys, jingling them a little bit. Quinn throws her a smile and opens the passenger side door. Brittany gets into the driver side and puts the key into the ignition, taking a deep breath and releasing a long sigh.
"Are you going to start the car babe?" her sister asks, obviously in a hurry to get to school. Quinn never has any problems fitting in, so of course she's anxious to get there.
"Ye-yeah, sorry, just thinking," Brittany says before starting up her 2014 black BMW Sport SUV. Brittany may get bullied, but thanks to her parents, she's able to drive around a nice car. At least in there she can feel safe and secure.
It's a little before 8:00am when the girls pull into a spot at their new high school. Grabbing their bags from the backseat, they begin the walk to the front doors. Brittany fidgets with her hands and keeps her gaze down. Quinn, of course, walks with her head held high and a smile on her face. Brittany glances at her sister and thinks, what does she have that makes her so different from me?
"Britt, you coming?" Quinn nudges her arm. She didn't realize that she stopped just outside the doors.
"Yeah, sorry, just thinking," Brittany says with a sigh and walks into her new school after her sister.
"Here are your lockers ladies," Principal Figgins states in a very monotone voice, they've noticed.
"Thank you sir," they answer simultaneously.
The principal walks away after handing them their schedules for class, and to Brittany's dismay her and Quinn don't have a single class period together. Not even lunch. Since when do schools have more than one lunch period?
"Hey, don't worry okay?" Quinn says. "You'll be fine, new start right?"
"I guess so," Brittany says as she swings her backpack over her shoulder.
"We should get to our first class, text me if you need anything," and with that her sister Quinn disappeared down the hall.
"Yeah sure, I'll text you…" Brittany says to the now empty hall.
Brittany looks over her schedule. For the majority she's enrolled in advanced placement classes, with the exception of gym and creative writing. She smiles, seeing that her writing class is the last one of her day. At least she has something to look forward to each day. But for now, it's time to get to "Honors Calculus." She finds room 203, and feels like she's going to throw up or pass out or quite possibly both, but reaches for the door handle anyways. She slowly walks into the room, terrified, but relieved when the teacher greets her with a warm smile and her own math book. The teacher proceeds to tell her to take a seat next to a boy named Dave. She can feel everyone's eyes on her as she moves toward the middle of the room. Now she really might throw up. Pushing it down, she sets her book on the desk and hangs her bag on the back of her chair. She goes to sit in her seat and just as she does Dave pushes her book and notepad off the desk. The classroom of students begin to chuckle under their breath. Brittany isn't going to let this little joke get to her though. It's all in good fun right? She's the new girl so everyone likes to have a good laugh in the beginning and then it's all forgotten a minute later. Everything is fine. Brittany just shakes her head and smiles slightly, standing up and picking her things up, placing them back on her desk. When she goes to sit back down she doesn't realize that her chair has been pulled out further than before and falls flat to the ground. The back of her head smacks the edge of her metal seat and she thinks she's going to have a breakdown. Holding back tears, she picks herself up and slides into her chair, trying to ignore that laughter of her classmates.
"Nice one dude," another boy says to Dave and they tap knuckles.
"Fresh meat is always the easiest to break," Dave says back to his friend with a smirk.
Brittany can't believe this is actually happening to her…again. She's even more shocked when she realizes that Dave is trying to talk to her.
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Brittany stutters.
"God, are you stupid or something?" Dave mumbles. "I asked where you're from?"
Just as she's about to think of something to say, the bell rings. She quickly grabs her things and rushes out the door. A single tear slides down her cheek, but she's quick to brush it away with her sleeve. She turns the corner to go to her locker when suddenly she's lying flat on the ground. Why does this keep happening to me?
"God, can't you watch where the fuck you're going?" she hears a girl's voice say. Brittany looks up and becomes mesmerized by the girl standing over her. Her eyes are a such a deep brown color that they almost appear black, and her raven colored hair hangs in loose waves over her shoulders. "I-I'm so-sorry," Brittany begins. "I di-didn't se-se-see you there."
"Whatever stutters, but you're on my fucking list," and with that the girl is gone. Brittany wonders how someone so beautiful can sound so cruel.
