Intro

First day of high school. It's kind of crazy with all the students from different schools coming together, yet that's not really how it works. It's more like picking up where you left off, but with way more people. You get together with your old friends, meet other people that become a part of your group, and basically continue on with life how it was before.

For some teenagers that's great. They meet up with their respective groups and chat about their great summer vacations. Some went to Europe, some to camp; some just stayed home and hung out with friends all summer long. Maybe they had a job to earn some cash for the year.

For others, it's not so great. For others it's just more people to ignore them and not ask about their summer.

Chapter 1

Faith Lehane had just walked through the front doors of her high school. She was fourteen now, but unlike most other girls, you could say she was already developed. She could easily pass for sixteen with her nearly black hair, and her deep hypnotizing brown eyes.

She was watching all the commotion and shrieks of young girls seeing their friends for the first time in months. People comparing schedules, athletes talking about their summer adventures, girls talking about cute boys who were so nice to them over the summer and boys bragging about their sex-filled summer (which probably never happened).

Unlike those other people, Faith was alone. Always had been, always would be, she thought. People always watched her; they thought she didn't realize they were staring, but she did. Faith made no action to show that she cared though.

Everyone who used to go to the same school with her thought she hung out with the people who dropped out of school. Everyone who noticed her now didn't even dare try and start a conversation with her. They thought she would just blow them off.

Truth was, she didn't have older friends , or any friends for that matter. She didn't even know what real friendship actually meant. Faith had given up on the prospect of making friends in the second grade, after her mother called her a little slut in front of her only friend Rose when she came home from school late. Rose got so scared. She thought that if Faith's mom was mean like that, Faith probably was too, so she never talked to her again.

Since, then school had always been the same. Get there, go to class, leave and come home to an empty apartment. Her mom never came home until late at night. When Faith did see her, it was usually a yelling match.

As for her father, she didn't even know who he was. Her mom, Laura, was sleeping with way too many guys at the time to even have a clue of which one was Faith's father.

Faith was making her way to the lounge tables to get her schedule when she saw a group of freshmen effectively blocking the path to the 'L' section. She was about to make her presence noticed when the girl directly in front of her turned around. She was a slightly lighter brunette than Faith, yet her eyes were so dark that you could barely see her pupils. She was around 5"5, not skinny but not fat. Her skin was flawless, especially for a teenager.

"Oh, sorry, we must be in your way," she said while waving to her friends to leave since they had already gotten their schedules.

The girl and her friends were out of sight, yet Faith still stood there. She was awestruck and she didn't even know why. Nothing had happened; the girl had probably not even registered seeing Faith.

But for some reason, Faith just stood there smiling like an idiot until the bell rang.

"Fuck"

It was already lunch time and Faith was waiting in line to get her food. Surprisingly the cafeteria food didn't look half bad. She had a choice of desserts, salads, sandwiches, heated foods or the meal. Unfortunately, everything was way out of her price range.

The girl who Faith had seen early on that morning was a few people behind her in line, and she could see the look of concentration on Faith's face. She could only assume that she was trying to calculate the price of the items on her tray.

Her face was all scrunched up, she looked adorable. Wait... what?

"Oh ,come on," Faith said.

"I'm sorry, you don't have enough money. You'll have to take off a few items," the lunch lady said.

"But I calculated", Faith replied.

"You must have forgotten about the taxes. Now please hurry, there are other students who would like to eat before lunch is over."

"Fine," she said as she threw the delicious looking brownie and four dollars to the lady in the hairnet.

"Young children these days," the lunch lady shook her head, "no respect."

Back in the cafeteria, Faith was sitting in the far corner alone eating her tuna sandwich when a delicious looking two dollar brownie was placed in front of her.

"It looked like you really wanted it," the girl from earlier said with a grin.

"Uh, yeah thanks, I'll pay you back tomorrow," Faith uttered nervously.

"No need. Why don't you come sit with us?" the girl offered while gesturing to a table of at least six other teenagers eating and chatting.

"Nah... I kind of like being alone," Faith said while biting into her sandwich. She never felt comfortable in groups and always ended up saying the wrong thing so she felt safer alone.

"Okay, well that's cool. I'm Cassie by the way," Cassie said, trying to get Faith to talk a bit more and at the same time trying not to look disappointed.

"Faith," she answered. Faith had no idea why this girl was continuing to talk to her. Cassie looked like the kind of person who could hang out with anyone she wanted. She just seemed so likeable.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, I'm pretty sure we'll be eating at the same table," Cassie said and smiled before walking away.

Damn, Faith thought. She wouldn't have minded talking to Cassie a bit more for some unknown reason, but she really didn't like the idea of being around all those other people. Besides, she figured that they'd probably just dared her to come over and talk to her anyway.