Disclaimer: The characters in my stories are completely made up characters and have temporally been given borrowed names for the sole purpose of satisfying the qualifications for posting on this fanfiction site. These stories are fiction and should be perceived as such. They in no way reflect the lives, beliefs or views of any persons living or dead and any similarities are coincidental. I am not affiliated with any company or professional wrestler in any way. No disrespect or copyright infringement intended. And if any of my favs happen upon my stories, I hope your not offended because this is not about you, it is about feedback on my story ideas. :) I love and respect what you do and I thank you for all the joy and entertainment over the years.

New story. First draft. This is going to be a high school/ growing up story. Enjoy. :D

Chapter 1

I rushed down the hall. It was the first day of school and it wasn't starting out as great as I had hoped. To make it worse, my last class was on the other side of the school! It was going to be a challenge to get to there on time from gym class without any unexpected obstacles. And that day I got cornered by two of the biggest bullies in the school. They stood in my way, shifting side to side, refusing to let me through. It was even more annoying than them knocking my books so hard that they slid half way down the hall. I swear I really thought people would have grown up. They were seniors for goodness sakes.

The tardy bell rang. I picked up the pace. Maybe if I wasn't too late, but I still had one more hallway to cross and a set of stairs to descend. Maybe the teacher would be lenient considering everyone had new schedules. I could hope, couldn't I? I took a moment to catch her breath before she pulled open the old wooden door.

"Tardiness is unacceptable!" The teacher spat before I had stepped inside. I lowered my head. I hated to be the center of attention and everyone's eyes were on me. I hugged my books tighter to my chest, knowing that at that moment every imperfection about myself could and would be noticed.

"Let's me see." The teacher held a spiral planner in her hand. "Hmmm. Two missing students and neither seem to be female. Are you a boy?" I'd heard Mrs. Fortner, the home economics teacher was tough. But I didn't believe it when I saw the little old lady the year before. She couldn't have been more than four and half foot tall and she looked like someone's sweet grandmother. "You don't talk either?"

I felt the heat rise to her cheeks. I had really looked forward to that class and I didn't get excited about much. Less than a minute in and it all changed. I felt so humiliated I wanted to cry. I dared to peek at the class room. Seven stations were crammed into that room. Three on each side. One behind a half partition in the far back. Four students stood in each and they were all staring at me like I was some exhibit in a zoo. I began to think about my hair. Too red and frizzed from lack of decent cleansing products. My makeup was too light, I had a hole in the knee of my jeans and my black hoodie was faded. I could have passed it off a few weeks in, but this was day one and everyone else looked like they stepped out of a magazine.

"Mullet." I heard someone pop off. Ugh! Here we go again. I'd hoped to leave that awful nickname behind. I heard a lot of snickers and giggles from my classmates. Many I'd known since kindergarten. I'd endured a lot of teasing in middle school about a chopped off haircut. Punishment for daring to have a crush on a boy and letting my father and stepmother find out about it. But that was years ago. I'd thought it had been forgotten, left to childhood.

Three stations away, I saw Seth and Rachel. They weren't laughing. I didn't think. Once, we had all been friends. Best friends. We had done everything together, but now they didn't speak to me. They ignored me. Hated me. And I wasn't sure why. Or maybe I did. I'd just thought they would be more sympathetic towards me about it.

"Speak up!" Mrs. Fortner snapped, rapping a rolling pin on her desk and making me jump. "Are you a boy?"

I shook my head, not raising my eyes from my stained old tennis shoes.

"Then who are you?"

I couldn't make myself talk. I was the quiet type and it was even worse when I was yelled at and this teacher was nearly screaming at me.

"Hmmm." She looked at the book. "Let's take a shot in the dark. Joey James? Is that you?"

I nodded, trying not to let the tears fall in front of the entire class.

"Oh, one of those." The teacher sneered. "A girl with a male name. Ridiculous. And I guess it's not short for anything is it?" I shook my head again. Mrs. Fortner made me feel like I should be ashamed of my own name. "Well – Joey. Late arrivals don't get to pick where they sit. You'll just have to be lucky there is still a spot for you at all. Join the last group. And hurry because you've wasted enough of our time."

I stepped down into the last station. It was different from the others, modeled around the old furnace that sat in the room. The class room was in the basement and I guessed using that room was cheaper than building a place to host the class that needed so much space. I'd heard about this station and how no one wanted to get stuck in it. It still had a donated stove while the others were fitted with new. No microwave and the smallest amount of space to move in. It was really rough to for four people to occupy, I'd heard. Looking around, I knew the rumors were true. There was barely four foot between each counter in the horseshoe shaped station.

I put my books down at the end of the counter. I couldn't see the teacher anymore and one look at my partners made me shudder. Roman and Chris. Two of the group of thugs that bullied me every day. Their buddies had cornered me in gym and had been the reason I'd shown up late.

Roman was tall medium sized kid with dark skin and hateful black eyes. Chris was shorter and rounder in the middle. He had a big nose and sniffed a lot, earning him the nick name Snort. Now I had to deal with them. The class took up both my afternoon classes and I knew I was going to have a hard time getting through it and probably passing it. They wouldn't do any of the work and I knew they would sabotage my work just to be mean or treat me like their slave, forcing me to do their parts. But at least I would only have to deal with them every other day thanks to the A-B class schedule the school supported.

"What's up, Mama?" Roman snickered.

I ignored him and went to sit on a stool. It was jerked away, thankfully before I had let my weight fall. Roman laughed and propped his feet up on it. I went for the other. Chris jumped from his seat, plopped in my path and put his feet up on the stool he'd carried with him. I was stuck standing between them. Trapped as they pushed and teased me.

"Are you boy, Joey?" Romano grabbed at my hoodie. I crossed my arms over my chest and held them tightly. "Let's see if you got anything under there."

"What happened to the short hair?" Snort jerked my ponytail. "Awe, she's trying to be pretty."

"Yeah right." Roman laughed. "Maybe if she put on some make up, but I bet she's too poor for that. Her daddy spends every dime on his liquor, doesn't he, Joey." They both spoke in lowered growls and stood, trapping me between their larger frames.

Roman traced a finger down my cheek. "Oh, she is wearing makeup."

"Now that's just sad." Snort cackled. "Just imagine how ugly she really is."

"Let's wash it off and see." Roman grabbed a cloth from the sink. It looked dirty and left behind by the class before. They brought it towards me. It smelled sour. I squirmed away, ducking out of their reach.

"Another one? I can't take these interruptions!" Mrs. Fortner rose her voice. "Detention!"

"I have a pass."

I felt my blood freeze. I knew that voice. Randy Orton and he was part of the group that was already tormenting me. There were six of them in the pack that were considered trouble in the halls and somedays I thought she was there favorite target.

"So, you got away with it this time. Last group! Hopefully your team mates have paid attention and you can figure out what we are doing from them. I will not repeat myself. That is something I will not be doing in this class. There's no time for it." Mrs. Fortner went on talking to the whole class then went back to her lesson.

Those words almost made me panic. I was lost. I had no idea what was going on thanks to the bullies in my group. Roman and Chris had me trapped between them behind the cover of the partition wall. They were back to their intimate abuse, intent on making me remove my jacket. They snatched at it from the bottom and I was really frightened. More than I had ever been before. I began to shake. Nothing they'd ever done had bothered me much before. It was just name calling, blocking my path or knocking my things from my hands, but this time I feared they meant to do real harm.

"Come on," Roman teased. "We know you're no virgin." They both snickered. "Show us some skin. There must be something decent under there."

Randy stepped into the recessed space and placed his books on the counter.

He stepped closer and I expected him to join in. I stared at him with big, terrified eyes. He was so much bigger than the other guys. So much stronger and all muscle. But worse, he was unpredictable.

"Hey buddy!" Roman grinned at his friend. "I never thought I would find a way to enjoy this class." He laughed. "Look what we got, dude. Entertainment." He shoved me into Snort who snatched my arms and held them behind my back. Romano jerked down the zipper of my jacket, exposing the spaghetti strap tank top I'd put on that day.

"Yeah, now I see how she got knocked up." He snarled. "She's got nice tits. Big ones. Randy loves big tits." then he shoved me into Randy. His expression was hard to read. His cheek muscles jumped as he hands landed on my bare shoulders. He didn't snatch or grab. He'd only caught me, but the touch still hurt. I stared up into his cold steel blue eyes, waiting for his reaction. He was the quiet one of the group. The one who sat back, watching, only stepping in if things got physical. My eyes filled with tears as I stared. There was a time when I had trusted him completely. A time when we were friends. But right then, he seemed to be a threat too and I couldn't find the strength or the words to offer the slightest defense.

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