A/N: Phew. Chapter done and it was a lot longer than I thought it was. My notebook was deceiving. Well... here's chapter one to yet another Phantom story. I'm going to be starting some other stories soon that will be based on other subjects. Just have to figure out what and how. ^-^ Well... love you all.

Chapter One

Choices Made

Lauryn sighed. She could feel the two girls staring and knew they were whispering about her. She didn't mind the looks. She wished people would just ask her what had happened instead of making up rumors. She had been in her backyard when the propane tank on her family's grill had exploded. Luckily, she was far enough away that she had only been burned and had not lost her life. She had been only six at the time. They had had to do skin grafts on the right side of her body on the places that had been burned the most. Her right temple and the edge of her face and cheek had been burned as well as the the right side of her neck and right shoulder, arm, side, hip, leg, and foot. She was lucky she had not been burned worse. There had been others at the hospital that had been burned so badly, they were no longer recognizable. She felt extremely blessed. She had grown up with the scars and instead of being embarrassed and trying to hide them, she had grown proud of them and wasn't afraid to let people see them.

"Hey Acid Girl! What are you doing?" Lauryn sighed to herself. This was just the person she wanted to talk to. Not.

"Hi, TJ. I'm reading as you can see," she said gesturing to her book. She had just checked out the Phantom of the Opera and had yet to finish the first page as she had been busy all morning and then had been distracted by the girls. Now it looked like she would have to deal with TJ and his annoying friends. Great.

TJ was one of the popular boys on campus. He had been a football player in high school and had always thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Lauryn guessed he was good looking enough. He had dirty blond hair and gray eyes. He was pretty fit but she wasn't impressed. Of course she had never been one to fawn over the guys. She hardly noticed what they looked like most of the time. Sure she had had a couple crushes but doesn't every girl? Lauryn was broken out of her thoughts by TJ's voice.

"Reading? Why aren't you hanging out with your friends? Oh wait. I forgot. You don't have any." His friends laughed. Lauryn had yet to make any new friends since starting college. She missed her high school friends. She still talked to them occasionally but she hadn't heard from them in a while. She wanted to smack the stupid grin off his face but knew it wouldn't do any good. She looked back at her book but didn't see the words. Why hadn't she found any friends yet? Her room mates were nice enough but they were always having parties on the weekends. Often getting drunk and sleeping with boys. She usually just locked herself in her room. She had no interest in that kind of relationship. She thought it was a very sad world where it was cool to sleep around, drink, and wear clothing that could barely be called clothes. They might as well run around in their underwear and nothing else. It wouldn't make much difference. And the men. With their wandering eyes and lack of manners. She couldn't really blame them for the first part. It was hard not to look sometimes when a girl was clearly advertising herself. But the manners? Gentlemen were few and far between. She herself only knew a few real gentlemen. It seemed like whenever a guy did something like offer you a chair, it was seen as flirting. The world could be so stupid sometimes. She wished she could transport herself into one of her books to a time where things were better.

"I have to go. Bye TJ," Lauryn said standing up, collecting her books, and putting them in her backpack.

"See ya around, Crispy Chick," one of his friends said.

"Nice one!" TJ said, clapping him on the back. He looked way too pleased with himself.

Lauryn just rolled her eyes and walked away. She made a mental note not to speak French around them. She had been called 'French Fry' once and she didn't want to be again.

Today she needed to do laundry and make dinner. She hurried to her dorm and tossed her bag onto her bed before changing her clothes. She changed into some jean cutoffs and a tank top before gathering all of her dirty clothes. After sorting and starting the first batch, she started making pizza. She had just put it in the oven when the front door opened. In came her room mates, some of their friends, and a bunch of guys. Lauryn groaned. She couldn't leave the pizza in the oven and expect them to take it out. It would more likely cook all night and eventually start on fire. Plus she had laundry to finish.

"Hey Lauryn! You making pizza?" Marcy asked coming into the kitchen, her current boyfriend following her like a drooling puppy. Lauryn swore she had a different boyfriend just about every week. The thought made her feel sick. Marcy was a nice girl, nice if a bit silly. She was five foot nothing, blond hair which she curled into perfect ringlets, and a hourglass figure. She was sporting a spray on tan that looked a bit orange against her blue top and white short shorts.

"Yes I am," Lauryn replied still a bit irritated. They could at least warm her before having a party. She glanced at the clock. It was about eight in the evening,

"Oh good! We are going to watch a movie. Wanna watch with us?" That was not on her list of things she wanted to do tonight. "Please, Lauryn! It will be so much fun!"

Lauryn sighed. Maybe it wouldn't be too horrible. It had been a long time she had had a movie night. "Fine. I'll join you." Marcy clapped her hands in joy.

"Yay! Come on!" She grabbed Lauryn's hand and began dragging her towards the living room. She went mostly willingly until she remembered what she was wearing. She jerked her hand free and backed up against the kitchen table.

"I can't go in there like this! Let me go throw on a t-shirt."

"Nonsense! You look great! Come on! You don't want to miss the movie." She was once again taken by the hand and dragged along. Soon she was introduced by Marcy who was still speaking in exclamation points. She waved shyly in greeting. They put the movie in and dimmed the lights but Lauryn didn't know where to sit. She was having second thoughts when a guy named Mark called her name.

"Hey Lauryn! Why don't you come sit by me?" She shyly walked over and sat down. He put his arm across the back of the couch and Lauryn couldn't help but tense. He was making her feel rather awkward and uncomfortable. She could hardly pay attention to the movie because she was ultra aware of every movement he made. She was grateful when the timer went off on the oven and she had to take the pizza out. It was short lived relief because all too soon she had to return. This time he draped his arm around her shoulders. She went extremely stiff and felt like she was made out of wood rather than flesh. If she had been asked what was happening in the movie, she wouldn't have been able to answer. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see one of her room mates making out with a guy Lauryn had never seen before.

How could people do that? Make out with people they hardly knew. It was disgusting. Just then, one of the guys pulled out some kind of alcoholic beverage and started passing some bottles around. The guy next to her offered her one and she turned it down. She didn't drink and didn't plan on starting tonight. He just shrugged and tipped the bottle back. It smelled horrible. By the time the movie was over, several people were obviously drunk. Several couples moved off into different places in the dorm to have some more privacy. Lauryn was glad she had locked her door so no one would go in there. The lights were still dim and Mark was way too close for comfort. He began to growl playfully and Lauryn crawled backwards on the couch. He was freaking her out. He crawled forward until he was only inches away and she could smell the alcohol strongly on his breath. This was not good. He leaned forward and licked her shoulder. That was too much for her. She put her hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could. He fell off the couch and hit his head. He reached up and touched the back of his head. His fingers came back with blood. Lauryn looked at her hands in disbelief.

"What have I done?" she whispered. Mark stood up slowly and looked at her with murder in his eyes. Lauryn scrambled to her feet. She was so dead.

"I'm going to kill you," he growled angrily. He stalked towards her and she jumped up from the couch and turned to run. She didn't make it far before she was seized from behind. She screamed and a hand was clamped over her mouth. He started dragging her and she started to really panic. Where was he taking her? What was he going to do with her? She breathed in relief that he wasn't dragging her off to a bedroom but then she realized where they were headed. The balcony.

'He really is going to kill me!' Lauryn thought frantically. She tried to wiggle out of his grip but it was useless. He was much stronger than her. He paused and she heard the door open. Why did she have to be on the top floor? Why hadn't she just gone in her room like she usually did? Now because of her choice, she was going to pay with her life at the hand of a drunk man. She could have gone to her room and read her book but no. She had to try and have fun with other people.

He started dragging her over to the edge and she thought frantically of a way to escape. He spun her around and pinned her to the railing. She could feel the cold metal bars against her back. "You shouldn't have rejected me."

"Don't do this. Please don't hurt me," she pleaded.

"You should have thought of the consequences before. Now you will pay the price."

"Isn't there another way? I'll make it up to you." She didn't know how she would but when faced with death, she didn't really care. She wasn't ready to die. Then again, who was?

"It's too late. Say goodbye, Lauryn." He pushed her and for a half second, she felt like she was floating before she was plummeting towards the earth.

She felt the hard impact before overwhelming pain. She faintly could feel cold stone beneath her cheek. She thought that was weird because she was pretty sure there was supposed to be grass. She didn't have much time to think on that. The last thing she saw was a gray skirt as someone bent down in front of her before the world faded to black.