I felt tears drop from the face. I never cried, but now I just felt lonely? I sobbed quietly to myself as I crossed my arms over the chest. The weather had now clouded over and a strong wind was now vacant and due to me wearing a plain white top that came just above my belly button and black jeans caused me shiver. I always told myself that I was strong however now I felt useless. I knew I couldn't go back to the dorms because I knew Monica would be waiting for me to return however I had nowhere to go. That made me sob even harder. My ankle throbbed and my head ached and every time I breathed a sharp pain ran through my ribs.

Flashback-

I'd never of seen the punch coming. I stumbled back, confused and disorientated however the weight of my backpack pulled me to one side causing me to stagger back. I almost caught myself until I saw Gina grinning spitefully at me; she reached over and pushed me. I remember hitting every stair on the way down, leaving Monica and the Monickettes hooting with laughter and high-fiving. Stars danced in front of my eyes and I felt hot and sick, knowing I would black out soon, before I did Monica came face to face me with and whispered in my ear 'Tonight. You'll get what's coming to you, you freak. I'm going to make sure.' Then the darkness took over.

I groaned and at that moment I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shrieked and jumped up from the curb landing on my ankle which I then fell back to the floor with another shriek, however this one of pain. I mentally cursed myself as I gasped for air, then I looked up to see a girl. She looked about 18 or 19 and wore all black, kind of cool actually. She wore her dyed black hair in wild pigtails and her faced was smothered in white make-up, her eyes outlined in black. She wore heavy black eye-shadow too and blood red lipstick. Her outfit consisted of a black tutu with black and red striped tights, a black ripped tank top with a red top underneath, clunky black boots and various pieces of jewellery which were mostly skulls and spikes. She was definitely a fan of the dark side. Then I looked up to her again and saw her scanning my face, my bruises and a sad frown clouded her expression.

'Hi, are you ok? God I'm such a klutz, are you hurt? Do you need help?' She rambled on about a hundred miles an hour and looked genuinely scared and concerned. 'I'm Eve by the way, ouch nice shiner, who hit you?'

'No-one,' I muttered instantly 'I had an accident.'

'Falling onto fists, I would know,' Eve agreed softly and gave me a sweet smile however she still scanned over my face and looked sad. 'Do you need a doctor? I could drive you if you wanted?' She added quickly.

'No, honestly I'm fine. I was just looking for a place to stay… I don't want to go back to the dorms, not tonight. Do you know anywhere?'

Eve smiled and it seemed genuine which I returned with a small smile 'actually we were looking for a roomie, me, Shane and Michael. We've been looking for a while. You should totally come check it out! It'd be great to have a girl around the house. I'm on my way back from work if you want a lift?'

Maybe my day was going to get better, 'yes please, I'm Claire by the way.'

I looked up at the house and felt my eyes open slightly too big. This house was huge! Well not huge huge, but I didn't think that it would be this big. I mean this was amazing!

Eve looked over at me and gave me a shy smile, 'big, huh?' I just nodded and followed her up to the front door which she slammed open and as soon as we stood inside she shouted 'yo, anyone living in here?'

I grinned and felt a sharp pain in my lip; I instantly frowned. From behind me I heard the door close which caused the hair on my arms to rise although I ignored it and carried on following Eve into the lounge? A boy was sprawled onto the sofa, in a way that only boys can sprawl, however turned around to face Eve and I as we walked in. He looked about the same age as Eve. He had brown hair cut in uneven layers, not quite punk but close and was tall and muscular. His skin was a golden brown and his eyes were the colour of caramel that were framed with thick black eyelashes.

'Hi, I'm Shane.'

'Claire'

Two weeks later-

Michael agreed to let me stay in the house, although it took a lot of convincing. I rolled out of bed and checked the clock, 9:15. Great, I had classes at 10. I hurried to the shower and stood under the hot water for about 15 minutes before turning it off and getting out. I reached for my towel and realised I'd left my clothes in my room. I groaned and opened the door silently and began walking to my room, however bumped into a chest. Shane. Oh great. I looked up and saw him smiling cockily down at me, I felt myself blush and I bit down on my lip before sending him a wink and walking back to my room where I felt his gaze on me. I got changed into a pair of ripped shorts, a cropped black mesh top and plain black vans. I wore my hair loose in waves as it reached the middle of my back and put on my foundation, eyeliner and mascara. Grabbing my brown leather bag and walking down the stairs.

Shane-

Jesus she was hot. She was only sixteen but she was still hot. After seeing her in a towel my head was a bit shaky however I shook them thoughts from my head. It's Claire for heaven's sake! I changed, before going downstairs, turning on my Xbox and began to kill zombies that appeared on the screen. About 10 minutes later I heard someone walking down the stairs. I paused the game and looked over to see Claire jogging down the stairs; she caught me looking and sent me a sexy smile. Before I could react she walked straight out the door. Classes I guess?

Claire-

I walked down the streets till I reached the university grounds. I had to admit that I did turn a few heads on the way. I did have a reputation; I was a bit of a player. I sent a couple of smirks to some guys on campus staring in my direction before I reached my class and walked in.

The sun was starting to set as I began walking over to common grounds, I was thirsty and tired. A hand caught my elbow and turned me around. I faced a boy, around the same age as me as I'd seen him a couple of times on campus before. He had the same frame as Shane, tall and muscular. His skin was pale and he had friendly green eyes with black shaggy hair that swept across his forehead. He was hot, really hot. I instantly smiled up at him, which he returned and made him look even better.

'Hey, I'm Austin.'

'Claire.'

'Oh I know,' he grinned down at me and realised my elbow, 'I was going to ask you to a party at the dorms tonight, it's at 10?'

'Sure, I'll meet you there.' And with that I sent him a wink and went straight home without stopping at common grounds.