Chapter Two: Great Pretender

One year later, first day of school….

I shouldn't be feeling like this, this wasn't normal for me. This morning I had a decent breakfast; a granola bar, a glass of orange juice and I had eaten some vanilla yogurt while I waited at the bus stop. Now I had a feeling I was about to see it all over again, only this time all over my lap.

I never felt nervous on the first day of school, in fact I loved it. Getting up early, picking out my outfit, new school supplies, seeing my old friends, I lived for that. To me it felt like I was starting over, wiping the slate clean. Now felt like I was on a path toward hell and I was getting closer and closer as the bus drew nearer to my school.

My summer had not been a great one. Besides the obvious incident my summer job had been crappy and my mom wanted me to start applying for colleges, getting my license and looking for an apartment. Just thinking about it made me glad I was starting my senior year, the sooner I got outta that house and on my own the better.

The bus suddenly stopped snapping me out of my thoughts, I looked up and saw that I had arrived at my destination. I stepped off the bus with the other kids and headed up towards the entrance.

"Harley is that you?" I stopped in my tracks and turned around just in time to see a pretty girl with long blond hair jogging my way. It took me a moment to recognize her.

"Oh hey Maryse." I said giving her a small smile. "What did you do to your hair?"

Maryse and I had been best friends since my sophomore year. She had been the new girl in school and me being the nice person that I am, I took it upon myself to show her around. Turns out we had a lot in common and we've been friends every since.

Maryse touched her hair, running through it with her fingers. "I got how do you say, extensions." She replied in her thick French accent. "Do you like? It doesn't look bad does it?"

"No it looks great." I said as we walked into the school. Surprisingly it wasn't as crowded as it was outside. "So where's Melina?"

"I don't know I thought she'd be on the bus with you?"

I shrugged it off figuring she'd be late…as always. "We'll probably meet up with her later." I replied. "So what classes do you have this year?"

Maryse excitedly reached into her black purse which she always carried with her. Typical, she was always carrying some bag or purse that her father got her.

Maryse had told me a lot about her home life after we started hanging out. She had lived in Paris since she was six years old, then her parents got divorced and her mom moved them to the US.

Her parents got joint custody so she got to visit her father in Paris over the holidays, he would always get her presents and what not. I've never met him, but he did send me this diamond necklace for my birthday and a ring for Melina on her quinceañera so of course we thought he was cool.

"I got US History, English 3, Algebra 2, Economics and French." answered Maryse with a happy smile. "What is your schedule?"

I took a moment to remember what the paper said. "Algebra 2, English 4, Chemistry, American Government and Art."

"Oh that's fantastic, we have Math together." As we walked down the hallway and turned the corner I saw maryse stop dead in her tracks. I turned to her confused, she had this dreamy look on her face

"What's with you?" I asked.

Maryse sighed softly. "He is so, how do you say, gorgeous isn't he?" I look around the hallway, wondering who she was talking about.

"Who?" She didn't answer, but instead nodded farther down the hall. I looked in the direction and all the color drained from my face.

Right there leaning against the lockers, chatting with his gang of friends was Randy Orton. I cursed under my breath, I thought I'd be lucky enough to avoid seeing him today, obviously not.

I felt a shove on my shoulder and turned to Maryse, she had said something to me that I didn't catch. "What did you say?"

"Isnt he cute Harley, I mean he's so perfect, no?"

I looked back over at him, watching as he laughed at something one of his friends had said. I couldnt believe him. How could someone who looked so innocent and harmless be so heartless and cold?

How could he be so calm and collected? Pretend as if he didn't rape me last year, pretend like he didn't take away my virginity without a care in the world, pretend like he didn't leave me in the middle of nowhere forcing me to walk home in the middle of the night. Thoughts began to flood my mind once again, I quickly pushed them out of my head.

"Harley." I turned to her, her face was now filled with worry. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"You sure, you were breathing very heavily. Are you sick?"

"No I'm fine really." Suddenly the bell rung signaling the start of school. The hallways immediately began to fill with students, I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll see you at lunch." Maryse nodded and walked down the opposite hall. I took a moment to get myself together, looking down the hall I saw Randy and his friends had disappeared, thank god.

I started to head to my first class, art. At least I could start the day off with a class that required no academic skills once so ever. Even though I was happy to get to my morning class I still couldn't get my mind off of seeing him.

There's no way I'm gonna get through this year without having a nervous breakdown.

So here's Chapter 2, finally I was able to get it up, now the story can begin. Thank you to the people who took the time to read this story, I hope you all liked it.

TrixieDProductions.