Grace Van Pelt stepped out of the shower. Steam clouded the mirror as she searched the large room for a dry towel. Covering herself, she stepped out of the stall. The bathrooms at CBI were nice compared to her old school. Then again, her old school had been a public high school, not a private boarding school. She pulled some hair product out of her locker and thoroughly massaged her long red mane. She had just changed into pair of jeans and a bra and was searching through her locker for a top. Someone was showering in the second stall, so she hadn't heard the door opening. Marilyn, the blonde girl in the room across the hall stepped in the shower room and stared at Grace. Grace still had her head in her locker so she hadn't been trying to hide what she usually did from other student at CBI. On her side and her back were two strange scars. She had what looked like burn scars and skin grafts on her back and two puncture marks that look suspiciously like stab wounds on her side.

Grace pulled her head of her locker and jumped when she saw Marilyn staring at her. Marilyn blushed and looked at the floor.

"Sorry, Grace, I was just coming in for...I needed my..my..." She stuttered nevously.

"No, its fine, Marilyn, I'm just changing..." Grace was hiding her upper half with a damp towel. The two girls stood for a second in awkward silence until Marilyn grabbed a hairbrush out of her locker, muttered 'sorry' and dashed out the door. Grace turned toward the large mirror, wiped the steam off with her hand and looked at her reflection. Unshed tears shone in her eyes as she touched the skin graft that didn't hurt anymore.

She had tried so hard to hide it from her fellow students. She was the awkward new kid, transferring to CBI halfway through her sophomore year. Teresa, her roomate, had walked in on her changing once. She expected Teresa to judge her, to tease her or at the very least, to treat her differently but she hadn't. She quietly whispered that she understood and hugged Grace. Grace didn't believe her until one day, she walked in on Teresa in the same way Marilyn had. Teresa was wearing a towel with her back to the door and Grace saw crisscrossed scars all across her back and shoulders and several small round little burns. Teresa had turned around, smiled and said.

"Hey, Grace have you seen that hair creme that we share? I think I saw Brenda Shettrick from 2B using it on..."

"She doesn't think I saw her back." thought Grace. "She thinks that her towel covered it." Grace awkwardly shook her head no and left the room to organize her thoughts.

As Teresa knew and now Marilyn suspected, Grace Van Pelt had not had the easiest life. Her life had started out well. Her father was a successful football coach for a college team and the family, while not rich, had what they needed and could afford several luxuries. Grace had an older sister, Melanie, three brothers and a cousin who had moved in with them after the death of his parents in a car crash. They lived on a pleasant, small farm near a small town. While there weren't many other children, but she had four siblings and a cousin to play with.

When she was ten, something happened that changed her life forever. Her older sister Melanie hung herself from the hayloft that she had built forts in with her siblings, using Grace´s old jump rope. She left a note explaining that she was sorry, it wasn't anyone's fault except their Uncle Perry. Uncle Perry had been touching Melanie at night for many years. He warned her that if she told, he would kill her, her family and himself. It wasn't until he told her one night that he thought her sister Grace was pretty. Melanie realized wouldn't be long until Uncle Perry went after Grace. In her note, she explained that she wanted him to be caught but if she told, he would kill her whole family. This way, only she would die and everyone else would be safe.

After Melanie´s suicide, Grace's life fell apart. Her family fought so much the eventually, they got a divorce. Her father moved out, taking her brothers and her cousin and leaving Grace with her depressed mother. Grace's mother, Marie, became a schizophrenic and accused Grace of killing Melanie. Marie stayed in her room all day staring at the wall and muttering nonsense under her breath while Grace cooked, cleaned, and cared for herself. Grace managed to keep her straight As and always showed up to school looking clean and presentable.

One day, her mother managed to convice herself that Grace was possessed by the Devil. She tied her to a bed, poured boiling water on her and stabbed her twice. Then, satisfied with her exorcism, she went to the next room to watch TV. The mailman was delivering the mail when her heard Grace's screams and called the police.

Grace was moved to a decent foster family for a year and a half. The family was very uptight and religious. The mother and father barely ever spoke to Grace or eachother. They mostly just sat around the house and read the bible. Grace tiptoed around the house until the end of eighth grade when she was convinced that she would go insane if she had to spend any more time in that house. She won herself a scholarship to CBI.

On the day of departure, her foster parents, Judy and Martin were sitting in armchairs reading the bible. Grace stood in front of both of them and tried to get their attention. When they didn't look up, she began talking.

"Um, Judy? Martin?" They didn't show any sign of hearing her. She continued a little louder. "I just wanted to say that I'm moving out today. I won a scholarship to a boarding school." No response. "I already met with Mary (Her social worker) and sorted out all of the details. I wanted to thank you for taking care of me all this time. " Grace wished they would at least look up so it didn't feel like she was talking to a brick wall. "Well, goodbye." She turned away ever though she knew they wouldn't look up to notice the tears in her eyes.

Grace picked up her suitcase, put on her backpack and was halfway out the front door when she heard Judy's quiet voice behind her. "God be with you."

Those four words had stayed with Grace and were the main reason for her religious nature. She wanted to avoid becoming what her mother swore she was.