Chapter One
It was Friday in the morning, I was in Crawford Hall. I was running late to a class when one of the Queen Bee of the University decided that today—when I was really late—was a good moment to bully me.
"Well, look who's here!" said Cherry, a beautiful blonde haired blue eyed girl.
I sighed. Just my luck.
"Please move out of my way"
She just laughed, and her friends laughed with her dumbly. She always had three other girls with her. Sara, an African-American girl with the most beautiful green eyes someone could have. Lily, a girl that fitted perfectly the stereotype of dumb blondes. And Marleen, the most beautiful girl on campus. (Also the most slutty)
"What's wrong, sweetie?" asked Cherry in a sweet tone.
God, I hated when she used that tone of mock sweetness.
"Oh!" said Lily mock worriedly. "Are you late for your dumb class?"
I growled. I could stand everything they could have to say about me, but I couldn't stand that they mocked my choice of what I wanted to be. I wanted to be an Author. So what? That was my choice, not them. Everyone loved different things. I loved reading, they loved...well, whatever they did.
"It's not dumb, Lily" I said, all while trying to move pass them.
The three of them scoffed.
"Please. Reading, writing...what's so awesome about that?" rolled her eyes Marleen.
I glared at her, momentarily forgetting that I was in a hurry. I looked at all of them. Behind Cherry and her 'friends', a small group of students were looking at us. Probably marvelling about the idea of a fight.
"What's so awesome about that, you ask" I said, looking at all of them in the eye. Taking my time to do so. "Reading is special. When you read you live another life. You become another person for a moment. You experience things you'd never experienced before. You fall in love. You hate. You cry. You feel joy..." I smiled to myself. "You live adventures...—" I heard footsteps coming toward us, and I stopped myself, simply smiling at Cherry and the others.
She was glaring at me. She probably didn't expected me to answer Marleen's question. She seemed to hate me even more than last year now...I guess I should explain Cherry's hate towards me. I'll make it a short story. We both fell in love with the same guy. He rejected her, only to date me. (That was a surprise, considering Cherry's prettier than me). Things didn't work out for us, but Cherry continued hating me because of that. Last year was a nigthmare for me, and I had hoped this year would be different, but no. It didn't seemed like that.
A minute later, Mr. Wolf, my literature professor, appeared. He was a good looking old man with soft eyes and a sweet smile that could melt any heart. He was the type of professor who always makes you smile and always knew what to say. Yes, he was rude and sarcastic, but that only made him one of the coolest professors here. I respected him deeply, and if one could choose her family, I would have loved to have him as my grandpa.
He sighed and looked around. He spotted me, and saw the way Cherry and her friends were looking at me. He rolled his eyes slightly.
"Is something wrong here, Ms. Blake?" he addressed Cherry.
She turned to him, and rolled her eyes. "Easy, old man, we're just talking"
Mr. Wolf didn't even blinked. "Well, your conversation will have to wait. I'm needing Ms. Grace in class right now" his tone dropped in sarcasm, and I tried to hide a smile at Cherry's face.
"Whatever" she said, and stormed over, kicking me on the shoulder as she passed, making me drop my backpack, my books and things falling on the floor.
I glared at her back and lowered down to pick up my things. Honestly. All I ever wanted was it to be a nice day for once, but as the day moved on, it looked like today wasn't my day.
The crew dispersed, everybody returning to their classes. Mr. Wolf sighed, but didn't helped me pick up my things. He was an old man, he used a cane, so I guess if he did he wouldn't have been able to raise up properly.
"You okay, Ms. Grace?" he asked me.
I nodded. "Yep. Perfectly" I said while I tried to put everything back on my bag. I raised from the floor and smiled slightly at Mr. Wolf.
"Thanks" I said, referring to his intervention to the nearly fight I had with Cherry.
He just nodded. "Come on, You're already late for class"
He started walking towards the classroom, but before I could follow him, a light tap on my shoulder stopped me. I turned, and the first thing my eyes saw was my red portable hairbrush. I looked up from the hand that was giving them, and saw a blonde man with golden eyes.
"Thanks" I said, flashing him a grin and putting it on my bag. I looked at him again, and saw him holding a broom. "You're the new Janitor, huh?"
The last one we had had been an orderly woman that gossiped more than she cleaned. She was fired a week ago, when we had to close one of the classrooms because of the bad smell and the dirty desks and boards.
"Yup" he said.
"Cool" I said, smiling politely.
"MS. GRACE" I heard Mr. Wolf call.
I smiled at the Janitor one last time, and ran to my classroom.
...
The rest of the day passed normally. I got in two more arguments with Cherry and her friends, but everything was okay. I failed at a Math test. I took a Literature test that I'm sure I passed. And my Psychology class fucked me up today. The human mind was more complex than I had originally thought.
I made my way towards my sorority after classes. Now, in my sorority there were, like, five other girls with me.
We were all different.
There was Jane: the Med Student.
Eliza: the Cheerleader.
Victoria: the Fashionista.
Bianca: The Drama Queen.
Lizzie: The Perfectionist.
And me...
I shared a room with Jane, while Victoria and Eliza shared other. And the last one went to Bianca and Lizzie.
"Hey, Gabrielle!" squealed Eliza when she saw me.
"Hi, Eliza" I said softly, letting myself fall on one of the couches.
"How was your day?" Eliza asked while smiling at her reflection on the mirror and putting make up on her face. She was already dressed with her uniform.
"Tedious" I said sighing.
She hummed, apliying mascara to her eyes.
"Where are the other girls?" I asked looking around.
"Jane's in class. Vicky and Lizzie are upstairs. And Bianca'a with Chris" she replied.
"Okay" I said, making my way upstairs. "See you later"
She hummed again, and I went upstairs. I opened my room door.
My room was quite comfortable. There were two beds, Jane's and mine. The walls were a soft tone of blue. We both had our own desks and computers and things there. Jane's desk was very organised and full of medic stuff for her classes while my desk was a terrible mess. I had lots and lots of papers, and books and other things that I used daily.
I had a messy desk, but the rest of the room was clean and organised. (thanks to Jane). There were bookshelves all around the room and the window's view showed the street, but I didn't cared. I liked my sorority, at least we were all friends. I pitied the poor people that had to share a house with their enemies. It must be exhausting.
Anyway, I changed into more comfortable clothes, and sat on my bed to read a little. After a while, Jane stormed into the room, groaning and moaning as she threw herself at her bed.
I smiled softly. "Bad day?"
She just grumbled something on her pillow.
Immediately, there were footsteps coming to our room, and the door was opened a little hastily, as the rest of the girls entered. Victoria and Lizzie went to sit with Jane. I put my book down and moved over so they could sit on my bed too. Eliza and Bianca sat with me.
"Hey girls!" said Eliza jumping up and down.
"Hello" murmured Jane, still laying on her bed.
We talked about our days, like we did every other day, and then we went to business. Or as its more known, gossiping.
"Guys! Guys! Wait" said Bianca dramatically, holding her hands up on a 'stop the world' motion. "Did you see the new cutie at History Class?"
Eliza giggled, nodding.
"You mean Graham?" I asked slowly.
They all turned to me.
"You know him?" asked Victoria.
I shrugged. "He asked me for a pencil"
We talked about him. And about other things, but quickly, the topic changed.
"Are you guys going to the party?" asked Lizzie.
"What party?" Jane and I asked.
"Chris's party!" said Bianca, like it should be obvious.
Chris was Bianca's boyfriend. He was a year older than her, and had entered the University because of the sports program. He wasn't the smarted lad around here, but he was sweet and dorky.
"Oh. Yeah. Chris's party...yay!" I said, sarcastically. I didn't had anything agains him, but his parties were really famous, so Cherry obviously would go. And I wasn't in the mood to stand her again.
Bianca gave me a look. "C'mon! Its gonna be fun!"
"Probably" I said shrugging.
"C'mon! It's Friday night!" nodded Eliza. "What do you plan to do? Stay here and read?"
I shrugged again, I probably would.
Jane sit up and looked at us. "I'm in"
They all cheered. Then, slowly, they all turned to me.
I groaned. "I don't want to" I whined. They all tried to make me go, but I refused. "I'm tired. I have a headache so strong it feels like my skull is about to break, and I don't want to see Cherry, Sara, Lily or Marleen again today"
"Did you guys fought again?" rolled her eyes Lizzie.
I sighed. "You know how she is"
"That's another reason to why you should go!" said Victoria suddenly.
I raised an eyebrow in her direction.
"Yes" said Eliza enthusiastically, nodding to Victoria. "Show her her words don't hurt you"
"But they do hurt me sometimes" I said. I never liked fighting. And being called a bitch and things like that made me mad, but they hurt me too. I have feelings, I'm not a machine.
They all rolled their eyes in sync.
"She doesn't have to know that" said Jane.
They started to talk at the same time again, and my head was hurting even more. I groaned. "If I say yes, would you guys leave me alone for a couple of minutes?"
"YES" they all said grinning.
I sighed. "Then yes, I'm in"
That's how I went to a party I didn't wanted to go.
When we arrived to Chris's fraternity, we all took different ways. Bianca obviously went to find her boyfriend. Jane was talking with some friends. Eliza was flirting with the Captain of the Basketball Team. Victoria was giggling with her friends. And Lizzie was just dancing with a boy I've never seen before.
Quickly, everyone started to get drunk. I looked around, frowning, my headache was only getting worse now with all the noise and the two beers I drank weren't helping it. I tried to find my friends to tell them I would be going, but instead, I found a couple of Basketball players looking my way.
I adverted my eyes quickly, not liking the way they were eying me. Then, I caught a glimpse of girl with brown hair and purple eyes.
"ELIZA!" I yelled over the music.
She was giggling at the boy she was dancing with, but turned when she heard me.
"I-I'm going home" I said, covering myself with my jacket. "I don't feel so well..."
She frowned for a moment, but she was too drunk to form a coherent thought, so she ended nodding in my direction.
I walked away from Chris's Fraternity, covering myself with my jacket to protect myself from the cold. I had to walk all the way to my sorority since we had all went on Victoria's car, but she was still at the Party.
After a couple of minutes of me walking alone, I heard footsteps and laughs behind me. I turned around slowly, still walking. The Basketball players were following me. One of them waved his shaking hand in my direction with a sly grin.
I walked faster on the streets. The sound of their laughs following me and making me nervous. What the hell did they wanted? I've never talked to them. I don't even know their names!
I crossed Crawford Hall, still walking as fast as I could to get to my sorority. For a moment I didn't heard anything behind me, and I let out a breath, thinking they were gone.
"I'll rip her panties first" then, I heard one of them say.
I froze for a second, and then that was enough for me. I started running, only to have them stumbling to follow me. They were drunk, but how could they run!
I hated to run. I was never a runner, so they caught with me quickly. One of them grabbed me by the waist, and I cried out loud. I kicked him, trying to break from his grasp.
I made an error doing that. The boy, a tall muscular black haired boy, groaned, and let me go. But quickly, other of them pinned me against a wall. I tried to kick him too, but he had my hands gripped tightly.
Everything happened to fast. The whole five of them were cornering me too. One of them, the one gripping my hands, moved a bit, but didn't let go of my hands. The one that I have kicked came forwards and gripped my cheeks tightly, making me wince when his nails scratched me.
"You bitch" he whispered. "Look what you did to me!" His nose was bleeding.
I tried to move, but his hand on my cheeks only made more pressure on them. Then, I was sure I would probably have marks tomorrow...If I lived to see a tomorrow.
I felt my eyes tearing when the other two moved and forced me to keep my legs open against the wall. I tried to move, I really did, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, but one of them, the one that said he would rip my panties first, took out a pocket knife and pointed it at my neck.
I whimpered. "Please no" I begged, feeling the tears starting to fall. The knife was cold under my neck.
They just laughed.
Why was this happening to me!? I wasn't even pretty! I was just me. I was nothing special! I was panicking by now. I shouldn't have listened to my friends. I shouldn't have went to that party. God...
One of them moved forwards, pushing the knife guy to the side, where he continued pointing the knife at my neck, and the guy coming forwards me grabbed the sides of my white blouse and ripped the material roughy, leaving me on my bra.
I cried out loud. "Please no! Help! Someone! Please!—" the one in front of me slapped me, while the knife dude made more pressure on my neck.
"Quiet, Bitch" said the on in front of me.
I cried again, as this time one of the other guys, the only one that hadn't came forwards, took my jeans and started to push them down. When they were on my knees, suddenly, they all went flying backwards, away from me.
I cried, falling to the floor, hugging my knees. I was to scared to move. Ive never been so scared in my life like I am right now. My tears were blurring my view. I heard the basketball dudes screaming, but I couldn't move, I couldn't even raise my head to see what was happening.
I was in shock. I was scared. I was half naked on the street. But beyond all that, I was so, so, so scared. I was whimpering, hugging myself on the cold floor.
I saw the boys running away screaming like girls, but I still didn't looked up to see what had made them scared. Anyway, I thought, there was no way it could be more dangerous than they are.
"Hey..." I felt a hand grabbing me by my elbow, helping me up. "You okay there?"
Only then, I raised my eyes to look at the person. It was the blonde janitor I had seen this morning on the halls. He was frowning, but as he looked at me, he softened his expression. I guess I looked pathetic and vulnerable, hugging myself and crying and trembling.
"Y-Yes" I managed to say, my voice sounded broken and scared. "T-Thank Y-You"
He frowned to where the boys had been, then he helped me pull up my pants and he closed my jacket, covering my bra. I tried to stand still, but my knees were shaking, like the rest of me. He put his arm around my wait to help me walk.
"C'mon, let's get you home save"