The ear piercing beep of my alarm clock woke me on this dreary November morning. I moaned an inaudible few choice words before sitting up, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban falling from my chest in the process, and wiping the crust away from my eyes. I picked up my book, quickly dusting it off; before I began my morning routine of getting ready for the hell hole they called high school. I trudged to the bathroom beginning the tedious job of taming my wild mane. Once it was somewhat manageable I tied it back with a sky blue bow my best friend had gotten me for my birthday a few years back. I matched it with a black Blink-182 tank, some skinny jeans, and my old, severely damaged Converse that were falling apart at the seams. I threw some make up on my tired looking face and glanced in the mirror for one last check before heading out. God, no amount of makeup could make me look even half decent. You know my parents named me Belle because it was supposed to mean beautiful or whatever right? Wow, that's unfortunate for them; they got stuck with some gargoyle as a daughter. I quickly shoved my HP book in my backpack and began my trek down the stairs.
"Morning sweetie!" my dad greeted. "Care for some pancakes?"
"No thanks Dad. I'm already way late and I have to meet up with Chip in like five minutes."
"Oh yeah, okay. No worries kiddo; maybe some other time."
I hated disappointing my dad. He tried so hard to be close to me and all I ever did was push him away. My mom died of cancer when I was a freshman and ever since then I haven't been the same. I completely shut down after that and that included shutting my dad out of my life entirely. I only talked to him when necessary and made sure to steer clear of him as much as possible. I don't even know why to be completely honest. What had he done? Absolutely nothing but yet I continued to not even bother with him. I fucked up my relationship with the only person I had left and things could never get back to where they were; they just couldn't. I pulled the front door shut before making my way to Chip's house to pick her up for the walk to Purgatory. Chip wasn't her real name; her real name is Hope. I started calling her Chip however because she has the most chipper attitude you will ever find in a person. She's been my best friend since she punched some kid in the face in fifth grade for making fun of me. We've been inseparable ever since and she's like a sister to me. Her home life isn't any better than mine. Her parents divorced when she was twelve and she lives with her alcoholic mother and douchebag stepdad. She stepped out of the house and we immediately linked arms as we started our stroll to Lumworth High. We chatted the whole way to school about the most obscene things we could think of, laughing uncontrollably at how weird we actually were. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later that we had arrived to our death sentences saying goodbye to each other until lunch later on where we would reunite and reignite our previous completely insane conversation. I dug through my bag for my Calculus textbook, not paying attention whatsoever to what was going on around me, when I crashed into what felt like a concrete wall. However, upon looking up I discovered it wasn't a wall at all, but actually, a boy.