Bully

Chapter 1: Life sucks

**ABRIELLE’S POV** 

Life sucks. At least it does for me. Life has sucked for me for a long time. If I’m not being picked on at school, I’m being harassed at home. There’s nowhere that I feel safe or comfortable. All through high school I was picked on mercilessly. Want to know how that started? My oldest older fucking brother! How messed up is that shit?! Sighing, I ran my hand through my hot pink, blond, and black hair. I hated being at home. Mom is an alcoholic and doesn’t really give a shit about me. My Dad is a mean, mean man and he’s taught my brothers how to be the very same. 

 I thought going to college would give me a reprieve from life at home but oh hell no. Two of my older brothers changed to the college I was going to and when my oldest younger brother went off to college the year after I started he went to my school. I was depressed. Very depressed. It seemed like I couldn’t go anywhere without having tormenters there. My only refuse was Shinedown. ”Unity” made me feel like someone out there cared about me even if they’d never met me. It made me feel like I wasn’t alone.

 When ”Bully” came out I cried. I literally cried. They gave voice to my feelings and situation. On my way from my first class of the day, one of my fellow college students thought it would be a fun idea to shove me. Onto hard concrete. Yeah, I scraped the shit out of my arm as I somehow slid. Got dirty as hell too. I sighed heavily as I stood up and began brushing myself off. They walked off laughing. I was bleeding so I headed to the nearest bathroom to clean up and try to stop the bleeding.  

With my head down, since no one ever really talks to me anyhow, I walked to my seat in the back of the auditorium. Someone, *coughmybrothercough*, tripped me. I hit a chair with my face causing my nose to bleed. Naturally people laughed. It was like high school all over again! I picked up all my things while trying to hold my still-bleeding nose. No one ever helped me during these little incidents so I learned a long time ago to carry my own little medical kit. It contained a bottle of hydrogen peroxide (to clean wounds), several wash rags (for wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding or to clean bigger wounds), a small box of Kleenex to help stop nosebleeds, a small package of cotton swabs and cotton balls, a tube of antiseptic ointment, Elastic Bandage Wraps and First Aid Tape, various types of bandages, and medical tape. Taking out the needed supplies, I dealt with my bloody nose. 

 My day went on as usual. I went home and the abuse continued. Dad refused to let me eat dinner because according to my brother I’d been clumsy all day. I sighed as I made my way upstairs to my room. After putting my bag down, I curled up in my bed and cried. When I finished my crying spell, I padded into the bathroom to take a hot shower. My arm was hurting, my nose was hurting, and my stomach was rumbling.

 When I woke up the next morning I quickly got dressed to try and slip out of the house before anyone else woke up. No luck today! My older brother pushed me down the last three stairs making me scream out in pain. Nothing appeared to be broke, not including my spirit, so I grabbed an orange, two apples, and a banana and bolted out of the house before anyone else spotted me. My brothers had gotten quite a lot of students on campus to harass me with them. It got so bad that my brothers didn’t have to be with them for these people to bully me.

 One day as I was sitting out on the grass reading through a few of my text books, the Dean of the school approached me. He asked me to take a walk with him so I quickly gathered up my belongings and walked beside him. He explained about this project that was starting with a bunch of bands. A few students would be placed on tour with a band. One multi-media student, one technical student (like works with the sound, lighting, pyro, etc), and one business student. He wanted me to partake in this project.

 Each group of students would be with their band for one and two years depending on the band and what they had going on with their tours and such. It would be his decision on who the students were placed with what band. With a warm smile he said that my academic record was exemplary and that he thought that I would get a lot out of this. I couldn’t believe it! The idea of getting away from this campus and my family for one to two years?! I was super excited about that idea! Perhaps I could escape my hell after all! 

 Without hesitation, I said that I would love to be a part of this project. He smiled at me and said that the bands would all be here in a week and he would have his decision on who I would be placed with by the time they were here. With a nervous voice, I asked what bands were participating. Slayer, Anthrax, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Ben Folds Five, Sevendust, Shinedown, Green Day, Simple Plan, and Nickelback were just a short list of the bands that had agreed to do this. Looking down at the ground I said that I would love to be placed with Shinedown since their music meant so much to me. He just smiled at me before bidding me a goodbye. 

 Before I left for the day, the Dean handed me a paper about the project. It included a list of how much to pack, where the students would be sleeping, and any other pertinent information we needed to have. A week! I had a week to get things ready. A week to suffer through before hopefully being able to escape the hell that was my life. This was going to be the longest week of my life!