The Underworlds

Prologue

Ch.1 - Prologue - My Normal

The bell rang like a siren through the school halls. The noise made Mia jump, bringing her out of her daydream. A group of girls noticed and started laughing and snickering in her direction. Since she was the new kid mid-semester, she didn't get a chance to establish a group of friends at the start of the year like everyone else. Mia had changed schools when she opted out of the foster system to live on her own. There are no living relatives to help her out; she has been on her own since childhood. The past hasn't been all rainbows and sunshine for Amelia Ray.

The Bitch Squad, as Mia liked to call them, consisted of Hilary, Brit, and Cara. Hilary is a typical bully, she has everything anyone could ever want; perfect blonde hair, blue eyes, a curvy body, she even has height on her side. She may seem to have everything going for her, but her folks are pretty crap at being parents. They happen to be Mia's boss' at the cafe she worked at. That's probably why Hilary picks on Mia as much as she does. Hilary's parents love Mia. Mia can see every day how poorly they treat their own daughter. Brit chose to be associated with Hilary because if she didn't, she would probably be bullied like Mia was. Brit has her looks on her side with her short brown hair that is often curled and hazel eyes, the polar opposite of Hilary's features. Mia assumes Hilary keeps Brit around because her family is loaded. On the long weekends, they often go to Brit's family lake house—the type of lake house with its own private beach. If Mia had to pick one of the three girls that she disliked the most, it would have to be Cara. She has ridiculously long strawberry blonde hair that is kept in a high ponytail due to Cara being on the volleyball team. Cara is almost always in some sort of cute workout ensemble. When she isn't with her friends, she is actually nice to Mia. It's like Hilary scares her into being a bitch.

Trying not to give the Bitch Squad any more ammo to through at her, Mia grabbed her books from class and calmly walked out of the classroom towards her locker. As she made her way down the hall, people began to stare. She checked her face, nothing there. She checked her clothes, nothing. Students would whisper on their way past her 'homeless girl' and 'skinny freak'. It was no longer just the Bitch Squad tormenting her. At times even teachers glared unapologetically. It's like they all thought less of her, yet she continues to work harder than all of them. She has been served the short stick in life and has been crawling her way up ever since. Mia thought to herself, why do they all hate me? It was starting to piss her off. If she did something wrong to deserve this treatment then fine, but she has done nothing besides being herself. Mia has kept to herself since starting at Rufford, trying to keep under the radar. Boy did that fail. A few hair strands fell into Mia's face temporarily blocking her view as she avoided eye contact with anyone passing by.

Mia continued down the school hallway until she saw her locker. Finally, she thought. The sooner she can leave for the day, the happier she will be. As Mia got closer, she could see something written in vibrant red permanent marker. The words said, 'skinny freak'. Mia let out a heavy sigh, before she put her combination into the lock, and dropped her books into the locker. Then she did her usual routine; Mia grabbed the cleaning spray and cloth that she kept at the bottom of her locker for this exact reason and attempted to remove the red marker. Mia could hear people whispering mean things about me under their breath again. Usually, Mia would ignore them but today it's different. She could hear them all so clearly, no matter the distance.

"Skinny freak." A guy from down the hall whispered to his friends, repeating what was written on her locker. They laughed in unison.

"Look at her. She is so pathetic." His friend responded.

"I heard she lives in her car, how sad for her. Not!" Brit chimed in from way back in the classroom that Mia had just left. Hilary and Cara laughed along with her. Mia couldn't see them, so how is it possible for her to hear them from where she was?