The One Who Lived

Chapter One - The One Who Was Wronged

My favorite part of school has always been the mornings.

I like to watch as everyone swarms into the school like bees going into a hive, because in this crowd no one is anything but a student trying to get into class. There are no popularity statuses or gawking at outfits.

I feel a small grin spread on my face, because as I stand next to Kadence, I know that I am standing next to the only exception to what I just said. With Kadence and our friends, it is all about this moment. They plan their days around this entrance and the way that they feel as everyone watches them. Though, Kadence is not just a bee on its way into the hive – she is the queen bee. The other bees wait for her entrance and move once she appears.

I watch as Kadence and the other girls admire and check themselves once more in the reflections of their car windows before we make our way into school. I can't help but feel the usual twig of pain that comes with the reality that I will never be able to be them again. I genuinely can't even comprehend being the full-face makeup and perfectly picked out outfit girl ever again.

I honestly envy them. I envy what I used to be with them.

Because I used to be right up there with Kadence – it was always Kadence, Isla, and Ada as the top three...but Ada and I have fallen. Kadence is the only one left standing.

Ada fell when Anni died. When Anni died it was literally like Ada did not care to move or function ever again, and even though it was only four and a half months ago – it feels like centuries since we have seen the real Ada.

I fell because of Bryce. After Bryce destroyed me, there was nothing left in me to fight for. Every single time that I considered putting myself together like the girl before – I craved my bed. I craved the way that the blankets hid me from everyone while giving me warmth that I wanted without the touch that I hated. I craved the way that I could control who came and left my room because I sure as hell couldn't control everyone's judgment and questions.

'Why would I break up with Bryce?'

'Did I see what breaking up with him did to him?'

'He told everyone how much he loved and cared for you – how could I just throw it all away?'

'Why are you so quiet now and always leaning so far away?'

God, the questions and judgment were so goddamn drowning that I could not even fathom whispering the truth of what happened to me, or how it wasn't my decision to end it but his. I could not face that my façade was not working like I had wanted it to, and people were starting to notice that I wasn't the same anymore.

Do you know what sucks the most? You know what really gets me when I am curled up so far into my bed that I might just disappear altogether?

I hate that I am not even Isla anymore.

I hate that I don't recognize the girl that I see in photos taken of me or in the girl that is staring back at me in the mirror – I am now simply a broken shell of who I used to be.

Bryce Brooks did not just ruin me and break me down – he completely destroyed me.

Isobel Faith Jackson is now completely – and forever more – obliterated.

"Are you coming, Issy?" Kadence asks making me glare at her because she knows how much I hate that nickname.

"Isla was just waiting for me since none of you bitches were going to." Uma pops up behind me just to snap at Kadence for me.

Kadence huffs and glares at Uma before flipping her shiny hair and starting into school with the rest of the girls. Uma grins at me because we both know that even though these girls are our 'friends' we are actually each other's only true friends.