Scarred (Bullied Series #5) (SAMPLE)

Chapter 1

Present

Beginning of April

I pushed through the students that crowded the school halls, picking up the snippets of their eye-roll-worthy spring break stories. It was almost like listening to frogs—annoying and repetitive. I tuned out the irrelevant stuff, instead on the lookout for any shenanigans.

East Willow High was, to put it eloquently, a nuthouse, just like my old school, Rawenwood High, with its endless gossip, irritating stares, and bullies. As the vice president of the student council, I felt I had to be a mother hen all the time and make sure this place was free of chaos. Steven said I was like Batman because I was always vigilant and solving messes that weren't mine to solve, but if not me, then who?

Only recently, this school had started changing for the better. We had a new principal and a school administration that actually cared about the students' safety, and now there were dedicated efforts to fight bullying. It was far from perfect, as most of the bullies were still undeterred, but at least some of them were aware heads would fly if they got caught. I was going to deal with them personally, if needed. Knock out a tooth or two. Leave a few bruises.

Some people just didn't understand that making others miserable didn't earn them brownie points. So, I employed my fists each time they refused to listen, and it had worked well so far.

They learned a lesson, and my ever-present rage was tamed. It was a win-win situation.

"Did you hear about Brooks?" I heard someone say just as I was about to turn the corner.

I halted, straining to hear over the noise of the hallway.

"Hear what?"

I pressed myself against the wall and peeked around the corner, clutching the student surveys we had to go over at the council meeting today. Two seniors stood next to the lockers a few feet away. I whipped my head back before they spotted me.

"He bought drugs from a junior in the restroom."

I ground my teeth. What the hell?

"Really? Damn. At school?"

Red. All I saw was red.

"Yeah, and did you see the way he looks? I'm totally freaked out, man."

I wanted to march over to them and give them a piece of my mind for their stupid gossip, but I had someone else to confront. Right this second.

I rushed in the opposite direction. Spring break was barely over, and Steven had already managed to fuck something up. Buying drugs at school? He was pushing it. He'd been pushing it for quite a while now, but this? I gripped the papers tighter, thinking about the last few weeks—no, months—that represented my brother's one-way ticket to something darker than dark.

I was freaked out myself over the way he looked. He was the poster boy for the worst possible drug addiction, with his bloodshot eyes, constant aggression and anxiety, and his previously muscular body turned skeletal. He was a disaster waiting to happen, and as much as I fought to get through to him, it was pointless. Unless I chained him to his bed and put bars on his door and windows, I couldn't keep him away from drugs. I couldn't even convince him to give rehab a chance.

Still, I couldn't just stand aside while his addiction was becoming so bad that he had to buy drugs at school. From a junior, no less. That idiot. Did he want to get expelled that badly?

I tossed the surveys into my locker, took my Samsung out of my pocket, and opened the app to track Steven. I'd secretly installed a GPS tracking app on his phone two weeks ago, after he made a brilliantly stupid decision to not return home for days. I didn't trust him not to do it again.