Ascend

Chapter 1

My world stopped revolving, time seemingly stopped and I was quickly losing control making my breathing erratic. The man that I call my father stood at the bathroom sink separating lines of fine white powder and snorting them up his nose so fast like his life depended on it. I tried to look away. I tried to go in there and yell at him. I tried to hold back the tears from falling... but I failed miserably. A sob escaped from the back of my throat and this man standing in front of me must have heard it because he suddenly turned to face me. His eyes widened clearly showing surprise then guilt but both were replaced by anger so quick I thought I imagined it. Before I could react he had me pushed up against the wall both of his hands gripping my shoulders so tightly I cried out in pain.

"Now you listen close to me Nadia, you will not say a thing about what you saw to anyone or," he whispered "there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?" I whimpered but nodded my head anyway since the words I wanted to say were stuck in my throat. He let go of me and smiled, "Good. Now hurry up and get ready princess, you don't want to be late for school."

School. The one place where I can forget about all my problems and hope for a better future. It's where I can lose myself in the work, where I spend many hours studying resulting in keeping all straight A's in every single class. It's my one way ticket out of this place. Unfortunately, my once healthy college savings had dwindled over time due to my father's outrageous gambling and love for alcohol. There was a bright side to it, I no longer needed that money seeing as I had received an early acceptance letter offering a full ride four year scholarship to my dream school, UCLA. All I had to do was maintain my 4.0 GPA.

Before I was late to school I slipped on my leather jacket, ran a comb through my long black hair and snatched my cars keys off the coffee table where there was cans of beer with other substances that made my blood boil. I drove to school in my ford truck that I managed to buy by working five nights a week at the diner a few blocks from my house. Waitressing doesn't pay much but I saved up in order to buy this beauty and fix it up a little. It's not the nicest thing out there but it takes me to and from wherever I need to go and that's all that matters.

As I pulled into my usual parking space I found my friends already there waiting for me. As I reached for the door handle I found my hands shaking vigorously, I ignored it and went to meet the few people I called my friends. They were all talking about what they did over the weekend while we headed for the schools entrance. I was enjoying myself and having a few laughs that was until the Oh-so irritating Sophia decided to purposely bump into me. Sophia was one of many girls in this school who thought they could get whatever they wanted just because of their looks and large bank account. I knew what she was trying to do, it was the same routine every single day and I never let her get to me. So I did what I always do, I ignored her. Sophia is a short blond with eyes too big for her face and since the beginning of the year she has been trying to make my life difficult and has yet to succeed. Apparently she didn't seem to get the message to leave me alone and just had to make a nasty comment.

"I saw your dad at the bar this weekend, ordering drink after drink, we all know he's a drunk but he just doesn't seem to have any limits." She had a smirk on her face and had hand on her hip. "He kept staring at me the whole night and tried to make a move on me. How disgusting is that? I didn't know your dad was such a pervert Nadia." She had the audacity to look proud of her words as if they somehow made her seem like the better person.

"We all know that only 40 year old men go to that bar Sophia. So the only disgusting one here is you, what kind of 17 year old girl goes to an all men's bar where she obviously could easily be taken advantage of? But of course, you knew this, no girl willingly goes to Lucky Eight. Seems to me like you're the only one to blame." Her face morphed into those of a deer caught in the headlights of a car. I took pleasure in watching her panic with what to say. She took a few steps until she was standing in front of me looking up at me trying so hard to look intimidating and failing as I towered above her.

"At least my dad isn't an alcoholic wasting his life away sitting on the couch and gambling away all my college savings." My fists were clenched at my sides and by the look on my face she knew she had gone too far. She tried to scramble away but I was too quick for her, my left hand shot out and latched on to her hair and pulled her back. My right arm coiled back and I punched her in the face with full force. Her body fell to the floor and she held her hand up to her mouth touching her busted lip and wincing. I crouched down to her level sending her a venomous glare and with the most cold and menacing voice I spoke.

"You better leave now before I decide to do any more damage to your face or break an arm." Sophia nodded, got up quickly and ran down the hall leaving drops of blood on the cold tile floor.

I know I shouldn't have let her get to me, I should have just let it go and keep going with the day. But this girl just never seemed to stop and I was done with her taunts, hopefully this taught her to never mess with me again because next time I wouldn't hesitate. Everyone knew that the best thing to do was to stay out of my way and only to talk to me when and only needed, for school related purposes of course, except for my few friends, they were the only exception. I took a moment to compose myself then return the blank expression on my face, a look which over time I mastered and never let anyone see what I was truly feeling. The idea of anyone else seeing my drunk father left my body feeling numb.

"Damn Nadia," said Tyler. He was one of my three friends, he was tall and towered above me with his shaggy brown hair and green eyes. He would be considered a jock except for the fact that instead of spending his time with the other jocks he decided we were a much more exciting group and spent ninety percent of his time with us. "You popped her like a pimple." He let out a loud laugh at his so called joke. "See what I did there? Gosh, I surprise myself sometimes. But anyways, why did you punch Sophia? You've never let her get to you before." I looked at Alex and Christina who were both standing next to Tyler waiting for my response. Planting a bored expression on my face, I leaned against the lockers and crossed my legs at the ankles giving them a shrug.

"She didn't. She's just annoying, it's time she finally stops her constant nagging. I have better things to do than watch a pathetic girl try and insult me."

They all nodded in agreement and we all parted our separate ways as the bell rang. I sat down at a seat at the back of the class, took out my text book and tried to get lost in the work.