Unbroken #Wattys2015

Chapter 1-Sixteen Going On Thirty

                                                                      Harper's POV

  As a child, there was either books or pain. I chose books. It's how I became an Author. My name is Harper Allen. And for as long as I can remember, I'd love to read. My parents weren't the best. No where near the best actually. They never wanted me, you see. I was what you call a mistake. And they never let me forget it. They hated me. And no, I'm not exaggerating. They would make me stay in my room all day without anything to eat. And if I tried to leave to go get me something to drink, I'd get hit. Multiple of times. I didn't have any friends. So, what was I supposed to do? Read. We were too poor and couldn't afford a Television or toys for me to have in my room. But now that I think about it, I simply remember my mom having the niciest clothes and them having movies nights without me. So maybe that was just what they told me, so that I couldn't have any fun. But little did they know, I enjoyed reading. A lot. It was fun to escape the world for a few hours and dive into a book. I would imagine the main charchters being me. And I hade a nice life. Other than the crappy one I lived. They would buy me loads of books thinking it was funny. They thought I hated reading. I mean, what eight year would enjoy sitting inside a house all summer to read? But the joke was on them.

        When I was sixteen, I had the biggest crush on this guy named Calude Emerson. Claude was the quarter back for the schools football team. And a damned good one at that. I would scribble his name all over my notebooks and dream about one day becoming his girlfriend. I'm sure all teenage girls have been through this before. Well, one day at lunch he came over to me and randomly asked me to go to the Valentines Day Dance that was coming up. I was shocked but said yes. I was so excited, I was going to a dance that I forgot I didn't have the money to buy me a dress. When I brought it up to my mother that a guy had asked me to the dance, she laughed in my face and told me to get out of her face. When the dance finally rolled around, I stole one of her really nice dresses without her noticing. She had so many, she wouldn't miss it. Her and my father were out for the night. I did my best with the makeup. But probably ended up looking like a clown. And I let my hair down. My long, brown hair was the only thing I liked about myself. Didn't matter what I did to it, it always looked nice. Claude picked me up around seven and he was so nice and handsome. I thought maybe, my life was looking up for once. But what did he see in me? He had the pick of the litter, litterally. Why me? All the girls around school wanted him. He was tall, dark and handome. And I was Cinderalla, before the ball. We danced all night and he even introduced me to all his friends at the dance. It was nice. They all smiled and hugged me. Sort of what I imagined out wedding day to look like. Once we got in his car after the dance, he stopped and looked at me. "I don't have to take you home just yet, if you don't want to." He said. I thought about my parents and if they would be home or not. Probably not. But if they were, I'd get the shit knocked out of me. So what was one or more hours? "What did you have in mind?" I asked smiling.

        A hour later, he was throwing me out of his car and laughing the entire time. "Wait a minute, you never even liked me!?" I was screaming and crying. I have done the worst thing a girl could do. I was naiive and lonely. This boy had tooken advantage of my vulnerablitly. I was just a bet, a joke around the entire football team. And Calude didn't even seem phased in the least, that I was sobbing. He pulled out of the alley where I had just given him my virginity, and left me there with nothing. Not even my shoes. I walked for four hours back to my house thinking about what had just happened. We didn't live close to the school. Once I reached my house, my parents were still out. I don't know why I expected anything different. I went straight to my room and cried myself to sleep.

        The next morning I was rudly awaken by my father. Apparently I got a job at the library where his lady friend works. Julia Stiles. He called her his "lady friend" and I called her his "Mistress". My parents said that if I wanted to keep living under their roof, I had to find me a job. At least it was at a library, right?

        Three months later they kicked me out their house. I had announced I was pregnant. That damn Claude Emerson was still making my life hell even if I hadn't seen him since the night of the dance. At least I had that job at the library though. I used my key for months, and slept at the library. Until I finally saved up enough money to get a apartment. Few months later, I started a second job bought a car. Six months later, I graduated and had myself a beautiful baby girl named Nora.