Awake

Chapter 2 A New World

At lunch, Luna sits under the big oak tree alone as usual. She is about to bite into her sandwich when Atlas walks up. "Hello again." He says. His big blue eyes smile and twinkle and Luna finds herself mesmerized as she replies, "Hey Atlas." Atlas gestures to the spot on the ground next to her. "Mind if I sit down?" He asks. Luna suddenly gets nervous and her hands get clammy. "Uh, sure. If you want to." He sits down and leans against the old tree. The two just sit in silence for the next who knows how many minutes. Luna sneaks looks at Atlas. He has kind, ocean blue eyes and messy, blonde, unkept hair. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a girl with long, milky brown hair and an annoyed look on her face. "Atlas, what are you doing?" She demands impatiently. "We need to work on our science project." Atlas looks embarrassed, "Uh sorry Suza, I forgot." The girl gets even angrier as she stamps her foot. "You can't forget about these types of things! This project is worth 55% of our grade!" Her face is bright red. "AND STOP CALLING ME THAT STUPID NICKNAME!!" She added. Luna didn't know what to say. The girl points at her. "Stop playing around with girls and come on!" Atlas, face also very red, says, "Suza, calm down. This is Luna. Luna this is Susana." Luna nodded and put her hand up to shake hands with Susana, and she gradually shakes her hand. "Ok can we stop sitting here and chatting and just work on the project now?" She says tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed. "Okay, okay I'm coming." Atlas says as he stands up. "Bye Luna." He included as he walks away with a sly look on his face, as he blows her a kiss. Luna doesn't know how to react, she had never gotten this kind of affection from a guy before. She just sits there with a stupid smile on her face and wonders what other surprises are in store for her in this new life. 

After school, the dream day is over as Luna walks down the dark alleyways of Seattle. The rain starts to trickle on her face as she pulls the fire escape ladder down from a grey building. She slowly climbs up the ladder, dreading what is at the top. She quietly slinks through the window and dashes to her room. The small, yappy house Chihuahua blocks the hallway. Luna doesn't notice until she trips over the annoyed dog. Its yelp echos through the small apartment. She cringes and tries to get up, but an enormous boot comes down on her side. Luna winces, the boot had landed on a very large bruise. The owner of the boot has a squished in face and hair everywhere. She has lipstick on her teeth and way too much makeup that doesn't cover up her many pimples and boils. "Hi Clara." Luna says through clenched teeth. This is the thing she was dreading, her evil foster mother. "Did you think you could get away this time?" The fat woman asks with a smirk on her face. "To be honest, yes." Luna says, still wincing. "Don't talk back to me you rat." Clara snaps. Luna knows she just made things worse. "Sorry." She says as she looks down. "You know what you are?" Lara asks, as her smirk gets bigger. "You are an ass kissing rat bastard." Luna hides her tears. She knows what she is in for. "You know how to discipline ass kissing rat bastards?" The ugly woman continues as she starts to take off her belt. "You use force." Clara cackles as the big piece of leather comes down on Luna.