Rollercoaster

Chapter 1

Charis

My alarm went off.

"First day of my last high school year!" - I yawned,  and got up.

What can I say about myself? I'm Charis. I'll be 18 in October. I have black hair and green eyes. I love rock, I can even play my favorite rock ballads on my old electric guitar. I love goth style. I only wear black, sometimes with a little red or purple. This makes me an outcast at school, but who cares?

After getting ready for the day, I went to find my mom. But she wasn't at home. Or she was just too drunk to answer. Oh, yes. She was always drunk. Oh, yes. We were poor. We lived on social aid. And my mum was sleeping with pimps for money and alcohol. I didn't even know, who my father is. I hardly believed, that my mum knew, who was it. My perfect family. My perfect life. Sometimes I imagined that my father finds me and saves me. But it was just a dream. I knew that I'll never escape from here. There was no chance for somebody like me. I wasn't too good at school, not good enough to earn a scholarship. I didn't have money for a college. My only chance was to join to Dane's stupid gang, the Red Wolves. Miracles don't exists.

At school, Lanny, my best friend was waiting for me. She was a goth chick, like me, except she had blue hair and blue eyes.

"Hey girl, what's up?" - she smiled at me.
"Surviving. How was summer?"
"Awful. I can't believe, my parents sent me away for the whole summer to that f*cking camp! Perhaps I did some stupid thing, but that doesn't mean, they have to send me away."
"Perhaps they wanted to keep you away from trouble." - I chuckled.
"Bahh. Me and trouble? No f*cking way!"
"It looks like parents don't like 2 days long parties, sleepovers at boys, and disappearing for the whole weekend."
"You're lucky that your mom doesn't want to control your whole life."
"I don't feel myself so lucky. She's always drunk. She just loves her bottle."

Lanny was my bestie, but she'll never understand how I feel. Nobody does.

"And how was your summer?"
"Nothing special. Working in the bakery, hanging out with Dane and the others."
"Much better than mine. You and Dane are still together?"

I couldn't help my tears.

"No."
"What??? Why??? When???"
"I'll tell you later."
"You can't leave me like this!"
"Okay." - I took a deep breath. "Long story short. He used me and ditched me."
"That bastard!"

Before I could go into further details, I heard giggles.

"Look, the weirdos are back!"

Annie, Lucy, and Yarissa. They were making my school life a living hell. They were my total opposites. Beautiful, rich and popular. I never did anything against them, but they hated me since the first day.

"I hoped, that Principal Langfield expelled you two." - Annie snickered.

Well, if nothing else was good in spending almost the whole summer with Dane and his gang, that at least they taught me how to step up for myself.

"Annie, it's soooo good to see you! Your new nose is fantastic! And Yarissa! Did you get a liposuction? Again?"
"You ugly little tramp!" - Yarissa screamed.
"You'll regret this bitches!" - Annie tried to threaten us.

During lunch break, Lanny and I went to the parking lot, and smoked a cigarette.

"So tell me, what happened?"
"If you really want to know..."

I thought about the party, where everything changed.

I loved Dane so much. So, I decided, that I'll let him to take my virginity that night. It was a big mistake. But he was so kind, and he cared about me. Nobody loved me before. We were dancing, drinking, kissing. A few hours later we decided to go somewhere more private. When it finally happened, it hurt, so much! He was too fast. He only payed attention to his own pleasure, and didn't care about mine. When he finished, he just dressed up without a word. I wanted to cuddle with him, but he refused it.

"I have to go Babydoll. I'll call you later." - He shrugged and just left me.

I heard some gang members outside, cheering. I was so ashamed. I felt so used.
The next day was even worse. I've spent the whole day waiting for him to call me. But he never did. I was so confused. And I didn't want to call him, cause he was always so pissed off, if I was disturbing him during business. I have to wait. At the evening I couldn't take it any more, so I texted him. Just a cool 'Hey babe, what's up?', nothing more. But he left me on read. After an hour he finally texted back. 'I'm sorry Babydoll. We're over. Don't call me.'
That was it. He broke up with me in a damn text. Didn't have the guts to look into my eyes. I felt like crap. How could I be so stupid? But the next day, I decided to not letting him win. That a guy won't break me. He only wanted me for one night? Okay. I can fool around too, if I want. So I went to a party and hooked up with some guy. Girls can have fun too, can't they?

Lanny hugged me.

"I'm so sorry! Next time I see him, I'll kick his *ss."
"You don't have to. I'm over it."

Her phone went off, and she glanced at it nervously.

"I'm sorry, I need to go, see you later!"

That was.... suspicious. What is hiding from me? We never had secrets. I lit another cigarette. That's when one of the teachers caught me.

"Charis, what are you doing? Smoking again?"
"And?"
"Detention. Next time I'll report it to Principal Langfield."

Like it would scare me. What can they do? Expell me? It doesn't count anyways if I have a high school degree or not.