HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Chapter 1

7:30am.

I pass through the doors of the high school.

"You're just a whore, he'll never love someone like you."
These words echo in my head as I get out of my father's car with my younger brother heading to school. I'm in eighth grade, this is my last year here and I plan to keep a low profile to avoid the problems of last year. Summer went by too quickly, once again. I didn't do anything special, I went to France for two weeks with my family, like every year.

I'm ready to spend another year, my last, at Notre Dame. Yes I know, it's a French name. I go to a French high school in Lucas, Texas. "More cultural and with fewer boys, therefore fewer problems" according to my parents. If only they knew.

I speak French fluently now, and I have always had this ease in learning new languages. But that's not the point. As I walk through the gate and my brother runs to join his friends, I look around.
"Don't look, you won't find anyone," the voice in my head whispers.

And yet, today, I scan the horizons for Kayli, my best friend as I like to call her. Kayli and I met online, on a One Direction fan forum, when we were 11. We've been together ever since. She lived in Houston and I lived in Dallas, so we had a sort of long-distance relationship until she came to join me in high school for our 16th birthdays. We are both in boarding school and today is the first day back at school! With my suitcase in hand, I go to greet the headmistress.

"Hello Miss, did you have a good holiday?"
"Don't bother Davis, we put you in the same room this year."
I stifle a cry of joy and immediately pull myself together.
"Thank you Miss, it was a pleasure speaking with you."

I run to the front door of the boarding school and look for that face that is so familiar to me.
Kayli and I have FaceTimed at least a million times since we were old enough to have phones. I know her facial features by heart.

"Vi!"

I hear that familiar voice and I automatically turn around. I drop my suitcase and run towards her.

"Kay! I missed you so much, it's not human to not see each other for two months"

Yes, we didn't see each other during the holidays because she went to Greece for two months while I was in France, as I always do since I was little. But that didn't stop us from calling each other on FaceTime every day, to hell with my phone plan.

"Yes I know, come on let's put our things away, apparently we're in the same room, I brought lots of photos to hang on the wall!"

I enjoy her scent one last time and follow her, as always. She always had this natural charm that acts like a magnet on people. As I go up the stairs, I vaguely hear her greeting people. I prefer to stay there, invisible Violette. I don't like being noticed.

We had barely had time to put our bags down in the room when we felt the principal shout that it was time to go to class.

"I have to go to my locker to drop off my gym stuff, are you coming with me?" I ask Kayli.

She nods and here we are in front of the lockers. I barely have time to open my locker when a voice whispers in my ear.

"So here you are again for another year, witch."

I head to my locker to put my stuff away, and the door slams.
"Who do you think Violette is going to set her sights on this year?"
"I don't know, maybe you, mate, you are in the same math class, right?"
"Ugh, never in my life, she looks like a witch, and have you seen the way she dresses?"
"Get out of here, guys!" a supervisor intervenes.

"Get out of here, Stan, go see if your masculinity is there" Kayli said, in the utmost calm.
"Calm down, you bunch of witches, what are you going to do? Hex me?"

Kay looks at me with a roll of her eyes before asking if we can go. I nod.

I blink quickly to wipe away the tears that were welling up in my eyes.
"Thank you, sir."
"Is everything okay, Violette?"
"Yes, don't worry."
"They didn't bother you too much? Anyway, if you need to report something..."
He implies harassment.
"I'm here, my door is open."
"Thank you, but I'm fine."

I've always been like this. I never seize the opportunities that come my way. Everyone knows what's happening to me, and yet, since that famous moment, no one has looked at me. Except maybe my family. They have noticed a change in my behavior but rarely talk about it. They prefer to think that their daughter is perfect and will remain so.
Yet it was this year that my grades dropped. And that I was reprimanded for not trying hard enough.

The first hour of class went by very quickly. We were mainly told about the baccalaureate and the importance of obtaining satisfactory results to satisfy our families.

"What about us?" I thought.

Then I got lost in my thoughts again.

"You'll never be good enough for him. Or anyone else for that matter. You deserve to spend your life alone."

Kayli's hand on mine pulls me out of my thoughts.

11h30.

The bell rings.

"It's time to go eat!" Kay yells at me

When we get to the cafeteria, the line is endless. I see Stan and all his friends heading towards us.

"Hide me," I tell my best friend.

Immediately on the lookout, she sees them and glares at them. They turn around. Thank goodness.
Finally our turn.

"Did they make an effort in the cafeteria this year or is it just a feeling?" Kayli asks me.

I know she's doing all this to fill the void and that I'm avoiding thinking about certain things from my past.

First day at my new high school. I'm in the gymnastics sports section, my dream since middle school. Finally leaving Dallas, and going to boarding school far from everything. As soon as my father drops me off to accompany me, I meet Stan and his friends. Of course, I had to run into them. We passed each other and I heard him whisper "witch" in my ear before he continued on his way so my father wouldn't see him. I wanted to cry, to run into my father's arms and beg him to take me away from here. But it was too late. And then I found Kayli.