Souled Out ➳ Lauren Jauregui

one

YOUR POV

After getting into the same uniform I've worn every day for the past 3 years, I slummed my way to the table.

With each step down, the scratchy, uncomfortable fabric rubbed against my skin, already making me squirmy.

I hated wearing the short plaid skirts and the white button ups. I hated the fact that I couldn't wear pants and a t shirt because the dress code wouldn't allow it. But I've dealt with it for a long time so what makes now any different.

I took my seat at the island of the kitchen where my freshly cooked food was placed on a plate. The maid/cook, Joan, stood at the stove and stared at me. "Well, good morning, Hunny. How're you?"

"I'm sick." I lied, taking a quick bite of the scrambled eggs on my plate.

"You say that everyday."

"Then can you actually take me serious for once and let me stay home?"

Joan smirked and shook her head, "You know that you can't do that. Your father said..."

"-Unless she's puking, bleeding, or running out of oxygen, she's going to school." I mocked, finishing her sentence. "I know, I know. But listen," I put on my puppy dog face. "Fifth Harmony is going to be in town today doing interviews before the show tomorrow. I really want to stay home so I can go out and meet them like every other fan. Daddy will understand."

"No he won't." Dad said, walking into the kitchen to kiss my cheek as his normal good morning ritual. "Wait, what're we talking about?"

I turned around on the stool beside the island to see the man sitting down at the table, reaching for the newspaper. "Daddy, can I please stay home today? You remember how I said Fifth Harmony was coming to town?"

He smiled and nodded his head, turning to the next page of the newspaper to try and find something of interest to him.

"I want to go meet them. Can I please skip school today?"

He shook his head and licked his thumb before turning another page on the paper, "You know the deal, Y/N. School comes before anything else."

"But I really don't-"

"That's enough, Y/N." My father said sternly. Soon, he straightened up, noticing he was being a little harsh. "Now, eat your breakfast before it gets cold. You have to leave to classes soon."

I turned around in defeat and picked up my fork to start plowing my way through the contents on the plate.

--

I hated school with all of my heart. The annoying teachers, the bullies pushing me up and down the halls, the stressful school work, it was all horrible.

I went to all girls private school, which being gay you'd expect me to be all 'fuck yeah. Sexy ass bad bitches in short skirts and tight shirts. This is the life.' But it wasn't. It was a horrible school full of nothing but loneliness and shitty school lunches.

But what made it even worse was Donny Everdeen. I hated her. The mere sound of her name made me cringe. She was the reason I made no friends. Every time someone new would show up, she'd tell them a dirty lie before I could even try to introduce myself. Not to mention the constant physical pain she put me through every day I'd go to class. She's the definition of a bully and the reason I try to get out of class all the time.

I entered through the noisy hall to try and get to my locker without causing too much of a disturbance. I was actually very happy to be ignored in a place like this because I always felt safe when I was invisible.

I made it to my locker and opened the door after turning the combination from '13-11-99'. The safe opened, allowing me to place my books from the locker into my backpack for easy transport.

As soon as I closed the door, I saw the face of my mortal enemy standing behind the door to wait for me. A devious smirk was written on her face as she greeted me. "Good morning, Y/N."

My eyes got wide as I turned on my heel to try and run but her hand caught onto my backpack, pulling me back towards my bully.

"Where you going so fast?" She asked, smacking on a piece of minty gum.

"Class. To try and learn something unlike your dumb ass." I bit at her.

She chuckled, "Wow. A lot of feist for 7 in the morning, huh?" I kept my mouth shut and let her keep talking. "Now, where's my $20?"

Donny had forced me to give her $20 every day since freshman year and in return, my beatings won't be too bad. But they always are. It takes me a whole weekend to recover and by that time, I'm coming back to school to get another black eye.

I put my hand into the pocket of my skirt to pull out a fresh $20 bill to have her snatch it from my hand.

After looking over the piece of paper, her hand let go of my backpack and met the skin of my cheek bone. The harsh swat caught me off guard and made me hit the lockers with a loud crash of my body against the metal.

"Stay out of my way, loser." She chuckled, walking down the hall to meet up with her friends at their usual spot.

I decided to not act wounded and scared, like how I felt on the inside, and push through to the next hour. Even though I knew it would just be another class full of horrifying bullying.

By lunch time, a brand new bruise was formed around the bottom of my right eye, causing it to swell to an immense length. My bio teacher said nothing about it, my government teacher said nothing about it, not even my algebra teacher wanted to bring up the elephant in the corner of the room.

So, when I got home, I was looking from a bit of sympathy from my own father. Although, I know he wouldn't be home in time to preview the new injury.

I hurried into the kitchen to go to the freezer and grab a bag of peas. I tied the end of the bag up and held it up to the bruised skin, causing a sharp pain to shoot up my nerves.

"Joan," I yelled out into the house, closing the freezer and opening the fridge to grab a water bottle. "I got a new black eye. I need your expertise to make it go away again."

As soon as I closed the fridge door, I heard my father yell my name from in the living room.

But I thought he had a big meeting today?

Curious, I hurried into the living room, expecting him to be alone. "Daddy, I honestly need to switch schools now. I'm tired of being beaten up everyday with no justice."

He cleared his throat and nodded towards the couch, "Y/N, honey, we have guests."

I turned on my heel to look at the five people sitting on the couch. As soon as I noticed who they were, I dropped my bag of peas and water bottle on the floor below me.

+

a/n:

I'm actually excited for this book. I hope you all are too.

more updates after before our secrets ends. xx.

-agf