Shadows

Chapter 1.

We are the Shadows. They stand in front of us, center stage, all eyes on them, enjoying the attention. We follow them silently, no one acknowledging our presence. No one bothers to look at us, only them. We are the outsiders, the loners, the forgotten ones.

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 "Robbie's got a quick hand, he will look around the room and won't tell you his plan..."

I groaned and slapped my radio alarm clock off. I hated that song.

I rolled out of bed, dreading another day of the 10th grade. I picked up the clothes I had chosen last night off the floor and put them on robotically. Acid-wash jeans and a possessed sushi-cat "A Day to Remember" T-shirt. Nice. I thought about which pair of Converse I should wear it with. After I had decided on my old purple ones, there was a pounding on my bedroom door.

"Harper? Are you awake? Get up, get up, get up!" I heard my least favourite person on the planet yell, banging on my door, probably with her fist.

Swearing under my breath, I shouted, "Yeah, Theresa, you can stop trying to break down the door."

The pounding ceased as I did my eye-liner in my bedroom mirror. I left my room and went into the bathroom, pulling a brush through my black, platinum blond-streaked, and natural blond hair. After quickly straightening out the imperfections in my many layers of hair, I brushed my teeth and went downstairs to the kitchen in our over-sized house.

To my misfortune, Theresa and her son, Brennan, were already downstairs. Theresa was making him an omelet, even though the school bus was coming in 5 minutes. I glanced in the frying pan. None for me. Rolling my eyes at the favoritism, I tied my Converse, slipped on my Pink Floyd hoodie, slung my checkered backpack over my shoulder, and walked out the door without bothering to say goodbye. (You may think that I'm spoiled because of all of the stuff I have, but don't. I pretty much bought everything with my own money.)

As you may have figured out already, my name is Harper. Harper Patterson. Theresa is my step-mother, and the reason why my life is a swirling pit of hell. I didn't mind Brennan. But, Theresa made me want to chew on broken glass and cough up blood.

I remember when my life was normal. I had a mom and a dad. When I was 9, my mother died when she was in the Middle East with the military. After that, my dad found Theresa, a divorced mother of one, and married her quickly. He signed her into his will. And, just like that, he was killed in a car crash involving another drunk driver. That's when Theresa got to keep me. That was the night that I seriously considered suicide, because I had always hated her. But I'm over that now. Now I just have to grin and bear it for three more years, then I'm getting out. I don't know how, but I know that the life insurance money is rolling in from both of my parents' deaths, so that isn't an issue.

As the bus pulled up to my stop, I saw Brennan sprinting to the bus. I laughed quietly to myself and boarded the bus, sitting in my usual seat. I arranged my stuff so there was enough room for Scarlette.

Scarlette was my best friend. Ever since I had moved into the neighborhood in 6th grade, she's been my best friend. She was pretty much my only friend, too, for the 5 years I've known her. We were practically inseparable.

Since Scarlette only lived about a 5-minute walking distance away from my house, it wasn't long until the bus screeched to a stop at the intersection near her house. The flash of pink hair caught my eye as I watched her run to the bus from her house.

She looked exasperated as she walked up the stairs and through the isles. Scarlette then finally plopped down on the seat next to me. Her hazel eyes were ever so slightly red from lack of sleep.