The Setting

Prologue

11 years ago 

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO AWAY KARLA, NO ONE LIKES YOU!" a blonde girl with an innocent look to her face yells at Camila. Is ironic to think her look is "innocent" when her actions scream spawn of evil. 
"YEAH, YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FREAK." her other friend, a brunette, screams right after. The blonde high fives her friend and they laugh together. They leave the scene with a few other students trailing behind, while they are too laughing. 

Camila is hunched in the floor with tears threatening to spill her eyes. She repeats "don't cry" over and over in her head. Standing the humiliation of being publicly bullied is one thing, but showing weakness is another. Camila didn't mind being the target of their hateful words and actions. What she hated the most was not being able to do something about it, because she was too scared. 

In reality Camila wasn't mad at them. Camila was mad at herself. For being weak. 

With a big gulp of air to feel her lungs and prevent herself from crying Camila finally stands up from the ground, where she was shoved by spawn of evil and minion #1. The reminder of the nicknames she secretly had for her bullies helped her cope with the situation. Camila could think of this as a story. The villains, the innocent, and the hero. Even if her hero hasn't come yet, it still gave Camila hope. 

After picking herself and her belongings from the ground the Cuban makes her way to the bathroom. Once in there she splashed water in her face. Camila didn't really understand why characters in books and movies would splash water in their face after having a hard time. But after having to do the same for the last two months since she started freshman year of high school, Camila finally understood. It actually made her feel better. And it wasn't because of the sensation of the cold water making contact with your face or the refreshing feeling you got, neither was the chilliness of the cool air making contact with her damped face that made her feel better. No, it wasn't the actual physicality of the action. It was the symbolism behind it. Water was pure and healing. And for someone that felt as dirty and broken as Camila, it was hope. Hope that the water could wash away the pain. 

After staring at her reflection for god knows how long Camila decided to go to class. Even if all she wanted was to run back home, lock herself in her room, and finally let the tears spill. But Camila knew better, even if her book character would do the same, this was reality. 

She just hoped the water was enough to keep her broken self together until the end of the school day. 

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One day at school, after it being the same monotone routine for the past three months, something felt different. Camila usually got up, took a shower, got dressed, brushed her hair, ate breakfast, and headed to school. Once in school, she would go outside and read a book until class started. She would sit quietly in every class, trying not to get noticed. She would do her work and get praised by the teachers for it. Then, in lunchtime she would sit alone, or in the bathroom. At the same time she would mostly get nagged on by spawn of evil and minion #1 and #2. Camila will once again go to the bathroom and wash her face. If she was lucky she could get through the rest of the day without being attacked again, but that wasn't most likely. 

So, what could change? 

For starters Camila was late that day, meaning she got more attention than she could've wanted from the teacher and specifically the students. Once seated, Camila got called out in class. Meaning she had to speak in front of everyone, which she obliged to not wanting to get on her teachers nerves after being late. Then lunch came, and it was peaceful. No one talked to her, but that was more than okay for Camila. At least she wasn't getting bullied. Then in her last class, a girl talked to her. Someone actually talked to Camila. The girl had brunette hair and brown eyes. She also had this bubbly smile and a cute baby face. The Cuban knew the girls name was Mia. This girl just wanted to ask for a pencil, but Camila felt ecstatic. Because this was normal. Camila felt normal, for once. While leaving school, something also changed, Camila left smiling.