A Love Story

Chapter 1

BAM! My brother punched me in the stomach again. I fell to the floor, rolling up into a ball. I felt tears start to form in my eyes, trying to escape. I closed my eyes tight and started singing a song in my head as my brother kicked me. A couple minutes later he stopped, he must've gotten bored, and walked back to his room. This was a regular occurrence for me in the mornings. I used to fight back that was until he broke my arm once, I didn't feel like fighting back after that. My family lived in a two-story house, the top floor my brother and mine and the bottom floor, my mothers. My dad died shortly after I turned 15 and we haven't been the same since. My mom turned to working two full time jobs and drinking while my brother resorted to violence, especially when he didn't get his way. Slowly getting up I headed towards the bathroom grabbing a bag from under my bed. Closing and locking the bathroom door, I emptied the bag and started stripping to take shower. I stepped out of the shower feeling a little better, though still sore. I inspected myself in the mirror. I have dark hair and blue eyes. I am athletically built and am a little wide in the chest area (boobs). Most of my body was covered in bruises, some more severe than others but all seemed to be healing just fine. I applied some ointment to the bruises on my stomach and chest, checking to make sure there weren't any broken bones. Finally, I bandaged myself up and put on skinny jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt.

I gently walked downstairs trying not to disturb my brother and not put any more pressure on my wounds. There was some bread on the counter and the toaster was plugged in, my mom must be at work. I unplugged the toaster and grabbed a piece of bread.

I walked out the door towards the train station. The cold air hit my face giving me goosebumps and causing me to wrap my jacket tighter around me. Sometimes I was surprised we didn't get snow here with how freezing it was in the mornings. The train station was about a 10-minute walk from my family's house. It was refreshing and helped me to clear my head. When I got to the train station, it was quiet...very quiet. There were only a few people up and about at 8 in the morning.

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't realize the line stopped and I ran into the back of the guy in front of me. "Excuse me." He turned around to glance at me and then started moving forward again. I looked around me and realized it had gotten a bit more crowded and it was almost time to board. The line kept moving forward until it was my turn to swipe my card and get on the train. The train ride was quiet and uneventful to Middleton High, my high-school. This was my last year and I couldn't wait for it to be over. A while later, I reached my platform and got out. My friend Shelby met me there. "Hey girl you look good." She said giving me a wink. I gave her a smile. "I like your earrings." I replied. She had dangling black and silver butterfly earrings on. We talked about our plans for the future on the way to school. "I want to work towards a doctor's degree in college." Shelby said. "Last time you said you wanted to work towards being a veterinarian." I said smiling at her. Shelby changed her career plan about once a week and this didn't make her Journey class teacher happy because he would have to change her assignments to match her career choices.

We met up with some more friends once we reached the school grounds. Justin, James and Taylor always road together to school because they lived closer. Shelby ran into James open arms and kissed him on the lips. Taylor walked over and started giving them a lecture about PDA on school grounds and Justin started walking over to me about to say something when I gave him the later signal with my hand as the bell rang. We all walked to our lockers and grabbing our books, headed to our first classes.

The first two classes I had by myself and then after lunch I had classes with my friends. I walked in and sat in the back of the class by the window. You could see the outside world swaying as the wind picked up. I rested my head on my hands as people started whispering and talking around me.

"I wonder why the teacher's not here yet?" The girl next to me whispered to her friend. It was strange, usually Miss. Waller was already here and writing the first assignment on the board when everyone came into the classroom. I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep until someone started nudging me. "What?" I said coming out a lot harsher than intended. "Sorry." I said. The girl gave me a small smile and then pointed towards the front of the class. That was definitely not Miss. Waller.