Playing With Fire

1➳ Where I Belong

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Summer miraculously came to an end. School was back in session.

Though I doubt anyone actually cared. Winterhaven was our safe haven to put it simply. A safe haven for other gifted teenagers like me. A place where no one would judge or question our 'abnormality'. It was our home, people had grown to accept and love us as if we had the same ruby red blood flowing delicately through our veins.

Of course, just like everyone else at school, I had my very own group of friends or my 'pack' as Eli liked to call it. They're family to me. We had each other's backs no matter what.

I can't wait to be back home. No doubt my mother would whack me on the back of my head if I had said that out loud.

And not a moment later, we were pulling up to the castle like structure of WinterHaven. The taxi cab drove off as soon as I took out all my luggage.

I held my breath.

Anxiety and excitement bubbling up in the pit of my stomach creating a queasy feeling to run through my body. At the moment I was scared and suddenly felt the need to go back home.

With a confident stride, I trailed up the stairs, having already known the school like the back of my hand. Winterhaven seemed slightly dead, then again I doubt anyone was as eager as me to come back.

I frowned in dismay. Macy would probably tease me for it.

Macy was my roommate from the beginning,  we had no problem with eachother thankfully.  Although her boldness was a bit overwhelming at times. Personally, I didn't know that much about Macy. She was always careful about the things she told me. Never exactly spoke about her friends openly and I was okay with that, we respected each other's personal space.

Macy always knew when a person was feeling down. She was an empath, it was her gift. Here at WinterHaven, it wasn't quite common for people to call their gift a power. Mrs. Girard was against using the word to describe something we were born with. She preferred the term 'gift'.

Cautiously and eagerly,  I made my way towards the girls floor.

Before school was over, Macy and I had agreed that it was best if I held the key to our room during the summer. Due to her tendency of being late and her obnoxious trait of forgetting things.

I held my breath before approaching the door, 219, was the number embossed in the dark thick wood collored brightly in gold paint. I inserted the key and unlocked it before reaching out my small clammy hand  to curl around the knob. Successfully hearing the small click and pushing the door wide open.

Everything looked the same as it was before we left; albeit maybe a bit more cleaner I supose.

The mint colored walls never failed to bring warmth inside my heart. Many posters littered the four walls. 99% of them being Austin Mahone posters. The 1% being a single Monsta-X poster sticked directly above my bed.

I rolled my eyes. Macy enjoyed being childishly obsessed with the singer.

I didn't bother to begin unpacking. I had enough time to do that anyways. Sitting on the bed, I ran my fingers through my greasy ringlet of curls, allowing my thoughts to drift. I hadn't heard from my friends the entire summer,  I missed them a whole bunch.

They had been with me ever since day one. Wren with her platinum blonde hair always up in a bun or awfully made braid. Eli's rosy cheeks when I caught him looking at Wren when he thought no one was looking. Andrew and his contagious toothy grin and many disgusting perverted jokes. Then there was me, people barely noticed me.

I held no beauty like Wren nor was I freakishly tall like Andrew, I was tiny compared to Eli's strong build. Yet people loved to acknowledge me as freckles, curly, or Eli's little sister.

I didn't mind. Being the center of attention always made me nervous.

I was always oblivious to what was going on around me. Listening to gossip always made me queasy. It's not like the subject itself didn't interest me, because it did. I was just "never on earth" when the juicy details were being passed around.

Wren loved to describe me as having the attention span of Dug. The dog from her favorite animated movie Up. Hearing her say that always made me laugh.

Wren was a shapeshifter. A beautiful one at that, yet people still slut shamed her. Even though Wren was NEVER seen with a guy (that wasn't Eli or Andrew) in all her life. It didn't matter, she never listened to them and that's all that matters.

Everyone steered clear from our little group. Mostly because of Eli. Eli stuck to my side everywhere I went. I was like a sister to him and vice versa, I never spoke to anyone outside my group besides Macy. Giving the impression to everyone that I was mute.

Most people labeled me as anti-social but I preferred the term 'selectively social'. I'm not rude or snobby. Just really shy when directly spoken to unless it's a teacher.

It's strange how even though I considered myself a person that was barely noticed. I was still acknowledged,  even if it was by weird nicknames given to me by strangers I didn't even know.

I'm a mess. And I embrace it. Because in the end we all have a story to tell, and my story will not be judged by a chapter someone walked in on. Everyone has a story they would rather not say out loud.

Wren, so insecure she feels invisible, but she doesn't know her light is blinding. Eli, so scared of hurting someone with his own bear hands, he desperately tries to lock off his emotions from the rest of us. Andrew, who was abandoned by his parents, the people who were supposed to shower him with love and care desperately seeking for attention from others to fill the aching whole in his heart.

And me? I was a girl who's past haunted her so much she blocked the world out many times in order to turn the page of her story.

We belonged together,  no matter how broken we were. Because we were each others shoulders to lean on.

As long as I have them, I know where I belong.

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