The Girl (Almost) Everyone Ignored

Chapter 1

Intro to the one and only..... Me
____________________________________

Hey!My name's Raven Taylor and I live in a big, white house, practically all by myself.

My mom works at this big building in a nearby town that does nothing but sit around and talk about how to make the company even bigger. My dad is a commander in the Navy and my brother, Noah, is a senior officer. But I do nothing but stay at home and sulk about my loneliness.

Once every year, my heroes get to come home for two weeks to spend time with family. That's when I reach the peak of my happiness. It's like Christmas to most people, except without the snow and gifts. Any other times, I'm pretty much... nothing.

My life was actually pretty well, until my friends got together in freshman year.

Liam, Emma, and I have been really close friends since two years before kindergarten. I was proud of that, and we all knew that Liam and Emma wouldn't always be just friends. They had to be more.

After a few days of them being together, they ditched me. Mainly Emma. Though we're best friends, she couldn't help thinking that I would get jealous and break the two up. But that wasn't the case, I absolutely loved the fact that they were together. They're cute together, meant for each other.

So Emma and Liam left me. They were honestly my only true friends, or at least they were. I had other friends because we were known as the "unbreakable besties" and if you messed with one, you got two others.

We were super popular, but on the inside I was super anti-social. They made me feel comfortable being in groups, but when they left I could only be me with very few people around and looking at me.

Thankfully, I'm not the only anti-social freak at my school. "Emos", "fags", "gay" as popular people called them. Not Liam, Emma, or I, but everyone else. We barely paid attention to them, but it was better than making fun of them. Really they were just friendly, kind souls that didn't get spoiled and listens to alternative rock and those other kinds of music.

I sort of became one of them. I wore black, listened to a few of their bands, but that was really all.

In the group, I was like the puppy that they couldn't let others touch. If people picked on me, they would be there to defend me. Even when I didn't do anything for them.

There was seven of them. Perry, Drake, Zander, and Devin are the guys. Marlo, Norin, and Ridley were the girls. Liam and Emma didn't seem to notice me. Just like when we were a group, we ignored the "freaks."

I held nothing on them, but they still never talked to me. It wasn't until I was asked to wear bright clothes for a week, to "celebrate" Noah leaving for the Navy.

"Oh my god, Raven. Are the rumors true, about Noah?" Emma asked me suddenly in the halls one day, at my locker.

I released a deep breathe, and though we havent talked in two and a half years, she gave me a hug. I was having a tough time thinking about it, but she was a help.

But there was someone else that made me feel way more better. His name was Lucas. Lucas Drew. He was on the football team, but was really friendly, especially with emos and misfits.

I caught his eye, stood out from the other seven. He told me it was the fact that I didn't have to do anything and people still had my back. There was something about me that made people care. This was shortly after I'd became close friends with Perry and them.

Not to long after, Luke asked me out. The relationship was about as strong as Liam and Emma's. It lasted right up until after a month of eleventh grade and around the time Liam and Emma were talking to me again. I sat with them, having no choice due to Emma's ability to force anyone into anything. Luke had to move away and didnt want to have a long-distance relationship. Neither did I.

"But your life seems fairly nice, what's your problems?" You may ask. It's pretty simple.

Bullies.

McKenzie Smith and Carter Walker. The biggest and baddest couple in the whole school. Even when they weren't dating, they were still the worst kids. People hated them. People drooled over them. I-in the other hand-would completely ignore them.

I'm not afraid of them. My dad taught me to be tough. Not to let people beat me down, but to also not beat them down.

So, back to the present, Lucas doesn't go to this school anymore, I hang out with Liam and Emma now, I'm still friends with the "dark" if you call my seven friends so, and Liam and Emma have no idea how hard Carter and Mckenzie push me down.

I was at my locker, dropping off my books.

The hall started to grow a bit louder.

Slam!

My locker was shut, due to no other than Carter. "Fag!"

I tried not to feel empty inside as he walked off. I attempted to reopen my locker, and succeeded. I grabbed for my white book bag that held my drawing and writing notebooks.

"Raven, you're coming to the game tonight, right?" Emma asked, walking up to me at my locker.

"Of course" I told her, remembering that Liam had a football game tonight

"That's great, isnt this your first time going?"

"Um, yeah. I'm excited, honestly"

"Really, cause it's sort of hard to tell when you don't show emotion" she smiled.

I forced a smile. "I'm excited, just a little nervous. I've been known to cause bad luck."

"No, you're not. You need-"

"It was only a joke, Em" I told her, slinging my bookbag over my shoulder.

So this is my story.

Why the "dark" helped me, why I'd caught the eye of Luke, just how I changed lives. How I changed Jacksonville, NC.

I did it all....

With my voice.