Shelter

Bills. Rachel could always count on them to keep coming. They came every month, adding even more to the girl's worries. As a person who lived on her own, Rachel was hard pressed to pay for the seemingly growing expenses that came with her life.
One might ask; what is a 16 year old girl doing on her own? No one knew that Rachel had fled to the small run down town of Ravenswood to escape her abusive father and a miserable life. Rachel considered herself lucky to find a town where a teenager living on her own would go unnoticed. In any other city, Rachel would be discovered and forced into an orphanage. At an orphanage, her family would be tracked down, and the last thing Rachel wanted was to face her father again.
Continuing to file through the mail, Rachel laughed bitterly. The idea of having a normal family and an easygoing life had flashed in her mind, and she pushed away the thought, knowing the harm that could come with fantasizing.
Considering how hard her life had been, Rachel would've ended her life a long time ago, but she had met Richard and his girlfriend Kori, her two only friends, and they had supplied the motivation for Rachel to continue. Of course, she did not tell them of her predicament, for the last thing she wanted was pity. Thus, they wondered when Rachel didn't buy anything at the mall, didn't eat anything at lunch, or didn't have a change of clothes for two months despite the fact that she kept the clothes she wore clean. They wondered, but knew better than to ask.
Rachel managed to pull herself from her thoughts.
"I've been thinking too much," she mentally chastised herself. With that, Rachel hefted her worn backpack onto her thin shoulder, slipped on the shoes that she hadn't changed for two years, and dashed out the door of the pathetic structure she called home.

Chapter 2
Rachel didn't have means of transportation. Having a car in such a small town would be atrocious, and Rachel could barely pay for food, let alone a bike. So she walked everywhere, or to be more precise, ran.
Rachel thought herself to have little talent, but one thing she could pride herself on was her endurance. She had gone through countless beatings with clenched fists and open eyes, yet had not screamed once. So, it only seemed logical that she possessed the endurance to run very long distances.
However, the distance to her high school was not long, so she sprinted towards the run down building. As it was the first day of school, there was the expected throngs of students, and the noise was almost deafening.
Rachel pulled her hood over her head. She hated crowds more than anything. They made her uneasy, for each time she would turn, the face that met her eyes would briefly be that of her father's, then flicker back to normal. Rachel weaved her way through the crowd to the best of her ability, and finally made it into the building, where she proceeded to rush to the safety of her locker.
However, when Rachel closed her locker door and turned to walk away, she was met with a pair of forest green eyes. Stifling a surprised scream, Rachel took a step back. Once she had regained her sense, she shot the green eyed boy a glare, which he reciprocated with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry if I startled you," he said. "My friend Vic and I are new, and I was wondering if you could tell us where the junior home room is."
At this, Rachel arched an eyebrow. It was rare that the small town received new inhabitants, and even rarer that those inhabitants were of the age to attend the high school. What had made these boys move here?
Rachel shook away her thoughts, and, despite her nature, decided to take pity on the boy.
"Home room is down the hall and to the left...."
"Garfield. My name's Garfield, but everyone calls me Gar."
Rachel's curiosity peaked, but she suppressed it and instead gave the boy a once over. He was lean to the point that most would call him scrawny, but Rachel was more observant than most. She could see the underlying muscle under his thin frame, and was mildly impressed.
"Good luck Garfield. You will need it."