Therapy

-Chapter One-

This chapter is dedicated to camjensen for becoming one of my best friends and supporting all my work. You're amazing! ❤
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"My ship went down in a sea of sound" - Therapy by All Time Low

I'm Aspen Tate. Queen Bee of Fern Valley High, girlfriend of star football player Axel James, and the five year running winner of the Fern Valley beauty pageant.
Perfect. That's the one word you would use to describe me.
But that's on the surface. The facade I put up? Totally fake. Not me. The real me? Anxiety filled, sweatpants loving, head stuck in a book, headphones in all the time. Yeah that's me. My parents, although one of the wealthiest families in the country, have their issues. Oh boy, they have their issues alright. At the most ridiculous hours of the morning, while eating breakfast, in the middle of the lounge, hiding in the corner of the supermarket. You see, my father owns one of the biggest businesses in Fern Valley, Tate Oil. Yeah, that's where our money comes from. Oil. He has a reputation, one he has to uphold. That's the reason for me having to be all glitter and gold.
The truth is, my world is falling apart;
My mother and father constantly arguing, my older brother turning to drugs and alcohol. I'm on the brink of letting loose, letting everyone see the real Aspen Tate. And until I break, I have to try my best to fix myself.

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"Simon! Get out of my house!" My mother screeches from downstairs.
"Your house? I don't see you working your ass off to pay for it!" My father yells back. I groan. I guess it's time to get up. There's no getting back to sleep now; once they start, they don't stop.
I scroll through my phone, trying to drown out the screams and words of hatred. I storm out of my room and to the top of the stairs.
"Would you stop already? You're driving me insane! I can't live like this anymore!" Silence follows.
"Aspen, dear, go back to bed." My mother smiles, false sweetness dripping from her mouth. I scoff.
"Really? You expect me to be able to sleep after you've yelled the house down!?" I fold my arms across my chest.
"Aspen. Room. Now." My father says sternly. I don't know what's worse; my father treating me like crap, or my mother babying me. I scowl and walk back to my room. I enter my room and make a point by slamming the door.

I sit on my bed, fingers knotted in my hair, and the tears start. Why does everything have to be so hard? My parents are so close to killing each other, my brother is barely human and I can't even be myself around my friends. My brother told me, before he started getting drunk and high every other night, that the strongest soldiers are faced with the hardest battles.
The alarm on my phone rings, telling me it's time to get up. I wipe my eyes with a sigh and stand up, walking to my bathroom.