The Bad Boy Across The Street (ON HOLD)

Prologue

I've always loved reading. I never have been good at sports. I'm not an outdoors person because I easily burn in the sun. I'm not an artist, a musician, or involved in any of the other arts.

Naturally, I became bored as a young child. Reading was the activity to pass time for me. Worlds where people could do anything captured my imagination.

My mother was like me. She would rather stay inside and curl up with a good book than go outside and get sunburns and scraps. I even look like her. Well, not the hair color.

My mother and I share light skin that hates sun, dark green eyes, smaller-than-normal noses, and dreadfully curly hair. Well I should say shared.

Anneliese Morgan, a wonderful person and exceptional mother died when I was fourteen. To make matters worse, she died on my birthday. I haven't celebrated a birthday since then.

Now, the dark brown color of my hair comes from my father. Along with his bad temper I have his tall and slender build. That's all I will admit to being like him.

After Mom died, my father turned to the liver-killing ways of alcoholism. He barely talks to me and only looks at me if he absolutely has to. I guess he doesn't want to be reminded of his dead wife.

I'll admit, I'm not a social butterfly. In fact, I was socially-well let's say 'challenged' as a kid. By some unexpected miracle I had one friend. Her name was Fern. We bonded over being outcastes, I was teased for my lack of interest in anything other than reading and she was teased because of her name. You know, 'teasing' is an understatement.

I didn't help Fern that she was chubby.Our classmates called us-and I quote "Bush and the Bookworm", or when they felt extra clever "Fatty and Vampire". You can take a guess at which was which. That wasn't all. We were subjected to stolen property, being tripped in the hallways, being shoved into lockers, embarrassing or hurtful posts on the internet, even being slapped around a few times. Fern and I bore the weight together. As long as we were with the other, nothing was unbearable.

You can imagine what happened to me when Fern moved.

I had just lost my mother when Fern's parents decided to leave. Fern had come home the week before with bruises on her face and parts of her body. Fern had attempted to stand up to the bullies and they made sure she would never do that again. Our parents didn't know about the bullying. We never told them because Fern's parents were overprotective to the point that they would've packed up and left if they know about it earlier, when the bullying was limited to just insults.

Fern felt terrible for having to moving when I needed her the most. She tried everything to get her parents to stay. Suggesting switching to another school in the area or homeschooling, trying to convince them to move to a town close to here, unpacking her stuff, and she even tried to run away. Well, running away and hide at my house. Nothing was going to change their minds though. Two days after the death of my mom, my best friend left me.

So many things happened that week. I felt overwhelmed. My mother had died and my only friend moved away but I could've gotten through it better if someone was there with me. But no one was. My father, the only person left who cared about me suddenly wasn't there. I couldn't help it, I shut down.

I only moved from my bed to use the bathroom and get something for myself to eat. I just laid in bed watching the ceiling, thinking that this was all a dream and I would wake up to find everything back to normal. I stayed like that for a week. I finally went to school because I realized that my mother wouldn't be proud of how I was acting. I got up and got ready for school, thinking "Dad will surely get back into the swing of things when he sees that I have!". How so very wrong I was. With a slight and hopeful smile on my face, I walked down the hall and stepped into my father's room.

The smell was what hit me first. The strong and terrible reek of alcohol was enough to make me cringe. The room was dark, shades down and curtains yanked to block out any remaining sunlight. Empty alcohol containers laid haphazardly on the floor along with some clothes and broken glass from picture frames. My father was on the bed, his side facing me. I put a smile on my face and spoke.

"Daddy? I'm ready to go to sch-"

I stopped mid word as my father jumped out of bed and glared at me. He had never given me such a hateful look in his life and I was stunned.

"Shut the hell up Brice!" my father screamed at me. "Get out!"

I froze where I was. I hadn't ever seen my father like this. It scared me. His glare grew more hateful and he looked disgusted with me.

"Are you stupid?! Did you not hear me?!" my father boomed. "GET OUT NOW!"

That was what woke me from my trance. I ran out of the room, tripping over myself. I landed on the hallway floor with loud thud. My father barreled towards me looking like he was going to kill me. I scrambled backwards frantically trying to get away but hit the light green wall instead. Eyes wide, I pulled my knees to my chest and started to tremble. All I wanted to do was be swallowed up by the ground so my father wouldn't hurt me. He was getting closer and I closed my eyes waiting for the pain.

BAM! I flinched at the noise but didn't feel any pain. Hesitantly I opened up one eye then the other. The door to my parent's bedroom was closed. My eyes started to sting and tears were pooling in my eyes.

I slowly got up and headed out the door. I was going to have to walk the half mile to school. And I was going to be very late.

From then on I've gotten up early and walked to school. The bus was only another place to get bullied so I walked. I also cleaned to house, cooked, and worked at the library to get money for myself. I take care of myself and the house while my father works and drinks.

The first day back at school after Mom's death was better than I anticipated. None of the teachers were mad that I missed a whole week of school and I didn't receive any homework, just pitied looks. Though I hate to be pitied it was nice to not have to worry about homework. The bullying had quite also because the principal was notified by Fern's parents.

But the next week the bullying had returned. And it was worse. Turns out that people where furious that they weren't able to bully me that last week. Comments were made that I was an orphan and that's when it happened. I snapped.

My rage burst out of me. The kid who had called me that was standing in the middle of the hallway and I slammed him into the lockers. Hard. He was taller that me by about seven inches and weighed more than me but he didn't stand a chance. I was angry.

"What did you say?" I asked deadly calm. I looked him in the eye and he was terrified. I had a grip on the front of his shirt and I leaned closer glaring at him.

"If you ever say anything about me, behind my back, in front of me, or if you even THINK anything bad about me, I will hunt you down. And I. Will. Kill. You." I said with the same tone. "Got it?"

The boy swallowed and nodded his head 'yes'. I decided that wasn't enough for me and everyone else needed to stop once and for all. I glared at him harder and slammed him into the lockers again.

"I said," my voice grew louder so everyone in the hallway could hear. "GOT IT?!" The boy squeaked out a small yes. I released him and turned to everyone else. They all were looking at me with either awe or fear.

"That goes for the rest of you too!" I said. Most nodded their heads while others just looked shocked. Another boy was stupid enough to snort. I shut him up with one rock solid punch to the jaw. What can I say? A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do. And no one has ever bullied me again.

Now here I am two years later. I don't belong to any group. If I had never punched that boy and threatened everyone I guess I would be considered a nerd or a geek. But that did happen so I'm just some girl here. A smart girl who you don't mess with.

~ Hey! Sorry, that this is a terrible prologue! I'm not good at writing these. :( I just felt like I needed to write this. I hope you choose to stick with the story though!

Please comment and tell me what I need to fix or what you liked, just please be nice about it! ;)

-Jo