Changing Bad Into Good // H.S. [AU]

Chapter 1

In this point in my life, if you came up to ask me "Hey, Harry? How's your life going so far?" I'd respond with an honest "Not very good." The reason why is because my mom passed away a couple years ago when I was sixteen and coping with that during school has been barely bearable. The stress of all of the work seems unnecessary to even go through since the woman who birthed me and took care of me since I was born is gone. The memories of her and I always linger in my mind and it hasn't gotten better much.

If you add that to the fact that the foster parents I have now have begun to drink and get high whenever they possibly can, that would add to the distress as well. With them doing what they want, they neglect my needs for their own and hurt me in the process. Almost all of the time, I'm yelled at, cursed at, pushed down, or hit somehow. They never show that they took me in because they loved me. They didn't even really seem to care much about me or what I thought when they first got me two years ago neither.

People in school definitely don't make this situation any better; the normal high school bullies mostly everyone in the world has encountered before. They're just so annoying and it's worse because they don't even know how bad I feel throughout the day walking down the halls. They just make everything worse; the cherry on top of my "I hate life even though I'm only 18" sundae.

Every day I feel miserable; hidden bruises from the past nights of my foster parents, memories of my mom and I backed up in my brain that I can't relieve myself of for anything and now I have to walk into a school and deal with ignorant people who are only out to hurt me more than I already am. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.

"Hey there, Harry, baby," I hear a guy call out to me annoyingly. Speak of the devil.

When I hear the voice, I instinctually don't say a word or even look in its direction. I've grown to just ignore everything from everyone nowadays if they're not helping me with anything. maybe that's a bad habit but it keeps me from talking to anyone I don't want to. I hurriedly walk to my locker. I put my stuff inside and head away from it. After a few more seconds of walking, I hear another voice; a much softer, pretty voice that I actually enjoy hearing every day.

"Harold!" she calls out. I smile a small smile to myself and turn my head to the direction of the voice.

"Olivia," I respond. She smiles when she sees me and my smile grows a little more. Her smile has always been one to cheer me up at least a small bit when I was feeling down...which is constantly, unfortunately.

Now, if I had a good pair of guardians to live with or raise me up, I think living my life would be a little easier since they'd actually love and take care of me when people at school did the opposite. Their love would outdo school problems. But since my foster parents don't ever try to help or support me, I feel alone and the problems just build up.

Meeting Olivia in 6th grade was probably the best thing to ever happen to me since she was there when my mother died. I've always been grateful for her friendship with me. She's been the thing I've needed that helped me feel better every day and even in my darker days. I usually don't have times where I'd want to hurt myself or possibly do something more but I have those thoughts every blue moon. Whenever I do though, I call Olivia so she can take my mind off of it. I know I would hurt her incredibly if I ever were to be selfish and leave her. We've been through so much together and I don't want to make someone feel the same things I've been feeling the last two years.

Whenever opportunity allowed, I'd go to her house and we would talk for hours on end. I would tell her parents that my parents don't care if I'm out late; which is partially true because even though they're my foster parents, they're still technically my parents. If they were to ever find out about what I was doing, they would be raging as if they actually cared for me. For what reason, I don't know. But I know that I need Olivia in my life to help me stay controlled and sane.