Start Again

Prologue

A novel.

"Why do you do this?" I ask, piercing my eyes at Atlas. He looks taken back for a moment, but slowly lets his ego take over. That's the thing with guys like Atlas Cordova, they live their lives expecting everyone to accept the things they do. Atlas is that one guy who, at just 15, taught you about everything you were not looking for in a guy.

He leans in and tilts his head ever so slightly, before pursing his lips. "I don't do anything you don't deserve honey,"  he whispers. The class we're sitting is trashed, and there are pencils all over the floor. Atlas leans back against his desk and attempts to fix his torn shirt, failing. He has bruises covering most of his arms, chest, and red circles around both of his eyes. A nasty mark on his arm is bleeding, he covers it with one hand and tries to hide the pain.

"There's no one around, cut the act," I whisper back. Principal Rye is calling our parents across the room, and I'm sitting on the floor, with my hair disheveled. I could have easily sat on any chair in the room, but I was not really prepared to walk by the idiot in front of me.

"What act?" He asks, running a hand through his smooth dark hair. I can hear my mother's frantic voice on the other end of the class phone as the principal tells her about the set of events that occurred only a few minutes ago. It's odd to see the people you take class with everyday run away from you in fear. It's even more odd when one of those people is the teacher who gave you all candy the first day of school, hoping the lollipop would get you to like her.

Atlas ponders over the question in his head before he rolls his eyes.

"Look, I don't know what I ever did to you, but it's so annoying to sit here and have to be the one to try to fix our messed up relationship. I am so sorry I hit you, but this was the final straw for me, I'm just so done with this." I bite my nails and try to remove the red chipped nail polish, that had taken me two hours to get perfect. He sighs and stares down at me, his eyes hold a hint of something. Not sadness obviously because he doesn't give one about any of this, but maybe discomfort?

"Look I'm sorry..." he starts, but just then he stops and blinks. This is as far as I'd get with him, before he shakes his head and pulls out his phone. I stare at him dumbfoundedly, he ignores me, and this is how it stays for an the next thirty minutes.

"This is the last time, Atlas." Ms. Cordova is the kind of lady who you did not want to mess with. She was not a lawyer or anything like that, but she was a tired woman. The bags under her eyes screamed for sleep, but the expensive bag asked for her to keep living the life her husband had once given her. "Mom she hit me first."

"I am so sorry Savannah, " she says, ignoring her son. He tries to give me a dark look, but hell no, I was not going to make eye contact with that devil. My mom was in the room as well, but she was too busy trying to calm my baby brother down to really pay attention to anything.

"Thank you for coming ma'am, I really wish we were not meeting again under these circumstances. I know Savannah hit him first, you can try to file charges but the school really recommends to keep this private." Principal Rye sighs, and holds up the torn baby doll. Slobber is hanging from a deep hole in its neck, and one of its eyes is missing. This was the real life version of Annabelle, and the person behind all this was holding back his laughter.

"I don't even know how this happened, Sav mentioned that your dog passed away a few months ago."

Atlas snickers as his mom tries to put the pieces together. Her frown and anger slowly builds up as it clicks in her head.

"You said you were dog walking, how are you my son?" She screams.

For a moment, I kind of feel bad for him. Atlas was a good person, he was. It's just that he did not take the breakup too well, and seemed to hold a grudge against me ever since then. I brought out the worst in him, but I cannot take the blame this time. He did not do his part in the exam, and risked both of our grades to feed that hungry grudge if his. Nonetheless, part of me wished he had never done that.

"No we will not press any charges, do you have anything to say to Savannah? She might fail this semester thanks to you." Mrs. Rye and Mrs. Cordova stare at Atlas for a long time. His eyes shift back and forth frantically, before he looks at me.

"I wish you were the doll."

His words strangely affect me, and there goes all the pity I had for him. I have had to deal with this kind of hate for a while now, but the way he said this kind of upset me. I don't think anyone can  get used to someone constantly attacking them. The fight we just had only seemed to make him hate me even more. My mom starts to say something, but my brother interrupts her by crying.

"Atlas, you're in tenth grade. This kind of behavior isn't acceptable!" Our principal yells. I smile at my enemy, and the words I have been holding back for almost two years start to pour out of my mouth.

"You're going to end up just like your father."

He slaps me.