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Chapter 1: The Beginning

Being the new kid sucks.

Well, I guess technically I'm not new, but this will be the first time I've been back to this school since I was eight. I've always went to Green Knight Public School, but everything changed a few years ago when my parents got divorced. So, right before I started junior high, I moved in with my mom, who decided it was a great idea to move halfway across the country.

Now, three years and an alcoholic mother later, here I am, back in Seattle, about to start my first day of high school. The idea of going back to my hometown school isn't so bad. It's not as scary as moving across the country with no familiar faces. Coming back here is welcoming but nerve racking. I haven't seen most of these people since we were kids.

I moved back in with my dad about a week after my mom was entered into a rehab facility back in Chicago. Dad felt awful that I had been alone with Mom for so long, but I didn't mind. Yes, she's an alcoholic, but she needed me, and I couldn't just abandon her to go back to the man that cheated on her.

Oh yeah, that. The big 'oh shit' part of the story.

My parents were high school sweethearts. Eric and Stacey. They were the couple that everyone else strived to be like. They grew up together, went to school together. They were each other's firsts in every way. But after almost fifteen years of being together, my dad decided that he wanted something new. And a lot younger.

Enter my old eighteen year old babysitter, Kathy Boyd. Kathy was always my favorite. She was always extra nice to me, especially when my dad was around. One day while I was in my room playing with my favorite barbie dolls, I heard Kathy and my dad talking a few rooms over. I didn't think anything about it, hell I was a kid. It wasn't until I heard the loud grunting and moaning across the hallway that I went to check everything out.

As soon as my dad saw me I know he realized how badly he fucked up. His eight year old daughter just caught him having sex with her babysitter. I remember him telling me that its not what it looks like, not that I really understood what sex was at that age, but I could tell by his voice that he was really sorry.

So when he told me not to tell Mom, I didn't. He was my dad and I trusted him.

The affair went on for another two years, and I noticed that my mom and dad began to fight a lot more than they usually did. Before, they might have a tiny argument and a few minutes later everything was okay, but now, it was like World War 3.

It was the night of my annual dance recital that everything really went to shit. My mom and dad had been fighting all morning. I remember when my mom was getting me ready for the recital she kept mumbling about some 'blonde bimbo.'

I loved to dance. I don't know why, but the music and the beat just always made it so easy to forget about what's going on on the outside. But that day was different.

My group and I moved onto the stage, the curtain still closed, waiting for us to get in our places. I bowed my head, my feet in first position, and that's when I heard it- the arguing. I've done these dance recitals for almost my entire life, so I knew what was awaiting me when the curtains finally opened. Thousands of parents sat excitedly in the auditorium, waiting to watch their children perform. The bright lights shined down on me, but instead of smiling as I performed, all I could see were my parents at the back of the auditorium, fighting.

My body moved on its own accord, just dancing from memory. My eyes stayed glued to my parents in the back, and then she shows up. I hadn't seen Kathy in almost a year since my parents decided to get a new babysitter. I never really understood why she left, but it didn't bother me because for awhile everything went back to normal. No more fighting, no more yelling. It was peaceful.