In The Name Of . . . (Sequel to Fault Line) [Completed]

Chapter One

In case you haven't heard, my name is Lana. Lana Carter. I've never really had a family. I mean, I have my aunt and my twin sister . . . but that's not really what you call a "family".  A family is more like a loving mother and father with their kids. Not an aunt and a slutty twin.

And I'm as far from that as possible. I once had a family that was perfect, but they all went away. My mom and dad died when I was young, my older sister too. My oldest sibling, Jordan, is away at college, no one has heard from him since Jane's funeral. My aunt is throwing her life away and my twin is miss popular with all of the guys on speed dial. I'm surprised she's still a virgin.

And me.

I guess I'm as average as they come. I'm smart . . . which will get me what? A good college? I don't want that. I want to live my life and not be stuck with a family and a sucky job, barely paying the bills each night and struggling to keep up hope. It's just not my thing. What else . . . oh! I have been bullied my entire life, fun right?  Being bullied because of being smart, because of being a loner, because of being accused that I'm trying to hard to be like my sister.

Note for my bullies; have you ever seen Megan walk the walls? I know you have, she wears 3 inch heels, with short skirts and a top that usually shows a little too much. I wear a sweatshirt with a long sleeve shirt underneath that with a pair of comfy jeans and sneakers, sometimes boots now and then. Me and my sister are complete opposites. Minus our faces and our history.

You can tell who is who in one look. It's that obvious.

Enough about my crappy life, how about we cut to the school field trip.

"Listen up, class!" Mrs. Mider shouts over the loud conversations our class is having. I'm the only quiet one here. "Class!" A student sees her struggling to handle the situation so he assists. He raises two fingers up to his mouth blows out. A high pitched sound cuts into the air around us, causing the entire class to immediately shut up. I flinch, stupid whistle, you're too sharp.

"Thank you, Thomas. Now, everybody, the votes are in . . . we are going to go to the Museum of Criminal Intelligence."

Great. That's the one place I never really cared to go to. I mean, learning about how brilliant criminals were is all we can learn for the two miserable hours we are stuck here.

Mrs. Mider starts to shout out the instructions to the class. I don't even bother to listen, I've heard them a billion times. Don't stray from the group, no touching unless approved, no talking when the teacher is talking, only go to the bathroom if excused, and most importantly . . . have fun! Screw you, teacher, I don't care about your rules. I do what I want.

Mrs. Mider finishes with the instructions that I didn't listen to and the class shuffles to the bus. Lowering my head, I slip into the near front of the line, luckily no one makes a big deal about it, they are all too caught up in their conversations to take notice of me. I quickly make my way to the back of the bus, where I always sit for everything. Soon everybody crowds onto the bus and role call is being shouted out.

"Laura Andrews." Mrs. Mider's voice rings out.

"Here." A voice replies.

"Abigail Bloom." I recognize the name . . . 

"Present." Another voice replies. I look to see where the voice came from and my suspicions are correct. She's a friend of Megan's, of course she is.

"Is Lana Carter here?" Mrs. Mider looks around the bus, squinting like no tomorrow.

"Against my will." I say loud enough for the front of the bus to hear.

I bet that if people liked me that the entire bus would be on the ground because they are laughing so hard. If only.