Chapter Text
"Wake up Samey, or I'm burning your favorite shirt!" Amy screeched as she burst into Sammy's room. The loud, high pitched cry would wake even the heaviest sleeper so of course Sammy began to shake off the last remnants of sleep. She sat up and pulled the blanket around her shoulders, watching halfheartedly as Amy turned and slammed the door behind her. At least she had the curtesy to close the door, and had she left Sammy to sleep then she would have been late for school. She knew this from experience, as Amy absolutely relished in making Sammy look bad.
"Alright, let's get up." Sammy mumbled to herself, stretching and clambering out of her bed. She got dressed and did her makeup quickly, not wanting to dwell and be late for school. It didn't really matter for her record, but her dad would be really mad. Dad being mad meant Sammy would, well, not have a great day.
The twins lived pretty far from their school, but Sammy refused to take the bus. She had been bullied off of it years ago, Amy had led her army of "friends" into picking on Sammy relentlessly, from grade 3 until grade 9, when she gave up and started walking. Walking was much nicer, being a great way to relax and think about nothing. Besides, had Sammy never started walking she never would have found her spot.
Her "spot" was a rocky overhang that leaned over a small pond, populated by fish and ducks. There was a guard rail that you could lean over, and a small indent that Sammy liked to bring a blanket and a book into. Sometimes stray cats would show up and eat the dead fish, and the friendly ones would let Sammy pet them. That made her happy. It was a good place to be, especially when your home life is like Sammy's.
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Arriving at school Sammy began doing what she did best, blending into the background, and hid in the library. The librarian was impartial to her presence, and let Sammy sit in the rows of books and read whatever she wanted. When he was in a good mood he would let Sammy take out three books instead of the usual limit of two, and in return she would bake for him. On the days she was allowed to bake, but he didn't know about that. Once the bell rang Sammy left the library and took the long route to her classroom, going outside to connect the doors and remain unseen.
Her daily ritual was go to class, hope not to get picked on too badly, walk home, cry and/or draw, rinse and repeat. Today's hellscape began with Social Studies, which Sammy was decent enough at. The teacher there seemed not to like her much, as she was very hard on Sammy when she made minor mistakes in her work. Because of this, Sammy didn't try very hard. She was so afraid of getting it wrong, she didn't even want to bother. Today, she laid her head down on the table and tried to pretend to be anywhere else.
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"And for the project on the industrialization of Canada, you will be placed by me into partner groups." The students groaned, clearly wanted to have sorted themselves into groups. Sammy looked up slowly, not having heard most of what the teacher said. She didn't really care, she would probably be working alone again anyways. No one ever wanted to work with her, they barely pretended to talk to her when the teacher was watching. Who would the poor sap be who had to interact with her this time?
"Leonard and Max, Samey and Jasmine, Sky and," Jasmine, really? Sammy felt bad for her, Jasmine was really cool. Or, she seemed really cool. Sammy had never actually talked to her. Tall and smart and strong and nice, she had never pushed Sammy in the hall or called her a mean name, ever. Oh well, she probably would want to work with some cool friend of hers anyways.
Sammy laid her head back down on her desk as she heard the scraping of chairs being pulled across the old linoleum floor. Her mind wandered while she waited for the bell to ring so she could go hide off campus and eat her lunch. Someone walked past her, stopping by her desk and turning towards her. Sammy braced for impact, hoping it wouldn't be too bad this time.
"Uh, hey there?" Sammy raised her head a little, looking up to see who was talking to her. It was Jasmine? What did she want? "We're partners. For the project?" Oh.
"Um," Sammy sat up, pulling out the criteria sheet she hadn't read yet and pretending to be interested. "Sure."
"Well not now, the bell's about to go. Should I find you at lunch?" Sammy chuckled, knowing that where she went for lunch was far enough away that no one would find her. That's the point.
"Yeah, alright." Sammy said sarcastically, but Jasmine didn't seem to notice. This girl seemed actually interested in talking to her, or at least getting a good grade in this class.
"Right! I'll see you then, Sam!" Sam. No one had ever called her that. It felt weird. Not quite awful, but definitely weird. But before she could think about it any more the bell rang and Jasmine got up and went back to her desk. Sammy shrugged and packed her stuff up, closing her backpack and slipping out of the classroom.
She slid along the wall, trying to remain unseen, and finally escaped out the nearest door. The nicotine-tinted air filled her lungs and she felt free from the judging eyes and mocking sneers of the teenagers that roamed the halls. Being out of the building allowed her to escape for an hour and seven minutes, to go to her sanctuary and be alone.
As Sammy walked she put in her headphones and allowed her thoughts to go elsewhere, trusting her body to take her where she wanted to go. That is, until she heard someone calling her name. She pulled out a headphone and turned around, watching Jasmine jog towards her. It clearly wasn't hard for the much taller girl to catch up, having legs that nearly reached Sammy's ribs. But it simultaneously irritated and amazed her that someone had taken time out of their day and gone off campus to talk to her.
"Can I help you?"