Chapter Text
I wake up with a jolt to the sound of my alarm going off, the noise sounding extra loud in the silent room. Feeling disoriented, I roll over and grab my phone off my nightstand. It’s six in the morning. I want nothing more than to go back to sleep, but today’s the first day of school, and the beginning of my junior year. I have to get up and get ready.
After a few minutes of laying there scrolling through my phone, I reluctantly pull myself out from under the warmth of my blankets and stand up, stretching. Ugh, I’m not ready to have to wake up at six in the morning everyday after I’ve spent the whole summer sleeping in until almost noon. I open my bedroom door and walk out into the hallway. I can see lights on downstairs, my grandma must be awake already. I slip into the bathroom and, after placing my phone on the sink counter, turn some music on.
“Attack” by Thirty Seconds to Mars starts playing. One of my favorite songs, it helps to calm my nerves a little. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and brush and style my hair. I’m not excited for today. Not that I’ve ever been excited to go back to school, but sophomore year was fucking awful, and I have a gut feeling this year’s going to be the same.
I check the time on my phone: almost six-thirty. All I need to do now is get dressed, do my makeup and get some breakfast. I walk back to my room and start digging through my dresser and closet, trying to decide what I want to wear.
It takes probably another ten minutes, but I finally settle on a decent-looking outfit: A black Linkin Park t-shirt (they’re my all-time favorite band) under a dark gray flannel, black skinny jeans and a pair of black high top Converse. Last step is my makeup. Eyeliner, mascara, and a little concealer is all I do. Once I finish, I take a look at myself in the mirror hanging on my closet door. I still look a little tired, but otherwise I look fine. I check the time: Almost seven. School starts in twenty minutes. Time to head out.
I slip my phone into my pocket and grab my headphones off my desk. I quickly look through my backpack to make sure I have all my stuff and pull it up over my shoulders. As I walk downstairs, I can hear the faint sound of the TV playing in the living room.
“Good morning, Hannah.” My grandma calls to me from the living room.
I don’t have enough time to sit down and eat cereal or something, so I decide to just make some toast. I can eat as I’m walking to school. As I grab my food and go to leave, I peek my head into the living room. Grandma’s sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and watching the news.
“I’m leaving now. See you later.” I tell her. She turns her head towards me and smiles.
“Okay, dear. Have a good day.” She gives me a small wave and turns back around. I walk outside, putting my headphones on and turning up my music to drown the world out.
~
As I approach the school, I glance at the big sign standing in the lawn. ‘Oak Springs High School’ is printed in large white letters over a red background, and ‘9/5 First Day - Welcome back!’ is spelled out in black letters. I walk through the school entrance. The hallways are already pretty crowded and people are walking with their friends, probably talking about how their summers were. I walk alone through the groups.
I’ve never had much interest in joining any of the clubs, and most of my old friend group drifted apart. There’s a few people from that group I still talk to, and I don’t really mind being on my own. I mind my business and people usually leave me alone. I occasionally catch a group of people pointing and giggling at me, but they shut up and act dumb the second I stick up for myself. I hate people like that: they talk shit then act surprised when they get confronted about it. So annoying.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when I feel someone behind me yank my headphones off and shove me. I stumble a little, but manage to stay standing. I hear laughter. Annoying, high-pitched giggling that I could recognize anywhere.
I roll my eyes and sigh, then turn around. The one-and-only Claire Eriksen and Olivia Bennett are standing there, glaring down at me. Damn, dealing with them is definitely not how I want to start my day.
“Nice to see you this morning, freak. Are you maybe looking for these?” Claire greets me with an obviously fake smile, dangling my headphones by her index finger. Where do I start with her? She’s one of the most popular girls in school despite how mean she is. Olivia is a similar case, she’s Claire's best friend who follows her around all the time.
But while Claire is a mean girl who gossips about everyone and talks bad about them behind their backs, she’s a saint compared to Olivia. That girl is… yikes. Getting into fights, bullying people so badly that they switched to online school, hooking up with girls’ boyfriends just for the hell of it… ‘vicious’ might be an understatement.
“You just gonna stand there looking’ stupid, emo?” Olivia asks, giving me another shove.
“Emo. Really? Three months off school and that’s the great comeback you have for me?” I deadpan, picking at my nails.
I can see a brief flicker of confusion in Olivia’s eyes, She’s probably wondering why I don’t seem scared. She used to terrify me, but not anymore. Even if I was, I’m smart enough to know not to let it show. The more nervous you act around her, the worse she gets.
“Oh, shut your fucking mouth.” She scoffs and flips her long blonde hair behind her shoulder. “Anyway, we had a fun summer, didn’t we Claire?” She glances over at Claire and she nods, smirking a little. “Aw, but the poor little dyke’s got no one or nowhere to go to. You probably just sat inside all day listening to your weird Satan music and cutting yourself, didn’t you?”
Ah, yes. Satan’s playlist, including absolutely evil bands like Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects, and, truly the most demonic of them all, Paramore. The cutting part was pretty low, though. She wants to go there? I can too.
“Heard you had fun hooking up with Sadie Watson’s boyfriend when everyone they were still dating. Saw the pictures too. Not the best angles for you, but what can you do, right?”
Before I can do anything to defend myself, she grabs me by my hair and roughly throws me against the wall. I cringe at the pain spreading across my scalp and Olivia leans closer to me. “Keep your fucking mouth shut, bitch. You really should just kill yourself already, it’s not like anyone would miss you.” She growls.
I glare up at her as she backs away from me and brushes her hair out of her face. Claire tosses my headphones onto the floor and the two girls walk off. I let out a sigh of relief and pick up my headphones, examining them to make sure there’s no damage. They’re still in one piece, thank god. Man, this is not how I wanted to start my first day of junior year.
I start walking again, feeling pretty proud of myself. I stood up to Olivia, and I’m sure she wasn’t expecting that. The look on her face? Priceless.
That drama was pretty crazy. Sadie’s cool, we had a few classes together last year and she was always nice. Over the summer (I think it was early in August), she and her boyfriend broke up because he cheated on her with Olivia. Pictures got spread around to a bunch of people (including me) of the two of them kissing and looking very couple-y.
Supposedly, there were also some more… explicit pictures of them that got sent around, but I didn’t see them (and don’t want to). I don’t know who got a hold of the photos, but man, Sadie was pissed. How could she not be? If I was in her position, I’d be pissed too.
I often wonder about Olivia. Why is she so nasty? And why does she hate me so much? I wonder the same thing about Claire, I’ve never done anything to either of them. Especially Olivia, I’d never once spoken to her when she started treating me like this back in freshman year. But with Claire…
Well, that’s a different story. We used to be best friends up until seventh grade. There wasn’t any bad blood between us, we just ended up drifting apart. Things were fine until freshman year, that’s when she and Olivia started bullying me. I know I should hate her, but there are some days where I find myself reminiscing about our friendship and longing for those days to come back. It sucks that things had to turn out like this.
Ah man, it’s too early for me to be thinking about depressing crap like that. My top priority right now is finding my homeroom. Hopefully, the rest of the day will go by smoothly…
~
I sit in my seventh period History class. Unfortunately for me, Claire is also in this class. She’s sitting up in the front row, while I’m closer to the back. I occasionally catch glimpses of her glancing back at me, but I keep my eyes pointed down at my notebook to try and ignore her.
“I have several projects planned out this year, your first one will be due in two weeks. I’m going to be assigning partners for the rest of the year. If you have any issues with who you’re working with, please come talk to me and I see if we can work something out.” Our teacher, Mrs. Hernandez informs us, and begins listing names. What? It’s only the first day, why the hell are we already being given projects? I glance around the room. Who will I be forced to work with? Someone cool, I hope.
“Hannah and Claire.”
Fuck.
Of course, of course that would happen. Up front, Claire looks just as shocked as I feel. I place my head down on the table and close my eyes. The universe sure has a sick sense of humor.
I don’t know how much time passes, but I feel someone poke my shoulder. I slowly peek up to see Claire standing in front of me, her books tucked under her arm and a smug smile across her pink painted lips.
“Let’s just get something straight.” Her smile quickly vanishes and she leans down closer to me. “Us being partners doesn’t make us friends, so don’t start acting like we are. I’m only doing this so I’ll get good grades. Got it?”
“Duh. Never said we were gonna be buddies, did I?” I say. Claire stands up straight, her smirk returning.
“Good. I have stuff to do tomorrow, so we can get started on this project on Wednesday. Come to my house after school.” She demands, not leaving any room for me to argue. She rips a piece of paper from her notebook and writes something, then places it in front of me. Her number.
The bell rings, dismissing us from seventh period. She doesn’t say anything else as she turns away and walks out. Why do I have to go to her house? We can just do the project at mine. Well, whatever. She’s gone now, I can’t try to argue with her. I let out a sigh. This is going to be one hell of a year.
~
Eighth period is my lunch period. Nothing good ever happens in the cafeteria. The sound of the other students talking and laughing is overwhelming. The food here sucks too. But it’s the second-to-last period, the day’s almost over. I sit at the end of the table, my headphones on and my music playing as loud as my ears can handle. Even through the music, I can still faintly hear the sounds of the cafeteria.
I glance up to see Claire and Olivia walking in my direction. Damn, it’s bad enough that we have History together, but we also have the same lunch period? And Olivia’s with her? I look down as they get closer. Just like she did this morning, Claire reaches out and yanks my headphones off my head. Well, there goes any chance of ignoring them…
“Hi again, freak. We just can’t stop running into each other today, huh?” She greets me with a false sweetness in her voice.
I’m not doing this shit again. I stand up and grab Claire’s wrist, twisting it a little as I yank my headphones back. “You think you’re funny? I’m not scared of you, and it’s embarrassing that you think I am.” I push her back and slip my headphones around my neck.
I’m about to sit down when Olivia suddenly grabs me by my neck, forcing me to stand back up. “Aw, you think you’re tough now?” She spits, her blue-gray eyes full of anger. “The dyke wants a fight? C’mon, hit me then, I fucking dare you.” I try to push her away, but flinch as her grip on my neck tightens, her sharp nails feeling like they’re close to slicing my skin open.
“Get the hell away from her, you two.”
An unfamiliar voice pipes up behind me. I can’t see who it is, but judging from the glares that suddenly appear on Claire and Olivia’s faces, it’s someone they’re not on good terms with. Olivia finally lets me go, causing a stinging pain to spread across my neck. Holy fuck, that hurt. I might actually have cuts from that.
“We’re in the middle of something, fuck off.” Olivia snarls, crossing her arms.
“Nice to see you too, Liv. Anyway, why are you bothering this girl? She’s not bothering you.” I listen to the stranger’s voice. It’s deep, but feminine. Nice to listen to.
“Wow, you’re standing up for this freak? Didn’t think you’d fall that low.” Claire scoffs and rolls her eyes.
“Stop acting all high and mighty, Claire. I dunno why you think it’s cute, you just look stupid. Go on now, shoo. Piss someone else off.” The mystery girl demands. Claire and Olivia remain silent and glance at each other.
“Tch, whatever.” Is all Olivia says before she turns and storms off. Claire doesn’t say anything, just turns her glare to me before she follows Olivia. They’re gone, finally.
As I finally sit back down, I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?” The mystery girl asks gently, her voice softer than it was before.
“Yeah, that wasn’t the only time they’ve done that shit today. Thanks for stepping in.” I glance up to get a look at whoever was kind enough to help me. She has pale skin, blue hair that falls down to her shoulders with side-swept bangs, a silver nose ring, and dark brown eyes. She’s wearing a black Green Day t-shirt, gray skinny jeans and Doc Martens with purple laces.
Oh wow, she’s really pretty.
“No problem.” She begins as she sits down next to me. “I know how those two are, especially Claire. She acts like she’s hot shit, but she’ll run off the second someone stands up to her. Same thing with Liv. She goes around talkin’ shit and acting like she’s always ready to fight, but she’s just as big of a coward. I can’t stand them.”
“Oh, my name’s Juliet, by the way. Everyone just calls me Jules, though.” She tells me with a soft smile. Juliet… huh, that’s a pretty name.
“I’m Hannah.” I say. “Are you new here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”
Much to my surprise, she shakes her head. “Nah, I went here up until second grade, then I moved in with my dad and was going to a different school for a few years. I moved back here the summer before freshman year. Complicated, but… no, basically.” She explains. Weird, how come I don’t recognize her then? Well, there’s only a few people here that I talk to, I guess that would be why.
I want to say something else, but the bell rings and cuts me off. “Oh, well, I guess I should get going. Where are you heading now?” Jules asks, gathering her books in her arms.
“Uh… Chemistry, I think?” I dig my schedule out of my folder. Sure enough, Chemistry is my last class of the day.
“Do you have Mr. Lewis?” Jules asks. I nod, causing her smile to grow wider. “What a coincidence, that’s where I’m heading. Let’s walk together.”
“Okay.” I gather up my books and we stand up.
As we walk upstairs to get to class, I notice a few people staring at me with bewildered looks. “Check that out, the emo made a friend.” I hear someone comment.
‘Whoa, the quiet kid can talk? What a fucking sight.’ I think to myself sarcastically. Yeah, I don’t say much, and I keep to myself a majority of the time. But it can’t actually be that shocking to see me interact with someone. I keep my eyes on my shoes, not wanting to meet anyone’s gaze.
“How come people are looking at us weird?” Jules asks.
“I, uh… I don’t really talk to anyone here. I’m kinda a loner. I guess people are surprised to see me walking with someone for once.”
“Really? Well, people suck, you know how it can be. I know we literally just met, so I’m sorry if this sounds weird, but… I wouldn’t mind being your friend.”
Her words intrigue me. She already wants to be friends?
‘Don’t take it the wrong way, Hannah. This girl just wants to get to know you. You barely talk to anyone, it’d be nice if you finally made a new friend here.’ The little voice in the back of my mind scolds me.
“Yeah, that’d be… cool, I guess.” I act nonchalant, but I can’t help but feel a little giddy. We don’t say anything else as we approach the door to the classroom. As we enter the room, the people that have already arrived stare at us the same way people in the halls were. I ignore them and the two of us sit down at a table near the back of the room.
I can’t believe it. This pretty girl shows up out of nowhere, stands up to my bullies, we talk for a little bit, then she says she wants to be my friend? This feels unreal, like a dream. At the same time, I feel excited. I have a shot at making a friend for the first time in way too long. Maybe this year won’t completely suck after all.