It's the Friday before our crew's day out on Hannah's boat. Everyone's excited, including myself, even if being on the sea makes me a bit queasy, but it beats being beaten half to death in hell. I'm still in hell, as we speak, trying to get ready for school. I have a timed essay to write in AP Literature today. I make sure to grab my lucky writing pen and backpack and swiftly run down down the stairs to escape. You can say school is one of my sanctuaries. I mean, it isn't completely, 100% safe but it's better than the 0% safety I have in this house that I can no longer call home.

As I'm stomping down the stairs, I am shoved from behind. I brace myself for impact by bringing my arms up over my face. I hear a crack and a sharp pain shoots through my arm. I grit my teeth and hiss at the sudden pain. I scramble with my feet to turn myself over to see my attacker, who is none other than Irva, my own biological mother. I don't know the real reason why she despises me, her own daughter, but I no longer see her as my mother. She will never receive my daughterly love.

She lunges at me with a butchering knife in her hand, so I kick her in the stomach and launch her small body away from me. She crashes into the far wall. I take this opportunity to run out the door. I place a supporting hand on the floor to hoist myself up. Unfortunately, the shooting pain returns and I collapse back onto the cold, filthy floor. I glance at Irva, who is now getting up and gaining on me. I hiss at the pain that shoots through my arm as I forcefully push myself back up on my feet. I have no time to be worrying about silly pains that may cost my life. I sprint toward the exit and swing the door open. I catapult myself out of the house and race down the street toward the bus stop. I can hear my heart ringing in my ears and my veins's blood throbbing under my skin. My arm is no longer in excruciating pain, it has diminished to a small pinching feeling.

Once I make it to the bus stop, I collapse into a crouch due to a lack of energy and oxygen. I place my hands on my knees and try to slow my heart rate down. Beep! Beep! My head shoots up to see the bus waiting for me to get on. As I smirk at my accomplishments this morning, I dust my clothes off and enter the bus. I nod to the bus driver in thanks and make my way through the bus. I see an empty seat next to a sleeping girl. That may be the best place to sit.

Right as I am preparing to take my seat, someone sticks their leg out making me trip and slide down the aisle. The floor scraped at my skin from the tiny peebles that occupied it. I hiss at the stinging sensation on my palms. I shake my head trying to relieve my anger and easily get to my feet, swiftly taking my seat. I notice two boys laughing hysterically at what just happened. I glared at them but sighed, knowing it wouldn't do any good. I'll just be making the situation worse by trying to cast revenge on them. I look down at the palm of my hands, which are slightly red with no sign of scratches. Soon, the redness fades away making me sigh. Looks like today is proving to be a hazardous one.

~~~~~~~~~~

At school, I go to my locker to swap out some books for my first few classes. On my way there I see Hannah speaking to a guy. He looks like an underclassmen, he is taller than Hannah though. He has black hair with frosted tips, foggy grey eyes, wearing a huge, mischievous grin on his lips. I stop in my tracks and study him more closely. I am receiving a malicious vibe from him. By the looks of it, Hannah seems to be frustrated. Her hands are tightly clenching her shoulder strap, and she is trying to avoid eye contact with the guy. I sigh. I might get myself into another situation, but there's no helping it now.

I go to her rescue. I'm by her side in an instant with my arm snaked around her shoulders. Hannah jumps slightly in surprise and lowers her head in embarrassment. I put on a big smile. "Hey, Hannah! Who's your 'friend'?" I start, placing air quotes on friend. My eyes lock on to the guy Hannah was speaking to up until just now.

He takes a slight step back, trying to analyze how to counter. "Hmph!" He shakes his head side to side. "Me and Hannah were just having a little heart to heart convo, but you rudely interrupted us," He snickered.

I laugh while pulling Hannah slightly away from this maniac. I can see that Hannah is scared. She stares up at me and pleads for me to go away. I decide to ignore her this time. I have to show him who's boss. "I'm pretty sure no one in this school would ever have a heart to heart with you," I challenge.

He growls in response and takes a step forward. "I'm not afraid to hit a girl, especially one who disrespects people who obviously have more power. My name is Nathan Freid. I am the sole heir to my father's multi-billion company. I was just asking Hannah, here, to be my girlfriend. Since we're both from rich families it befits us," He rants.

I yawn with bored eyes, I wave a hand over my mouth. "Don't be so pushy. Girls don't like pretentious, cocky boys who don't accomplish anything by themselves. You can only show off what was given to you as a birth right, but you never achieved anything on your own. Get over yourself already," I hiss in response. This guy is getting on my nerves.

Nathan draws back his fist, preparing to punch me, but Hannah suddenly stands in front of me, shielding me from the blow. Nathan stops his fist short of Hannah's nose. His eyes widen in astonishment. It seems like he refuses to hurt Hannah, physically. Hannah hardens her glare at him. "Enough! Someone who hurts one of my friends will never see the light of day. Leave at once! I will discuss this with you later..." Hannah demands, firmly.

Nathan clenches his fists at his side, but reluctantly spins around on his heels and stomps away. I release a breathe I didn't know I was holding. Then, I look into Hannah's blue eyes that are now very stern. "Why'd you agree to negotiate with that fiend?" I hissed.

Hannah raises her hand, telling me to stop my bickering. I flinch and comply. "First, thank you for trying to step in to help me. Yes, I was in an uncomfortable situation, but I could've handled it. Second, this matter is far greater than myself. I have no real control of this situation. I did not ask for your help, because of this you might be in danger. Nathan isn't a friendly guy and he doesn't like to be disrespected. Third, I am sorry if I'm sounding harsh, but this is all, literally, beyond my control," she lectures me.

I awkwardly scratch the side of my head and nod. Hannah gives me a small smile and brings me into a hug. "I'm glad your safe, though."

I laugh at her overreaction. Even if that dimwit punched me, it wouldn't have hurt too bad and I would've fought back to protect her. Even though our friendship used to be bumpy when first becoming friends, I will do anything to help her. This extends to the rest of the crew also.

I'm in AP Literature class preparing to perform a ballet with my writing for the timed essay our teacher, Ms. Velazquez, assigned. It's a mock essay for the AP exam. I twirl my lucky pen around my middle finger as I usually do before taking on a writing task. Susan sits in front of me looking very nervous. I place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You can do it! Do your best!" I encourage her. She nods, gaining a bit of confidence. I never know why Susan had to worry about anything school related, since she always ends up with straight A's.

After an hour of straight writing, the bell rings and we all turn in our essays. I felt I could've written it so much better, but today is proving to be an off day. I collect my things and walk with Susan to the cafeteria.

On our way to the cafeteria, me and Susan hear a cry for help. Susan looks at me with fear in her delicate hazel eyes. We hear the same cry for help and I bolt to the girl's bathroom, where the screams are coming from.

When I swing open the door to the bathroom, my guts wrench from the gruesome scene that awaits me. A small, chubby, Asian girl is on the floor soaked in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes are red and puffy and tears flow over her swollen cheeks onto the floor. Another girl, muscular and not at all scrawny, is towering over the other with fists stained in blood. Her dark brown hair with streaks of red falls over her shoulders like a wild, thorny rose bush. She literally looks like a monster and I can't imagine how more terrifying it would be through the chubby girls point of view. I take a few cautious steps forward until I hear the menacing girl's harsh breathing and the chubby one's sobs.

"You stupid bitch!" the menacing girl spat, making the chubby girl flinch and violently shake. The menacing girl clenches her fist and brings it up to her face as of holding back another punch. "You shouldn't have tripped me and embarrassed me in front of Jacob. Now he may never like me and it's your fault." She glared at the chubby girl then continued, "I swear if you ever pull of another stunt like this one I'll beat you up until you're half-year and leave you out for the dogs."

"P-please, I-I-I didn't my mean to..." the chubby girl chokes out and coughs up some blood. "I l-lost my b-balance, please, it was an ac-accident," she plead.

The menacing girl lifts her foot behind her, preparing for a kick. I lounge toward her hoping to make it in time. I grab her leg and pull it back even more making her tumble over onto the floor. "What the fuck?!" She yells in bewilderment. She hadn't noticed I was standing there. She used her other leg and kicked me in the ribs to get me off of her. I hear and feel a snap. Shit! Not again! I grit my teeth and take a sharp breathe. I clutch my side where she kicked me and glare at her. "Which the fuck are you?!" She yelled, hysterically.

"I'm Shane... and you are?" I smirk. She growls at me and gets back on her feet.

The pain in my side is barely noticeable now, so I follow suit in standing up, too. "I guess I have to teach you a lesson, too," she threatens.

Her fist comes flying at my face. I swing my body to the side barely dodging it. I quickly grab her arm and bite down on her skin. I hear her scream and try to pull away but I bite down harder until I draw blood. I feel the metallic, warm liquid spill into and out of my mouth. I open my mouth and spit her blood at her own face. Then use my body weight to flip her over me and onto the ground again. This time I pin her down so she can't escape. I straddle her waist and keep her hands above her head.

"You bitch! Get off of me now!" She hissed.

"You and what army?" I grin, triumphantly. I look back at the chubby girl and ask her if she's ok, but she responds by throwing up. I gag a little. I'll take that as a no. Now what do I do?

With impeccable timing, Susan bursts through the door. With a panicking in her eyes she looks at the scene in front of her. There was blood on my lips. A pool of blood on the floor that is mixing with a pool of puke. The smell is unbearable and she covers her nose in disgust. "Shane are you okay?" She asks me. I nod. "Um..." She walks over to the chubby girl and looks down at her, "Are you okay?" She furrows her eyebrows together, probably thinking that she isn't even close to okay. The chubby girl doesn't answer and just looks up at Susan with pleading eyes. "Security is coming," she announced.

I'm totally going to get into huge trouble. There goes my lunch time. Soon, security swarms the girl's bathroom. One security guard roughly grab my arms and yank me up. "Gosh! Gentle, please. I'm not resisting you," I complain.

Another security guard grabs the menacing girl with equal roughness. She actually does resist, kicking and screaming to let her go. Another security guard comes to help the other. A different security guard gently picks up the chubby girl from the floor and carries her away to the nurse's office.

The pain in my ribs is completely gone, now. I'm sitting in front of the principal's office, while the menacing girl glares at me. I chuckle nervously. "Heh.. So what was your name?" I smugly ask.

She gives me a death glare, but I don't back down. "Terry...Terry Bates and I hate you!" She growls.

I fake pout and nod my head, "That's understandable."

I hear footsteps, heavy shoes clunking against the floors tiles. The principal opens the door of his office and waves us both in. He is an old man but an ex-military soldier. He looks intimidating with a hard stare and unwavering frown. He stares at us in disappointment his dark eyes showing no emotion. He has gray hair, close shaven to his head. He is wearing a black button down shirt and Long, black dress pants, and a silver dog tag hanging around his thick veiny neck.

I swallow hard. I follow Terry into his ominous, dark office. There are huge stacks of papers on his desk and many filing cabinets against the walls. He motions to the two seats in front of his desk as he makes his way to his chair, behind his desk. We sit at the same time and wait for our doom.

I clasp my hands together and fiddle with my thumbs when Principal Westchester sighs. I look up at him in anticipation. "Ladies will you tell me what happened in the restroom just moments ago with Midori?" He asks calmly.

Terry crosses her arms over her chest and grunts, refusing to talk. Principal Westchester looks at me, waiting for an answer. I sigh and shrug, "Well I don't know the whole story, but..." Terry literally slaps me across the face. In front of the principal's? Is this chick insane?

"Sorry her voice just pissed me off a bit," she defends. I glare and rub my cheek. Principal Westchester gives Terry a stern glance, making her roll her eyes and sit back in her seat.

"As I was saying, I don't know everything, but I know I heard screaming on my way to lunch. I couldn't just ignore it. What would a good semarrtin do?" I wait for a response, but received none. "So I ran to help. I saw Midori beat up on the floor asking for forgiveness and before..." The chair I was sitting on fell over, or should I say knocked over by Terry. My head makes a loud clunk on the floor. It didn't hurt, but it was pretty annoying how Terry had the nerve to mess with me in front of our principal.

Principal Westchester stands up in shock. "Are you alright, Ms. Shane?"

He didn't even notice it was Terry who knocked my chair over with her leg. I scramble onto my fit and push the chair back up and sit. I clear my throat, "IstoppedTerryfromkickingMidoribeforeitwastoolate..." I rushed, while putting my arms up to gaurd another blow, but it never came. I glance at Terry who is staring up the ceiling not paying attention. What? This girl has issues...

"Well, Terry would you like to tell your side of the story?" Principal Westchester insisted.

Terry shook her head. "That's what happened. I beat Midori up cause she deserved it then this nerd came to stop me by force," she admitted.

"In that case, Terry you're suspended for three weeks next time you get out of line you will be expelled," the principal stated. Terry just rolled her eyes. "And you!" The principal shifts his attention to me and I flinch. "You get detention for a week." I shudder. I hate detention.

After being dismissed by the principal, Terry came up to me and said that she always bullied Midori for being chubby and Asian. That she has never seen a chubby Asian before. I'm pretty sure that's stereotyping. Then she told me the reason she bullied her was because she was jealous that she had more friends. I guess, Terry just wanted a friend, but it's too late now. She ruined any chance of a friendship. I just told her to make friends a better way. Then I left to go to my last period since lunch has long since passed. But then the bell rang. Damn, the rest of school just got wasted and I got detention, too.

I see Hannah, Susan, and Jay headed my way. I wave with a sad expression. "What's wrong, Shaney?" Hannah asks.

"I have detention starting next week..." I pout. Hannah laughs and pats me on the head.

"Good for you!" Her eyes shimmer and sparkle with delight. I give her a confused look. "Now you won't be near your mother during that time." I totally forgot about that devil. Maybe, this is a good thing.

"Well see you guys tomorrow!" I say to everyone, waving obnoxiously.

As I walk away, Hannah yells back, "Don't forget to pack a bag for two days!"

What the boat trip is going to be for two whole days?! I better finish my homework tonight. But will evil Irva let me live until tomorrow? Only one way to find out.