Death kept ringing in my ear, or in other words, my alarm. I reached over on my nightstand looking for my phone. I turned off the third alarm I had set before calling quits. Getting up for school was always so hard. I dragged my feet to the edge of the bed, sitting there for a few minutes wondering what I ever did to deserve school. I finally forced myself out of bed and went to the bathroom doing my morning routine. I got dressed in a pair of leggings, a grey batman shirt, and a pair of black converse. I put a beanie over my head so that I wouldn't have to put effort into fixing my hair. I put on a bit of makeup to make me look alive and not as dead as I felt on the inside. I grabbed my backpack from the floor and went downstairs to eat breakfast. I filled up a bowl of Fruit Loops eating it while scrolling through my phone when my dad walked in and kissed the top of my head. "Morning princess."

I swallowed the cereal in my mouth before replying. "Morning."

He leaned against the kitchen counter with his arms folded in front of his chest and smile on his lips. "You do realize what time it is?"

I looked down at my phone and noticed that if I wanted to get to school on time with my legs then I needed to leave now. I stuffed one last spoonful in my mouth before running to the door. I struggled shoving my arm in the other strap of my backpack almost tripping on the steps in front of my house.

I heard a laugh from next door. Standing on his front porch in all his glory was my neighbour who happened to be the most popular boy at school. Nick Leighton. Star football player, panty dropping handsome, and dating the hottest girl in school. To my dismay, he was also the biggest bully. He used his status and the love of our teachers for his constant football winning streak in our football obsessed town to get away with anything. Out of all the people in the school, he chose to bully me the most and I had no idea why. We used to play with each other as kids, then people started realizing he was on the more handsome side of the spectrum. That's when he abandoned me and joined the more popular kids.

I was not totally forgotten, no. I was still his little "punching bag". Thanks to him, I was social suicide at school. If anyone wanted to escape Nick and his group's torment then I had to be avoided. That's why I couldn't wait to graduate. I wanted to get as far away from this town as possible. As far away from him as possible.

I shot Nick a dark look before I heard a bark. Nick's dog escaped his backyard as he always somehow managed despite his owners' constant efforts to keep him inside. The adorable beagle ran to me and started jumping on its hind legs. I bent down and scratched behind his ears.

"Hey there Flash," I cooed him. Nick had an obsession with the Flash as a kid, hence the name.

"Come here Flash," Nick whistled, but his dog didn't listen. Between the two of us, I was pretty sure Flash loved me more. I always snuck him treats and played with him when Nick was out with his friends. Nick's parents made me Flash's official dogsitter when they needed one. Flash was basically my only friend.

A smug smile came onto my lips at that. "Go inside Flash. Come on."

The dog wiggles his tail before listening to me. I shot a gloating look at Nick's frowning face rubbing in his dog's betrayal before continuing walking to school. It was not that far of a walk, only twenty minutes.

It wasn't until ten minutes of walking that a familiar horn sounded behind me. I closed my eyes in anticipation. "Hey Eva! Looking good in those tights!"

My whole body tensed in anger.

Every damn morning.

I hated his voice. I hated everything about him.

Just ignore them. Keep ignoring them.

"Come on Eva, how much would I have to pay you for a night?" said the familiar voice of Trey, Nick's closest friend and partner in crime.

Asshole.

Unlike Nick's and my very middle class lives, Trey was the son of a wealthy business man. As soon as he turned sixteen his parents had bought him a nice shiny Mercedes. He picked up Nick every morning and every morning they made sure to drive next to me and annoy the hell out of me.

"Come on Trey you know you aren't her type, Eva tell him how you'd do me for free," Nick said, I could hear the smirk in his voice.

That did it.

My head whipped in their direction, my face very red. I was fuming in anger. The violent things I wanted to do to Nick. "I never knew you were into necrophilia, 'cause the only way that will ever happen is if I'm dead, you assholes."

Trey burst into laughter, but Nick just glared at me. "Have fun walking."

"I will!" I countered and he just scoffed in response. Trey drove away quickly, going way over the speed limit. I hoped they get pulled over by the cops.

I finally got to school with a few minutes to spare before the bell rang. I went to my locker grabbing the books I needed before going to class. Math was not fun, but I was good at it... well good enough that is.

"Good morning Mr. Cordon," I greeted my teacher before taking a seat. I noticed it made their day, like any human they loved any form of attention and acknowledgement. I found teachers will bring up your marks unconsciously if they liked you.

"Good morning Eva, great work on your test, I could tell you studied unlike the rest of the class," he said tiredly looking at them. I peered back at the rowdy class. It was no wonder no one payed any attention in class. Nick and a few of friends were throwing balled up papers at each other. Kids... At least I wasn't noticed yet.

I pulled out my books and put them on the desk staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring signaling the start of class. Any minute now... come on... just ring...

"Hey nerd," Nick's annoying voice buzzed in my ear as he took the seat in front of me. I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths.

"I am not letting you copy off my homework," I grit through my teeth. He asked to copy off my homework every morning, and every morning my answer remained the same. No.

I saw him reach for my binder, but I slammed my hand over it keeping in place.

I raised my head to give him a glare only to find him pouting. Like pouting would ever get you anywhere.

"Come on Eva, we can trade?"

Ha!

"What on earth could you offer me?" I scoffed. Nothing good that's for sure.

Nick only smirked and wiggle his brows. "A lot if you really want me to."

My jaw fell in disbelief as I turned a deep shade of red. I think I was going to vomit.

"Ew! Nick!" I slapped his arm appalled. That had to be grossest image to ever cross my mind.

He threw his head back in laughter, obviously amused by my horrified reaction. Ha. Ha. Laugh while you can.

"Mr. Leighton, leave Miss Montgomery alone," Mr. Cordon sighed from the front. Thank you!

Nick only gave our teacher his infamous charming smile. "I was just asking Eva for my homework back, she wanted to see if her answers were right."

My jaw dropped again as I stared at him in disbelief. The nerve of this guy!

Mr. Cordon stared back and forth between us before mumbling something under his breath and looking back down at the papers in front of him. He clearly did not want to get involved. Traitor!

I shot daggers at Nick who seemed to get the message. He put his hands up in surrender. "Fine, I'll go ask another nerd, but don't worry you will always be my favourite."

"Leave," I scowled at his grinning face.

He chuckled under his breath before winking and walking to the only other student in our class that was good at math. I watched the poor kid fluster as he looked through his notebook for yesterday's homework. I hated how Nick always got what he wanted. One day the universe was not going to be so nice to him.

Classes went by swiftly, they were always the easiest part despite the minor teasing from Nick or his friends. Lunch was the danger. A whole hour of unsupervised torture. I used to go hide in a washroom stall and eat my lunch, but I was a strong woman. I did not need to hide from anyone. I was probably the only person in the world to stand up to Nick and his friends. Maybe that was why I was their favourite target, because I never made it easy for them. I guess to them it was a game.

I sat on the edge of a table, the other end of the table contained a group of boys that were way into some board game called The Wizard's Quest, sometimes they would come to school dressed as characters from their game. I had spoken to them a few times, they were actually nice guys despite their unique obsession. I didn't sit too close to them or talk to them much, afraid Nick would pick on them more than he usually did. I would much rather join these geeks in one of their game nights then go to a party with Nick and his friends.

I took a peak at the popular kid's table. Of course all the jocks were there, this town worshiped football way too much to be healthy. It was the town's obsession. The cheerleaders were there as well, one being Nick's on and off girlfriend Amelia. I had a theory they were only together because people expected them to be. The two hottest people in school, the star quarterback and the head cheerleader, the bully and the bitch. It was so cliche that it was nauseating. Nick was standing up telling a story with a lot of hand gestures, everyone seemed to be entertained from the way they were laughing.

That was one thing I was envious of. The fact that they could be like this. Happy and all friends. Nick made sure I had no friends. When he made me his number one target, it gave the rest of his gang the green light to start messing with me as well. This drove anyone away, even I stopped approaching people afraid someone else would have to go through what I was going through. That was one of the many reasons I couldn't wait for college, I would finally get as far away from this town as possible.

The only downside was the distance I would have from my parents. My mother could probably afford a plane ticket to come visit since she married that lawyer a few years ago, but my father wouldn't be able to visit as much. He couldn't leave his business behind, the men that worked under him were good men, but he still needed to keep a eye on everything. Running the small town's construction company was harder than it looked.

I managed to survive another day at school before making my way outside and seeing the little droplets of water. Great, it was about to rain. Having my bike 'accidentally' run down by Trey a few months ago, I never really got around to getting a new one. Being rideless, I had to walk to work in this weather.

Before I left, I saw Amelia and Nick fighting. They have been doing that a lot, more and more lately. I didn't get why they stayed together if they were that unhappy. Ignoring the lovers' dispute, I put my backpack over my head and began running to work. I just wished I did not catch a cold. After a few minutes of running under the rain, I heard the familiar honk of Trey's car. I looked to my side to find Nick's window slightly rolled down.

"Need a ride?" Nick asked. I could tell perfectly well from his tone that he did not mean that.

I just threw him a dark look before continuing to work.

Trey's car still drove beside me. This time it was Trey trying to convince me. "Get in Eva! I'll drop you off!"

I looked up at the cloudy sky and back at them. Is this weather really going to get me to lower my pride?

"Just get in Eva," Nick tried again, sounding a little more sincere. "You'll get sick walking in this weather. Come on."

I gave him a hard look, but his expression never faltered. With a sigh I walked over to the car and reached for the handle. Before I could reach it Trey drove a bit further up, both boys erupting into laughter. Nick stuck his head out the window to look back at me. "Were sorry Eva, this time we're serious, get in."

I am not falling for that again.

"Screw you assholes," I swore. Both of them erupted into more laughter. They drove away fast leaving me behind. I couldn't believe I fell for that. Stupid! So stupid!

I finally got to the movie theatres where I worked. I switched into my uniform and tried to tame my frizzy hair thanks to the rain and stood behind the candy counter waiting for the after school rush to begin. It was a Tuesday, which meant that a lot of people were going to come to the movies today. Just my luck. I liked it when it was busy, it kept me occupied. I did not like it when a certain group came. I could already hear their loud obnoxious voices from the door. Trey pointed towards me as if it was a surprise to find me working here tonight even though I have been working this shift for two years. "It's candy girl!"

My whole body tensed at the nickname and to what was to come. Nick looked at Trey with a wide grin before they broke out into tone-deaf song. "Who can take the sunrise! Sprinkle it with dew! Oh the Candy Girl can!"

Every. Damn. Time.

They marched up to me, Amelia hanging onto Nick's arm like a leech. Her friends behind her flirting with a few guys from the football team.

"Babe, I really don't want to watch Guns & Honor," Amelia nagged earning an irritated eye roll from Nick. I could tell this wasn't the first time they have had this argument. "I checked and they have My Secret Boyfriend playing in ten minutes. Why don't we watch that instead instead of this?"

"Yes Nick! I hear it's so good! Mathew Jackson is acting in it! He is so hot," Amelia's friend Cindy tried to persuade him as well. As much as Mathew Jackson's good looks seemed appealing, who would give up watching Guns & Honor for a simple chick flick? The story line was so much better.

"You can separate," I mumbled under my breath. It would do everyone a favour and this complaining would stop.

Amelia's piercing blue eyes looked at me in disscontempt. "We are not separating. Just because you can't join us doesn't mean we can't enjoy our night."

I had to hold back a load groan. "Yeah no, I am not into horrors."

Amelia scoffed. "None of these films are horror movies, you work at the theaters you should know that."

I looked Amelia straight in the eyes before smirking. "I was not talking about the movies."

The only horror was having to deal with them for another two hours.

Amelia gasped, her face turning red in embarrassment. Nick and Trey on the other hand had bursted into laughter. Amelia shot the both of them a dark look that had them stifling their laughter. Her friends looked scared as to how they should react.

"Bitch," Amelia spat at me.

Here we go again.

I rolled my eyes at her unoriginal insult. "Woof."

There was a whistle from one of Nick's friends.

"Cat fight," Trey tried to instigate, but we both shot him a look that had him stopping.

Nick held his hands up, his football captain face on. "We can split into two groups and eat or hang out after instead. That way we all watch what we want and can still spend time with each other afterwards."

Despite Amelia's disappointed expression, everyone else seemed to agree to his plan. Wow, it wasn't like I said that a few seconds ago. If Nick said something everyone listened to him as if he was John F. Kennedy, if I said something it was like the annoying bug you would want to swat away.

They each bought their tickets and snacks before going to watch their own movies. I finished my shift, and changed back into my regular clothes that weren't fully dry thanks to the rain. I started my walk home.

It wasn't long until I heard footsteps running towards me.

"Hey Eva! Wait up!"

It was Nick.

I closed my eyes taking a deep breath in. I so wasn't feeling it at the moment. The day was long enough as it is.

He reached my side, his expression slightly off.

"What do you want?" I grit through my teeth.

He shrugged his shoulders casually, his usual teasing expression missing. "Just wanted to walk home with some company."

I rolled my eyes. "What about your ride or your group of friends?"

"You're my friend," he gave me a smile that didn't really reach his eyes.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "We're not friends."

He let out a chuckle. "Right..." He paused for a second before continuing. "I guess I needed a break from them. Even if it meant walking with you."

I felt there were more to his words, despite the face he made when he said you. In this moment, I could see how unhappy Nick was despite his appearances. Nick then took off his sweater and put it around my shoulders. I was about to rip it off, but he clamped his hands on to my shoulders. "Don't make a fuss about it. Your clothes are still wet, you'll get sick. It's just a sweater Eva."

It was indeed warm... well maybe I will wear it.

Maybe Nick was not as bad as I thought.

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I'm baaaack!

First chapter is up! I will be posting weekly, but in the spirit of Halloween, I will drop a second chapter this week!

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