All my life, everyone called me a freak but no one had gotten so far as to actually kill me. Everyone was either afraid of me or wanted to see me destroyed. Yet somehow like a bad plant I kept living. I'm not sure why if I'm being perfectly honest. I wanted to die as much as everyone else wanted me dead but every time I thought about my mother. she had already lost my father, how would she survive without me? So I stayed and kept my head down. It worked when people steered clear and if not, I came home with a busted lip and black eye. However, nothing stopped a mother's scorn. She would yell at the principals and it would work until word got out. Then just like smoke, she would quit her job and we would already be halfway to another town to start fresh. "Just keep your head low and no one will bother you," she would say as she patted my head, rubbing her fingers down my smooth hair.

"No one will bother me," I would repeat. Her words always soothed me and yet they also left a hole in my heart that no amount of words would fix. Until I met her, Brianna managed to make me feel powerful and as if I deserved to live but giving someone that power also makes you vulnerable.

The day I met her was after a week of taunts and shoves by people after my secret got out. Kingston didn't keep his promise of killing me since he seemed to find it more satisfying to watch the life in me drain day by day. I hadn't told my mom because she had managed to find a good job she enjoyed that didn't consist of cleaning toilets or vomit. She was finally happy and I wanted to give her that much, especially because I could take it. At least, I told myself I could.

I walked to my locker with my head low as people parted like the red sea but then there was Kingston waiting for me. "Hey freak, should we unalive you today or tomorrow?" He said with a smirk as his goons laughed in their high-pitched laugh that reminded me of a hyena. I ignore him and open my locker but I'm suddenly shoved into the ones next to me. His face is close, through the sunglasses I can see that his eyes are set in a hard stare filled with fury. "I asked you a question. It's impolite to not reply." He nods at his goons and they instantly start throwing all my books and papers until they reach my writing journal. This, they pass to him and he instantly starts flipping through half-written poems. "How cute," he says as he reads one out loud. The crowd watches as I stand there in horror.

"I'm scared.

When you say my name.

I'm scared how nice it feels coming out your mouth.

I'm scared of the feelings that will never be enough.

Looking into your eyes, I could see the white picket fences everyone dreams of.

I could hear the laughter echo and the crinkle in your eyes.

I could see it all,

but that's not my life.

I'm always on the run, but I wish I could hold on to you a little bit longer.

The world had other plans, and I need to say goodbye now.

Just know, with you, I felt a little less scared."

"How fucking pathetic, the freak thinks someone would actually want to be with her," he says and begins ripping out page after page until they're all scattered around. I wanted to tell him that the poems weren't about anyone in particular, it was the emotions beyond my own that I wanted to convey. For me, there would never be happy ever after, but I could imagine it sometimes. Yet, they always seem to contain a little piece of how scared I was all the time.

Yet, I stood there in horror, tears spilling out as I watched them destroy who I was. It was like they were ripping my own heart out as they disregarded me as a person. I was nothing to them. I was nothing to everyone. That's when he leans close again and whispers in my ear, "You're a nobody that deserves to die but since my plaything ran away thanks to you," he runs a hand over my wet cheek, "you'll be my new plaything and watching you crumble every day is a lot more satisfying than fucking her with my dad. I had to share then, but you'll be all mine."

I take a sharp intake of breath as I feel his hand smack me, not too hard but not lightly either. A mist of this, my sunglasses slip off again and I look up to see a beautiful figure standing there. However, unlike the other bystanders who watched or recorded, her eyes seemed to be intrigued by me. I locked eyes with her brown ones and held my breath, expecting to see one of her secrets, but I didn't see anything. My eyes furrowed in confusion as her smile widened in intrigue. That's when I hear the sound of fast-approaching heels hitting the tile flooring. Next thing I know, she slams my open locker into Kingston's back and he manages to turn himself around, next to me. I hear the thump followed by his groan of agony.

"How about you leave the poor girl alone, Gregory," she says in a spiteful yet warning tone.

"Brianna-" he mumbles, fear flashes in his eyes before he quickly masks it with indifference as he threatens, "Stay out of this. It's none of your business."

The girl, Brianna, rolls her eyes. "I think it's very much my business since everything that happens in this school is." She places the pointy end of her heel on his throat as I watch with wide and amazed eyes. People like me could never stand up to a bully like him, but she was different. She seemed to have a fire that would burn for days, encasing anyone who stood near her only to be burned alive. She held a powerful aura mixed with mischief as if just waiting for someone to act out so she could enact her own sense of twisted justice. But here she was, doing just that and more for someone like me. Someone who didn't deserve it nor could I ever ask for help, yet she was giving it to me willingly.

I hear the gasps all around us but my focus is on her next move, and she doesn't disappoint. She ever so lightly presses it up to his Adam's apple and I watch as it bobs slowly, afraid that if he gulped too hard it would be his last. I can't help the immense feeling of satisfaction coursing through my veins as I watch the guy who has been making my life a living hell, feel even an ounce of the torment I have had to endure. It makes me wish she had been in my life sooner, it could have saved my mother and me years of distress. "This is my school," she told him earnestly, "so you better watch it before you regret it."

She moves her heel from his throat and looks at him dead in the eyes with a bright smile, "Now apologize and get out of my sight."

As Gregory stands up, I manage to make out the small indent of the heel and internally smile. He doesn't look at me but at the ground as I make out a sorry in his mumbles. Next thing I know, he is scurrying away from our eyesight like a dog with his tail between his legs.

That's when I turn my attention to her as she admires my sunglasses. She doesn't look up at me but keeps turning over the sunglasses and her thin long hands run across the lens. I can tell what she's thinking as she examines them so I decide to put her curiosity away. "They're regular sunglasses, just thicker lenses."

"I can see that," she says and I scrunch up my eyebrows in confusion as she adds, "I was just wondering where I can get a pair." That's when her eyes lift up, "the sun's glare is a real bitch on my eyesight."

"I can- I can get you some as a thank you-" I tell her looking away. I can feel my cheeks heat up at the attention and at my weak gift of gratitude.

"No thanks," she tells me, "I don't want a pair of sunglasses when I can easily just take these. She grips my chin and moves it up but I maintain my eyesight down. I might have not seen anything the first time, but that could have been a fluke. "I want something else," she says.

"Like what?" I say in defeat. I should have known she didn't save me out of the goodness of her heart. So I say, "I don't have much to offer."

"What I want, you do-" her thumb absentmindedly rubs my chin, "I want your friendship."

"Huh?"

"I'm curious, tell me what you see," she says in a soft tone that I can't help but comply with. I brace myself and look up to see the same emptiness I had moments ago and my confusion only grows. Did she not have any secrets? Or did she wear them on her sleeve that they no longer were considered secrets to her? Either way, it both scared me and thrilled me. I could breathe around her. Her eyebrow cocks up in expectancy.

"Nothing-" I breathe out with a small smile. I saw absolutely nothing and that alone filled my heart with overwhelming joy.

But just as soon as she had given me this gift she took it away. "Look again," she whispers.

She didn't do anything magical or close and reopen them, in fact, her eyes had remained on me the whole time yet this time I saw something when looking at her.

The blonde girl's waist-length hair glistened with the sun that entered the science building or did it glisten because of the small droplets of water that spread throughout? Suddenly a red flame passes by the ends and her hair is engulfed by them quickly. They weren't water droplets but those of gasoline. The girl quickly felt the heat shoot up from her seat where she was laughing and yelped in pain. That's when a fuzzy white foam covers her and extinguishes the fire. Her eyes turn a murderous glare at the brown-eyed girl who holds a wide smile and a look of pure entertainment with the match in her hands, still leaving the small smoke trail of it being blown out.

"Brianna and Callie to the principal office this instance-" the teacher yells, his face red and puffy with fury.

"I didn't do anything-" Callie defended herself to the principal as the two girls sat next to each other on the brown leather seat in front of her, "she's the psycho who just tried to roast me alive."

Brianna scoffs, "The only psycho I know is my sister. I'm very well put together."
"Brianna, why would you do such a thing? This is a call for immediate expulsion."

That's when the waterworks start. Brianna lifted her gaze towards the principal who was a thin lady with graying hair and wrinkles around her face. "She's been picking on me because I'm an orphan but it was an accident." She wipes her eyes, "I didn't have parents to raise me better and I'm trying."

The principal's eyes quickly turn from hard to soft as she rounds her desk to kneel in front of Brianna. "Oh sweetheart, no, I'm sorry. I didn't know." She places a soothing hand on her head as she stands up, turning her attention to Callie, and slowly guiding her hand down her skull before repeating the soothing motion. "Callie-" she starts "what are you waiting for, apologize."

Callie's mouth falls open as her eyes widen in shock. "But-but-"

"No buts, apologize to the poor girl. She's been through enough." Brianna shifts her attention towards Callie, sniffling as she raises her eyebrows expectantly, a small glimmer of a smirk on her perfect ruby-tinted lips.

Callie bites her tongue before gritting out a quick and unapologetic sorry.

"Good, I'm glad this was settled. Let's behave girls and treat each other like kind human beings. Brianna," she stares down at the wide innocent eyes looking up at her with so much admiration the principal can't help but feel proud of helping a kid going down the wrong path. "Let's just strive to be better. You can always come talk to me about anything."

"Thank you, Principal Wild."

"Anytime," she says with a wide smile as she ushers the girls out, "time for you to go to class and Callie your parents are here to pick you up. Go get your bag and I'll meet you upfront to discuss with them."

The two girls head off in the same direction and as soon as they turn the corner Callie glares at Brianna. "What the fuck bitch," she sneers, "I didn't do shit to you and you not only burned off my perfectly beautiful hair but got me in trouble." Callie raises a finger at Brianna, "If I were you, I'd watch my back. You just made an enemy."

Brianna grabs her finger and twists it up, earning a sharp hiss from Callie who falls to her knees. "Trust me, I don't consider your pathetic ass worthy of being my enemy. Also, you might have not done anything to me but I have a cute friend who goes by the name Itzel, maybe you've heard of her." Callie's face turns into one of recognition as she looks at Brianna.

"You did that for that Jesus freak?"

"ah-ah-ah-" Brianna tsks as she bends the finger more. Callie moves her other hand to grab her wrist as her teeth grind into each other, trying not to scream out. "Let's watch the language and future encounters because I promise you- this time it was a small warning- next time, it won't be so small. I'm a very capable girl and accidents happen all the time, you know." With that, she releases her finger and begins walking down the corridor to her next class if nothing happens.

"Did you see it?" Brianna asks an open-mouthed me as I nod in surprise. How was she able to do that? I can't help but wonder but watch as her beautiful face contorts into a full-blown grin as she places my sunglasses back on me and drapes a hand over my shoulders. "Come on friends, let's go meet the rest of our gang. With us, no one will ever mess with you again, it's a promise."

Our gang. A promise. The wording took me back as I allowed her to drag me with her, but didn't question it. There was a certain warmth spreading to me at being taken under her wing when she mentioned a promise. I didn't believe in promises since my mom told me that on multiple occasions, but I knew our circumstances and for some reason I trusted her. However, the question remained, how was she able to hide her secrets so well and show them only when she wanted them to? I thought I was a mystery but I had nothing on Brianna Anders. 

>>>>>

I think that was a lot, thoughts? 

Also, I'm starting to make reels and kind of having fun. Anyway, please support me and go check out my Instagram and TikTok. Just search up Phoenix_lve 

Anyway, please vote, comment, and share. I'm actually very excited about this project so hopefully it turns out okay. Also, if you guys have ideas for reels you might want to see, please let me know. Thank you and I look forward to next time :) 

Ps. Don't at me for my horrible poem writing. I tried my best as I was writing, there will be a poem I wrote later on that I actually love but I'll let you guys decide on that later.