I wake up to a curtain of dirty blonde knots covering my face. My hand reaches to brush them away and I sigh, throwing my quilt covers from my legs and hopping off my bed. I rub my tired green eyes, and grab some clothes before heading to the bathroom. As I walk out of my room, I hear arguing downstairs, though the words are mere shouts so I ignore it.

The dull light fills the small space and I catch a glimpse of my face in the mirror. I can see my wavy hair messy from a restless night of tossing and turning, and I reluctantly pull out my brush and drag it through the tangles. My eyes are sitting on bags of exhaustion from lack of sleep, and I wash my face to give it some life. I brush my straight teeth and apply some deoderant. Next I slip on my clothes, a worn hand-me-down letterman jacket from Steve, my brother, and jeans that are slightly small along with my only pair of shoes, dirty white sneakers. I never get new clothes, my dad says it's a waste of his money. I do babysit sometimes, but it takes me a while to save enough money for even a new pair of socks, let alone another pair of much needed jeans. I'll just have to wait until Steve grows out of his jeans. Though I sometimes think he just holds onto his clothes to annoy me, in fact he probably looks forward to the day when I have to go to school in my shorts while it snows. I manage though, sometimes I rip up my old clothes and sew them together to make new clothes. I've made three shirts and a pair of jeans just by doing that, and I have a feeling I'm gonna have to do that again soon. I'm sure I'll be able to find old scraps of fabric somewhere, even my old socks will do.

For now, I can wear my snug jeans and my baggy letterman jacket, even if it makes me look slightly homeless.

I walk out of the bathroom and down the stairs, praying my dad has already left for work. Just my luck, he stands in the kitchen, talking angrily to someone on the phone.

My mom left when I was young. She abandoned me and Steve and left us in the custody of the man I most hate.

Whenever my dad leaves, Steve has people over and drinks from the private stash of alcohol that my father hold. His friends are usually as rotten as he is, and on the rare lucky occasion they'll leave me be in my room. But sometimes I will be called down and they'll push me into the freezing pool and be so drunk they'll kick my fingers if I try to pull myself out. This happened to me just a couple nights ago, and they were drunker than usual, so it was worse than usual.

~flashback~

I sit on my bed, reading a novel for English class when I hear it.

"Ooooohhh Liiiz!!" The slurred voice of my brother calls from downstairs and I freeze. My heart starts beating faster as I wait for another call, hoping he forgets mid thought what he was doing.

"LIZ GET DOWN HERE!" Steve hollers, and I start breathing heavily at the laughter that follows. I know I'll have to go down, or I'll be forced. I don't wanna have it worse than I already do, so I try not to feel rebellious.

I open the door to my room and trudge down the stairs, where Steve and two of his friends wait. I recognize Carol, a rotten bully who follows around her wicked boyfriend, Tommy. They're wasted, that's for sure, and they grin evilly at me as I make my way down.

As soon as I reach the bottom, my wrist is grabbed by my wretched brother, and I'm dragged outside, where the unheated pool awaits. Steve lets go of me to grab his drink, and I feel my rebelliousness getting the better of me as my eye catches Carol standing by the edge of the pool. Before I know it, I'm running towards her, and I put all of my force into my push, knocking her flat off her feet and into the freezing water. She screams, and I run, bolting back into the house, I don't look back as I fly inside looking frantically for a place to hide. I can't help but smile to myself slightly at the tiny victory I feel from my very own revenge, though that smile falls quickly as I realize I just put myself in a worse situation than I was already in.

"You're dead, Liz!" I hear Steve slur, "Dead!"

I hear heavy footsteps, and I fly around the next corner, covering my mouth so my quick, nervous breaths don't sound. The footsteps slow down, like a giant trying to be sneaky.

"Come out come out wherever you are," My beloved brother's voice sings at me, and I hold my breath, waiting desperately for him to pass.

"Gotcha!" Another voice shouts, and I scream, turning around so I'm face to face with Tommy. The alcohol on his breath burns my nose, but that's the least of my worries as I turn around and sprint head on into another body. Steve grins down at me as I stumble back, and he grabs my arm and pulls me towards him, covering my mouth.

"You can't hide from me, Liz," He whispers, grinning lopsidedly as his eyes lazily drift across my face, "Never."

I struggle against his grip and feel my feet leave the ground. I'm thrown over Steve's shoulder and am given the freedom to scream. But I don't, because I know it's useless, so instead I kick and thump his back.

"Put me down, asshole!" I squirm as Tommy laughs, "Steve, put me down!"

"You asked for it." He hiccups as I feel myself leave his arms, and the next thing I know the freezing water surrounds me. It covers every inch of my body, and I race to the surface, gasping for air. The chilly night air is bliss compared to the temperature of the water, and I look around to see all three teens laughing at me. I swim rapidly to the opposite side, and they all run too. I try to get there before them, but they beat me, cheering like it's some game. I try to hoist myself up with my hands, but my numb fingers are stomped on by familiar white sneakers, and I look pleadingly at Steve.

"S-s-Steve," I shiver, "Steve p-p-please."

He crouches down and looks into my eyes, then, to my great surprsise he holds out a hand. I immediately take it and Steve pulls me up. He holds me on the edge and smirks, crushing any hope I had in his mercy.

"As if I'd help you." Steve lets go of my hand and I slip backwards into the icy water, teeth chattering. I watch as they take out all the ladders that allow people to climb out. This pool has no shallow end, and I'm not necessarily tall, so I rely on those ladders to help me out. But they're all gone now, and I know I'm way too weak to use my upper body strength anymore, as everything is numb. I hopelessly try to stay afloat, ocassionally dunking because I can no longer tread water.

And they watch, they watch as I helplessly wave my arms around through the water, breathing heavily and losing feeling in most of my body. I use the last of my energy to perform a weak dog paddle to the other end of the pool, reaching for the edge. I grasp the slippery tile and hold on to it, looking up into my cruel brother's eyes.

"You just about done yet?" He chuckles at my chattering teeth, and I don't have enough energy to scowl at him, so I just let my hands hang limply there, not able to feel any part of my body as finally Steve pulls me out. I collapse onto the concrete and hear them all laughing again. I look at my brother, and though he has a look of slight remorse in his face, it disappears quickly as he high fives Tommy, clearly loving the feeling of torturing me. My eyes look to Carol, a towel draped over her shoulders as she glares at me.

"Why the look of disgust?" I ask, managing to smile nastily up at her despite how freezing I am, "Catch a glimpse of yourself in the hallway mirror?"

Despite the numbness, I do feel Carol's kick, a blow right to the stomach. I gasp, winded, and try to catch my breath. They guffaw at me and Carol kicks me again, this time in the cheek. I yelp, my hand shooting to my cheekbone and feeling sticky blood there. They all cackle once more and then head for the house, leaving me lying there, shivering and bleeding but still not bothering to move.

~~~~~~~

My face had a large bruise and shallow cut, and came with a black eye. The black eye left quickly, but the gash and purple blotches still cover my left cheekbone. I rub it in memory as I enter the kitchen. It hurts to touch, and I wince as I try not to look at Steve's piercing gaze. I walk to the fridge and take out a carton of milk, filling a bowl with cornflakes and finishing the masterpiece that is my breakfast. I never talk to Steve, usually ignoring his snide remarks and just not letting it affect me much.

"You're riding with Steve today, Elizabeth." My father says as soon as he hangs up the phone and I'm seated at the kitchen table.

I stop mid chew and swallow incrediously. "What?"

"You heard me."

I glance at Steve, who's glaring at my father behind his back, and suddenly I know what the arguing was from earlier.

"I-it's fine," I regain my posutre quickly, one of my few talents, "I'll just bike."

"No, you're riding with him and that's final." My dad huffs.

"Why do I have to when I can just bike?" The words are out of my mouth before I think about it, and I regret them immediately. I cut off my challenging look one second too late as my father turns to me, anger in his eyes.

He slowly walks towards where I'm frozen in place, unable to look away from his eyes, which hold the calm before the storm. Then, he suddenly reaches forward and grabs the collar of my jacket, scrunching it up in his fist and pulling me towards his face.

"You will ride with Steve, young lady, and won't complain, got that?" His breath smells of coffee, and I try not to wrinkle my nose.

"Yeah, got it." I say, putting on a brave face because I don't wanna be seen as a wimp.

"And don't you dare disobey me, or I will snap you like a twig."

He lets go of my collar, shoving me back into my chair and turning away to walk out of the room. I huff a breath and flip up my middle finger at his back, standing up as well and dumping my bowl into the sink loudly.

I can feel Steve's gaze on my back as I stalk out of the kitchen.

AUTHOR'S NOTE~~~~~

Hey mans and womans and others,

Anyways how do you like the first chapter! I know Steve seems like a jerk and all but remember he was a jerk for most of the first season but he will eventually get better. I'm also overexaggerating the whole father thing and I know in the series it mentions that he has two parents in the house. I just find it easier to write with one and might have a plan for the mother later. Anyways keep reading folks!