Jane stood impatiently outside the principal's office. She knew that she was about to hear yet another loud and long degrading speech. Her curiosity continued to dwell on the thought of that asshole Grayson and his ugly smile.

The principal, a pencil skirt wearing, grey haired woman with creases around her eyes, opened the door and called Jane into her tidy office.

Mrs. Rikely didn't wait for Jane to get situated into one of the hard wooden guest chairs before beginning her rant. "Jane, I have reviewed your class records for this semester and you seem to have no interest, or mind, for graduating this year." She folded her hands atop her desk and glared daggers at Jane. "You have missed more classes than I can count on one hand, you've failed nearly every test yet excelled in group projects."

She snatched up a paper from her desk and waved it in the air. "Have you even bothered to look at this? You are failing all but three classes, Jane, and in all the other classes you have D's! Now I need an explanation from you. And so help me it better be good or I might just expel you right here and now!"

Jane didn't know what to do except to stare at her scuffed up shoes and stay silent, excepting any and all punishment and judgment that may be offered.

"Don't ignore me. Give me an answer!" she snapped angrily, standing from her chair.

Jane turned her head to avoid the principal's raged glare. Embarrassment pulled her head lower as the voice in her head screamed louder than Mrs. Rikely. But the voice only shouted truth; that Jane was a failure who could never get good marks. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep school in her thick skull. No, her mind had exploring to do. Exploring that didn't involve school.

Mrs. Rikely fully engaged herself in giving Jane a big, boring lecture. Jane was already lost in her thoughts.

She tapped her foot subconsciously as she worried over whether or not she'd fed the many animals waiting for her at home. 'I have fed the dog, cat, and I know I got the cow too, but I can't remember if I fed the baby parrot or not. I wonder if-'

Mrs. Rikely coughed to interrupt Jane's worrying and to get her attention once more.

"Listen to me, I want your grades to jump higher than the sky next semester or you will be repeating the grade!" Jane felt her stomach drop. She wrung her hands as she sweat nervously. Who would pay for her to repeat a year of school? No one, that's who.

Mrs. Rikely sagged back down into her chair, exhausted from dealing with Jane. Again. "Go back to class, Jane."

Jane stood from the uncomfortable chair she had been sitting in and left the principal's office. She walked silently across the hall and plopped down on the first stair leading to the school's doors. She always wanted to make everyone happy but she so often failed to make herself happy. She crossed her legs and sat on the stairs for a while.

She didn't know how longed passed before Lance planted himself next to her, stretching out his legs before tucking them against his chest.

"Where the hell have you been?" He nudged her shoulder in an attempt to get her to answer him. Jane tilted her head towards him, revealing clouded eyes and red cheeks.

Protective switch flipped on, Lance grabbed her hand and demanded, "Tell me what happened, Jane." He was her only true friend in the entire school. He'd been there and believed in her since the beginning even though they didn't share many classes and mostly hung out at lunch.

Eyes lowered back to the ground, Jane muttered, "I have to pass this semester. If I don't, I'll have to..." She sobbed, "I'll have to repeat the worst thing that has ever happened to me!" She bit her tongue in a desperate attempt to stop the tears.

Lance felt a pang of sorrow and quickly came up with a solution, albeit a temporary solution. He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and pulled out a half empty pack of strawberry gum. He flipped open the top and offered a silver wrapped piece to Jane.

"Here, take this." He smiled sweetly when she unwrapped the gum and plopped it in her mouth, tucking the wrapper into her pants pocket. "You will pass this semester and then it will all be over; I know it. We can find you some good tutors and you'll ace every test you take! Now smile; it suits you."

Jane smiled and shook her head playfully. She slung an arm around Lance's neck and hugged him. Her skin tingled as if they were being watched.

When they pulled apart Lance stood up and said, "We better get back to last period. I'll see you later!" he waved his goodbye before disappearing down the hall.

Jane stood up, chomping the sweet gum, once again smiling and carefree. On her way back to class she spotted Grayson crouched in a corner beneath one of the school's old painted over windows where the main hall connected to the exit hall. The spot was masked by shadows that most avoided.

Jane stared at him; he was ripping something into tiny shreds. It sounded like paper; a sketch book? She didn't care and shrugged it off.

On reaching the class where she would spend the final period of the day, Jane rushed to take her seat, hoping that her English teacher hadn't noticed. The rest of the period went off without a kick.

The dismissal bell rang and everyone snatched up their things and practically ran out of class. Jane noticed that one girl stayed behind, frantically shifting through her pile of books and rummaging through desks.

Jane called from the door, "What are you looking for?"

Emily barely took a moment to glance up. "My sketch book is missing! I had it in my desk earlier but now I can't find it anywhere!" She stopped her search and ran her fingers through her thin blond hair, tears streaming down her fair face.

Jane glared into space. She watched again as Grayson ripped something into shreds in that dark corner of his. She couldn't believe he was such an asshole! But, not being completely sure of herself and the information she held, Jane kept quiet about what she'd seen. Who knows; maybe that wasn't Emily's sketchbook.

***

Grayson had won his comfort and peace back from shredding that snobby girl's book. It was one thing to hurt someone when they know it; it's another when they are so utterly oblivious and left to wither away, clueless. It all gave Grayson a pleasurable thrill.

He knew that if anyone found out and held proof against him he would be thrown from the school and possibly locked up, but he didn't care. Why should he? Grayson passed the classroom where he heard his next target talking to Emily as she bawled her eyes out.

Jane had always pissed him off, and now it was her turn to feel pain. 'She is always so goddamn happy!' He thought as he left the building. 'But not for long. I'll make her realize how ugly life really is.'

It was raining heavily when Grayson stepped out into the street. The weather had churned into something worse during school. Grayson's shoulders were pulled back as he begrudgingly made his way home. Keeping a sharp eye out, he felt a bubbling, vicious excitement in his chest when he spotted a stray mutt curled up in the drainage canal that dipped down from the road. He bent down and snatched a dead stick from next to the street and licked his upper lip.

"Here, you mutt!" he called, waving the stick in the air. The dog lifted it's mangy, mud covered, black head and looked for the cause of the sudden sound. Spotting Grayson and the tantalizing promise of play, the bone thin dog jumped up ran towards Grayson. He ran around the block, still waving the stick behind him, and the dog ran after him, braking happily.

"You're fast for a mutt!" Grayson laughed and picked up a jagged, fist sized stone from the roadside. Without bothering to check his surroundings to see if he was being watched, he threw the heavy stone at the poor animal who was only three yards away, tail wagging.

The rock struck the dog's head. The dog yelped from the pain and swayed before tucking it's tail in between its legs and crawling away. Grayson picked more rocks from the roadside and threw them at the poor creature until it could not find the strength to crawl anymore and collapsed in the middle of the street. Fat raindrops dripped from the sky.

Grayson smirked contentedly at the injured dog. The traces of adrenaline pumping through his veins left him feeling warm and excited for more pain.

Jane watched this scene of cruelty from the other side of the road, slightly hidden behind a rickety mail box. She couldn't bear the sight of seeing any animal treated with such inhumanity. Her heart felt as though it'd been wrenched from her chest and was now being crushed under foot. Rage boiled up in her throat as hate compelled her to run, without thinking, into the street where the guy stood, ready to throw another rock.

"Are you insane?! Who the hell stones an innocent animal?! I am going to kill you; I should throw stones at your head until you are the one lying half dead in the middle of the street!" She boldly yanked on his shirt collar, pulling him down to her level.

Grayson didn't push her back, rather he looked into her eyes with dark amusement. It wasn't love at first sight, it was hatred and abhorrence at first glance. Suddenly, Grayson pushed Jane away and tilted his head back, laughing maniacally as rain dropped onto his face.

Laughter ceasing in the blink of an eye, he focused back on Jane and demanded, his voice a low growl, "Come on, little girl, cry! You're no hero, but I'd love to see you cry because I just killed that dumb mutt over there." He pointed to the motionless lump of black fur in the street.

"You...you asshole! I know you; you're my classmate, damnit!" Jane hated any being who treated animals as if they were just a play thing that was more fun to break than play with.

"I never knew I was so popular!" he chuckled, that ugly killer's smirk returning to his dark features.

Jane scoffed and, refusing to humor the sick minded boy, she ran to where the dog lay and picked it up carefully. She could feel a familiar, warm and sticky liquid seep onto her chest, but she also felt a faint heartbeat.

Turning back, she confronted Grayson once more. "You are going to help me take care of this dog until he is healed, or I won't waste a moment in reporting you to the police for animal abuse!"

"You think you can threaten me and get away with it, little girl?" Grayson stepped forward and snatched her face in his cold hands, squeezing so hard his fingers left indents below her cheek bones.

Jane yanked away from his hold and shouted, "I will do it, you bastard! I'd love to see you struggle behind bars!"

Grayson's expression shifted from smug to spiteful. He knew Jane wasn't bluffing; she never did. He'd hated her since his first day at school because of this; it was so damn hard to break her.

A/N: The last scene is related with the rest of the story and in the prologue I showed just a part of this chap so that's why I had to repeat this scene.
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