You used to be thirsty for me

But now you wanna be set free
This is the web, the web that you weave
So baby now rest in peace

Iggy Azalea Ft. Rita Ora- Black Widow

***

I regained consciousness as soon as sunlight pooled into my closed eyes. Opening eyes brought dancing dots and a wave of nausea. It didn't bother me as much as it should have and I shook it off in a matter of seconds.

The pounding in my head got louder as I noticed the glass that surrounded my feet where I had just laid. My feet were completely bare but the glass was a fair distance away from them, leaving my feet to rest safely on the cold tiles.

I avoided the glass and walked through the house until I reached the room we were to get ready for school in. Instead of rushing to the shower like I usually did, I took a seat on the bed and stared out into space, my headache putting me into a daze.

A swirl of colours entered my eyes until I realized my sister had shoved the multi-colored hairbrush we used for school in my face. I blinked twice and adjusted my sight to see the brush clearly before shifting over and giving a soft smile to my sister. She had already gotten ready.

Elementary school was her happy place. Where he couldn't get us or hurt her. Seven hours of peace and happiness.

My happy place wasn't anywhere near that horrid high school. In fact, it was a place where classmates verbally attacked me, 'friends' turned on me, and people laughed at me. All because I was the only straight A student in the entire grade. And maybe because I tended to be the quiet social outcast eating her lunch in the library.

We got good grades, he left us alone. We came with anything less then an A and he punished us severely.

My sister didn't have a knack for schoolwork even though she enjoyed school. She struggled on these kind of things, which resulted in beating and punishments from HIM. Plus, HE didn't bother to give us anytime to do homework or buy us materials for studying. Instead, I stole some money from his wallet and bought materials for her along with waking her up earlier then usual to do homework and study with her.

I watched her disappear out of the room, instantly darkening the mood. Her mere presence changed the atmosphere of the room into a bright, lively place. Even if you just woke up from having a bottle of vodka smashed on your head.

Luna Ryder.

My sister matched that name immensely, even though she insisted she hated it. I personally loved it, wished my name was that original even though Luna argued mine was a perfectly lovable name.

I brought my hand up to my hair taking the brush with me and gently combed it through, swallowing a wince every few seconds. I definitely didn't have a concussion this time even though the impact of the bottle and the ground should have done it. It wasn't unusual for me to have one. I had one on several occasions already, but am known to have a thick skull. It was a family trait.

Family.

I swallowed and then started to brush my hair harder, letting the knots grow looser and looser. The pain wasn't too much to bear with or without a head injury. But pain was something I was used to. I could hold it in and easily look like I wasn't feeling anything. The only evidence was-

I suddenly brought the brush down and looked down, blinking as I saw what I expected to see.

Blood.

I hesitantly touched my hair to see it was coated with blood. I muttered a curse under my breath and then held in a groan as I made my way into the nearest bathroom.

If I jumped into the shower, the water pressure would hurt as it collided with my head, but I had no choice. I quickly stripped and took a quick shower before getting ready for school.

I crept down the hallway after getting ready to HIS room to see him passed out on the floor. A feeling of relief warmed my body and I skipped the way into the kitchen, still silent, to see Luna packing her own lunch with huge quantities from the fridge.

I laughed when she took the whole loaf of bread and crammed it into her already full lunch box. I gently took it from her and packed her a proper lunch while promising to save her more for after school. I watched her skip happily out the door after hollering a sweet farewell and immedietly frowned at the contents of the open filled fridge while dumping my backpack onto the counter. I shut the door in frustration and sat down on a stool with my head in my arms.

I keep losing my appetite.

I took my backpack and stuck my headphones into my ears, walking in the direction of my personal 8 hours of terror AKA High School while simultaneously blasting AC/DC's Back In Black.

Stopping in front of the high school, I shrugged the backpack off my one shoulder to hang it over my head in order to keep the sun away from my not exactly sweat drenched face. It was over 30 degrees Celsius outside with a severe heat alert warning in the area, but my body had become too stubborn over the two years I had lived as a foster/adopted child. I refused to sweat like normal people did and it bothered me when people stared at the lack of heat affecting me.

Several people gave me glances as they walked inside. My face fell until I was looking slightly nervous. Just for show of course. They didn't exactly know about my situation as a foster child.

I turned around and there it was in all it's glory, SilverLeaf High. Presented by the missing R and I letters on the barely hanging sign. I took a deep breath and followed the crowd inside the high school, sneaking around the edge in order to remain hidden. The loud shattering and occasional shouts for help faded in my ears as the crowd separated, revealing the hallway to my first class of the day.

I didn't feel weakness when people stuck their legs out as I walked past, hoping I'd trip or people that spread rumors. Weakness was reserved for people like him. Luna was my one weakness. Her expressions were mine and her mere presence brought swelling emotions to my face. Any thing that happened to her felt like it was mentally happening to me.

I took a deep breath and lead myself through the hallway uninterrupted with a fake expression of nervousness that caused me to mentally scoff until a shoulder purposely bumped into mine.

And another. And another. And five more.

The 'Populars' had found me.

"You're in our way Grizzly Bear," The first one shouted as she snickered silently. Her curled hair shook as she laughed, her entire body shaking like she was having a seizure. The others all followed in suit, shouting the same thing over they're shoulders as they played follow the leader with the only and only, Angie Stone.

I raised a eyebrow behind their backs as they scurried off to God knows where before looking around the hallway to see the huge wide open spaces beside me. I had no idea that this part of the hallway had an invisible red carpet on it. I'm so sorry, let me bow down and kiss your feet.

But of course they thought I was a scared nobody so I shut my sarcastic mouth and didn't bother with a fake scared expression as I knew they wouldn't dare look back.

I walked into the classroom and took my seat without acknowledging anyone, dumping the contents of the backpack onto the floor. No one seemed to hear the loud noise that followed as it collided to the ground because I was supposed to be the unwanted outcast. One of the best parts of being a nobody is that there were no questions about you and what you were doing.

I laid my head down on the desk slowly before jerking it back up in surprise, muttering a few curses under my breath. These stupid nicknames were the best they did. They didn't really try anything except remind me I was unwanted and not at their level. I didn't want to be noticed. Nor did I want to be known as Amber Ryder, the kid who ruled high school or whatever they had going on.

Aiden Jake Thompson jumped into the seat next to me, before turning his chair so it faced the opposite direction from me to high five his friend.

Stupid Populars.

I glared at the back of Aiden's jet black hair, knowing no one would glance in my direction. He wasn't that much of the person who participated in these activities but he didn't do anything to help either. Deep in focus, he suddenly turned around, his amusement-filled eyes meeting mine.

I dropped my glare and adopted a nonchalant expression like I wasn't just imagining his hair on fire. He managed to see through it though and grinned straight at me like he was thinking about a joke, but only he knew it. "Staring Ryder? Wanna share?"

The tough Amber would attempt to slam his face into the desk or hit him with a pencil. But the pathetic person

I was supposed to be acting like restrained my thoughts and made my eyes widen in horror fakely. I didn't have a problem with frowning at him though, since it came naturally whenever a Popular or whatever they called themselves was around.

"I- I wasn't staring. N-nope, I wa-as just getting a-a," I paused, hoping the little stop would be more convincing and searched around the room just for the lie even though I already knew what I was going to say. "Pencil! A pencil. Yeah, you got to love pencils, right?"

Lying as a scared student was easy. To make him think I wasn't placing a hot glare on him, I told him that I wasn't staring rather unconvincingly on purpose so he would believe I was. Because when you stammer and pause, people automatically assume you're lying.

So now, I told him I wasn't staring, and he'll believe I was.

I sat back in my seat after he turned around, giving a secretive small smile to myself before slipping back into the depths of school.