Hey, here is the first chapter. It's not that interesting at first, but I really need the introduction of this long story for the future to make sense. Also, the entire time, the POV is the same, so, yeah. Enjoy!

Was my life messed up? Yea, I guess you could say that. Do you ever feel like you've messed up, but you did nothing wrong? And no matter how hard you try, nothing will ever fix it? My name is Hope Annesley, I am 15 years old and I honestly have no idea what to do anymore. I'm lost, with nothing or no one to turn to. Of course, I didn't start off this way, no one does. It was only a matter of time before I noticed what was happening and when I noticed it, it was already too late.

Flashback to when I was in 3rd grade, I had someone I considered my first best friend. Her name was, let's call her Ashley. Ashley had lots of friends and was glad to become friends with me. She had invited me to her birthday party, the first party I was ever invited to. We became close really fast, but my innocent self was too ignorant for really knowing why. Every Wednesday, I would meet with lots of other girls my age and there was a game or activity for us to do for an hour or so. After that, our parents usually chatted with other parents for awhile, so Ashley started a game. She called it 'infected'. One person would be it, while everyone else would run from them. If the infected person touched someone else, they would become un-infected and the other person would become infected. We played this almost every Wednesday after activities, but soon, I was always the one to be picked 'it'. Power-ups came in and prevented me from infecting anyone. The game slowly morphing in into 'Run Away from Hope' instead of 'infected'. I could never tag anyone without one of them pulling a rule up and stopping me. Eventually, Ashley and her other friends would play some other game, usually hiding from me and soon, I never played with them anymore.

At school one day, I was in class with Ashley and the Teacher had to go to something and left the room. This game went around with people making weird and funny faces just because. I wanted to be included, so I called out, "Hey Guys, look at this!" I pushed my pointer finger on the tip of my nose, but the very last thing I thought would be said was, "Ooooh! Hope shot a bird!" I lowered my finger and it was clearly NOT my middle finger. I also recognized the voice that called my out. It was none other than Ashley. I tried reasoning with her, but she didn't believe me and got the whole class on her side. When the teacher came back, everyone snitched on me and the teacher sent me to the Principal's Office.

Now, I want y'all to keep this in mind, I grew up in the southeast of America, where Corporal Punishments are still very legal to this day.

I walked in to his office and the principal told me to take a seat in front of his desk. I warily sit down, eyeing the wooden paddle he used to spank naughty kids in the corner of the room. I talked with him and after about 30 minutes, he took my side, gave me a Hershey's candy bar and told me to be on my way. He told me that I didn't seem like the kid who had amazing grades and a nice behavior to just randomly become a bad student. I ate the candy bar and went back to class, clearly not happy for what Ashley put me through.

As I walked home, since my house wasn't that far from the school, it suddenly all clicked. I realized how messed up of a 'friend' she was being to me. The running away from me and hiding on Wednesday. The excuses she always came up with. Her fake smile towards me. I wanted to remove her from my life, but I realized that if I did, I would have no one else except my family. So, I decided I would try and prove to her I could be a good friend. And that's also when I unknowingly decided to be manipulated by her.

Fast-Forward a couple of months, I'm in the same class in 3rd grade and we had all just come back in the classroom from P.E. The teacher sent us to the bathrooms in groups, first the boys, then when they all came back, the girls. About half of the girls in the class went to the bathroom, me included. Ashley told me she could make cool whistling noises in the bathroom. She whistled when she got in a stall to demonstrate. I was heading back with her, telling her it was kinda cool. After almost all the girls came back, a teacher walked in and talked with our teacher. She left and after all the girls came back, out teacher stood up and told all the girls that went to the bathroom to stand up in front of the classroom. I got up with about 7 other girls, Ashley included. The teacher then proceeded to tell the class that one of the students were whistling in the bathroom. I knew it was Ashley, but I didn't say anything because I wanted to still prove to her I could be a good friend. I didn't know how to whistle, so I thought I would be knocked off the suspect list. Long story short, I was the scapegoat, because Ashley manipulated everyone. I hated her from then on, and I was much more up front in showing it than before. A few months later, she had to move and I was very happy she would finally be gone from my life.

I thought that since she was finally gone, my life was finally freed from the burden of fake friends. But little did my small, innocent mind know, it was only the beginning.

Again, I must remind everyone, please do not make fun of this story. It is based almost exactly off of real events that happened in real life with someone I know. I was given consent by them to write this, so please don't shame on it.

~Rachel❤️