Slowly Rebecca regained consciousness. She felt disorientated and confused. How had she gotten here?

The last thing she remembered was going to her P.E. class. Beyond that, she was clueless.

Looking around her, Rebecca’s already confused brain only became more puzzled. She was in the First Aid office. She knew she wasn’t imagining anything when her eyes roamed the room – same boring white walls, same standard, uncomfortable hospital beds, and same terrifying medical equipment. Rebecca had a fear of doctors and the ginormous stash of needles and scalpels made her skin prickle. Doctors had never been gentle with her, even when she’d been stabbed, so she didn’t trust them. That was a huge understatement — she despised them. Rebecca didn’t care what was wrong with her – she’d rather suffer through a broken limb than get a needle from a doctor who just stabbed without caring if it hurt — and needles hurt, no matter what people said. Especially when they missed the spot they were trying to stab and they had to try until your whole arm had been stabbed. 

Out of the corner of her eye she could see a nurse walking around the small room. She wore the uniform they all wore – a straight white skirt that went to the knee and a thick white blouse with the schools logo on it. Rebecca had never seen her before or she was just new. The latter seemed more likely.

When the torment had first started to get violent – shoving, pushing, object (heavy ones) throwing – Rebecca had gone to the First Aid all the time. Sometimes her injuries had been horrible – falling face first into a locker would do that to you. It had probably been her visited place within the school.

Eventually Rebecca had stopped bothering. If she got a black eye, she got a black eye. If she almost knocked herself out, then she just accepted the fact that she was lucky to be conscious and not out cold on the ground. No one had cared when she’d been injured. The nurses would give her an ice pack for a black eye, or any other injury she had and then tell her to leave. They didn’t ask her how she’d gotten it – didn’t care how. She could have been punched in the face and they’d just look at her indifferently.

Now she knew all to well that nobody cared if she was injured. It wasn’t their problem so they didn’t even think about it for a second. She hadn’t visited this room in over a year and a half, no matter the injury she had.

That was probably why she didn’t recognise this nurse. Rebecca had an immediate hate for her. Whatever had happened to her must have been bad, because there was no way she’d voluntarily step foot in this room. And, right now, she didn’t want to be here. So somehow she’d ended here and didn’t even remember getting here. Her injury must have been bad.

And here was this nurse, flouncing around as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Not for the injured person lying on a bed. Not for anything but herself.

The nurse turned to her, a fake smile on her face – obviously, she’d much rather be dealing with anything but injured teenagers. Rebecca couldn’t deny that at one stage she’d been pretty, but now she wasn’t. If she had to guess, Rebecca would say she was mid forties. Or, at least she looked that way. She’d had way too much plastic surgery to be considered pretty anymore – her lips way too big (she must have been going for the puffy look, but whoever her doctor was had sucked) and her skin unnaturally pulled back. Her hair was a bleached blonde that looked cheap and stringy. She was probably in her fifties and had been desperate to look younger.

“How are you?”

Rebecca forced herself to be polite even if she didn’t want to be – she didn’t smile though, that was a lot harder to force. She had to play nice, since for all she knew, she could be in a critical condition. “Good. What happened to me? How did I get here?”

The nurse – Nurse Abbey, Rebecca read as she looked at her name tag – rolled her eyes. When she bit her lip it was clear that she hadn’t meant to do it. “You don’t remember? Sure you don’t.” She said it in the way that you did when you ask a child why they’d stolen candy — as if they knew it was a blatant lie.

Rebecca was offended Nurse Abbey thought she’d lie but she couldn’t be surprised. “I don’t, okay. What happened to me?”

“You hit your head.”

Rebecca couldn’t remember doing that. “When?”

“An hour ago.”

Rebecca frowned. “I’ve been here for an hour?”

She took the silence as a ‘yes.’

She was shocked. “What did I hit my head on?”

“I didn’t get told. Some guy came in here carrying you and said you’d hit your head.” From her tone, it was clear Nurse Abbey was sick of her an hour ago.

Alarmed, Rebecca sat up. She ignored the pain that exploded in her head, too shocked to even let it register. A guy had carried her. Carried! No guy in the school even wanted to touch her, let alone carry her. “What guy?”

Nurse Abbey scoffed. “How am I supposed to know? He didn’t give me a name and I didn’t ask. Why? Afraid your boyfriend didn’t carry you? Scared he’ll be angry when he finds out?

Rebecca managed to ignore that – frankly she was surprised that this women thought she’d have a boyfriend. Obviously, she wasn’t privy to high school popularity.

Rebecca wasn’t sure if she wanted to know who’d carried her. Had some guy purposely pushed her into a locker and dumped her here? Maybe Skye had ordered one of her minions to make up a story about how she’d fallen down steps. Maybe whoever it had been had just dragged her along the ground.

“What guy?” Rebecca repeated.

Eyes rolled in response. “I don’t know. If you’re having boyfriend issues it’s not my problem. I could care less about who he was.”

“What did he look like?” She prayed that it wasn't one of the foorball players.

Nurse Abbey glared at her. “Again, I don’t care. So, shut up about it, would you.”

Rebecca decided to drop it. She knew she’d find out late in the day what had happened. Skye wouldn’t hesitate to mention it when she was within hearing distance.

“Why don’t I remember anything?”

“You were knocked out cold.”

Rebecca blinked. There was no way she’d knock herself out.

This brought her to another problem — something bigger. In that time she’d been unconscious anything could have happened to her. She didn’t want to know what had happened.

“Have I been here the whole time?” Rebecca asked, sounding as panicked as she felt. Conscious, she could handle any abuse that was thrown at her because she knew what was happening. Unconscious, she had no idea and couldn’t stop it.

Too many times as a child, had she been hurt when she’d been vulnerable. Although she’d only ever lived at one abusive household, verbal abuse hadn’t been off limits in the others. Her foster brothers and sisters often woke her up in the middle of the night when she was asleep just to swear at her or remind her that they hadn’t wanted her there.

Nurse Abbey frowned at her, anger in her eyes. Rebecca didn’t know if her words would ease her panic based on the expression. “What a dumb question. No, instead of being here, you’ve been on the moon playing with space monkeys. What do you think? Yes, you’ve been here the whole time.”

Rebecca’s heard started to beat normally, not risking it beating out of her chest. She’d been here. Now, all she had to worry about was who’d carried her.

“Now that you’re finally awake I need to know your parents number. I called the number that was on your contacts but they said they were an orphanage and they do not have a Rebecca Morley living there—”

“What orphanage?”

“St Lucy’s. Why?”

Rebecca had hated staying at that orphanage — they were firm believers that orphans should be treated as if they were worthless. Luckily, she hadn’t been staying there long before another host family had taken her in. Nurse Abbey didn’t need to know any of that, of course. “Nothing.”

She realised that she’d have to change her contacts so this problem wouldn’t come up again in the future. Rebecca would tell her parents later and they’d deal with it.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Then what was the point of asking it?” The question was clearly rhetorical so Rebecca said nothing. “No point. Anyway, I need the number of your parents so I can tell them you visited here. School policy. They might end up taking you home but they don’t need to since you’re fine. You just hit your head. The worst thing you’ll have is a concussion.”

Rebecca knew her parents wouldn’t be able to pick her up. Either they’d be in the middle of a case or in a meeting. She knew that they’d drop whatever they had planned if they found out she was seriously injured. Rebecca wouldn’t let that happen. She was used to bruised and injuries. She’d live.

She told the nurse her mum’s number reluctantly. She almost told them the home phone number just to spite them but realised that legally they had to contact her parents and let them know she was injured. If this situation was a serious one and she was on the verge of losing her life the school would have to let them know — of course, at that point she’d probably be in a hospital.

As the woman was dialing, Rebecca told her, “Don’t worry her. Tell her I’m okay and this isn’t serious.” She neglected to mention that she didn’t want her parents to leave work for her. The nurse wouldn’t care of the reasons behind it anyway.

The woman didn’t bother nodding, just returned her attention to the phone.

Rebecca caught snippets of conversations as she spoke into the phone. “Yes, your daughter is fine . . . she fell over at school . . . don’t worry . . . yes, I’m sure that she’s okay . . . Yes . . . of course . . . no, no medication is needed . . . I can assure you that it was only her head . . . do you want to speak with her?”

As the phone was handed to Rebecca, she noted that the woman was actually polite to her mother. “Hey mum.”

The voice that she heard was panicked. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I just hit my head and now I’m here.”

“How did you knock yourself out?”

“Honestly, mum? No idea. I’m a klutz and I probably fell over into a wall.” Rebecca didn’t mention that she suspected that someone had knocked her out somehow.

Her mother laughed softly. “Yes, that sounds like you. Do you want me to come from work and pick you up?”

“No that’s okay. It’s not bad.”

Concern laced her tone, “Are you sure? Completely sure? Because I can — I have a meeting in a few minutes but I can skip it and come and get you from there.”

Rebecca was touched at the sincerity in her voice. “No, don’t worry. I’m fine. I promise.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

Rebecca couldn’t help but tease her mother, “I know. I’m always right and you know it.”

On the other end of the line a pair of eyes rolled, Rebecca was sure of it. “Yes. You and your father are always right.”

Rebecca laughed. “We are. Now, get off the phone so you’re not late for the meeting.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Hanging up, Rebecca handed the phone back. The woman was frowning at her and Rebecca ignored the look. Did she thing Rebecca was an orphan now? Was she surprised that she had parents? Honestly, she didn’t care what this woman thought.

“Can I go now?” She couldn't leave fast enough.

Nurse Abbey failed to hide her glee — she didn’t even try to hide the fact that she was glad she wouldn’t have to deal with Rebecca. “Yes, you can go. Your bag is with you, under the bed. Grab it and go. You probably have a class to go to.”

Rebecca had totally forgotten that she had a class to go to. She’d check her timetable on the way to class. A teacher hating her wasn’t new. The few times Rebecca had been late to class had been for legitimate reasons. Unlike others she didn’t skip a class to go shopping or smoke. She might as well have though since every time she was late Rebecca was treated the same as the kids who smoked away all their brain cells.

The nurse didn’t bother opening the door, instead walking over to the corner of the room. Her phone lit up and Rebecca assumed she was checking her Facebook or texting someone.

Grabbing her bag of the ground, Rebecca opened it. Some one had carried her here — or dragged her — and they must have had her bag with them. Who knew what they’d stolen? Rebecca didn’t have anything in her bag that was worth anything but when Skye was in the picture even the most worthless thing could be gold. The only that Rebecca could think of right now was her tampons. She always had them in her bag in case of emergencies. Skye could possibly use them to embarrass her. Rebecca would be embarrassed if Skye showed them to the whole school. Rebecca didn’t care that it was normal; she didn’t want the whole world to know.

She breathed a sigh of relief when everything was in its place. As much as her parents pestered her to bring her phone to school, Rebecca didn’t. For one, she had no one to contact with it, the only numbers on there belonging to her parents. Rebecca never used her phone anyway. Right now she was glad she didn’t have it with her. Whilst there was nothing incriminating on there that Skye could use against her — Rebecca didn’t like to look at herself for a second, let along take thousands of photos of herself (selfies were dumb no matter how you looked at it) — she didn’t want her phone in the hands of Skye. She wasn’t as dumb as she made out to be and phones could be powerful when it was someone’s you hated. 

The old door creaked as it slid open. No one was around so it had to be time for a class. She crouched down outside the door grabbing her timetable. She had Science right now. At the other end of the school. She was already half an hour late, now she’d be later — the walk would take at least five minutes. Hopefully she was in Mr Morgan’s good books after she’d delivering the message to the office yesterday.

Maybe she should get Nurse Abbey to write a note to prove that she hadn’t been ditching class?

Just as Rebecca was opening the door again, she screamed, heart beating wildly. Someone had spoke and scared her to death.

“Hey. You okay?”

She looked over in shock at Mikael, what was he doing here? Didn’t he have a class now?

Rebecca looked over at him, not saying a word. She’d let him say what he had to and get to class. She couldn’t resist looking over him. He was still in his P.E. uniform, shirt somewhere other than his body. She’d thought his chest was fantastic before. Now, in the light it was even better. She could make out all the muscle and tension in his body. His abs flexed as he breathed and it was a sight to behold. The shorts were hanging long on his hips exposing the ‘V’ that Rebecca had only ever heard about, never seen. She hadn’t thought she’d find attractive but surprisingly it only made his body better.

“You okay?” he repeated.

Rebecca couldn’t believe her ears. He actually sounded like he was concerned for her. At this point, Rebecca decided that she’d let him torment her all he wanted as long as she could look at him. She’d never actually seen a guy shirtless up close. Sure, every P.E. lesson most of the guys didn’t wear one but Rebecca had never looked because they were ugly.

She forced herself to nod, too scared that if she opened her mouth nothing would come out. Being this close to a guy was making her flustered — a shirtless guy at that. She had to keep forcing herself to remember that this guy would never want her and he hated her.

“What, you won’t talk?”

Rebecca said nothing. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t take her eyes off his chest. She only hoped he didn’t notice.

“I know you can talk. I’ve heard you before. I won’t judge, I promise."

Still, Rebecca stayed silent. She didn’t even know if she could talk, her mouth was so dry.

His expression turned to one of arrogance, a smirk coming across his lips. “I can put on a shirt if you want. I’m not shy but if it’s bothering you so much you can’t talk I’ll put one on.”

Rebecca really didn’t want him to do that but she forced herself to nod. Right now he found it amusing that she was gawking at him, but later on he’d get angry and tell everyone she the idiot who’d never even seen a guy chest up close.

“Okay.” He reached into his bag, pulling out a shirt. Honestly, it didn’t help much. The black t-shirt was tight and the muscles underneath were clearly showing. Now Rebecca knew what he looked like without wearing a shirt, she would see him without wearing one whenever she looked at him. She hoped it wouldn’t turn into an obsession and she’d get over it. “Better?”

No. Rebecca nodded.

He smiled at her and Rebecca couldn’t deny that she almost melted. “Still not talking? I put a shirt on for you and you still won’t talk to me? You’re killing me here Rebecca.”

Her heart stuttered at the use of her name.

Her shock must have shown on her face. “What? I remembered your name for P.E.” He smiled. “Nice name by the way.”

Rebecca forced herself to talk, shock making her stutter. “Than— Thank y . . . you.” Her face burned in embarrassment. This was why she didn’t talk to anyone, she couldn’t even speak properly. Not only had she annoyed him yesterday, but she’d looked like an idiot. Anything that Skye had told him that was a lie had probably just come true.

“Hey, no need to thank me. I hope you don’t mind that I carried you here. You were knocked out and no one even realised until the end of the game. Then they just stared. I walked over and picked you up. Even as I was walking out they all just stared.”

Rebecca couldn’t say she was shocked that no one had noticed. What—

All at once she remembered what had happened. They’d been playing dodge ball and Rebecca had been hit in the head. She hadn’t seen the ball coming, only felt the pain of the hit.

 Shewasshocked that Mikael had been the one to do something — she’d figured he did everything Skye told him without question. Then again, there could have been an ulterior motive for bringing her here.

Before Rebecca could stop herself, she asked the question she was dying to know. She had to know she wasn’t panicking when nothing had happened. It came out as a demand though. “You didn’t do anything while I was knocked out did you? You didn’t sit me by a bin and leave me there? Did you purposely make me run into things?” She didn’t know where all her sudden bravery was coming from but she was glad to have it. The consequences she’d deal with later. Right now, she had to know that he hadn’t hurt her when she was vulnerable.

He frowned, looking offended. For some reason she believed his words, no question in her mind. “No, I didn’t. I carried you straight her. I made sure you didn’t smash your head into anything.”

Now she had nothing to panic over, she changed the subject. “Why does the nurse think I fell over?”

“I lied to her and told her that you’d fallen over. She believed me. Honestly, I thought I’d had to make up a long story about how you’d done it. Falling into a brick wall, a locker, anything; but no, she just believed me. She made me leave when you were on the bed but I stayed outside to check on you when you came out.”

He sounded so sincere, un-shed tears almost fell from her eyes. She forced them back, not wanting him to see her cry. If this was all a joke and he just happened to be an amazing actor, she didn’t want him laughing at the fact that she’d almost cried. It was the last thing she needed. If he’d convinced the nurse so easily he must be a good actor.

“Thank you,” Rebecca said, thankfully with no stutter this time.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Silence passed over them and it was awkward. Rebecca didn’t try to break it since she hadn’t planned on saying anything anyway. Mikael was staring at her and it was starting to unnerve Rebecca. The longer you looked at her, the worse she looked. It happened to her every morning. She was glad her scars weren’t visible since they only got more obvious when you stared at them too long.

Finally unable to stand his staring Rebecca bent down, grabbing her bag. It was a waiting game and she didn’t want to wait. Soon enough he’d mention how ugly she was and she’d be able to do nothing but take it, her fault since she’d let him stare that long. Now if she left she could say that she hadn’t given him the incentive to torment her.

He obviously sensed she was about to run. “Hey! Wait! Damn it.” He cursed, eyes looking up at the ceiling. “Why do I always piss you off? Every time I talk to you, you run from me. I know I’m not the nicest looking person but I promise I won’t hurt you. Just because I’m bigger doesn’t mean you have to run every time I try to start a conversation with you.”

Rebecca froze, surprised. She’d been expecting him to yell and blame her for being such a freak, but he hadn’t done that. Instead, he’d admitted that it was his fault — more or less.

She decided to give him a chance. Nobody could act for this long so he had to be sincere. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at talking to people.”

He smiled at her, the jaw-dropping, beautiful one. “That’s okay. You don’t have to be. Just listen while I talk. If it completely bores you, tell me and I’ll talk about something else.”

Rebecca wanted to make this moment last forever. This guy was voluntarily talking to her, even smiling. He’d waited outside a door for an hour to see if she was okay. He didn’t mind the fact that she was awful at socialising. They had nothing in common — he was the hot jock who everyone loved the minute he stepped foot on the school and she was the girl no one wanted to be around. As much as she hated to admit it, he was the prince and she was the pauper. If she wasn’t so ugly they could be the perfect romantic story. That would never happen though. He had a gorgeous girl friend and football players to go back to after this conversation. Even if they did become friends, she’d always be the one on the side who nobody liked but him.

She opened her mouth, ready to agree to his offer before she came to her senses.

Rebecca wished that Mikael had never come into her life.

She’d been perfectly happy avoiding people and never dealing with anyone else’s problems. She hadn’t had to stress about making herself look pretty or being likable. She could put up her walls and never let anything hurt her. 

Mikael Bertoz, unbeknownst to her had broken through those walls. With just one gesture and perfectly practiced words he’d almost gained her trust. Almost. For a second she’d actually convinced herself he was serious about becoming friends with her.

Now she knew how ridiculous that was.

Why would he want to be friends with her? She was the loser, the freak. He was the guy who could get anyone to be friends with him just by smiling. He had Skye and all the football players. He was popular.

Even if he was serious about being friends, it would never last. Within a few days he’d realise what a freak she was and just stop talking to her. He’d humiliate her every chance he had.

This guy had somehow managed to gain her trust. Years of walls just broken down, as if they’d never been there. One smile and she’d been on board with whatever he’d wanted. She had more control than that — or she thought she had.

She wanted to cry tears of frustration and anger. This guy was toxic and she had to get rid of him. He was charming and had used that to his advantage to trick her into thinking he’d be friends with someone like her.

Anger boiled up inside of her. She was angry at herself. At Mikael. He’d been here less than two days and she’d let him get to her.

And now here she was wallowing in self-pity. The first guy to pay attention to her and years of work had been destroyed.

Forcing herself to stop her pity party, she put her bag over her shoulder. She didn’t hear him behind her so she hoped he’d stay away from her. She’d certainly be avoiding him.

Annoyed that she sounded like a broken record, Rebecca walked faster to her next class. Her grades had always been her main priority and she’d lost sight of that.

Once again, she was trying to avoid Mikael Bertoz.

Hopefully this time she’d be successful.

As if he was reading her mind and was trying to spite her, she heard him yell, “Change your clothes! That’s hideous!”

Rebecca looked down, realised she was still in the ugly sport uniform. At least she hadn’t been changed while she'd been out of it.

With a sigh, Rebecca realised that this wasn’t avoiding Mikael. And she had to do as he said. She wanted out of the uniform and she’d get in trouble for wearing it in science.

As she headed towards the bathroom, she cursed Mikael.

Now she’d start avoiding him.