Prologue
Scars “Dee”
I used to be this shy, nerdy type of girl who wore glasses in high school, my best friends used to be three guys who were like brothers to me because my parents couldn’t have any more children after they had me, but I had a crush on one of them all throughout the school.
I was the short girl in the class that everyone barely noticed until that day came along where I was part of a prank, I got pushed into the fire of a Bunsen burner by Cooper’s older brother, I became the burnt girl. Half my face and along my left arm was burnt, turned out my long hair and my clothing had also caught alight. I was scarred for life.
I was in the hospital for a week before my parents told me we were moving out of town because they saw how shaken I was with the teasing I got online, photos of me were made into memes all because Cooper had to pick a fight with his older brother Mike. Eventually, someone told the truth about what happened that day and Mike got expelled from school making him lose any chances he got to get into college with his football.
I never told any of the guys that I was getting bullied online. I couldn’t face their guilty looks when they came to visit me or to hear how sorry they were. A day after the whole thing happened nightmares started, dreaming that I was stuck in a building that was on fire, after that day I became scared of fire. Still am to this day.
When we left town I got a whole new number, shutting down and deleting all my social media accounts because I knew that Kurt, Cooper and Ace would try and find me and ask a lot of questions, so I went off the grid. Kurt was great with computers and loved to hack into anything so I knew that the guys would get him to look for me, but I guess they didn’t look hard enough because once I started college, I started my social media up again. I had moved all the way across the country to LA to finish off my last year in high school when college started, I decided to go to Washington to become a mechanic. I loved watching NASCAR, and my dream was to either be on the sidelines putting the cars together or actually racing one.
While in my 2nd year of college I met this guy, cute, funny had the right moves to make me feel like I wasn’t the freak in the class but of course, that was all a lie when I found him in bed with another girl. I had lost it because it was the girl that had spread rumors about me around the college saying I was the freak and that I should go back to where I belonged, so I decided to hit the bitch.
Turns out her daddy was a lawyer, and I got charged and thrown in jail. I did 3 years for the assault on her and my ex-boyfriend, that was when I met Mel, Mute, Birdie and Kitana. Mel was in for grand theft, Mute was in for drug trafficking, Birdie was in for attempted murder and Kitana was in for assaulting a cop and some bitch he was fucking.
We all became close friends, besties really but sometimes when I was in my cell alone, I would think back to high school and wonder what it would have been like if the “prank” didn’t happen. Where would I be? What would I be doing? Would I have been able to finish off college? Would I be married by now? Or even have children? I didn’t know. I would think about what the guys would be up to, I didn’t even know if any of them were alive at the time it had been years and to be honest, I did miss them.
Kitana was the first one to leave our group, stepping out of the hell hole we called a prison then it was Mel and then finally me but Mute and Birdie remained inside still doing their time. That is where I am today, I was heading to see Mute, apparently, she had something to tell me from the letter she had written to me.
I was sitting at one of the metal tables when Mute came walking out in the prison sweats, black sweatpants and a grey jumper but she didn’t have the jumper on today it was just a grey tank top showing off her ink. She was a crazy bitch this one, a crazy Latina, ever get on her wrong side and you’d be dead. She was fast for a big girl but that was because her father and brother trained her to be a ‘runner’ aka drug trafficker.
“Hey girl” she signed with her hands, giving me a smile before we hugged each other.
“Hey baby girl, how's everything going?” I asked her once we took our seats at the table.
“Okay,” she signed making me tilt my head in confusion.
“What happened?”
“There was a raid because another block got out of control, Birdie and I were in the middle of it, and she got stabbed.” I was in shocked when I read what she was saying with her hands “She didn’t make it”
“Shit.,” I said leaning back in the chair as I ran my hand over my short hair.
“The block is having a memorial for her, but I wanted to tell you as well, I know that Kit is going through a loss herself”
“Yeah, a guy from her man’s club” I sighed heavily. “I’ll tell the girls and let them know about it. Do you need anything? I can make a bundle for you” I asked her, but she shakes her no. We talk for another 10 minutes finding out that she had applied for parole, so she was hoping to be out soon. Once we said goodbye to each other I walked back to my car but once I was inside, I broke down lying my head back against the car seat I couldn’t believe that one of the girls I became super close to wasn’t here anymore. I needed a drink because I didn’t know how to tell Mel or Kitana about Birdie.
********
“Do you want another hun?” I was asked from the bartender I nodded my head yes; I was sitting at a tavern I just wanted to be alone as I drank a few beers so when the lady placed the bottle in front of me, I was about to pay her but someone else beat me to it.
“I’ll have what she is having” I heard them say but luck wasn’t on my side today because when I looked at the person, I recognize them immediately, but they didn’t recognize me. “What’s your name?” He asked me as I looked back at the bottle.
“Scars,” I tell him before I took a sip of my beer.
“I’m Mike”
“I know who you are”
“And how’s that I’ve never seen you around,” he says as I laugh shaking my head. Once I recovered, I turned to face him completely he faces went from confused to shock standing up straighter “Dee...” He mumbled my name as his eyes looked over my face, but I rolled my eyes and pulled out some money to tip the bartender before I walked out of there. When I got near my car, I heard my name being called “Dee waits a second”
I spun around to see Mike only a few steps in front of me “how...how are you? You... You look great” I scoffed shaking my head, but I turned on my heels and got into my car and driving away leave him standing in a cloud of dust. Once I got to the clubhouse my knuckles, we’re hurting by hold tightly I was holding the steering wheel of the car, I walked inside to see a few people hanging around but when I walked the hall I saw Hacks coming out of his dorm once he saw me looked down at the floor.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t look at me either,” I tell him shoving my shoulder into his when I walk past him to the dorm that Kitana had given me, slamming the door shut. Seeing Mike had pissed me off to the point where I was going to go off at anyone, I hated what he did to me, I hated him because I became the laughingstock of the school. I hated him because I had to leave, to leave the people I loved, leave the guy who was my first for everything! I hated him!
And all I wanted to do was scream my lungs out but instead, I just break down and cry.
