Chapter 1
Carter’s POV:
After getting ready and washing the dishes after breakfast, my mom came into the kitchen once more to give me a kiss on the back of my head and left for work.
My dad had already left right after breakfast.
My mom owns her own fashion boutique and it's quite popular in our little town of Redridge Point in California. I love her boutique and I love that she lets me work there on weekends. The public library and her store are my little sanctuaries away from all my troubles.
My dad is an accountant and is well liked amongst his colleagues.
We live in a decent sized two story house that's painted dark red on the outside. We've lived here my whole life. Just the three of us.
My mom and dad are a happily married couple and I'm their world. They love me with all their hearts, but sometimes it's not enough when ever since I was eight years old my life has been a living hell.
Ever since Anna Moore decided to make every day miserable for me, I haven't been a very happy or confident person.
She wasn't always like that. I remember she used to be really nice to me, but one day in third grade she became so mean, almost evil. I don't know what caused it, but I'm the only one she bullies.
Since then no one will go against her and be my friend. No one will socialize with me. She's the gorgeous skinny blonde girl that runs the school, and I'm the outcast chubby brunette that everyone ignores. Except Jordan Rayden. He's the most popular guy at school and I've known him, just like I've known Anna, since we were in kindergarten. He doesn't care about what Anna thinks and feels about me. He talks and socializes with whoever he wants.
We're not friends, more like acquaintances. When we cross paths we'll have pleasant conversations.
Once at our town's Fourth of July festival, my parents saw him and I talking to each other. They thought we were dating. I couldn't help but laugh. I clarified that we were just close acquaintances. I don't feel that way about him and he doesn't feel that way about me.
Someone like him comes in handy though when you're at the bottom of the school food chain like I am. If he's around, he'll stick up for me to Anna.
My parents know I get bullied and they've tried to talk to the principal about Anna, but nothing ever really happens, so I just try to get through it day by day as best as I can.
Because of her and her hatred, I don't have a lot of self esteem. I try to be confident, but I'm not the same happy little girl I used to be. She's done and said so much horrible shit to me that I can't find it in myself to love myself anymore.
I'm sixteen and in my junior year of high school. It's the middle of the year and I'll be ecstatic when I graduate next year, and get away from this town and go across the country for university.
No more getting bullied every day by Anna. Oh how I wish that day was today.
As I'm washing the last dish, I look up at the clock hanging over the window in front of the sink.
It's 7:15 am and school starts at 8:00 am. Good thing I only live a few blocks away.
My mom and dad bought me an old fashioned red and pink bike for my fourteenth birthday and I ride it everywhere. It's my favorite thing I own.
I'll be at school with plenty of time to spare.
After I dry my hands I grab my backpack on the couch and head to the back yard to grab my bike.
I put my Avengers helmet on and head off for another soul sucking day of school.
If only Anna weren't at the same school as me, I would love going. I love learning and I'm a straight A student. Sadly her being there ruins all of that.
