"I'm going to teach you a little something, Lucy," Howard Brown yelled out, venom dripping from his voice as he slammed his leather belt against the counter. "I told you to fucking clean my room and change my bed sheets. So, why the hell is my room still messy? And why do I still have the same bed sheets?" He growled, clenching his jaw so hard that his teeth threatened to crack.

Lucy whimpered, backing away from the man she knew as her father. "I'm s-sorry. I just came from school and I-"

Howard immediately cut her off, his flaming eyes daring her to utter another word. "You had time before school, you lazy bitch." He tightened his grip on his belt.

Lucy did not bother to defend herself, for she knew that she'll get beaten up one way or another. The contact of the leather belt with her already bruised skin broke off Lucy's thoughts. She flinched, biting down on her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. Forcing back the bitter tears, she refused to give him the satisfaction of screaming out; she always knew what that led to. More and more whipping.

Lucy sighed deeply, cringing at the sound of her father yelling out for her to hurry up and come down for breakfast. Today was her first day at her new school. Rolling her eyes, she put on her favorite blue shirt along with a pair of black skinny jeans. She quickly brushed her long, dark blonde hair, as she smeared red lipstick on and applied black mascara. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time before she ran downstairs to have her breakfast with her oh-so loving family.

She sat down with her parents and her brother, Chad. Chad was her older brother who, as a kid, also faced Howard's abuse. The only difference was that she still got beaten up up to this day. However, she no longer felt as affected as she used to. Lucy hurriedly gobbled her pancakes, avoiding any chit chat. "Look who's excited for school," Her father remarked mockingly.

"Trust me, I'm not," Lucy said bluntly.

Her father shook his head, scrunching his nose in disgust as he motioned to the shirt she was wearing. "That is one ugly shirt."

Lucy gritted her teeth. Before lashing out, she eyed Chad, wanting to leave right now. Getting up, she grabbed her bag and made her way to Chad's car. She stared out the window, taking in the beauty of Goldwallow, her hometown. The town was a maze of narrow streets decorated by linden trees. The houses were an astounding collection of different styles, such as Georgian-style houses. It was a small, cozy, and busy town.

She gave a long sigh as she entered her new school's dull hallway; this is going to be a very long day. She made her way to her locker and placed the books she didn't need inside of it. Checking her schedule, she smiled. 'First period: English (Miss Woods)'. She strolled through the hall as she looked around her school, trying to waste some time.

She accidentally crashed into someone. "Whoa! Watch where you're going you, you moron!" A girl in a tight, red shirt and a face caked with makeup squealed.

Lucy faked a smile and walked away, completely ignoring her. The girl's eyes widened, expecting some sort of a comeback. But Lucy didn't really want to waste any of her precious time.

Lucy felt someone gently tap her shoulder from behind. She turned around to face a short girl with wavy, brown hair and big, green eyes that felt so warm and friendly. Lucy smiled as the girl spoke, "Hey, I'm Amy and I just want to say that not replying to that girl was really a wise thing to do, because she's just not worth it." Amy blurted out, obviously feeling nervous.

Noticing how tense she was, Lucy stretched out her hand for Amy to take. "Nice to meet you. I'm new here. Would you show me around, if that's okay?"

Amy willingly nodded as she moved along next to her. She kept asking her random, silly questions like 'What's your favorite color?' and 'What music do you listen to?' According to her, that was how you got to know someone well as quickly as possible. She seemed really fun and bubbly. Lucy had a feeling that she'll get along fine with her. She didn't have much to say though, she certainly didn't want to tell her how her life at home was; she just didn't want to bring it up at all. She had simply registered in a new school because she felt like she needed a change in her life. Maybe here in a new school with new people, she'll actually feel wanted and truly content.

"This is English class by the way," Amy said, pointing at the fairly wide classroom. She has practically shown her all the classes that came in sight, and now they somehow reached the last one. Lucy spotted an alluring figure in the crowd, she squinted her eyes to get a better look at the boy who caught her attention.

She nudged Amy by her elbow. "Who's that?" She asked, pointing at the boy with the long, red locks and perfectly-toned body.

Amy bit her lip. "Mmm, he's new, but I heard rumors about him. He's some sort of a delinquent. I mean look at his long hair! But I bet he's not like any one of those delinquents that they're referring to. There's something real strange yet appealing about him, he seems different. I mean that's what everybody is saying, you know?" She paused as she rubbed the back of her neck. "We'll eventually find out for ourselves."

Lucy ran a hand through her hair as she stole another glance at him. He was handsome in a way she had never seen before, though there was something about him that could make you feel uneasy if you looked at him for too long. He then suddenly turned around and looked in her direction. And once he noticed her gawking, she felt a rush of heat course through her veins and a weird sensation shot through every inch of her body.

Their eyes met for a few seconds; his had an unusual dark glimmer in them that made it hard for her to break eye contact. It was as if they were piercing right through her soul and exposing her, but he was expressionless and immediately turned away. Lucy hadn't noticed that she was holding her breath the whole couple of seconds. She breathed out and mumbled, "Whoa." She felt her heart rate increase drastically. She could almost hear the wild, rhythmic drumming of her heart in her ears. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up. That was super odd, she thought to herself as she shook her head, ignoring what she had just encountered.

The bell suddenly rang, making her jump. "I'll see you after class at the cafeteria!" Amy yelled as she made her way to her math class.

Lucy took a seat next to the window as she waited for the whole class to be filled. She saw many new faces enter through the door, some pretty, and some plain ugly. The girl she bumped into today sat down at the back. She's in my English class, great just great.

Just when the teacher was about to begin her lecture, Mr. Hot-Yet-Brooding entered the class and everyone stared at him, taking in his attractive features as the sound of ongoing whispering filled the room. He didn't even look around, didn't even care that he was the center of attention. He just took his seat which was across Lucy's and glared, obviously annoyed by the constant staring. Lucy took a deep breath as she bit her lip, this is going to be an interesting class.

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A/N:

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