Atlas Grove, once a dancer with dreams of dancing under the stars, now lives petrified in the shadows of abuse. To escape her living nightmare she must keep her head down and work hard, being her senior year this is her last chance to get out. Altho...
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I shove my hands securely into my coat pocket, to hide them from the cold winds, as Carrie links her arm through mine stepping out of the school halls into the crisp winter break ridden air. I must be the only child not happy about Christmas break, firstly my adoptive parents 'don't do Christmas' not since their daughter died, which is understandable. Secondly, it reminds me of my momma and my sister and thirdly my adoptive mom and dad spend the day getting wasted only to take it out on me... fourteen days of having it taken out on me. No bloody escape during the day which, as sad as it sounds, is what school is for me- a frigging escape.
"I am so happy it's CHRISTMAS!" Brady shouts bouncing up next to me like he's singing the line in the Slade Christmas song, startling us but getting a cheer from a few freshmen lining the bottom of the steps, wrapped warmly in striped scarfs.
"It's not really Christmas vacation until the games over tomorrow, is it?" Blaze sulks beside him in his authoritative team captain voice- an edge of warning in his tone. I don't think he's overly ecstatic about the festive cheer everyone's been expressing around him today, I don't really know why but I'm just putting it down to the fact he's moody. I've heard more grunts than actual words today and it should intimidate me but I've become immune to his 'grunting' and now just find it humorous. He does convey a good point though, even though we're going skating tonight at the outdoor rink in town our winter break doesn't fully start until tomorrow. We're going with the boys to cheer at their away game since it's not that far away. Another reason why Blaze is in a mood- he doesn't want to break anything before tomorrow bone wise. He's spent the whole day snapping at the guys and glaring at whoever looks too long at him.
"It's fucking freezing!" Vixxie says sidling up to us trying to avoid the smaller kids whose bags weigh them down, Emily's next to her, camera around her neck snapping pictures of the frost laying on the untouched bits of grass and fallen leaves that lay idle on the sidewalk.
"It's gotten really cold really quick," I mumble into the side of my coat, it's not exactly the warmest thing. The lining's ripped and it's about five years old but between saving for college and paying rent I don't really want to spend a lot on a new coat, it's only cold like... half of the year. Rutherford and Ethan join us on the steps in seemingly higher spirits.
"Let's go, go, go!" Ethan shouts racing towards the parking lot, Blaze lets out a noisy grunt which makes my lips lift a little. Don't get me wrong he's still a little intimidating but sometimes I find his moods funny.
"Who's riding with who?" Rutherford asks as we stop at the edge of the parking lot.
"Ethan and I are with Vixxie," Carrie says searching the rows of parked cars for where E has run off too, he's probably already on his way to her car since it's predictable they always ride together.
"Big A and I are riding with Blaze to make sure he doesn't accidentally drive home." Brady links his arms around our shoulders with a smug grin and Blaze grunts again trying to nudge him off, "And I presume you guys are meeting us there." Brady nods to the helmets Emily and Rutherford hold.
