Unbroken

Chapter 1: Welcome to a New Life

Emma:

Social anxiety. It doesn't define who I am, but I have to live with it every day. My mom thought it was all in my head, but it wasn't. It would start with nausea, and the symptoms would just progress from there. Unfortunately, homeschooling wasn't an option since my mom loved her job and claimed that going to school was good for me. She was so proud of me when I skipped second grade completely, which made me feel like an even bigger freak. On top of my anxiety, I was the youngest in my class and starting a new school. This year was going to suck.

I sighed as I hurried into my first class of the day. It was early, but I had planned it that way, much to my twin's dismay. When I was this early and there were fewer kids in the classroom, it was easy to slip into the room unnoticed. My twin hated getting up early for my quirks. I moved to the back of the class and sank into an empty seat. After taking my notebook and pencil out of my bag, I slouched down, putting my hands in the pocket of my oversized hoodie.

I was hoping to stay unnoticed as I watched the classroom fill with other students. A trio of blonde cheerleaders sat towards the front, and a couple of intellectual looking kids sat towards the middle of the room. I hoped they were the type of people who enjoyed answering questions so that I wouldn't have to. A girl who seemed to have one foot in the goth doorway and another foot in pixie hollow sat next to me. Her obviously dyed black hair was tipped with pink. Her dark eyes were heavily lined with eyeliner. She wore a copious amount of glitter on her cheeks and eyelids. Her lips were dark red with a glossy sheen. She wore all black, except for the heels that were sky blue. She must have noticed my attention because she turned and winked at me before pulling things out of her bags. I shrank back in my seat, trying not to draw any more attention to myself.

One of the last people to trudge through the doorway was...hot. His short, dark blond hair was sticking up in every direction as if he'd run his fingers through it a couple dozen times. His red button up shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a black tank underneath. His jeans were a little baggy, but not too bad. I blinked in surprise when he dropped into the seat in front of me, relieved when he didn't even seem to notice me. In fact, he didn't seem to even look around the room to see who was nearby.

We listened to Ms. Shepherd lecture about things that seemed like common sense to me. A couple of kids near the front were furiously writing, trying to keep up with Ms. Shepherd's monolog. The guy in front of me reached a hand behind him, lifting up the back of his shirt to pull a...drumstick? Out of his back pocket. He leaned back again, resting his elbow on the edge of his desk as he twirled the stick in his fingers. I was impressed with the speed and dexterity that he used. He didn't even seem to be paying attention to what he was doing, as his focus was completely on the teacher.

I looked back at Ms. Shepherd, but my gaze was pulled back to the spinning stick in front of me. He kept the stick going through the entire class, periodically tapping it against his notebook. When the bell rang, I slid my notebook into my bag and quickly stood up. I wasn't even sure how it happened. One minute I was on my feet, hoping I'd get to my next class early enough to find a seat in the back, and the next, I tripped over something in the aisle, which propelled me into the guy who'd been sitting in front of me. It all happened so fast, and I froze when I landed in his lap.

My breath left my lungs in a rush and refused to fill back up. I froze, not sure if I should stay or leave. His eyes were huge as he glanced at me, probably trying to figure out what had happened. I stood up, nearly falling back into his lap as my legs started to shake. My eyes filled with tears even as I will them to stop. His brow furrowed in concern. "A-are you oh-okay?"

I knew I should have at least apologized, but the shaky feeling had spread throughout the rest of my limbs. If I stood there much longer, I was afraid I'd collapse. I tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't working. Nausea built until I fled like a bat out of hell, rushing for the bathrooms, where I barely made it before puking my guts out. I waited in the stall for several moments to make sure it wouldn't happen again before slowly opening the door and peeking into the rest of the bathroom. I hesitantly tiptoed to the sinks, cringing when I realized that one of the blonde cheerleaders from my class stood in front of the sinks, using the mirror to reapply her lipstick. She paused for a moment to look at me. I averted my gaze, hoping she wouldn't speak to me. Thankfully, she went back to pursing her lips at the mirror and ignoring me. I washed my hands and rinsed my mouth out before I left the bathroom.

I paused mid-step when I realized the cheerleader from in the bathroom had her minions waiting for her outside. One of the girls stepped closer to me and rolled her eyes. "No wonder she's so small. She pukes up her meals." She wrinkled her nose distastefully at me.

The other girl shook her head. "Maybe we should be asking who the father is instead." She raised a brow as if waiting for me to answer her. I fought hard to breathe as the shaky feeling came back. The thought of touching either girl made my skin crawl, but if I wanted to walk past them, touching them was inevitable.

Before I could rush back into the bathroom, the door opened as the third member of their group stepped out of the bathroom. "Laurel. Amber. We build people up, not tear them down." Both girls look equally chastised as they turned to follow their leader down the hallway.

I headed to Spanish and found a seat as the bell was ringing. Spanish was uneventful and other than roll call, I wasn't called on. Once Spanish was over I made my way to U.S. history. It was a short walk and I was one of the first students to enter the classroom. I watched as more students filed into the room. They usually came in one at a time, but occasionally a couple of people came into the room at once. A few of the people seemed to already be friends as they sat together and immediately started whispering amongst themselves. Everyone went quiet as a guy stepped into the room. His dark hair was long and brushed against his neck. One of his dark eyes was partially hidden as his bangs were swept out of one eye but covered the other. He had a scruffy look about him. His sweatshirt seemed a size too small, his jeans had holes of various sizes along both legs, and it looked as if he hadn't shaved for a couple of days.

The guy dropped into the seat in front of me. What was it about this guy that made everyone stop talking? He ran his fingers through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes as he pulled his stuff from his bag and put it on his desk gently. It wasn't until the guy next to him leaned over that I understood what made the guy in front of me a target here. "Hey, Phoenix!" I jumped as his voice was really loud, but it didn't seem to phase the dark haired kid at all. "Do you not hear me when I'm talking to you?" His voice kept getting louder and I shrank back, hoping the kid wouldn't turn his attention to me next. A couple other kids in the class laughed, which just seemed to egg him on. "Yo! Freak!" The volume of his voice had escalated so loudly that something on the kid in front of me screeched, letting out a high pitched squeak. He flinched and I suddenly realized the kid was wearing hearing aids. That definitely didn't give the other kids the right to tease him, though. I sighed as I wished there was some way I could help him.

The history teacher, Mr. Marks, started class. He either hadn't heard the teasing or didn't care as he launched directly into a lecture on the civil war, not even bothering to take roll. I took notes as quickly as I could, periodically stopping to glance at the dark haired guy. He seemed to have no problems hearing the teacher as he furiously took notes as well.

The class seemed to finish quickly and incident free. I moved from history to the cafeteria, where I searched for a quiet spot to sit and eat my lunch. After a quick scan, I realized that no such place seemed to exist in this overly crowded room. I turned around and made my way outside.

I sat down under a tree and started to eat my turkey sandwich, watching as people went in and out of the doors. A cool breeze shook the branches above me. The dark haired kid from my last class came outside and sat down closer to the school. It wasn't long before a really tall guy and the guy I'd literally run into earlier came outside and met up with him. They all sat down in the grass and I watched them thoughtfully as they chatted and ate. I felt drawn to them. The dark haired kid, Phoenix, seemed to get made fun of regularly. I knew what that was like.

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