Shackles on the heart (Book #1)

50. Discovering myself

(RaeAnna's POV)

I am now 14 years old, I am in the 8th grade. Lincoln will be 15 soon, we go to Bridgelynn Junior high together. We have been inseparable since I was 11, our friendship grows stronger every day. Dakota is 9, he is in the third grade. He is growing smarter, he constantly asks me questions about our mother. I have decided it was time to give him some kind of answer soon. I will leave the traumatic details out of it, for now.

I havent seen Carrie in a long time, I guess one day she just decided to move on from our lives. I won't say that I don't miss her because that would be a lie, but I do hope she is happy on the path she chose to go down, wherever that might be.

It is lunch time now, I don't get bullied anymore like I did in elementary. I don't let people push me around anymore, if people are nice to me I will be kind in return, but if someone tries to put me down by picking on me, calling me out for my scars I quickly put them into their place.

"RaeAnna! Over here!" Rylee calls out to me. Rylee, Conner, Layne and Cooper also go to the same junior high as Lincoln and I. We have all grown quite close, but nothing can compare to mine and Lincoln's friendship.

I walk over to them, wrapping my arms around Lincoln's neck from the back, giving him a kiss on the cheek. The guys groan. "Kiss on the lips already!" Conner says loudly. I blush, Lincoln chuckles. "Shut up guys." He says.

"Well it's obvious you two are madly in love with each other." Layne says, while making kissy faces at us. I go to hit him on the arm. "Ouch!" He rubs the spot I hit him on. "That wasnt very nice." He says. I shrug my shoulders dramatically. "You deserved it." I say with a wide smirk. "Shes right. You did deserve that." Lincoln says trying to contain the laughter that wants to spill out. "Oh no the power couple is trying to gang up on me! Cooper do something!"

Cooper holds his hands up in surrender. "No way man. I'm scared of RaeAnna. You're on your own with this one." I roll my eyes. "I am not scary!" I exclaim, sternly. All the guys meet my eyes. "Yeah..sure you're not." Conner says. We all laugh together. "You guys are horrible." I tell them half-joking. "Um I think you mean we are amazing." Rylee argues. "Sure I did."

We all talk for a little while longer about nothing in particular until it's time for them to head to class and time for me to head to my session.

Lincoln comes to my side. "You going to go see the counselor?" I groan. "Yes Link, even though she doesn't help at all."

"Well try to talk a little today." He tells me. I shake my head with a little shrug of my shoulders. "No promises." He gives me a little peck on the nose, sending me on my way.

I go to the guidance counselor's office to knock on the door. "Come in RaeAnna." Mrs. Gleason says. I walk in and slump on the couch. "How are you today?" She questions. "Just dandy." I reply in clear sarcasm. "Any new feelings?" She asks. I scoff internally. "Same old same old." She looks at me with a serious face. "I know you aren't ready to talk about what you went through, but talking could really help you." I snicker. "I dont need any help." I lie. I probably need a lot of help, but I won't admit that to her. I am not unloading all of my problems on somebody that I don't trust.