Bad By Myself ✔️

Prologue

They started how they would end, hating each other.

THE PAST

Ginger Hollands, age fourteen, hated school more than anything else in her world. Second to her family, or non-existent family that is. The only good thing about school was that she got to attend Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, or Central VPA as everyone called the school. A school in south St. Louis for students who wanted more than the regular old education. She wanted more in life.

She wanted to be a superstar.

Why did she need to learn about math or history or science when that was not going to help her rock a mic? Getting a high school degree did not guarantee you would be rich or successful. She wanted the fame, the money, and of course all the boys. Her young mind was already dirty at fourteen.

For now, she would suck it up and do the school thing. She was forever trying to be discovered. She had a YouTube channel, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where she posted nothing but videos of her singing and dancing. Somebody had to see it. She deserved more out of life than to be little orphan Ginger with no family and no friends.

Until the day she met M'Liyah Wilson and Melodie Francis.

It was after school and she went into the auditorium to rehearse her dance number for the showcase. See, as much as Central VPA was a performing arts school, they had no vocal major, so she was a dance major. Did not matter, because she could dance better than all the Lil chickenheads at that school.

Just a freshman and she ranked as the top dancer at the school. All the upperclassmen hated her. Most of her peers hated her and she did not have any friends. Her only friend was Anthony Russo, and that was only because he was her foster brother and had to hang with her. She had only been with the Russo's a year. He was a dance major as well and if it was not for him she would be a loner.

She knew she was pretty, but she did not think she was anything special. Brown skin, frizzy reddish-brown hair she mostly wore in a bun, and she had yet to develop into her body. Five feet tall, ninety-five pounds, skinny, and near flat-chested. Being fourteen sucked.

Anthony was two years older and a junior. He was tall, dark brown, and wore his dark hair in a chunky fro or braided. He was an only child, so his parents took in foster kids to get that government check. His mother was not the motherly type, and his father constantly cheated on his wife. Anthony attended Central VPA since his freshman year and when he found out she was interested in music and dance, he told her to audition to get in.

While he liked playing big brother to her, he constantly tried to get in her pants as well. She did not think he was cute. He was smart too, making all As. If it was not for his super-intelligent mind and him doing most of her homework, she would be flunking out. He may be smarter than her, but when it came to dancing, she danced circles around him.

They were going to critique each other's routine, but when she got to the auditorium, some little girl was sitting at the piano on stage and playing like she did not have a care in the world. This was her time, she signed up to use the auditorium like she was supposed to.

"Excuse you! Like, who the fuck are you? Me and my boy got the stage," she yelled as she climbed her little self on the stage and tossed her bag to the side. She would be ready to fight any chick that came to her wrong.

The girl wore red-framed glasses and had colorful braces, looking like a big dweeb. She was brown-skinned with no blemishes and had long brown dread locs to the middle of her back. She was short and petite like her. She must be one of the music majors playing the piano.

"Hi, I'm M'Liyah," she told them, pushing her glasses up on her face.

"I didn't ask your name!" Ginger walked closer to her. She was cute in the face and she could not stand pretty girls.