My alarm buzzed in my ear. The repeating screeching noise buried itself into my brain and shook it awake. I lifted my head and was immediately assaulted with beams of yellow light. A slap on the top of the alarm cut off the awful sound, however the bright light was out of my reach and I could do nothing about it but wake up. I dragged myself out of bed and let my feet miserably hit the floor. I walked across the carpeted floor to the dirty pile of clothes on the other side of my small room. I picked up any article of clothing and smelled it, from there picking out an outfit. Todays crappy fit was a white t-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants. I picked my hoodie up from the doorknob. It was a black sweatshirt with white sleeves and a doodle of a white skull with x's for eyes. Rowen had given it to me for my 14th birthday. It was one of the only things he had kept from his old home. It had gotten too small for him, leaving him with the option of selling it or giving it to me. I've loved it ever since.

I trudged to the bathroom where I prayed Adriana wasn't already occupying. To my delight, the door swung open and I was greeted with a clean sink. I quickly patted down my hair and closely examined my face. I groaned at myself and walked out to the kitchen, where a bowl of cereal awaited on the table. Mom had left early for the breakfast shift. I quickly ate and stared at the pill bottle in front of me. I was hesitant to take the medicine but a wave of obligation covered me. I couldn't waste my mom's money and time by being selfish.

We all walked to school. Adriana had her license but Mom couldn't afford another car. The school wasn't very far away so it wasn't that big of a deal. Bri was in the building next to us, so we could keep an eye on her as she walked to school. I glared at the looming building. Each brick seemed to taunt me with its imprisonment.

I hated school.

As soon as I walked into that cursed building there was nothing but soul tearing stares and whispers of judgement. Every eye would scorch my skin as I passed the never-ending crowd of people. I scurried to class, avoiding every contact with anyone I could. My first class was math. I was the first person in the room, as always. Kids would usually stay in the hallways and talk for as long as they could before entering the rooms governed by authority. To my surprise, I heard Adriana outside chatting with someone. I tuned my ear to her as much as I could over all the other gossip floating through the halls.

"No, of course that isn't true. They haven't found anything on her, will you get off her case?!" She sounded hurt and annoyed at the same time. "Don't you dare even think about bothering my brother or sister about this either! Either Rowen or I will kill you!" I heard her voice fade away and saw her appear in the doorframe. She walked over to me.

"Hey." I blankly said as she groaned loudly.

"Did Mommy talk to you about.. you know?" She asked, to which I gave a nod. "Ugh.. well these jerks are probably going to bother you about it so if any trouble happens TELL ME."

"I'll be okay, don't worry." I reassured. She hugged my neck and waved goodbye, exiting the classroom.

"TELL ME." She said a final time, leaving before I could object. We both had to be protective of each other. While she was certainly the most favored in our family, she still would get her occasional share in harassment. Our mom taught us at an early age to always be there for each other, never leave each other's side. It was a value I will never stray from. Hopefully Bri would never have to go through what all of us were..

The warning bell rang, which signaled the teachers to start herding kids into their proper classes. I sat at the back, and people usually avoided sitting by me. Our classes were small, so spacing was never really an issue.

"Okay, class. Today we're going over.."

I wonder what Rowen's doing right now..

"..this part is very important, I suggest you write it down..."

Is Mom getting interrogated right now?

"..of course, we went over this last week so..."

I should start focusing.. oh god, where are we?

"Is this making sense?"

No...

"Okay, I'll go over this..."

It's really hot in here...

"Time for.."

What?! When did we move onto that? I need to stop... Is that Rowen.. No it's a senior with a new haircut. I need to focus. C'mon Chip! Focus--

"Chip!" I jumped. Pulling back into reality I stared in confusion. Glancing over at the board, I saw it provided no answers. My teacher gave me a questioning look. I felt the eyes again, staring at me, awaiting an answer. My face started to flush and my heart began to race. A scramble of thoughts and words fluttered in my head, all taunting me for my ignorance.

"Wh-what was the question..?" I sheepishly asked. The teacher rolled her eyes and I heard the terrorizing sound of giggles around me. I looked down at my desk in embarrassment as my teacher started to tell me off.

I'm so stupid.. why can't I just focus? It's not that hard, everyone else does it! I spent the rest of class almost shaking from nerves and with degrading thoughts swirling around my mind.

Finally- time for lunch. I hopped out into the halls and began to head out toward the cafeteria. To my dismay, I saw a dirty blonde boy catch eye-contact with me. His eyes narrowed and as I tried to run away I heard the patter of his footsteps behind me. I turned and was met with Travis and his gaggle of friends. Their eyes were almost the worst. They stared at me with amusement and giggles on their lips.

"Well, Davis.. It seems everyone knows about your dear Mommy's scandal now. You better watch your back.. some Beast recruits could be after you." He laughed and turned around.

"Why would they be after me? What do they have to do with it?" Travis quit his awful giggling and slyly looked at me.

"From what my father has told me, the Beasts are awful upset that their not the worst thing in town anymore. They value being feared, and the most dangerous group to come across doesn't like it when there's a new mysterious murderer stealing their spotlight. It's a little egotistical if you ask me-"

Says you.

"But you should watch out. They look for revenge and the moment they think it's Ms. Davis..." He slid his finger across his throat. The entitled boy smirked and waved at his crew to follow him out of my way. I had learned to not take Travis' awful words to heart.. but if what he said was true.. I groaned and decided I was eating lunch somewhere else today.

I knew my way around town pretty well. Not as good as Rowen, of course, but good enough to not get lost. I made my way down to the diner, which wasn't too far from school. I'd have enough time to get back. My mind started to drift with the wind again as I walked, my head floating into the clouds. I hardly even noticed that there was someone in front of me until my path came to halt as I fell onto the ground.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I blurted out before I even looked up to see who it was. A strange voice answered that I had never heard before. My eyes lifted up to see the huge figure before me.

"Need help up?" The gruff voice said. I sat in astonishment at the man. His large figure was enough to catch anyone's eye. He had hair that went below his ears that was combed back to reveal dull eyes. His eyes... One grey and one almost a blue color. His face was rough and tan, scrubble forming around his chin and cheeks. He wore a puffy coat made of animal fur, adding to his massive figure. His hand was covered in scratches as he offered it to me. I hesitantly lifted my hand and put it into his. He hoisted me up with little to no effort, catching me off guard and lifting me into a feeling of flying.

"S-sorry ab-about that.." I stammered. He revealed a toothy smile, his canines seemingly sharper than normal.

"Eh, don't worry about it, kid. Not like you did any damage." His booming voice seemed oddly reassuring, and I returned with a weak smile. "Hey, aren't you one of Davis' kids?" He questioned.

Oh no.

"Um.. yes. I'm Chip." I quietly responded. Oh my god he's going to kill me, isn't he? I panicked. His eyes widened at my name.

"Oh... you're Rowen's boy." He smiled. I was terrified of this. "Have you seen him? He seems to be avoiding me lately." I didn't know how to respond. Is this what Rowen was talking about? I didn't want to give him too much information.

"No, sir. I haven't seen him since yesterday." I blankly replied.

"Ah, that's okay. He'll see me when he needs to." I had no idea how to process this statement, but a weird feeling rose in my chest. "Well, I'll be on my way. Have a nice day, Chip!" He cheerfully strolled away, turning the corner without looking back.

Rowen, what kind of other friends do you have?

I stumbled into the diner and tried to catch sight of my mom. She was behind the counter, and as she saw me her eyes lit up.

"Potato Chip! Hi, Baby!" She walked around the counter to hug me. "Why..." She questioned, but upon seeing the lunch box in my hand she dropped it. "There's a table over there for you. I'm sorry, I'd love to sit and chat with you but there's a bunch of customers at lunch. I love you, make sure you're back to school on time." She swiftly kissed my forehead and scurried off to another table. I sat down and silently ate my lunch.

Why would Rowen want to hide who he's hanging out with.. He seemed nice enough. Maybe he's just lying.. He probably doesn't want his cool friends to meet me.. Yeah, that's it. I felt a stab in my chest as I reached this conclusion. Rowen was too cool for me in the first place, what was I expecting? My chest felt heavy as I realized I had no one to even comfort me. Usually when I told Rowen what I was feeling he told me to get out of my head.. Well, I guess the only thing I have now is my head. I woefully turned to my mom, who didn't notice my sorrow as she collected money from a customer. A man walked up to her, getting close to her face. He slid her some money, winking as he walked out the door. Mom seemed troubled, clenching her eyes shut as she pocketed the tip. She shook her head and a warm smile returned to her. She wandered into the kitchen to request more food. I would've questioned this interaction if I hadn't heard the circulating rumors around town.

"I didn't know sluts could kill someone like that!" I heard as a piece of paper hit my head. It landed on my desk, taunting me with bits of visible ink appearing through the sheet. I looked to the other side of the room where a kid was laughing, young girls surrounding him. They copied his laugh and stared at him with wide eyes, awaiting his next move. "Open it!" I begrudgingly unfolded the paper and saw a crude drawing of what I presumed to be my mother. It was a drawing you'd expect from a teenage boy with pretty girls uplifting his ego. I tore up the paper and threw the shreds onto the ground. Another roar of laughter came from the side of the room, and I simply turned back to the front. Our teacher continued her lesson without acknowledging the teen's behavior. This happened with a lot of teachers.

Finally, I approached the last class of the day. A warm aura flooded out the door, filling me with excitement as I swung it open. There sat a lady with tightly coiled hair, sitting on the ground with a guitar. She lifted her head and beamed at me.

"Good afternoon, Chip! Come, sit down." She patted the place next to her. I sat as she started to chat with me about my day. "Early as always." She said, softly strumming the guitar in her lap. "So, what's the gossip these days?" I rolled my eyes.

"Don't act like you don't know, Mrs Bell." She sighed.

"Well, I'd rather hear it from you.. I doubt you want to talk about it though." I nodded at this. She got up and grabbed a guitar case from the back of the room. "Well.. we've got a new one today. It's all for you.. I don't like you using the one's the other kids do." She handed the case to me. "This ones.. more professional." She smiled, gesturing for me to open it. I carefully lifted the lid and was met with amazement. A black guitar with white designs littered throughout, the most noticeable being the same skull design as my hoodie. My eyes widened as I looked the Mrs. Bell.

"Oh my god— Mrs. Bell, did you get this custom made?!" My heart filled with glee as I delicately picked up the precious instrument. I strummed the strings and was met with a beautiful sound. "This is amazing!" The woman kneeled down and out her hand on my shoulder.

"And it's yours. Forever." I blankly stared in denial.

"No! Mrs. Bell, how much money was this?! There's no way-" She cut me off with a hush.

"Chip, you have the most promise I've seen in an teenager. You not only are extremely talented at this instrument, but you're such a kind person. You really don't deserve half the things you've gone through. I know you're going through a hard time right now... so here!" She smiled. Tears of joy filled my eyes.

"T-thank you so much! This is amazing, I'll play it everyday!" The sadness in my heart lifted as I started to play a tune. Even as the judgmental students flooded into the room I stayed in my gleeful mood. I looked to Mrs. Bell. "Don't worry, I'll tell them I got it myself.. I don't want them to fire you for picking favorites." The teacher smiled in thanks, returning to the class, instructing everyone to sit down.