Haley's POV

The late bell rings for my second period class, but I don't care to rush. I don't want to take Social Development anyways. I start to clean my wound and the mess the blood made.

SIX FUCKING MONTHS. Why did I cut again?

Staring in the mirror, I want to know how my life got to this. No friends, no family. Nothing. Just the emptiness and loneliness that follows me everywhere. There's nothing I can do about it. I want friends. I want people to care about me. I want to feel as if I belong somewhere. I want to feel alive instead of feeling dead again! But if I let people get too close, he will make them disappear. If I find happiness, he will take it away. He promised that. He's already caused me enough pain. I am nothing left but a shell of the person I once was. Because of him, I can't handle most physical touch without going into a panic attack. Looking back in the mirror, I wash my face hoping to hide the fact that I had been crying, but my eyes are still red and slightly puffy. At least I didn't wear make-up today. That would have been a bigger pain to fix. I collect my stuff and head to my second period class.

Entering my second period class, I can see the teacher has already started the lesson.

"You must be Haley. Why are you late to class?" says Mrs. Green, the teacher.

"Umm, I got lost." Was all I could manage to say. What was I supposed to tell her?! Oh, I was in the girl's bathroom with a blade cutting myself, because I am an extremely disturbed 17-year-old girl. The thought made me laugh out loud, but I quickly stopped when I noticed that several students were eyeing me.

"Your seat is with the boys over there." Mrs. Green said pointing towards Blayne and his friends.

Why couldn't I get put in a different group?

I make my way over towards the table to take my seat. This time I am sitting with Blayne on my left and Kyle is across from me.

"It sure did take you a while to make it to class," Dylan says. "What or should I say who were you doing?" While wiggling his eyebrows up and down at me.

I glared at him. Before I can say anything, Kyle smacks him on the back of his head. "Dylan, Shut the fuck up, and leave her alone." He then looks at me and with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Are you okay?

"I'm fine" I politely answer him

For being a bad boy, Kyle actually seems pretty nice. I don't get why everyone is afraid of these guys. They seem like regular teenage boys to me. Then again, I don't have the best judgment when it comes to people. After what HE did to me, the only thing that scares me is Him finding me and the nightmares and memories that He left me with. No one needs to know about Him or what He did to me. I will go to my grave with those secrets. Kyle was about to say something else, but the teacher started explaining the assignment.

"Class the next assignment will be considered as your final exam for the end of the year. You will have eight months to complete it." Half of the class groans, but Mrs. Green continues. "You and the people at your tables will be doing a group report on each other. You will need to write how each person at your table is unique and special. Tell us what makes them who they are. Tell us if your opinion of them has changed from the start of this project or if it is the same eight months from now. You are being given eight months for this project. You will have plenty of time to get to know each person in your group. We will not be working on this assignment in class. You will need to get to know each other's outside of the classroom and school. You never know what you might learn from someone else."

Fuck No one needs to know me.

Blayne's POV

I thought maybe she was ditching, but she came to class ten minutes after the late bell rang. Her eyes are slightly red. She was either crying or getting high. Kyle seems to notice this too. He tried asking her if she was okay, but all she said was that she was fine. It's weird to see Kyle trying to talk to someone other than one of us. Sure, he's a great guy, but he keeps himself closed off to the world. But this girl... this girl has something about her that I can't explain. She's not afraid of us, but she also not trying to act like a slut around us. It's refreshing, but no one is allowed to talk to me the way she fucking did in first period. She's going to have to learn her place, or she's going to have a lot of fucking problems coming her way.

Mrs. Green starts to explain the stupid project that counts as our end-of-the-year final exam. This is why every senior hates this required class. This is always the project that is given as the end-of-year exam for this class. Can they really not let us graduate if we fail Social Development? I mean other schools don't even have this class, but Eastside High School does. This project is supposed to help teach us how to be better people, by getting us to know other people's lives and situations. I thought it was going to be an easy grade because I and the guys have known each other forever, but now Haley is also in our group. I don't want to know this girl and she definitely doesn't need to know me or any of us in this group for that matter. She wouldn't understand the hell that we've all been through.

When Mrs. Green is finished explaining the project, I stare at Haley out of the corner of my eye without her noticing me. Okay, that's a little creepy but still. She drops something on the floor. As she goes to pick it up, I notice that she bangs her lower arm on the table by accident but lets out a small gasp of pain.

Surely hitting her arm on the table couldn't have caused her to be in pain.

As she grabs her arm over her black hoodie, I see a small drop of blood trickle down towards her hand.

"Why the fuck are you bleeding?" She just stares at me. I pull her sleeve up and notice a cut on her lower arm. Mrs. Green must have seen something going on over here too because she comes towards us and also notices Haley's cut.

"Haley, what happened?" Mrs. Green says to her while looking at the cut on her arm.

"I. em... I. uhh. my locker. My locker. I cut it on my locker earlier. When I bumped it, it started to bleed again?" Haley stutters.

Her locker? How the hell did her locker slice her arm? There's something she not saying, but what?

Haley's POV

SHIT SHIT SHIT No one is supposed to see this.

"Haley go see the nurse so that you can get a bandage." Mrs. Green says. "Oh, and Blayne can you show her the way?"

"Whatever." Blayne deadpans.

"Mrs. Green I will be fine on my own." I try and protest.

"Haley you were late to my class because you got lost on the way earlier. Blayne will take you the nurse to ensure that you get there." She says in a serious tone that leaves no room for discussion.

Well that lie about being lost bit me in the ass

I follow Blayne out of the classroom as he starts walking down the hallway. "So how did you really cut your arm?" He says without ever looking at me as we head to the nurse's office.

"I already fucking told you that it was from my locker, and it's none of your business anyway!" I say as I grit my teeth.

"Don't fucking talk to me like that!"

"Or what? What is BIG BAD fucking Blayne going to do to me?" I hiss.

"You better watch your fucking self little girl. You're making an enemy with the wrong person," he growls.

"Do you think you really scare me? You know nothing about me. You have no clue, Blayne. NO FUCKING CLUE! Someone like you cannot scare me." I scream at him in the hallway as I feel anger boil up in me.

Well, at least I am feeling something.

"Let's just hurry up and get to the nurse's office, before we have an audience out there watching us," Blayne says.

"No! I don't want to go anywhere with you. I don't need to go to the nurse. I don't need help. Leave me alone. I'm going to the restroom" And with that, I turn on my heels and walk off in the opposite direction of him before he can say anything else.

Blayne's POV

What the hell was that about?

This girl has some major issues. And what does she mean by someone like me could never scare her? Maybe she will fit in with us better than expected, but she still can't fucking talk to me like that. I still can't figure her out. She's not afraid of me. She's not afraid to argue back. Does that mean she thinks she's scarier than us? She's hiding something but what? She acts like she wants to be invisible, but that she doesn't know-how.

Why do I care? Why am I thinking of her? I hate people. I hate her. I think...