Warning: this chapter includes violence, heavy name-calling, and a mega-bitch Miku/Luka. Don't read if you cannot handle shit like this.

UPDATEEEEE- omg my writing sucks. SOOOOOOO I decided to basically rewrite it! I hope you guys like it more...(please vote (ToT)// )

I'll also edit the edit in the morning (it's late at night where I live), so don't worry about any spelling mistakes, grammar problems, or sudden changes in tense

Neru's POV

"DIE!!!"

     Smack! Miku Hatsune's palm connected with my face at lightning speed. I stumbled and fell onto the cold tiles of the locker room floor, my back against a set of crimson red lockers. Red. The color of blood, the substance that will likely stain this new shirt in a few minutes. Miku smirked like the devil she was, her face showing absolutely no signs of pity or regret. Instead, the smirk plastered on her flawless face was one of amusement. She lifted her foot - attached with it the fanciest pair of sneakers I had ever seen in my life - and spammed it into my stomach with the power of 20 bullets. I whimpered in pain, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I knew I shouldn't have said anything, I should NEVER say anything, but I felt words slip out my mouth. "Please.....stop....." I whimpered, then immediately regretted my decision.

     "Bitch, did I say you were allowed to speak~?" Miku sneered, and kicked me again, harder than before. I coughed up blood instead of stupid words this time.

     Bitch, cunt, stupid, fucker, worthless gay trash. Those are some of the names I'm called on a regular basis. But I guess they aren't too bad, I mean, I'm used to it now. the words aren't nearly as painful as the kicks and punches. Why?? I'll sometimes ask myself during sleepless nights, afraid to fall into a world of endless nightmares, only to wake up knowing they're real, and in the form of a teal-haired girl. Knowing I'll have to endure another beating at school. Oh yeah, I remember why. It all started about a year ago when my best friend at the time, Miku Hatsune, discovered I wasn't exactly like everyone else. I told her at the lunch table - it was taco Tuesday, if memory serves. Miku loves Taco Tuesday, she'd be in an especially good mood - that I was a lesbian. I thought she would be cool with it, I thought she wouldn't care. We'd been friends since kindergarten, something this little shouldn't effect our relationship, right? Oh, how wrong I was.

     As soon as I told her, my entire life was ruined forever. She just stared at me for a while before running off, "crying". As it turns out, Miku's a homophobe, and anyone who's gay is automatically considered "a fucking whore". For the first few weeks, it was the words. The words hurt me like hell, almost as much as a stab wound. I sometimes wish I could go back in time and tell my past self what a pussy I was.

     But it got worse. Eventually, she got the idea to try and hurt me. She was obviously uncomfortable with it at first, since she only would slap and maybe punch me. I would fight back those days, I'd at least not put up with too much bullshit. But then, one day....she pulled out a knife. That was the day I learned my place, the day she got over all her fears of hurting me. It was the day I fully lost sight of the Miku I used to call a friend, the day I leaned this girl was a cruel monster. I truly lost my best friend that day. Later on, I learned fighting back did nothing, all it did was provoke Miku, which wasn't a good thing. I stopped punching, kicking, screaming, what's the point? She would only bring out...the knife....

     So there I was, in the gym locker room as usual, barely managing not to cry and as I half-consciously felt Miku beat me senseless.

     "Fucking SLUT, you don't deserve to live!!" Miku drilled her foot into me again, her teal pigtails bouncing every time it collided with my stomach. I said nothing, too afraid to even speak. If I wasn't used to this, I think I'd have already passed out from the pain. I almost made a sound, I almost screamed for help again, but all that came out was a disturbing gurgling sound and more blood.

     Eventually, a few minutes before class started, Miku gave one final kick and raced off to go to whatever classroom she goes to at this time. I laid there for a minute or two, relieved she hadn't kicked my face today. Eventually, I forced myself to sit up, even though every inch of my body burned like a wildfire. I stood up, clutching my side, and made myself walk over to the last stall to the left and fetch the mop and water I kept stored in there. After making sure I cleaned up every inch of bloodied tile, I dumped the tainted water into the sink and removed all evidence. If it were anyone else, they would have done something about this. People who deserve help should get it. But i don't deserve help, do I? Miku and I even have a sick, twisted routine we follow every day. I come to the girls locker room. She beats me up. I clean the blood and any other things afterword and completely change clothes, along with adding a new jacket and scarf to cover the wounds.then I aimlessly wander the hallways until school ends (you really think I'd go to class like this? The teachers would catch Miku, and then she'd murder me in my sleep.)

     I limped out of the locker room, double checking to make sure no part of my body was exposed. Then I - following the routine - aimlessly wandering the halls, making sure to steer clear of Miku's current classroom. Once, I was stupid enough to walk in the area. She caught sight of me and took the opportunity to drag me to a closet not far off, giving me a beating like she never had at the locker rooms. Apparently, if I every show my face to her friends ever again, she'd bring out....the knife. Just thinking about the knife was enough to make me want to piss my pants.  Occasionally, when not lost in thought, I would hear the sounds of students laughing, or a teacher yelling at the class to actually pay attention. Damn, I wish my teachers even remembered I existed. Then again, when was the last time I attended class? Was I even enrolled in this school anymore? It's been a long time since I've gone to class. In fact, I'm pretty sure Miku told everyone I had moved or something. How else could everyone suddenly forget I existed?

     Suddenly, I heard something. Something loud enough to snap me out of my deep thoughts and turn my head over to the old janitors's closet. This sound, it was familiar. I heard it all the time, but it usually only comes out of my own mouth. This, The sound....it's the sound of someone being kicked hard in the stomach. I couldn't ignore this, it's impossible to. The unused janitor's closet? The unusualness about it? The fact I've never heard it before, and it was so short and filled to the brim with pure agony? All the clues added up. Apparently I'm not the only one that gets beat up around here. You shouldn't get involved, the rational part of my brain warned me. You can't even defend yourself, what makes you think you can help another human?

     "Shut it asshole," I mumbled to myself, and with that I strutted over to the door and yanked it open, ignoring the searing pain in my side. All the movement stopped. Two girls - one standing, probably the one who kicked, and one sitting, the Victim I'm assuming.

     The girl standing had stopped her kicking and looked up at me. She had long, bright pink hair that complimented her bright blue eyes perfectly (somehow. Idk why popular girls always look so damn perfect all the time.) She had an extremely low cut white crop top, showing off way too much skin. She even had a chestnut brown leather jacket and spiky rebel collar to top it off.

     My eyes darted over to the victim, the poor thing. She had clots of dried blood caught in her hair, multiple bruises and open wounds all around her body. She even had gashes and cuts, some still slowly oozing out blood. Her dark red eyes would have been stunning if not miserable and broken. She looked up at me with surprise, her wide eyes seeming to warn me to leave before I got as hurt as her. But lucky for me, I was probably in worse condition than she could ever be in, so it can't get any worse. Well, it can, but if I was going to help this girl I couldn't tell myself that.

     "Hey, Slut," I called, looking directly into the eyes of the pinkette. "What's the deal with hurting this girl?" I tilted my head over in the Victim's direction. Victim's eyes - if possible - went wider, and she even built up the courage to shake her head in a frantic attempt to tell me to get out. Pinkie stared at me, mimicking Victim's expression of shock, before glaring at me with a look of fury.

     "Who the hell do you think you are, questioning ME?? I shouldn't have to tell you anything," she retorted. ".......But since you seem normal enough, I'll tell you. This THING down here..." She glanced down at Victim, causing the poor thing to look away instantly. "...isn't like us. It's GAY. It's STUPID. It deserves to...it deserves to die!!" McBitch yelled, though she did hesitate. Hey, she's better than Miku. Wait....Miku...

     "Hey, guess what? She's not different. She's a HUMAN, like everyone else. And - if you want MY opinion - you're the gayest one here! I see your getup, the way you basically mirror HATSUNE MIKU'S behavior! You probably do this for her, no? You want her to love you, huh? Well, being a slut sure isn't gonna do shit for you, buddy!" I smirked triumphantly, proud I still retained a little of the old me I had thought was gone.

     "L-Leave Miku out of this! WE are normal, WE'RE STRAIGHT!!!" Slutty stomped her foot on the ground like a toddler, though her red flushed, face gave away that I had been correct.

     "That's the best you could come up with? Well, don't you have a lot to learn. You think beating up other people will make Miku love you? You don't stand a CHANCE, Miku will just bully you, too!" I reply before walking over toward the victim. I stared into her wide eyes for a moment before holding my hand out for her to take.

     "Y-You bitch!!" Gay Jackass screamed, and she reached into her back pocket. She pulled out a knife. Instantly, I felt my body tense up and my mind freeze over. I was so scared at that one moment, I could hardly feel the girl taking her hand in mine and standing up. It was as if I was frozen in place, I couldn't move as McBitch ran straight toward me and cut a gash into my back. I screamed as I felt fire course through my body, hurting three times as much on every other scar, cut, bruise, and injury on my body. But...I had a mission. I was going to save this girl. I was going to save just one person from the knife.

     "C-Come on...we...gotta go..." I squeezed the words out, gritting my teeth. Slutty stepped forward, about to try to stab be again, but got her foot stuck in a crate.

     "Damn..." She cursed, struggling to get unstuck from the crate that saved me and Victim's lives. The victim and I limped over to the door as fast as we possibly could, surges of pain shocking my body every time my foot hit the tiles. The victim looked as if she was in a lot of pain - probably from the abuse she just took from McBitch. Which is why I'm getting her the hell out of here.

     "WAIT ONE FUCKING MINUTE, IM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET YOWANE!!!" Shitface-dyed-pink yelled, lifting up her knife. She flung the knife straight at Victim- I mean, Yowane's head. But instead of hitting her, it flew well away from Yowane, and ended up sliding cleanly into the wall a little ways away from Yowane. Of course, it ended up pinning my scarf to the wall wth it.

     I yelped as the scarf tightened around my neck, strangling me. Without thinking about my bruises or protection, I ripped the scarf off and grabbed Haku's hand, running as fast as I could with a would-be-fatal-if-not-for-being-a-Mary-Sue gash. Locking the door behind us, I ran and ran until we were out of the building. I looked back at Haku, who had a mixture of shock, wonderment, confusion, mad gratefulness plastered on her face. But the most obvious was exhaustion and pain that was in her eyes. Even though I'd have loved to run even farther, I stopped by the oak tree near the entrance of the school and slowly sat down. Haku sat next to me, seeming to find heavy breathing and gasping for air the most interesting thing in the world.

    "......why?" Yowane asked, speaking for the first time. I tried to focus on the words she spoke, and not the wet spot of blood on my back that probably ruined this stupid jacket by cutting a large gash and staining it red. "Why did you help me?"

     "I..." I gasped for breath, taking my time getting words out my mouth. "....I dunno, why not?" I flashed Yowane a smile. She was tearing up, and I had the feeling it wasn't from all the pain she was in.

     "B-But....But I'm...I'm not like you, I'm...." Yowane paused, and then suddenly she bursted into tears. I gathered up all my strength and leaned over, hugging Yowane as she fell into my arms. We stayed like that, Yowane crying and me holding her. Trying not to cry myself.

By the time Yowane sniffled one last time and pulled her head off of my throbbing shoulder, the back of my bloodied jacket must have looked like I had a bucket of water poured on it. Then Yowane noticed all the bruises and cuts on my neck. "Wh-what happened to you?" She asked.

     "I...I'm a victim, too. Just like you, I'm also bullied by somebody," I said, trying not to get into details. "Now, why was Slutty McBitch picking on you?" I knew it was a sensitive topic, heck, I even knew the answer to it. But...she needs to say it herself. Yowane chuckled at my nickname for the pink-haired brat, which I wasn't sure she would be able to do after something so traumatizing.

     "Her names Luka. The 'Slutty McBitch'," Yowane said, then paused for a moment. "She....she picks on me because..." Another pause. "...because I'm lesbian."

     I smiled, earning another confused look from Yowane. "Hey, I'm also into girls. Guess we have a lot more in common that I first realized."

     Haku's confusion was replaced by shock. "R-Really...?" I nodded. Then there was awkward silence. Well, silence besides my loud gasping, which made it even worse. But Yowane didn't seem to care, she seemed in deep thought. "Thanks.....f-for saving me back there."

     "No problem, Yowane, I-It's not like I had anything better to do..." I replied, blushing. My tsundere side....I haven't seen this part of myself since Miku brought out the knife. This Yowane girl....how did she do that?

     "Haku. You can call me Haku," she smiled a little. Haku. What a cool name, I thought.

     "Neru. Neru Akita," I told her, and I mimicked her smile. We sat there for a little while longer, before I came up with an idea. "Hey, wanna go check out a movie? I-If you're free, of course! Not that I care, but I'd love to see that new movie "Finding Dori"...." I looked at her, awaiting an answer.

     "Sure! That movie did look cute..." She agreed.

     "Seriously!?" I asked, kinda shocked she said yes.

"Yeah. But first, we should probably wash up..." She looked down at her bloody clothes, and then at mine. "Yep, I say we go to a laundromat and tell them you decided a ketchup fight was a good idea." I chuckled.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" I smiled and stood up, my back still feeling like hell, but better-ish and held out my hand to Haku. She took it and pulled herself up again, but this time she didn't let go.

"Let's go then," Haku said teasingly, starting to walk toward the exit gate, half-dragging me along. For the first time in forever, I think I finally feel happy. Not despair, not the deepening depression, not the self-pity. Happiness. I never knew how much I missed it, really. Maybe....maybe I'll be okay after all.