Welcome to Rose Valley

Five

When I woke Monday morning with Dustin banging on my door, I groaned. It was that delightful time of the week again, a fucking Monday. I had not gotten out of the bad mood I had developed on Saturday night after getting into that argument with my heinous aunt and cousin.

I stayed in bed all of yesterday, not wanting to do anything at all. Dustin had came to check on me and asked if I had wanted to go out with him and the guys to see a movie but I told him no. I only really emerged yesterday to take a shower then retreated back into temporary hibernation.

Getting dressed into my school uniform felt painfully slow. I brushed my hair and teeth but didn't bother with makeup today. I double checked my eyes were no longer puffy from crying most of yesterday before I grabbed my bag and walked downstairs.

I did not say anything to Dustin as he drove me to school, he seemed smart enough to realise that I was not in the mood for conversation. My stomach filled with sharp pains of fear as we neared the school.

As we parked and got out of the car, my fears were true. People were staring wide-eyed at me and whispering. They had just finished whispering about the fact that I was a new girl.

Dustin and I walked towards our friends who were looking at me with faces full of concern. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dustin shake his head. It took me a second to realise that it meant to just leave me be.

I felt like a robot throughout the day, just simply going through the motions of a school student. I felt eyes on me all day and there was constant whispering and giggling coming from many students around me. I could only imagine what they were actually saying.

I caught the sight of Addison during lunch looking exceptionally proud of herself. I wanted to go up to her and smack that smile off of her face but that would just make matters worse.

It didn't matter how many times I moved or how far away I moved, Jax would always be there to taunt me. He was actually very different from the nice guy he pretended to be, he was only nice if he was getting his way. There was times when I didn't feel like having sex with him but he used every trick in the book to guilt me into actually sleeping with him, the very last time we had had sex was actually rape.

That had been the final straw for me, that was when I finally told my mum what was going on. He had made me believe that the times he hurt me were deserved and were all my fault, it wasn't until I was out of that relationship, that I knew those times were never my fault.

I could feel myself getting worked up and mumbled to the guys something about needing to pee then going to my last class early before I stormed off out of the cafeteria, shoving past people.

I entered the empty science room of my history class, marching to the back of the room and sitting down in my seat. I resisted the urge to scream in frustration and dropped my head to the desk.

"Are you okay?" A voice made me lift my head.

Kasper stood a few feet away from our shared desk, he wore a worried expression as he looked at me.

"Oh, you know, I'm just peachy or haven't you heard? I'm the new school slut!" I said in a fake happy voice.

Kasper looked at me, not knowing what to say then opened his mouth to speak; "Uh... congratulations?"

I burst out laughing, almost hysterically. I did not expect that but it made me feel a whole lot better. Kasper sat down in his seat next to me, watching as I forced myself to calm down and stop laughing.

"I'm glad I made you laugh," he said, smiling.

"I'm glad you did too, thank you."

"You know, you shouldn't let this get to you. I know it's hard but you know what you did or didn't do and it shouldn't matter to you what anyone else thinks, only what you and the people who care about you think." Those words hit me hard but he was right.