7 Chapter SEVEN

[2 YEARS AND 9 MONTHS AGO]

Moments later, Amelia moved to leave the table. She did not say anything as she grabbed her bag and headed out the door.

The fresh morning air instantly hit her nostrils. She took a deep, calming breath before she started her 20-minute walk towards the school.

Wolverstone, the name of her hometown, was situated in a high altitude area. It was mostly cold with short periods of warmth throughout the year. A number of detached houses neighboured each other near the surrounding forest with a countable number of industrial buildings. Social amenities such as hospitals and schools were available, but the town hardly involved itself with anything in terms of large, international business.

The members of the town liked to keep to themselves. Anyone would think they wanted to keep the town the same old, some crap to do with morals and tradition or something like that, but Amelia knew it was hiding something.

She started her ascent towards the school. It was usually involving to walk up the hill, but she had gotten used to it. She passed a couple of detached houses on the way, seeing some kids both young and around her age board their parent's vehicles before the vehicles sped off past her on the tarmacked road beside her.

Why didn't Amelia wait to get a ride to school with her father? Well, the car usually started to have 'problems' whenever she asked for a ride. Then her father would get mad and yell at her, blaming her for doing something to the vehicle.

She wasn't angry about that at all. Well, maybe she did get angry in the past, because she had naively believed her father. She had also gotten angry when she realized it was some way for him to avoid spending time with her.

It made her wonder why her family seemed to despise her. She had tried to get answers, of course, but her father's punishments silenced her up. She had gotten used to it, growing numb to the pain.

And by then, she had gotten used to hating her parents, even her brother who didn't help whenever she argued with them.

That was why she had tried to run away. She had gotten tired of everything, and she wanted to get away from all of it. She wanted a change from her usually-depressing life.

The universe could not even give her that.

Amelia wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all. She took another deep breath, forcing herself to stop dwelling on the negative thoughts that had taken over her mind. Thinking too much on it would just make her day worse than it already was. Instead, she looked around, noticing the view of the snow-capped mountains that morning. She smiled, finding some sort of peace as she looked at it.

A while later, Amelia found herself approaching the school building. Wolverstone High was the name of the institution, and it was the only high school found in the town. Other kids around her age had gathered around the building, talking amongst themselves about whatever was trending at the current time.

Amelia looked at them, not moving as a sudden bout of sadness threatened to take over. She was always alone. She did not have a friend, and whenever it looked like she was making one, they immediately stopped talking to her for some reason.

She shook the negative emotion back, sighing deeply before advancing towards the building.

She had just taken a step forward when a hand reached out, covering her mouth to muffle the scream that had ensued. Another hand went to wrap itself around her waist. It seemed like no one had heard as she was dragged into the clearing that surrounded the school, and if anyone did hear something, they wouldn't have done anything. That was because they did not want to mess with whoever had taken her.

"Hello, Amy baby. Did you miss us?" a boy's voice taunted near her ear as soon as they were out of earshot.

He let her go, and she turned to face her assailant. The person was with three others.

Declan was standing in front of her with a smirk on his face. Beside him was his girlfriend Olivia, and his best friends Gale and Owen. They were the most popular people in the school. Olivia was a cheerleader, whereas Gale and Owen were jocks for the high school football team. Their popularity came from the fact that they hang around Declan, and that Declan's father owned the town; also, his surname was Wolverstone.

Even though they were sophomores, they looked like college kids, reminding Amelia about TV shows that falsely portrayed teenagers in terms of appearance.

"Guys, it is too early for this. Don't you have something better to do rather than hang out with me?" Amelia said with sarcasm in her voice. She was not going to beg, because begging never got her out of situations involving them. They still did whatever they wanted with her.

"A little birdie told us that you tried to run away last night. Is that true?" Declan voiced out. Amelia's face immediately paled as she thought of what to tell him. Another thought came to her mind: who had told him?

She immediately realized it was her brother who must have told, because who else knew? Fred spent some of his time in the school being a kiss-ass to Declan and his buddies, just to fit in with the popular crowd, and so he would say anything that would garner the guy's attention.

Did Amelia mention how much she hated her family?

When Amelia remained silent, Declan grinned because he realized he was right.

"Really? You were going to run away from us?"

"Yeah, Amelia. I thought we were friends," Gale joined in, and laughter ensued.

'You guys are the reason I don't have friends,' she thought, holding off her tongue. Amelia had the urge to roll her eyes, but she knew that would get her into more trouble than was worth.

With unexpected speed, Gale had moved, punching her on her face. Amelia fell to the ground with a groan, feeling her cheek throb with pain.

Yes, she was certain there was more crap she had to deal with in the day.

The bullying she got from Declan and his friends was also common for the girl. It had started when she was in middle school, and it slowly got worse as they went into high school.

"Get up," Declan said as he reached for her hand.

"I know you want to date me so bad, Declan, but don't you think it's too soon for marriage?"

"You bitch!" Olivia yelled at that moment.

"What? You think you're pretty to marry? The only thing that would marry you is a sewer rat," Declan stated with a snide smile.

"Really? Then why is your girlfriend jealous?" Amelia asked. Declan narrowed his eyes at her. He grabbed her hand by force, and invisible sparks shot up between the two of them as soon as she was standing. Declan abruptly let go with a hiss, having Amelia fall back to the ground.

The other three regarded them with curious eyes.

"Declan. Bro, what's wrong?" Owen questioned him. Olivia also looked at him with concern.

"It's nothing, guys," he assured them with a smile. "I just realized I was helping the scum of the earth get up."

"Probably caught a disease when you touched her," Olivia added, shivering to show disgust. "Let's go get you cleaned up, baby."

'Ouch', Amelia sarcastically thought to herself. 'And seriously? A disease?'

She had heard worse from Declan and his friends, and she believed she had become immune to every insult he could throw at her. However, their words still hurt, even though they were wrong.

How could Declan say what they felt between each other was nothing? Amelia's heart was thudding behind her chest with a new emotion, which was oddly not fear. The delicious feeling that had formed between her and Declan caused her to see him in a new light. He was handsome, of course, but more than the other two guys beside him. He had dimples whenever he turned his lips up, and the grin he would rarely show—

'Oh hell no', Amelia cut her thought train off. She could not believe the thoughts she was having about the person in front of her. She could not believe she was developing feelings for him. He was her freaking bully.

'What the hell is this? A bully-love story?'

Amelia physically shook her head, not wanting to accept what was happening.

The others looked at her in confusion when she did so.

"Has she finally cracked?" Gale joked, earning more laughter from the rest.

"Let me make sure of that," Declan said with narrowed eyelids. He moved to Amelia, staring at her in the eyes with a noticeable pause in his step.

'What?' She thought in disbelief, looking back at him. Amelia could not lie: Declan had beautiful eyes. His stare seemed to captivate her, and she felt powerless to do anything.

Amelia then realized too late what the teenage boy was doing. He had drawn his arm back, and when she noticed his pose, he landed his fist on her temple.

On the same spot that was aching ever since the morning began. It ached much more at first, but things became clear.

Hidden memories of the previous night resurfaced. Amelia finally remembered what had happened. She recalled the wolf that had turned into a human and talked to the forest ranger who had stopped her from running away.

She thought she had hallucinated that, but as she lay on the ground, struggling with the pain that Declan had brought onto her, once again in a position that could fool people that she had passed out, there was no mistaking it.

She saw him, his girlfriend and his friends transform into wolves in front of her. They hadn't even bothered removing their clothes, letting the materials rip off of their now-furry bodies.

Fortunately, they were not looking at her.

The wolves trotted into the forest area until they disappeared in her vision.

Amelia felt that she had processed too much that day. She let herself to black out at that point.