One long day.

I slowly dragged myself from bed, being really careful not to stumble and hurt myself more than I already was. The pain from from the previous day was really killing me. It was even hard to maintain a good straight posture.

"Sarah? Sarah!" my mother's voice rang through the house.

"Yes?" I dragged myself to the door, heading to kitchen from where my mother's voice was coming from.

My life has never really been normal ever since my dad left. He remarried when I was three years, after he had an argument with my mother. And since he was the one fending for the family, after he left, life was difficult, and my mother had to get a job. And she was hired by mayor Larson as a maid in his home. The job payed really well so I guess my mom did not mind. I would occasionally go to work with her and help around. That was how I met Connie and Connie. And right from the very beginning, Casey has never really liked me. I think he said something about me taking advantage of his cousin.

I was really eager to make new friends, considering I had none. And I thought that Connie would be my friend, despite the fact that she was rich and I wasn't. And we were getting along, very well, until Casey came into the picture.

Everything changed from then on. He's never really liked me, and he only hated me more when I talked to his cousin. I never really did anything wrong to him, and I've never given him a reason to despise me, not that I can remember anyway. So the reason behind his hatred for me was still a mystery.

But I guess you can't be liked by everyone, and in my case, I can't be liked by anyone.

I told my mom about it and she totally blew me off. According to her, it was all my fault. Not really sure how that is possible though. My mom made sure to keep me as far away from my father as she could. My dad wanted to move out with me when he remarried, get custody over me, but I refused. I wanted to stay with my mom. Right now looking back, I came to realize that that was the dumbest mistake I've ever made my entire life, and I shall live to forever regret it.

If anything, my mother loves Connie more than she loves me. She sends more time at work than she does at home. And she doesn't do it because it's urgent, but because she wants to. She told me I have a hideous face that is apparently, disgusting to look at. Probably because I'm a cabin copy of my father.

And after Casey joined Berry High, my life became completely over. I had to endure insults and abuse at home from my mother, insult, abuse and torture at school from everyone. But no matter how many times I heard their insults, it still hurt, worse than the last time. But there was nothing I could do about it, cause nobody believed me, and those who believed me did not care enough to defend me.

My mom knew it was true, but every time I told her about it, I got a beating and a two hour lecture on how helpful the Larson family has been to us. I know I basically owe the mayor my education. Casey has been really useful in ruining my life.

I have had to endure this torture for fourteen years, fourteen good years and the only people who have ever treated me like a human being were the people I work with after school, and of course Frank. Nobody else has ever bothered to help me, later on look in my direction... well that was until yesterday when Connie helped me.

"Who dropped you off yesterday?" was the first question my mom asked me when I entered the kitchen. I had a feeling she saw that, but considering she did not approach me about it, I figured she didn't. Turns out I was wrong again.

"I uh..."

"Quit stammering and just answer the damn question already Sarah!" she shouted, making me flinch a bit.

"Connie... she uh... she gave me a ride,"

She chuckled, and her look kind of softened a bit.

"No wonder that blue Range Rover looked familiar," she said more to herself than me. "It's good to see that you're talking again. If you screw things up again and she stops talking to you, I swear I'll chase you out of this house. Do you get it?" she said still smiling. Not a warm sweet motherly smile, no! More like a creepy warning smile. And I nodded to show her that I agreed with whatever she had said. The last thing I need is to angry her.

She patted my back, a little too hard before getting out of the kitchen, humming a tune to herself.

My mother is a very complicated person. At times, she makes me wonder if I'm really her biological daughter. Why would I say that? Well when I was younger, and Casey pushed me down the stairs, what stressed my mother out was not the fact that her daughter was injured. She was more worried about how much I 'pissed off' Casey and how I 'embarrassed' her in front of Connie and her parents.

Anyway, I should be preparing for school. I guess it's time to face my nightmares again, and probably the longest day I'll probably ever have.

_____________

I had to skip my first class. It's one of the classes I share with Casey. And being aware of how pissed he was yesterday, I don't want to see him. Unfortunately, sometimes, things don't always go as you plan, and mine, well, I have no idea why they backfired on me the way they did.

To pass time, until the bell rang, I thought I'd go to the washrooms. I hid in the very last stall, like I always have when wanting to escape people. This is like the only time I have at school to actually think, alone! But of course that didn't last very long, clearly, some people had other plans.

I heard the bathroom door open and then close. I thought it was one of the crazy cheerleaders who skip class to 'retouch' their makeup or something. But after hearing several footsteps going from stall to stall, that thought was immediately deleted from my mind.

And then it happened, a pair of shoes appeared at the bottom of the stall, standing there. And I was hit by an all too familiar scent.

But it couldn't be, could it? He has class right now, and this is the ladies' room. Isn't he breaking the rules by being here? And how did he even know I was here? I made sure nobody was following me!

From outside, I heard some murmuring and chuckles from the other side of the door. It suddenly became quiet, and a rythmatical knocking was heard on the door.

"Vance? We know you're in there," I could detect a smirk in his voice. But what did he mean by 'we'?

"Come on Sarah," rang Kenzie's high pitched voice throughout the empty stalls, "Don't you want to play with us? We had a very interesting game in mind, and we thought you would want to play,"

I replied like how I always did, with silence. Of course I do not want to play their stupid games with them, but I can't tell them that. I don't want to make situations any more worse than they already are. Or angry them even further. Casey has a really short temper, especially when he's dealing with me.

"We know you're in there Vance. And if you don't come out, we're going to have to come in. I'm giving you three seconds to come out Vance. Three..." he began the countdown, "Two...O___"

I opened the door before he could finish. I know better than anyone else that if Casey says he'll do something, he most definitely will.

"Finally," he had a huge evil grin on his face, "I really thought you were waiting for me to break down the door, which you know I would have gladly done,"

"W...Wh... what do you want f... from me?" He smirked at my question. I really hate his smirk.

"Well that is no way to welcome your friends. You don't sound very excited to see us,"

"I'm not," I mumbled, a little too loudly unfortunately. And since Casey was right next to me, he heard. And he didn't waste any time making me swallow my words, and regret opening my mouth in the first place.

He grabbed me by my neck and span me around, slamming me on the wall behind him, making a sharp pain to shoot through my back and rib at the same time.

Kenzie and her friends cheered him on, clearly enjoying every second of it. With our faces only inches apart, I could feel his hot angry breath on my face.

"Did you say something Vance?" he pressed my neck harder. I tried to claw his hands off of my neck, hut it only seemed to piss him off even more, making him press my neck harder and harder by the second.

"N...No,"

"Really? Cause I could have sworn I heard you say something similar to 'you didn't want to___"

"I said I don't... want... to mi... miss playing... w...with you," I said in-between chocking.

I really thought I heard you say something totally different," he said in a really angry tone. At this point, I could see dark spots dancing around my eyes. And for some strange reason, my head felt heavy and light at the same time. Does that even make any sense? And for some absurd reason, they actually enjoyed seeing me desperately gasping for breath. But come to think of it, that is not absurd at all. What would be absurd, is them actually caring. That would be the day!

I tried everything I could to let him know that I couldn't breath. But that only seemed to motivate him to hurt me more. I really hate this sadist. Nothing makes him happier than seeing me in pain.

I could feel myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness. And I was somehow happy and relieved. Relieved that my miserable life was finally coming to an end, besides, I had nothing to live for. The negative side though, was that Casey's face was going to be the last face I get to see before leaving this world.

"What did you tell Connie?" he spat in my face.

Seriously dude? This again? Now he's just looking for excuses to beat me up on a regular basis, and be mad over a lot of nothing. Cause he keeps on bringing up Connie in all of our confrontations. It's now really getting old.

"I didn't...t... tell... her... a... an___" was the only thing I was able to say before he cut me off, pressing harder.

"Stop lying to me Vance! You must have told her something! WHAT WAS IT?!"

"I...I swear, I didn't!" I could feel a tear running down my cheek.

"Larson," Brian's voice called. Of course the camera man was here. Where else would he be, other than filming this ?"I think that's enough man,"

Casey's eyes widened, and his grip on my neck loosened. Clearly, he was as shocked as I was, as everyone in the room was. Why the hell was he defending me? Shouldn't he be cheering on Casey like everyone else? I mean, not that I'm complaining, but it just doesn't make any sense.

"Excuse me?" Casey threw me on the floor making me land hard on my injured rib. I let out a groan but as obvious, everyone was too busy to pay any attention to me.

"Are you defending her?" Casey asked, walking towards Brian.

"This just doesn't... it doesn't feel right anymore. And it's not normal how you're finding it so... so funny,"

"Not normal how I'm finding this funny?" chuckled Casey, "What the hell are you even talking about?"

"I'm sorry man, but this has gone for far too long. And I'm tired of pretending that everything is like perfectly normal when it clearly isn't. You've all done enough damage already... we all have! I'm not doing this anymore,"

"Where is this even coming from? Is it about Connie? What? Are you going to act all sweet and nice just so that___"

"It's not about your cousin," Brian cut him short, "It has never been about your cousin! It's always been all about YOU! You're hatred towards Sarah, all because of a childish misunderstanding. It's pathetic! And I'm not going to be doing this with you anymore,"

Wait, is this really happening? This must be like some sort of crazy dream or something. Now this is what would qualify as absurd! But what really caught my attention, was the last thing Brian said. What did he mean when he said Casey hates me all because of a 'childish misunderstanding'? Cause as far as I'm concerned, I don't exactly recall having any 'misunderstanding' with Casey when we were kids, or ever for that matter.

"What the___"

"And if you don't quit being this childish, I'm going to send all the videos I recorded of you bullying Sarah to Connie,"

"Are you blackmaili___"

"Take it how you will. But whatever happens from now on, count me out of it!"

"Brian wait..." I heard Samantha calling out. Brian stayed glued at the door at the mention of his name, "I'm coming with you,"

"Are you serious you two?" shrieked Kenzie, "If you get out of that door right now Samantha, the two of us will never be friends again!"

"We never were!" Samantha said coldly before trailing behind Brian. And together, they both left.

The silence in the room after they left was nothing less than suffocating. And literally everyone spent like a whole two minutes just staring at each other.

This can't be real. I mean, sure, it's a great thing that they're having a change of heart and whatever, but won't this make them more pissed at me? I'm sure they'll blame me for wrecking their friendship.

But then the staring was directed to me, and I felt like I couldn't breath. Five angry pairs of eyes all staring at me like they want to kill me. They all stared, but nobody dared to say a word, and nobody moved. Just plain staring.

"Stay away from Connie," was all I heard afterwards. It did not sound like a threat, cause he said it in a really calm voice.

And just like that, one by one, they all left. None of them sparing me a glance on their way out. Is it weird that I actually prefer it when they insult and talk all nasty things about me? Cause I actually prefer it like that, at least that way, I could tell what's on their minds.

When none of them talked, I couldn't tell what was running through their heads. I could not tell what they were thinking, or even worse, planning! But one thing was for sure, today was going to be one long interesting day!