My alarm went off, buzzing into my tired mind and I sighed, “Great”, I rolled over, slapped the snooze button and sat up rubbing the grogginess out of my eyes. I was pushing back the covers when I heard feet stomping up the stairs, stopping right outside my door “KAROU!”, my stepdad pounded on the door, “You better be up!” I mumbled under my breath and went to my dresser. Ever since my mom married Mitch, I made it my goal to hate him. I never knew my dad, he left when I was five and my mom never talks about him. She blows off all my questions when I try to ask about him. “KAROU”, followed by more pounding. I swing open my door and glare at Mitch “I’m up Mitch, you don’t need to keep hounding me”, I cross my arms over my chest “If your not downstairs in ten minutes, you’ll be sorry”, he turns and stomps back downstairs. I groan and slam my door, sliding down to the floor and close my eyes, a single tear escaping.

Five minutes later, I head downstairs to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and a bagel. In the kitchen, my mother is hovering over the stove making breakfast, Caleb, my stepbrother is sitting in his booster seat, making a mess with his breakfast. Mitch was nowhere in sight so I pour coffee into a travel mug and put a bagel in the toaster. “Karou, you really need to eat something more than a bagel everyday, it’s not healthy.” I was just about to respond when Mitch entered the kitchen, ruffling Caleb’s hair and kissing my mom’s cheek. I turn my back away from Mitch and gather up my bag and car keys, making my way to the garage, where my car was parked. Halfway to the door, I hear heavy footsteps coming up behind me “Going somewhere?” I stiffen up as I feel Mitch’s hand land on my shoulder and spins me around sharply, “Why do you care where I go, your not my father!” I glare at Mitch and try to pull away “You live under my roof, you follow my rules, answer when I am talking to you, do you understand?”, rolling my eyes  “Yeah, Whatever Mitch.” I yank my arm away from Mitch and storm away towards my car, slamming the door. Once in my car, I breakdown into a pool of tears, “I...hate...this...place” in between sobs and drove off, a tear trickling down my cheek as I look and see Mitch, my mom and Caleb standing on the front porch. What they don’t know is I’m not staying in this place.

Pulling into the parking lot of the high school, I wipe my eyes to hide any evidence that I was crying and tug the sleeves of my hoodie down to hide the truth. Keeping my head down and my earbuds blasting in my ears, I walk through the halls, weaving my way in and out of crowds of students. As soon as I got to my classroom I head towards the back of the room where I usually sit, when I see someone in my usual spot and I halt and jerk my head up to see this boy in my seat. Looking around, I clear my throat,

“Um, excuse me but your in my seat.”

He looks up from his notebook and into my eyes, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Here I’ll get up and move over.”

He moves a seat over and plops his bag down and looks over in my direction, staring at my arms. I look down and see that my sleeves rode up showing my scars, quickly I shove my sleeves down and stare at the front of the class, daring myself to not look in his direction. The bell shrieked through the silent classroom, ending class and I bolted out the door to avoid questions. I was moving so quickly through the halls that I didn’t feel a presence next to me until a hand landed lightly on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. Looking behind me I see the new kid standing in front of me, looking at me like I’m broken. A long silence fills the hallway for what seems life forever, when he breaks the silence by saying,

“Look, I know you don’t know me and it’s none of my business, but if you need someone to talk to about anything that is going on, you can come talk to me.”

I just stare blankly at this stranger, who just offered to listen to my terrible life story when he doesn’t even know me or my name, I don’t know his now that I think about it. “I’m sorry but who are you?”, confusion fills his entire face, beginning in his eyes until he realizes. “Oh, I’m sorry, I must be coming out as a creep! My name is Nikolai, but most people call me Niko.” He holds out his hand, “Karou,” we shook and continued on, the only thought that’s going through my mind is the fact that this might be the start of something.