Requital hope

Fifty

Sarah's Pov

Life's been rough the past few years. My older brother and I have been having pretty crappy school lives. Everything would've been fine for us if we hadn't gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd but being the naive people we were we didn't know any better. The group of friends we made liked to cause trouble, and so did I. My brother was indifferent, he didn't care much for anything, he just followed along. Normally we'd quit and call it a night when things got too wild, but one time things got a little... out of control. Me crashing my mother's car, my brother being sent to the hospital, thankfully it wasn't anything too serious otherwise I would've been plagued with guilt for as long as my body roams this planet. Just.. a lot of things went down. My mom made me pay off the car by working part-time jobs. That was something we did not see eye to eye on at first but she warned me of the consequences that came with disobeying her. Let's just say it took me several jobs of quitting and being fired before I started accepting it.

Someone took this as an opportunity to get their hands under the rug I stood on, that
someone being Cindy. I guess I was a real "head turner" as some people would say, and for that reason, Cindy didn't want me coming anywhere near "her man". I knew something was off with that chick when I noticed she'd throw those bitchy glares at me in the halls. To be honest there was only one person I had any sort of interest in. He's part of the football team, bright-headed blonde, smile lighter than the sun itself. I'm almost certain Cindy had no interest in him so she was just being an overprotective, paranoid bitch.

Anyway, back on topic. Cindy took the accident as an opportunity to spread rumors about me, trying to get my friends and everyone to turn on me. While they didn't drop our friendship upfront the group kind of died with everyone going their separate ways. I don't know if that was for the best or not but she had no right getting involved. Cindy started this crazy rumor about me being a drug addict and being high during the time of the crash. No one knew these rumors were coming from her, but I wasn't stupid enough to where I couldn't see past the whole sweet pretty blond girl front she put on. Her rumors started getting so outlandish and perpetuated that the school heads got involved, threatening to expel me on numerous occasions. She became more persistent and expanded her tactics when she found out that I knew it was her behind this whole shit storm. She not only targeted me but now she was going after my brother. I told myself I wouldn't let her win. I did my best to chop the bitch ass tree down but she held through all of my attempts to fight back and expose her. I failed. She made sure she cast me into the darkness so that no one would approach me. I just hid in the shadows, head low probably like she expected me to. It was easier that way... it helped me stay out of trouble and away from the judgmental eyes of others. It also meant that I couldn't talk to anyone, I couldn't make any friends, and I couldn't talk to my crush. Though that last one probably isn't anything too important since his brain is probably the size of a pebble anyway.

After hearing that she had other targets I approached them with the proposal to speak out against her but they'd already pissed their pants, lucky me. I gave up on trying to fight back, I was tired. It was okay since she left my brother alone though, so that was spiffy.

I'd grown to accept roaming in the shadows of others. But I still despised Cindy with a flaming passion. My newest job was much more comfortable and welcoming than the previous ones, despite being a dishwasher and all. Sandra's nice I guess, strolling around with her goofy southern accent. Then there's that boy, Yibo. He could use a buffet or two, just saying. I could always see behind his soft, heart-wrenching smile lay pain and sadness. It was the same for my brother and me. Our lives have been total roller coaster rides. My brother became numb to it all. I handled it a
different way, that being anger. I grew to be a total hothead who would snap at just about anything. I was almost like a delinquent my first couple of years at this school. Hanging out with my group only made it that much more of a possibility.