CHAPTER ONE: ATHENA

BROKEN: having given up all hope.

I walked into the main school building, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. It's been six months since I last saw my bullies, Dylan Thompson, James Sanders, and Tom Miller. I'd always wondered why they despised me; I'd never done anything wrong, I'd always stayed in the shadows, never drawing attention to myself, but it was never enough for some reason they loved making my life in high school a living hell.

Because they had remodeled the school while we were on vacation, finding my locker proved more difficult than I had anticipated. But I eventually found it with only a few minutes before homeroom to get my bearings.

As I walked towards the class where the semester's homeroom would be held, I decided to read my schedule. Unfortunately, I discovered that Mr Hunter would be my homeroom teacher, and he was a complete asshole.

It had to be Mr Hunter out of all the teachers they could give me; I'd rather have Mr Gordon, who is a known pervert who touches female students whenever he gets the chance. Was it selfish of me to want my senior year to be different from my junior year? I hoped, no, prayed that it would be different because a person can only take so much pain before losing their mind.

Then I saw them cross the hall, leaning on lockers a few feet from the janitor's closet, and it was like rubbing salt in an open wound; I could feel my panic attack resurfacing after months of dormancy.

I tried to slip away without them noticing, but Diana Dylan's girlfriend and the school's Queen bee's gaze met mine before I could even turn around, and an evil smile formed on her face.

She tapped Dylan's shoulder and pointed in my direction; he turned around and smiled as well, and seeing that smile again made me want to rip out my eyes so I wouldn't have to see his or their damn face again.

Dylan, James, and Tom were now walking in my direction, while Diana and her group were walking in the opposite direction, but she laughed at my terrified expression and waved before leaving me to my faith in the hands of these monsters, and I couldn't help but freeze like a deer in headlights as i watched them approach me.

"Well look who we have here boys, it's our little mouse," Dylan said as he approached me, his usual confidence surrounding him.

"How was your summer, little mouse?" James asked, while Tom just stared at me with a creepy smile; he was the quiet one, but he scared me the most.

"I...it was g...good and yours," I said as I stepped backwards until my back hit the lockers behind me. I managed to say something, but my voice betrayed me, revealing my fear to them.

They knew I was afraid of them, which caused their smiles to widen; seeing me scared seemed to excite them in an odd way which I found sick.

"Are you sure little mouse, you don't sound too sure, do we make you nervous?" Dylan laughs as he wraps his hands around my wrist and pulls me close, pressing my body against his.

My heart was racing so fast that I couldn't even answer his question. I didn't know how to react because they'd never gotten physical with me before. I mentally prepared myself for what was going to happen next, so I didn't flinch when he leaned in and whispered into my ear. "Listen little mouse, we have big plans for you this year, so I hope you can take the heat because we aren't going to back down".

He was too close for comfort, and I could feel his breath on my neck. His touch was disgusting and slimy, and I felt like throwing up. Although I despised it, I was powerless to stop him from being too close.

"Don't you think our little mouse looks good, Dylan? She looks good enough to fuck," James said.

I mentally cringed at his remark, once a pervert, always a pervert, and when I looked up to see James looking down at me with lust in his eyes, I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me whole.

Dylan let go of me, but he remained close enough to touch me, his gaze running down my body before returning to stare into my eyes, "she does James, she looks real good," he smiled before turning away from me to face Tom.

"What are your thoughts, Tom?" Dylan inquired, but Tom shrugged and leaned against the lockers behind him, lighting a cigarette. I tried to move away from Dylan, but the look he gave me made me stay put.

"Is this going to be a problem little mouse, we don't want you getting too much attention, because remember you belong to us and only us," Dylan asked, putting his hands on my chin to turn my face so I was looking into his eyes.

"No, Dylan, it won't, please just let me go." I begged and looked into his eyes, hoping to find something other than hatred but it was futile.

"You don't deserve any mercy from me; you're beneath me, so pleading with me is pointless; we'll never stop," Dylan laughed. He moved his hand from my chin to my neck and squeezed tightly, cutting off my airflow. My hands clawed at his hand on my neck, but it was futile. His hold was too strong.

He then slammed me into the lockers behind me by the neck, and I crumpled to the ground, clutching my aching head and trying to catch my breath as the crowd that had gathered around us stared at me as if I were a circus animal.

When I tried to get to my feet, I lost my footing and fell on my ass, which made Dylan and his friends laugh. They watched me struggle for a while, then Dylan knelt beside me and whispered into my ear, "Remember that you're trash and no one here will help you, when we're done with you, you'd wish you had really died that night."

Dylan rose to his feet and walked away with his friends; the crowd began to disperse, but they all began to laugh, whisper, and point at me, 'oh look everyone, it's Athena looking pathetic as always.' I despise them all; they're all fucking cowards.

After a few seconds, everyone had left, leaving me alone in the hallway; I was already late for homeroom, and Mr Hunter would almost certainly say something to embarrass me; I hate living like this.

I picked myself up and practically ran to my homeroom. When I walked into Mr Hunter's class, all eyes were on me. "Miss Marco, you're late, and it's only the beginning of the year; you know I don't tolerate tardiness, but what can I expect from someone like you?"

"It won't happen again, Sir, I was held up." "Good and can you tell me why your head is bleeding, do you need to go to the nurse?" he asked, but I knew he didn't give a fuck about me but needed to ask to avoid any questions.

"It's nothing, sir; I just walked into a door," "How stupid could you be to walk into a door? Watch where you're going next time"Mr Hunter said before going before the board to continue his announcements.

"Yes, Sir, I apologize for the interruption," I mumbled before taking a seat at the desk closest to the wall. I rummaged through my bag for my hand mirror, and when I found it, I examined the cut Mr Hunter was referring to; the cut wasn't too deep, so I wiped away the blood before putting the mirror in my bag.

Listening to Mr Hunter go on and on about things I didn't care about only made the pain in my head worse, so I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, hoping for a quick nap, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and I found James sitting behind me. During the remaining time left for the class, he either pulled on my ponytail or threw paper balls down my shirt.

When the bell rang, James walked out of class, followed by his friends. They all appeared bored, and I was certain that I would be blamed in some way.

Biology is my next class, and it is one of my favorites for two reasons. Miss Anne was one of the nicest teachers I'd ever met, and I didn't have it with the guys.

When I arrived at class, she noticed my cut and went to her bag to look for something, then she brought out a band-aid and assisted me in putting it on, after which she asked what happened and I told her the same thing I told Mr. Hunter.

The look she gave me told me she didn't believe me, but she didn't have time to ask me questions because the students were starting to arrive, so I took the opportunity to go to my seat and she began teaching.

I left right after the bell rang, so Miss Anne wouldn't have time to ask any more questions. I had three more classes before lunch, two of which were with the boys, but I tried not to get into a confrontation with them. During chemistry, my last class before lunch, time moved extremely slowly. I hated chemistry because there were so many formulas and we didn't get along.

The bell for lunch finally rang after the longest hour of our lives. I tried to flee, but before we could all leave, our chemistry teacher gave us some questions to solve using the formulas we learned in class today; when he was finished, I picked up my bag and left class without giving the boys a chance to catch up with me.

As a result of what happened in my junior year involving a very incriminating video, I stopped eating lunch in the cafeteria, so I sneaked through the backdoor to my usual hiding spot where I eat lunch. Sophia has been the one packing my lunch since the accident. She was my mother's best friend.

They were practically sisters prior to the drugs and her death. Sophia cared for me even when my mother was still alive; she would cook dinner or pack my lunch if I didn't have time; she was the mother I never had. She is also aware of what I go through at school, but she is powerless to intervene even if she wanted to.

I walked into my next class expecting to see the boys in the back behaving like assholes, but they weren't there. Then our history teacher walked into class and announced to the class that members of the basketball team will not be attending classes for the rest of the day and that we should notify the teachers who will be teaching us in our remaining classes. He resumed his class after completing his announcement. Everyone was either sleeping or texting during class, but he still continued teaching.

He assigned us a reading assignment at the end of the class, and the next class math was just as boring as history. I dislike mathematics, but I do my best. I'd say I was a good student because I was able to maintain an A- average in school despite not having perfect attendance.

I practically ran out of class when the bell rang because the team would have finished by now and the boys would be looking for me to relieve their stress. After placing my books in my locker, I was about to leave when I heard a familiar laugh behind me. When I turned around, all three of them were staring at me, menacingly smiling.

"Oh little mouse, when will you learn that you can't run from us, that we have eyes and ears everywhere, and that we will always find you?"