12 Months

Chapter 1

I'm just a survivor. I mean, sure, I lived. I didn't die. Big deal. I'm not the star of the show, of course. That's Ryan. Not me. Sure, I helped out, but I didn't play a major part in this. That was Ashton. All I did was help, but I helped the best there was.

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Waking up. On a Monday. With a dog sleeping on your face.

Not a nice way to start the week. Especially with the smell of dog farts as you wake up. Did I mention my dog likes to fart? Well, he does. I used to find it funny, but now it's annoying and my room smells.

I moan and push him off, trying to get comfier. My alarm goes off, and I grumble. I really don't want to get up.

After about ten seconds, I just decide to do it. Why not? I'll have to get up at some point. It's not like

I have a choice. This is what I do every morning. Debate on when I should get up. Pathetic, really, but I don't have a brother to shake me awake with a comforting smile anymore.

Mumbling to myself, I get out of my now untidy bed and pull on my signature outfit. I wear my green tank top with midnight black leggings and matching combat boots, complete with a shiny gold bangle on my wrist, that I can't take off anyway. I've worn it since I was a baby. Most people have silver.

I don't even know why mine is gold. Yet another thing my parents refuse to answer. Apparently they wanted the best for me, and that they thought I would like gold better, but I know that is far from the truth. Otherwise they never would have split up or whatever happened in a split second while I was asleep. Mum never would have left us, causing my older brother, Ashton, to run away at seventeen years old the next day.

I'd still have a mother and brother if they'd cared what I thought. I was only eight.

I've tried taking the bangle off, but it's one of those bracelets you can't take off once you're grown up. It's a stupid idea, and it frustrates me.

I hoist my bag up from the floor and yell goodbye to dad, before walking to school alone, in the English town Southlake. It's not too far from Much Hadham, but they're more famous than our town for some unknown reason. My family moved here from Scotland when I was two, marking this as our fourteenth year here. I still haven't lost my accent, and I dyed my hair red as a reminder of my country.

My path leads out of my once popular neighbourhood into a run down park. The chains on the swing set are broken and all of the paint has been chipped off the slide. There's graffiti covering the fences separating this place from the untidy back gardens of the houses surrounding it. You wouldn't even know the fences used to be blue unless you've lived here all your life and can remember.

There are bushes lining the path once you pass the playground, and then trees are added to the shrubbery. Soon, it appears as if the greenery is swallowing you whole. I walk through confidently. I know there's nothing to be afraid of. I used to be scared, and Ashton always used to walk me to school, holding my hand the entire way through, because I refused to go in there alone.

Once I emerge out the other end, the shopping district greets me. No graffiti, no bushes, no sad-looking playground. This place looks a bit more happy.

At the other side of the road, I follow the path all the way to school. It's a nice school by anyone's standards. It's clean, and I learn a lot. I love the school itself. It's a wonderful place.

It's the people I don't like.

I'm a complete loner in every class, except for the occasional pick-up line from this one boy who likes to throw flirty comments at me in math. Every time he does this I roll my eyes and ignore him. His name's Jim Brooks, and he's the guy every girl falls for.