Caught Between a Halo and Horns

prologue.

"Cristina Lynn! If you don't get your ass down here in one minute, I will come in there and remind you what happens when you make me angry!" My step father booms from down the hall. I try hard to open my eyes and get up, to find only my left eye opening completely, due to the swelling on my right.

That's what happened the last time I made my step father angry.

It's okay, I deserved it. At least I think I did, I've told myself that enough times to believe it. Despite the immense pain, I jump out of bed and throw clothes on before the time on my impending punishment runs out. I open the door to greet my step father, and see his arms crossed with that oh so familiar look of disappointment resting on his face.

"Oh Cristina. Fix your eye with some of that slutty makeup you hoard. People are going to want to arrest your brother for doing that to you. I told you that you must stop sparring with him all the time." He says smoothly.

My brother is in the navy. Hasn't been home for years.

He told me to get away from the step monster as soon as I graduated, like he did. He said that leaving me with him would be the hardest thing he would ever do. But nonetheless, every time someone notices a bruise and I have to lie about it, it breaks me a little bit more than the cuts do.

"Right. Sorry. I'll fix it right away." I say quickly and rush into the bathroom. If one good thing came about from this, it's that I became talented with makeup. Cover up specifically. I take out the skin colored liquid and spread it carefully over my eye. I stare at myself in the mirror, trying to open my eye enough for it to look normal.

I finally accomplish it, and the swelling has gone down enough that I can work a little more magic. I take out red, pink and brown eye shadows and design a cut below my eyebrow, so when people notice the swelling, I can blame it on a tree branch.

Half smiling at my work, I walk back into my room and pick up my converse and my school bag. Today is the first day of senior year.

One more school year. Then I will be free of him. I think to myself. I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen to say goodbye to him and my mother. My mother is-was a good woman. At she was before my father died in a plane crash when I was 11. She married two things about two years later.

The step monster, and whiskey.

"Okay, I'm going to the bus stop now. I have a meeting with the honor society after school, Katie said she'd bring me home, Dad." I tell him carefully. He turns and looks at me for a moment, then speaks. "If you're not here to cook dinner at 7, you're going to be locked in your room for a week." He threatens. "O-Okay. I'll be here. I promise." I shake.

"Get out." He snaps and I run for the door. I keep running, once I realize I could miss the bus. It does stop right down the block, so I don't have to run far. I stop when I get there and catch my breath. About ten seconds after I get there, the bus does.

I hop on and take the first available seat, a few rows in. I sit and immediately pop in my headphones, and click shuffle. Music pours into my ears, making me lifting my mood almost instantly. I stare out the window and wait for the bus to pull into the school parking lot.

I get off the bus, and walk into my all too familiar high school, the one place I can escape my step father and excel. Here, I am Cristina, aspiring valedictorian and college athlete. I walk up two flights of stairs to find my locker, throwing a few binders in and taking one out.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and wince because of the fading black and blue I forgot I had. I turn and look to see who tapped me, and I am relieved to see it's my best friend, Katie. "Hey! Are you ready for our senior year? It feels so good already." She says in a overly peppy tone. At least it's overly peppy for 7 a.m.

I smile and nod. "Definitely. Ready to get to AP Physics?" I ask. "Ugh. Shoot me now. I don't know how on earth you convinced me to take that class." She says in a drastically different voice. I laugh.

"Yo, Cris, Kate! Wait up!" Our other best friend Dan calls after us from down the hall. Dan and Katie were the two "it" people of the school. I, on the other hand was invisible. The only people that acknowledge my existence besides my teachers were Katie and Dan. Katie was a confident brunette, with a different shade of blue nail polish every week, and killer taste in clothing. Dan wore at least three different vineyard vine shirts each week, and a new pair of sperries every month.

Dan was a big time, scholarship lacrosse player, Katie was the captain of the basketball team. And then there's me. I mean I can compete with them academically and athletically, but socially, I feel like I'm their charity case. I've never really fit in here, but that's okay. I'm leaving soon enough.

We turn the corner and see our classroom, but the door is still locked, meaning our teacher isn't here yet. "Fuck." Dan mumbles under his breath. I look up to see what caused him to suddenly swear, and my eyes land on the town bad boys. Or Harry Styles and Co. They are hovering outside the door just as we are, indicating they are in the same class. There is four of them, Harry, Niall, Liam and Louis. There used to be five, but Zayn was expelled last year and moved upstate.

The group sub-divides into pairs, Harry and Niall are best friends, and Liam and Louis are best friends. "They can't possibly be in our class, they're stupid, scum, and unfortunately hot." Katie comments. Dan scoffs and then laughs. Our old teacher comes jogging down the hallway as fast as he possibly can, fiddling with his keys.

"Sorry kids. Car troubles." He states. and opens the door. "Don't bother sitting down yet, I'll give you your seat assignments quickly and then we can begin." The class groans out of annoyance and Mr. Stewart just huffs and pulls out his seating chart. "Okay. First we have Marsden, Daniel front and center, partners with Martin, Kaitlin. Great. My only two allies in the room, partners.

They take their seats and both simultaneously send apologetic looks my way. I just shrug and smile lightly. Mr. Stewart calls more and more names and finally gets to mine. "Montgomery, Cristina take your seat in the back with Styles, Harry." Mr. Stewart announces.

Fuck. Might as well fail me now with this bonehead as a lab partner. The teacher calls the rest of the students names and proceeds to pull up a powerpoint on our first unit. I try my best to subtlety keep as much distance from Harry as possible.

My bubble bursts when he taps me on the shoulder. I don't turn around before he starts to speak into my ear. "Just a heads up, I don't plan on doing shit this year." He whispers. I turn around and meet his eyes and try my very best to intimidate him with my response. "Well then, have fun not graduating, dick." I retort.

He chuckles softly and turns me back around. "I don't think you get it, love. You will do the work for me and you will do as I say."

 "No, I don't think you understand. That might work on your pack of bitch boys, but I've had to deal with assholes a lot scarier than you." I snap and continue to take notes.

"Listen, bitch, I'm not sure you know who I am, but believe me you will. And whoever you've had to deal with before, you can bet your ass I'll become your worst fucking nightmare. Now, shut up, keep taking your neat notes, and I look forward to our first completed assignment." He says with cold eyes and walks right out of the room.

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Hi!! I know beginnings are usually rough but I'm really very excited about this one! 

I promise I will update as consistently as possible for you guys!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy. 

all the love, 

xx