Collide (REWRITING)

1. Welcome Back ✔

     When I turned sixteen, the world decided to crumble around me. I wasn't sure why or even how it even happened, but one day I was walking down the halls of Beacon Hills High School with a smile on my face, laughing with my friends, and tossing jokes back and forth at one another and then the next, it was all over. Life as I knew it was gone and I was alone.

     Motherless.

     Fatherless.

     Brotherless.

     It was a nightmare. One that no matter how hard I tried, never ended. No one believed me and quite honestly, I couldn't blame them. I mean, sometimes I couldn't even believe myself, but it felt real. the pieces I remember d felt so vivid, it was hard to think that they were nothing more than the fabrication of a broken mind.

      Something happened that night and it was far more than just a fire. I may not have been able to remember everything, but I knew I was different because of it. Something changed and even though I hadn't been able to put my finger on it, I knew I would never again be the same sixteen-year-old that got through life staring at her feet in the hallways.

      I knew my mother would have wanted me to walk into this school with my head held high. She would have told me that "Sommer's didn't care what people thought about them". I'd be dressed to the nines and my nails would have been painted red instead of peeling and crusted with blood at the cuticles. She would have wanted me to sit down in front of the mirror and take the time to curl my oak nut hair, instead of throwing the unwashed mess into a bun.

     Here I was though.

     Nearly seventeen and far more broken than your standard traumatized teenager. I was broken and bruised beyond repair. Hugging my locker as I tried to catch my breath. My dark washed jeans had holes in the knees and my t-shirt clung to what was left of my stressed-out figure. It had been six months since the fire and even though I knew I wasn't doing anything to make them proud, I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. Not when I was living out of suitcase in a room that wasn't my own. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up earlier than necessary to paint a smile on my face.

     The warning bell rang and I jumped. The lingering students snickered as they crept by, no doubt trying to get a good look at the basket case on her first day back. I already knew this was going to be a disaster. I could feel the crippling doubt settling in every bone in my body. All I wanted to do was turn and run out the double blue doors. Leave reality and fall into some fictional world where what I knew to be true would have been believable. But, I was stuck here, in this God-forsaken high school and already late for my first-period biology class.

      I shuffled around in my locker as I waited for the sparse crowd to pass. I buried my face into the stack of books I hadn't touched in months and took a deep breath, counting slowly before shuffling down the hallway to class.

     "Well, welcome back Ms. Sommers." Mr. Harris nodded as I walked into the classroom. I stood there staring at him from the doorway as all eyes turned to me.

     I can do this.

     I heard the whispers as they turned to one another and I swallowed deeply.

     I can do this.

      The whispers weren't so quiet anymore and Mr. Harris stared at me like he was thinking what everyone was saying. It was almost worse than the nightmares. I couldn't wake up from this or run away, it would only make the rumors more believable.

     "Are you going to take a seat or do you need to go to the nurse's station?" Mr. Harris questioned my mentality. I stood there, not sure if I was going to be able to move or respond, but just as I turned to flee, my books fell from my hands as I bumped into someone who let out a sharp yelp.