Deep End

Ch. 1

Sweet words echoed through her mind, coaxing her into doing whatever it is she was about to do. All she could see was a drink in her hand and the people that surrounded her. As the drink had finally made it to her lips with her eyes tightly shut, a girl had pushed her. Echoes of laughter had hit her harder than anything else as her small body fell back into the pool. Of course, her head hit the concrete as she tumbled back first, because that was just her miserable luck.

She could hear a scream, but was it her own? It couldn't have been. She hadn't felt anything escape her lips. She heard another splash. She had hoped it had been somebody to save her.

Blossom sat up with a harsh gasp, and struggled for air for a few minutes. The nightmares of that party just a few months ago had constantly been bothering her. Her head began to ache ever so suddenly. Blossom groaned and covered herself back up with her blanket. She had been done with the day already and it hadn't even began.

She had to face the people that had tried to kill her that night. She would never speak a word about the people that tried to kill her - she still thought too well of them to do anything of the sorts.

"They were just trying to do me a favor... right?"

Well, technically, no, she wasn't right. But it was all she was going to believed, so it hadn't mattered. Blossom refused to think bad of the people who tried to kill her, though. They were just misunderstood in her mind. That's all she wanted to believe. Nobody was ever evil to her, in her own words.

It hadn't mattered now. She rolled out of bed, her feet hitting the harsh wood floor.

"What a great start to a shitty morning," She grumbled.

She stood up and brushed off her clothes, silence encasing her back into her own head. Her memories kept swimming around, but she didn't mind. It just reminded her to not act as she did that day at the party.

"God, you're so nosy!" A voice had said to her.
"Stop being so loud!"
"Nobody cares what you have to say. Go back to being quiet."

They had hurt her that day, but now it was just a quiet reminder that she hadn't mattered and she never would. It was a simple thing - Just stay quiet, stay out of people's ways, and maybe this time they won't try to kill you again. Easy enough, yeah?

It was to Blossom at least. She was so used to it by now.  Since when would it ever matter what she thought or what she had cared for?

She shook her head as if to clear the the thoughts, but it had never worked.

"Whatever," she thought to herself, letting a small sigh fall from her pink lips.

Blossom walked over towards her wardrobe, picking a simple white dress with a rope belt to tie it all together. It was a long sleeve because now that it was autumn, she knew she would be consistently cold. She grabbed a pair of her hiking boots because matching her clothes hadn't mattered to her, and it never would.

She changed out of her silk, pink nightgown into her dress, and since it would be cold, she pulled on some tights underneath it. She tugged her boots onto her feet, quickly tying the laces on them before pulling on a denim jacket, tying her back into a messy ponytail, and taking one last look in the mirror. Grabbing her phone and her backpack, she exited her room.

She forced a smile on her face when she saw her older sister, Neveah, and her mom in the hallway. Usually, they would have greeted her but this time they were planning her 16th birthday - without her help, of course. They knew that if they asked Blossom, they wouldn't get anywhere. She'd just say, "I don't want a party," and move on with her life. They always had the idea that the 16th birthday was the most important day for a girl, but she never did. What bullshit made anyone believe that?

She hadn't paid much mind to it though. Blossom got up late, so it was either skip breakfast or miss the bus, and her dad would be angry if she missed the bus. So, once again, she had skipped breakfast. She never had time to grab anything for lunch, but her parents didn't want her to be eating school lunches, so usually, she ended up skipping lunch too. It was normal to her. The only meal she really ate anymore was dinner. Fine by her, of course, it kept her skinny.

As she jogged outside to the bus stop, the bus was just about ready to leave. She ran right onto the bus and into the back where nobody really sat anymore. She pushed her bag to the side of her and sat down, pulling out her phone and her headphones from her bag. She glanced up for half a second to see a boy walking towards her. What did he want? She focused her gaze out the window as if to avoid any conversation with the boy, and it was now clear that he was sitting by her.

Blossom felt a small tap on her shoulder.

"Hi," The boy grinned, and she immediately studied his face. Brown eyes and perfect teeth, with dark hair that made him mysterious. She realized she was staring and shook her head before replying.

"Hey," She simply mumbled, turning her gaze back to the window at the passing trees.

"I'm Ethan Grey. I'm a junior. I've seen you in a few of my classes, but you're really quiet," He continued talking, but never actually gained her interest.

"Please don't talk to me. You'll only get hurt," She finally replied. She didn't look at him long enough to see his raised eyebrow and his confused look.

He shrugged it off. "We should hang out more. Here, give me your phone," He tugged it out of her hand, going to add his number into it.

It was her turn to be confused. Why had he cared? Was it pure pity? Probably. She knew she had to warn him once more but for once, she finally felt wanted. It made her feel warm inside, and it was exciting for her. She was grateful for this boy, even though he clearly didn't know what he was getting himself into.

He finally handed it back. She slightly smiled at the name he put himself as in her phone.

"Pretty Boy Ethan?" Blossom giggled out, chewing on her lip.

"Yep," He grinned proudly, "Because I'm pretty and we all know it. Your smile is really nice, by the way."

Blossom stopped giggling, glancing over at him. "I'm sorry?" She tilted her head, confused.

"What? I just said your smile is nice. It is, trust me. I've seen billions of smiles in this school and yours is the prettiest," He rambled on. He didn't really ever seem to notice that he talked a lot. He was probably never told to shut up every five seconds.

It seemed like no time at all as the bus pulled up to their school. As usual, Blossom didn't stand up right away. She waited a few minutes as everybody else got off. Not only did she not want to be in anyone's way, but it's proper etiquette that the others never seemed to know. Ethan was right next to her and they both stood there, waiting and talking. Well, she supposed Ethan did more of the talking. She stood there and listened to his voice, giggling every now and then and inputting something randomly. It felt nice to actually have an acquaintance. She refused to call him a friend. She didn't want to get hurt again.

As they finally got off, they made their way to the school building. Blossom let out a shaky breath, not noticing that Ethan heard it. He grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze. He hadn't known what had happened to her, but it was comforting to them both nonetheless.

"Thanks," She muttered.

And at that, they finally made their way into the school building.

Word Count: 1400