1 Chapter One

It was a day like any other for Vanessa, having moved around so much in her life due to her parents’ jobs she was used to it. Personally, herself at this point in her life she didn’t see the point in even unpacking anything besides clothes, and the necessities. All her other belongings stayed hidden to the eye in boxes that always stayed unpacked in a corner of her room, no matter if her parents had told her to unpack or not. She never listened to them, because she knew even if they said this was going to be the last time, they would have to move; that they were lying. She had been moved around so many times by the time she hit the age of ten, that she finally stopped counting. Her family never even stayed in one place longer than possibly six months, so why even try? With this mindset she had never really had any friends, or even a relationship for that matter. She felt as though it was useless to do so given her circumstances.

Today her family had moved into yet another house, and she of course had to start over as being the new girl in a different town. She was ready for it, the stares, the whispers that came with being new. Nothing had ever changed . So, as she woke up on a Thursday morning, ready to start another first day at yet another school she sighed to herself before going to get ready.

When she had been younger Vanessa had liked to dress up and impress, but nowadays she did not even care. Who was there to impress exactly? She would only be leaving again in another month or so, so all she had to do was worry about her grades and getting through the time she was here. So she took a shower and got dressed in some jeans and a random long sleeve t-shirt, before heading downstairs to get some breakfast.

Like every morning, no matter where they lived, her Dad was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for the three of them. Her mom was always sitting at the table, drinking coffee while being obsessed with her phone. Her mom liked to watch the news around the area that they had moved to, just to make sure it was safe for her daughter. This time they had moved to a town where there was a slight issue with gangs or something like a gang, her mom knew Vanessa shouldn’t be getting into any trouble since she had never been a troublesome girl so she didn’t worry too much. She just worried that someone might try to mess with her daughter.

As Vanessa came into the kitchen, she got a mug ready to make herself some tea, unlike both her parents Vanessa liked to drink tea instead of coffee. Her favorite tea was earl grey, so she ran the tap and put water in the tea kettle before putting it on one of the back burners on the stove.

Her parents had grown accustomed to the things that she enjoyed a lot over the years since it was only ever them at their house or around each other. Her parents honestly felt like they were doing something wrong since they were always moving around, and never stayed in any place too long due to work but they could not say no.

Vanessa’s parents worked as cop investigators, they investigated crooked cops. They now were sent to work in a town in the state of Connecticut, where it was believed that some cops had stolen some money and drugs from the evidence locker. The police office where this was all going down was too underfunded to afford cameras in their evidence room, so the police commissioner had called them in to do the job. They were the best at finding out the truth where cops had gone crooked, and they made rather good money doing so.

Vanessa sat down at the table across from her mom as she took out her phone, but only to continue reading a book that she had recently started reading on her phone. She read a few pages before the tea kettle started to holler so she put her phone back in her pocket so she could make her tea.

As she was standing at the counter, mixing sugar into her tea, she thought about how this day would go by like every other new day she had. She wondered if she might be able to possibly fail a class so that maybe her parents would see the toll they were making on their daughter who was only sixteen. She was thinking of possible ways to fail, but even after every idea popped into her mind, she knew it would not work. Either the teacher took pity on her since she moved around so much, or she moved away yet again before the marking period could end.

Her dad placed the steaming plate of food consisting of eggs, sausage, and pancakes onto the table where his wife and his daughter had decided to sit this morning. Vanessa sat back down at where she had sat before.

“Thanks Dad, for the breakfast.” Vanessa said like every morning, as she put a soft smile on her face. Her dad always made breakfast and there never was a way she could get out of it, no matter what she tried. She had even tried being late to school one time, and her parents did not let her go. This of course was because this was really the only time that her parents got to spend with her, they were always pretty busy the rest of the day with work.

“No problem Sweetie. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” He said as she went back to the stove to grab his own plate of food. Every morning it was pretty much the same thing, just the three of them making small talk until they left to take their daughter to school.

As her dad sat down, they all began to eat their food in silence. It was a comfortable silence that they were already used to. They all had eaten their food until it was all gone, and then it was time to take their daughter to her new school. Like every other day they would be driving their daughter to the school to make sure that she had gotten there safely, then she would be responsible to get herself home by walking.

As they all piled into their car, Vanessa started to ask the same question she had been asking for a few months now since she had turned sixteen. “When am I going to be able to drive myself? You guys literally never let me drive or take me to practice driving.” Vanessa said in the nicest way possible, to not come off as if she was mad at them.

“Once we settle into work here and get our first day off, we will both teach you how to drive. Don’t worry about that for now, worry about school.” Her mom answered her from the driver seat of the car, while paying attention to traffic.

“You both have been saying the same thing since I turned sixteen about eight months ago. I have to learn at some time, or I’m never going to learn.” She told her parents, looking out the window that had rain falling down it.

“We’ll teach you how to drive the first day that we get off, which should be sometime next weekend, alright? Even if we get called in, we won’t answer, we won’t go into work.” Her dad told her, as they were pulling up to the school already. They lived about a five-minute car ride away from the school, so it was not going to be that long of a walk for their daughter to make.

Vanessa let out a sigh, knowing that they would indeed be called in, and they both would go back on this, but didn’t want to start an argument with either of them. “Alright, I’ll wait until then.” She said as she grabbed her bag from the seat next to her. She was ready to get this day over and done with already.

“We promise that we will teach you Sweetie, but you have a good day at school today, maybe try to make some friends.” Her mom said encouragingly as she got out of the car.

As Vanessa stepped out of the car and looked up at the school that stood in front of her, the rain started to run down the material of her jacket. She put her hood up and walked in the front door, hoping that it would be a quick day and that none of the teachers would take pity on her life situation.

It was the middle of October, so there were Halloween decorations in the hallways, and posters on the walls for a Halloween dance that would be happening on the day of Halloween. She looked around and saw a lot of students in the halls either walking to class or talking around their lockers. She looked around and found a sign that read ‘office’ and an arrow pointing the way that the office was in. She quickly made her way down the hall, shrugging off all the stares that she was getting since she was a new face in this town.

She soon found the office and walked in before being greeted by a lady looking to be in her thirties with red hair that she currently had in a ponytail. “Good morning, what can I do for you?” The lady asked her kindly as she smiled. The plaque on the desk read ‘Shirley Hopps, Secretary’, so at least Vanessa knew her name now.

“Sorry to bother you, but my name is Vanessa Merchant. I’m a new transfer student and I’m here for my schedule and locker combination.” Vanessa told the lady kindly, softly smiling to herself.

“Ah yes, the new student. One second dear.” Mrs. Hopps said as she pulled a folder out from a paper organizer right next to her. The lady opened the folder before nodding to herself, and then opened it up on the front portion of her desk to show the teenager. “Okay so this is your schedule, and at the top you have your locker number and combination. Your first class is in room number fifty-two with Mrs. Dutch who teaches English, she is a rather nice teacher to new students. You will have her for English this year.” Mrs. Hopps told her as she pointed at the different information printed on the sheet.

“Alright thanks for your help.” Vanessa said as she picked up the piece of paper that was now in front of her. She looked it over, already starting to memorize the sheet of paper so she would not have to look at it all day.

The secretary grabbed another sheet of paper out of the folder before handing it to the younger girl. “This is a map of the school, so you’ll know where to go. The teachers will understand if you are late, but please try to be as on time as possible for attendance.” She said in a serious tone trying to get her point across to the girl in front of her.

“Thank you again.” Vanessa told the lady as she left the office and started to search for her locker. She wanted to go there only to have something to do before she had to go to class. She didn’t want to be too early to class given that it was her first day, and she didn’t want any more unwanted attention than she would already be getting for just being new to the school.

Once she had found her locker she put the combination in before taking her bag off of her shoulders before putting the binders she had brought with her away. As she put her school supplies away she heard the chatter of all the other students in the hallway talking, but she barely paid attention to any of it. Vanessa could care less about what everyone was talking about, knowing that it might be about her.

Once Vanessa had situated everything in her locker she grabbed the binder she had wanted to use for English before closing her locker and leaving and heading towards her first class of the day.

As she got to the door she could see some other teens were already in there, waiting for class to start. Some of them were working on the homework from last night, or talking to the person next to them, but that all stopped when she walked into the class. All eyes landed on her when this happened.

She ignored their stares and walked up to her teacher that was sitting at the front of the class at a big wooden desk. As she had walked over to the desk she had heard whispers about her already which caused her to sigh.

“Good morning Mrs. Dutch. My name is Vanessa Merchant, and I’m the transfer student. I was wondering if you could tell me where I would possibly be sitting.” Vanessa said in a kind tone as the woman looked up at her.

Mrs. Dutch seemed to be in her mid to late thirties and had blonde hair, although Vanessa could see a little bit of grey hair already starting to show. Her eyes were a forest green in color, and she had this air around her that told Vanessa she was a kind person.

Mrs. Dutch wore a slight smile on her face as she looked up at the girl. “Welcome Ms. Merchant to Creed High School. You may sit anywhere you choose to sit, also here is your school issued planner.” Mrs. Dutch told the younger girl, as she handed Vanessa the planner before looking at all the other students who sat in front of her in the desks.

“Thanks Mrs. Dutch.” Vanessa told her and she found her way to one of the seats in the back of the classroom, it would be hard for anyone to stare at her without getting into trouble with the teacher. As she sat down she felt all the eyes of all her new classmates being on her, but she just shrugged it away and took out her phone to continue reading the book she had been reading earlier.

Vanessa continued to read the book on her phone as she waited for class to start. While she had been reading she ignored the stares and the whispers that were sent her way. She didn't care what they said or what they thought, she was just going to keep to herself anyways.

A boy with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes walked into the classroom right as the bell went off with a couple boys behind him. “Glad you could join us Mr. King, Mr. Collins, and Mr. Rhodes, please take your seats now.” Mrs. Dutch said as she stood up from her desk to close the door behind the boys who had just entered the class.

Vanessa had put her phone away into her pocket as soon as the bell had rung, and looked towards where the teacher was standing at the front of the class. She saw the boys walk to their desks at the other end of the classroom out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t pay much attention to them, although all three of them were paying attention to her; especially Xavier King.

As the class went by quickly, and Vanessa took notes on the play they were currently reading called ‘The Crucible’, Xavier still hadn’t taken his eyes off her. Everyone in the school knew he had a thing for the new girls, and he usually got his way with them. He would make them fall in love with him, and then he would drop them soon after. It was a game to him, but the only thing he didn’t know was that Vanessa wasn’t going to play his game.

The class was soon over and Vanessa grabbed her things before leaving the classroom. She quickly made her way to her locker, not paying attention to the fact that someone was following her the entire time. Xavier was following her to her locker to put the ‘moves’ on her, and try to sway her as he did with all the other new girls that came to town.

When Vanessa got to her locker she put her combination in, and opened her locker before grabbing another binder that she would be using for her next class which was history.

‘One class down, six more to go’, she thought as she made her way to her next class. Before she could get too far though a hand came down on her shoulder, and stopped her in her tracks. Vanessa turned around to see who exactly was keeping her from her next class. When she turned around though she came face to face with a guy that had dark brown hair, and blue eyes, he looked a bit older than her. She instantly remembered him as one of the men that had come into her class just as it had started. “May I help you?” Vanessa asked him kindly, not trying to be rude.

“Actually I’m here to help you. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here at all and I was wondering if you needed any help getting to your next class.” Xavier said in a kind tone back, he watched her as he waited for her to answer him.

“No thank you, I’ve memorized the map of the school. Thank you though for asking.” She said and smiled up at him softly. She then turned around before continuing her way to her next classroom.

Xavier was a bit shocked, usually every new girl who came to the school wanted his help when he offered. Hell even if he didn’t offer it the new girls always wanted his help due to his looks. The way Vanessa dismissed him so quickly confused him. He walked to his own class, soon shrugging it off, he of course had his own troubles to worry about.

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As the day continued Vanessa couldn’t wait to get home, and forget this day. Once she was home she would curl up on the couch and read some more of her book on her phone after she had done her homework. She would probably have her dog Max curled up at the bottom of her feet while she read. Vanessa’s dog was a husky and german shepherd mix, which she had had for about four years since it was a puppy. Vanessa’s parents had gotten her so that Vanessa wasn’t always alone at home.

It was finally the last class of the day which was math class for Vanessa, and she watched as the time ticked down on the clock above the white board. The bell rang and Vanessa quickly exited the classroom and headed back to her locker. When she arrived at her locker though she was surprised to see a familiar brown headed male leaning against it.

Xavier’s eyes lit up as he saw her again for the second time today. “Hey I just realized earlier that I didn’t introduce myself earlier. My name is Xavier King, and what’s yours?” He asked her as he stood up straight from off the locker.

“My name is Vanessa Merchant, now can you move please? I need to be getting home so I can take my dog out.” Vanessa told him in an impatient tone. He was blocking her locker, and she needed to grab her things from out of there before she could go home.

Xavier quickly stepped out of the way so she could do her thing. “Sorry about that, and you have a dog? I love dogs.” He said, watching her as she put some of her binders back into her bag.

Vanessa sighed as she put her jacket back on, she knew exactly what this guy was trying to do, and she wasn’t having any of it. She grabbed her bag and swung it over her shoulder, before closing her locker and turning around to face Xavier. “I know what you are trying to do, and I’m going to tell you right now that it isn’t going to work. I move around a lot, and I’ll probably only be here for a couple of months. You’re better off just not wasting your time on little ole me.” Vanessa told him as she walked past him and towards the exit of the school, leaving Xavier a bit more stunned then he had been before by her answer.