Chapter 1

I’m a loner.

It’s something that I’ve decided is best for myself until I can start trusting people again. It’s something that I’ve grown used to. Something that I grew to like through my years of not having any close friends or boyfriends. 

It wasn’t like I didn’t like people.

I just didn’t trust them. 

The only people I can blindly trust without a second thought are my grandparents. They were there for me when I was at my lowest. When I wanted to do everything in my power to end it all, they pushed me to keep fighting. They pushed me to not give up. That if things went tough, to turn to those who love you. They showed me that I wasn’t as worthless as I thought. They showed me that my life isn’t over because of them.

I still had a future.

I still had promise.

“Sure you're a little broken Aurora,” My grandmother would tell me whenever I was in one of my depressing moods, “You just need a little time, sweetheart. No one is expecting you to be perfectly fine so soon after everything you went through. A whole lot of time and a whole lot of love, I know you will be okay.”  

Maybe she’s right.

I’m the only person that’s trying to rush to get better. I had all the time in the world to get my mental state back to the safe place I onced cherished. Where my thoughts wouldn’t immediately turn negative and my anxiety wouldn’t kick my ass every chance it got.  

My grandparents thought it would be best if we had a fresh start somewhere else. So they moved me all the way to a quaint little town in Europe. Brimming with seemingly happy faces and gorgeous buildings, I slowly began to embrace the beautiful, huge town that I never heard of before, and signed myself up to attend my first year of college here.

I’ve been here for two months and so far and nobody has made the approach to try to talk to me. I can’t lie and say I’m not a little bummed about it.

It probably doesn’t help that I wasn’t planning to do it first.

Going up to a stranger and trying to start a conversation with them terrified me completely.   

I was more fine with no one talking to me, then trying to fight my anxiety to step out of my comfort zone. I usually had a book or little snacks to occupy my time while others would giggle and gossip away in their cliques. Sure, every now and then, I would sit at my desk and wish I had the confidence to slide over to a group and introduce myself. The longing to have at least one person to share my snacks with or tell them what I think about a book I recently finished. Someone to fill the void of constant silence with ongoing chatter. 

Someone who could love me for all my broken parts.

I shook my head to free my mind from the depressing thoughts that tried to creep into it.

Needing something to occupy my mind since the teacher was droning on about stuff that I knew about, I reached into my bag to take out my snack while listening to the group of girls that sat a couple desks away from me. Peeling open the small container, and popping a coconut ball into my mouth, I secretly eavesdropped on what they were talking about. 

“Can you believe that Axel is coming back?”

“No! Do you think he found his mate?!”

I chomped on another coconut ball with furrowed brows. I always wondered what the students around here meant when they mentioned that word. It seems like everyone knows what it means, accept me. It isn’t surprising since most of the people that go to this school went to the same high school. 

“I heard he didn’t.”

“You did? From who?”

“From Norah! Who else?!”

I shivered at the mention of Norah’s name. That was one of the rudest yet prettiest girls that I have ever met.

With her short curly dirty blonde hair, cat-like dark green eyes, and tall slender body, she was easily one of the prettiest girls in the school.

She didn’t care who you were, she wasn’t afraid to spat her nasty attitude in your direction. She believed that everyone was beneath her and that they should do what she says. I’ve seen her threaten and ruin countless people's lives for not taking what she says seriously. 

Something about how powerful her boyfriend is and how they should listen to her because of it.

I have never met her boyfriend, but if he’s anything like her, I don’t want to. 

I don’t want someone else treating me like I’m the most disgusting thing on Earth. It’s like she has this deep seeded hatred for me. Like I’ve done something to ruin her life when I’ve done absolutely nothing to her. I stay out of her way. I don’t talk back. I mind my own business. I don’t even look in her direction unless she tells me to. 

I have no idea why she hates me so much.