I had to deal with this anyways. It was going to come back to me, one way or another. It was Cole, my ex-boyfriend who led to all my
insecurities. I turned around slowly.

"Hey, Cole," I mumbled. Every part of me wanted to run, but for some reason, I stayed still.

"What are you doing here?" He asked surprised and smiling widely.

"I moved back here," I stated slowly. He nodded in response.

"So, wanna grab something to eat?" He asked.

"I just ate, actually," I replied.

"Wanna catch a movie, then?" He tryed again.

"I promised Sean I'd be home soon," I replied crossing my arms against my chest, turning to walk away.

"Wait, Sam," He said putting his hand on my shoulder softly as he stood next to me. "I'm sorry for everything, I really did miss you. I'm happy your back," He mumbled into my ear.

"Don't fucking touch me," I repled pulling from his grip and walking home feeling rather confident. I must say, that felt good. I started to think that maybe, just maybe I could be happy here. It was my home after all.
*****
-Two Years Later-
----

Well, so far, Colorado has been living hell for me. Cole wouldn't leave me alone. He started rumors that I was a crazy sex addict with all the std's he could name and to stay far away from me unless they wanted to inhale any thing from me. That made no fucking sense at all, how can you inhale a fucking std that is non-existant because I'm a virgin! For some reason, everyone took Cole's word and I became the most fucking hated person in all of boulder high. The Christian club put up post-its of bible verses about how wrong whoring is and how I'm condemmed to hell because of it. They threw condoms at me ,which is actually not too religious because the church does not believe in the use of anything that prevents the event of conception to occur. (I went to catholic Junior High back in Baltimore, sue me). People chanted "Slut" and "Whore" whenever I walked by and the schoolboard did absolutely NOTHING about it! I mean really? I told Sean about everything and he said that if I wanted to transfer, the closest school was 40 miles away. I couldn't go so far away, so I had to stay. I had to basically beg Sean not to hurt every single person who bothered me. So, he went to the principal and again the school did nothing. On top of that my mom hasn't talked to me since I left Baltimore I mean I've tried to call ber, but she never answered or tried to call me back, so I gave up. If she wanted to talk to me, she'd call. I decided to dye my hair black as a sign of rebirth. A sign that said, "I'm not the Sam you used to know."

It was a saturday in early December and I was just relaxing at home listening to music in my room that played from my iPod dock. Suddednly, Sean opened the door to my room.

"Mom's dead," He said lowly.

"You're kidding," I replied softly. He shook his head.

"Dad told me that you need to pack your bags like, right now," I sighed I was leaving, Yes, but my mom was dead, so ir was still bad. After a couple hours of packing and Sean booking a flight at the last minute, we got into the car.

"So, What happened to her?" I asked softly.

"Car crah, her airbags didn't come out," He replied keeping his eyes on the road as he drove. I sighed softly. I mean, I'm not happy tha my mother's gone, but I haven't spoke to her in two years! What kind of mother goes two years without calling her daughter that moved across the country, Oh yeah, the same one that pushed me on the plane. We were at the airport, checked in, and went to our gate and onto the plane as it was called.

I fell asleep on the plane to be woken up 4 hours later by Sean.

"Hmmm..." I mumbled sleepily.

"Look outside," He whispered. A smile was plastered on my face, a smile that neither Sean or I have seen in a long time. A while later@ we were home. I took in the scent of the house that I haven't been to in two years. I smiled again.

"Oh, and Dad's living with you, but I took a semester off to help you settle back in and get back to mormal," Sean said as we sat on the couch.

"You didn't have to do that," I said softly.

"I wanted to," He smiled putting his hand on mine. "I'm gonna go lie down, ok."

"Alright,"

-Monday-

I walked into Dulaney. I coincidentally got the same locker I had freshman year, so that was good. The first person I saw was Alex. I could spot him anywhere. He was leaning over his locker putting in his combo. I quickly ran behind him and covered his eyes with my hands.

"Guess who?" I sung

"Sammi! You're back!" He exclaimed as he took my hand from my eyes and pulled me into a hug.

"I am! I missed you!" I said into his shoulder before we pulled away

"I missed you, too... You dyed your hair," He stated slowly feeling my black hair.

"Yeah, it's a long story why. Where's everyone else?" I asked curiously.

"They probably cut today. There was a party last night, they're probably all hungover as fuck," He laughed slightly. "But Zack is here," He added pointing to his locker as my smile faded.

"That one always works!" Alex exclaimed jokingly as I punched him in the arm. "Ow!" He whined, rubbing his arm.

"Man up!" I replied as the bell rang. It felt just like the good old days.

*****

At lunch, Alex and I sat across from each other at a largr round table.

"So, why did you move back?" Alex asked softly.

"My mom died so my dad moved back with me to take care of the house and my brother came, too."

"She's dead, what happened?" Alex replied shocked.

"She got in to a car crah and her air bags didn't come out," I stated taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Oh, so how were things with you guys, y'know while you were there?"

"She didn't call me or return any of my calls. Not once did we speak," I stated getting a bit angry as my free hand balled into a fist while I took a sip of my juice with my other hand.

"Oh. So, why did you dye your hair?" Alex asked unwraping is sandwich and starting to eat,too.

"Cole, my ex boyfrienfriend who I told you about turned the whole school against me and everyone hated me so I dyed my hair as a sign of rebirth. Deep, I know," I said stoping to laugh with Alex.

"Oh, I bet you're happy that you're out of that hell hole now," he laughed.

"Like hell, I am! I can't wat to see everyone!"

"Hey, are you new here?" a tall dark-haired boy with strikingly green eyes asked me.

"Yes and no. I went here for freshman year, then moved and then I moved back," I replied

"Oh, I'm Tarcy," He said putting his hand out for me to shake.

"Sam," I said softly shaking his hand.

"Funny, Alex never mentioned you to me," Tarcy replied slaping Alex's shoulder playfully.

"You never asked," Alex mumbled.

"Well, I know about you now," He said with a smile as he took a seat next to Alex. I could see the annoyance on his face. I suddenly saw Alli, Leikin, and Kat walk in. I guess they skipped for the morning. They sat down by us.

"Hey guys," I said casually taking the last bite of my sandwich.

"Hey, Sam," They all said nonchalantly. A second later it hit them that I was back.

"SAM!" They yelled as they jumped on me, hugging me tightly. I noticed that Leikin got blonde highlights.

"Nice skunk hair," I complemented.

"Thanks, I missed you so much, Sammi," She stated hugging me tightly again.

" I missed you, too." I stated. I noticed that Nick, Leikins's brother was here wasn't he a year behind us.

"By the way, Nick skipped a grade if you were wondering," Alli added answering the question in my head.

"You dyed your hair, Sam!" Kat exclaimed.

"Yeah. It's a long story," I replied before the bell signaling the end of lunch. I imediately grabbed Alex by the shoulder and walked with him into the hallway.

"Why do you hate Tarcy?" I asked curiously.

"Two years of things happened when you weren't here, Sam, It's a lot to figure out all at once, but after a while, it'll all make sense," He stated walking to his class as I walked to mine.

Wow, I had a lot to catch up with...

--Chapter songlist---

Downfall of us all - A Day To Remember