For The Love Of A Daughter Chapter 1

Present Day- Now

This morning my room felt freezing. What is different? I can see my breath, I can hear my heart beating loud, my head in its own world. The white walls seem to turn colors. My furniture seems to change colors. I can't- I don't understand. I hear a loud sound that makes my ears ring painfully. I hear a door, and my head gets hit hard. I wake up to my brother standing in my doorway.

"Amy. Get up, open the window, go. He talked about this remember?" Edward, my brother says. "Conner is drunk already this morning. He must have drank all night."

I look at Edward. When the sleepiness disappears, adrenaline sets in quickly. This time I don't hesitate, I practically run to my window. I use the little bit of strength I have left this morning to pull myself up and out the window. When I hear Conner's footsteps coming up to my doorway, I carefully get away from the window and sit quietly on the roof above. The gray shingles are cold under my feet, and my body shakes uncontrollably. A voice snaps me out of my cold trance, making me jump. I look back at my window with wide eyes, expecting it to be Conner.

"Amy, what are you doing up there? What happened?" Marcel, my best friend yells up at me from the sidewalk.

He wears his favorite yellow, white, and brown tie with his brown shirt and brown khakis.

I put my finger up to my mouth quickly, telling him to shut his trap. Marcel rolls his eyes and runs to the front door of my house. Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. Marcel pounds on the door loudly to get Conner's attention. Minutes later, Marcel is met by an angry Conner. Marcel backs up into my sight, signaling for me to go into the house. Edward's head pops out of the window and he tells me to hurry up and get inside. Once I get inside, Edward quickly closes the window and helps me get ready for school.

Ever since my father left my family, my mom has been dating this douche named Conner. Conner is the drinking, abusive type. But, so was my father-old habits never die, I guess. I hear the phrase "You'll marry your father," I say that's only if you let yourself believe there's no one better. But I don't settle for better, I settle for best.

"Amy, we need to go," Edward says, grabbing my book bag and walking down the hallway. I follow quietly, carefully. When we reach the bottom of the steps, we see Conner and Marcel still talking at the front door. Marcel and I make eye contact, and Marcel smiles-the kind of smile that makes my heart melt. The kind of smile that reaches and compliments his emerald eyes.

"Thank you for letting me walk with Amy today," Marcel says, his eyes still on me. I hear Edward mutter something under his breath, and I frown. Conner looks at me and licks his lips in that way he always does when he sees me.

"Yeah, don't mention it, bud. Take care of my girl," Conner says, placing a filthy hand on my shoulder as I walk out the front door. If it wasn't for Marcel looking at me fondly, I would have cringed at Conner's savage, disgusting touch. Marcel waves once at Conner, and we walk quickly toward school.

"Amy, are we going to talk about this? I smelt booze so bad on his breath this time," Marcel presses.

"Marcel, forget about it. He's always been weird like that," I say, walking faster.

Marcel's arm snaps onto mine, making me stop. He's close now, almost too close. But he doesn't smell like Conner-nothing like cigarettes or alcohol- but like Axe.

"No. You don't just crawl onto a roof like that. I've never seen you so scared and vulnerable. I've seen some shit that you do to get away from him- but this- this is the worst. Did he do something to you? You either tell me, or I'll have to call Edward and his jock friends. If he tells me nothing, I'll go directly to Conner," Marcel says. He towers over me as I look up at him. His anger towards Conner makes me feel safe- safe in a way I can't explain.

"Marcel, leave it."

I hear Marcel scoff in annoyance and he lets me go, walking again. I go to talk to him but a dark grey Range Rover pulls up to the curb. I roll my eyes. Harry-Marcel's best friend-yells at Marcel to get in the car. Marcel looks at me. Harry notices me then, and he smiles at me.

"Amy, hey baby, still looking good as hell I see." One of the tinted windows slowly rolls down to reveal none other than Sam (my ex-boyfriend). I roll my eyes and look at Harry in the driver's seat, who shoots Sam daggers.

"Hey! What did we talk about?" Harry scolds, smacking Sam hard on the thigh. I giggle when Sam whines.

Marcel looks at me again and I make eye contact with Harry- he looks at me differently. I nod at Marcel, and he takes a few steps to open the back door, hitting Sam to scoot over. I look in the back seat to see another girl I didn't see before. Marcel closes the door as I open the front door. I get into the front seat and look at the girl. Her eyes are blue like the ocean, a flower print dress, and fancy gladiator sandals- she will fit in well at this school.

I greet her with a warm smile and she does the same for me. The guys in the back all ramble on about FIFA and eventually the girl joins in too. I watch out the front window. I keep quiet and keep my head forward.

Harry looks at me at the same time I look over at him, and he just looks so different. He looks away to look at the road as he drives, but I can't help trying to figure out what it is that has changed. The car stops and the boys get out. The girl coughs when Harry and I don't make an effort to get out.

"Sorry," I mumble, grabbing my book bag from Edward, and spinning around to look for someone to walk with. Harry still sits in his seat, looking at his phone. I then look around to see the girl standing on the side of the car, staring in awe at the school building.

"It's not as scary as it looks," I inform her, making her look at me.

"Oh-I-I was just-just"

"It's okay. You'll make friends quick. A fashion sense gets you wonders here." I smile, a real smile- the one that reaches my eyes.

The girl smiles. She's unsure.

You can tell a lot about someone and what they're going through just by looking at their smile.

My mother always used to tell me that.

"She's right. You'll be fine," Harry's voice booms, coming up beside me. She nods, and we all walk to the school doors.

"My name is Marisa by the way, Marisa Triste," she says, holding out her hand.

I take it in mine and smile.

"Amy. Amy Marvin."

Marisa's smile gets bigger and her eyes wave at me. "Beautiful name," she says.

This is going to be the start of something good.

I can feel it.