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Dedication: Jenny20 for the cover! Thank you!

Recap:

"No wonder he needs counselling if he's dating a fucking crazy bitch like you," I spat.

"Apparently," she said slowly, leaning in so that her cool breath fanned my face. "I'm not the one who's crazy."

I did the only logical thing, really.

I punched her in the face.

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Gripping a handful of Amelia's hair in my fist, I proceeded to project her head into the locker.

The sickening thud seemed to echo through the hallway. Her cries rang in my ear but I couldn't stop.

"Sadie," she whined as I, again, injected as much force as possible, into slamming her head into the metal beside us. "Stop, please!"

"I'm crazy, right?" I asked, my voice sounding hysterical to my own ears.

"Hey!" a loud voice boomed. "Break it up, you two!"

Breathing heavily, I reached to go for her again and she flinched, shielding her face. I paused, my hand hovering in the air. Slowly, I let it limply fall to my side.

The guy ran to go get someone, but that didn't really matter. Amelia and I just stared at each other, our chests rising and falling.

"Why did you do it?" I panted, shaking my head at her. "Why did you tell everyone?"

"Because of what you're doing," she hissed.

"What are you talking about?"

"They're still grieving," she bit out, glaring at me. "And here you are, throwing yourself at anyone and everyone."

"Excuse me?"

"They all still attend grief counselling and you don't even bother to contact them. You packed up and left."

I just gave her a blank stare.

"I have to go with him every week. He will never get over what happened."

"Who?" I questioned, not understanding.

"Isaac," she whispered, just as I heard heavy footsteps ascending towards us. "You know, Casey's brother."

***

"What do you have to say for yourself?" the man who I have hardly ever seen before, questioned me. He apparently was the principal.

"Something horrible happened to me. I was admitted to a mental institute, which my parents would have contacted the school about. Amelia spread it around the school." I shrugged. "This was my way of saying thanks."

He blinked at me for a few moments. He probably feels awkward having to punish a "mentally unstable" girl.

"Both of you are clearly in the wrong here. Amelia, you are suspended for three days. Sadie, as you are over the age of 18, we will need to approach your punishment in a different way, as it was assault. You are suspended for three days also. We will contact you soon about the consequences."

"Can't wait," I muttered bitterly.

"That is all."

The dismissal was loud and clear. Dragging myself from the chair, I stomped out the door and didn't hold it for Amelia.

When I heard the door swing shut behind her, I whirled around. "How dare you. You have no idea the hell I have to live through every day. Isaac lost a brother, but I lost my whole world. He was everything to me. How do you think I can cope with him gone?"

She stepped back from me, probably out of fear I might hit her again. She opened her mouth to respond, but I kept going. I wasn't finished yet.

"I can't stand to be in that town. Everywhere, reminds me of him. I can't be around his family because they are his family. Isaac even looks like him. Don't you understand how hard that is for me? The only way I can function is to be as far away as possible from anything that reminds me of him."

"Sadie-"

"So how dare you," I breathed, glaring at her. "Tell me what you think they are going through. You have no fucking idea."

Finally, she stopped trying to communicate to me. She just stared at me, her mouth hanging open. With that, I turned my back to her and marched from the school.

My dad was outside the SUV, leaning against it. He straightened when I came into his line of sight.

"I spoke to your principal."

"Same."

"I heard about what happened."

"Me too."

"Stop it." He barked. "This is serious. You're spiralling out of control again."

"Again?" I echoed, a hysterical laugh coming from my mouth. "I was never in control. Ever since That Day, I have lost every bit of control I ever had."

He sucked in a breath of air. I never mention That Day. The day where my whole life became completely fucked up.

"Sadie-"

"Are you going to stand there and lecture me? Because if so, I'll walk myself."

"We need to talk."

"Are you going to lecture me?" I repeated, my face impassive.

"No."

"Good," I clipped, bumping around the side of the car, towards the passenger side. "Because I need to go see my counsellor. ASAP."

Silently, he nodded, before sliding into the car.

She is going to be shocked to see me.

***

Bitterly, I poked my garbage-picker-upperer (as I like to call it) far too aggressively into a McDonalds nugget packet.

"This is so shit," I muttered to myself.

It was nice to finally stand up to Amelia, but it sucked that I had to do 48 hours of community service for it. Which included picking up rubbish around town. All day. In the hot sun. Even though the rays of the sun were making me sweat, the dry wind had the rubbish flying in all directions.

Which was starting to really piss me off.

"What did you do?" a gruff voice asked me.

Glaring up at him, I noticed a man, probably in his 40's, looking at me. He had a patchy, going-grey beard and a beer gut.

"Not a big talker?" he asked, chuckling.

Turning my back to him, I sighed.

If I was "depressed" before, this was making it worse.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed a car pull up to the curb. Walking further away from the creepy man and the car, I decided I would try and find rubbish over the other side of the park.

It was when I heard his voice I stopped.

"Any of you know a girl name Sadie? She's meant to be here?"

"Not sure," the man replied gruffly. "Could be that one."

I assume he pointed to me, considering I was by far the youngest here. But I couldn't move. That voice. I hadn't heard it for a long time. It was one I could recognise in a heart beat.

I heard the dry leaves crunch under hit feet as he approached me.

How the hell did he know where I was?

Then it dawned on me. There was someone who told him. Of course.

"Sadie?" the voice asked. "Is that you?"

Slowly, I pivoted, coming face to face with him.

"Hey Isaac."

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What are your thoughts on Amelia dating Casey's brother?

And the fact the he has come to see her?