Chapter nine: "Insecurities."

I slowly turn to face the class. Although they couldn't properly see me, I could see them.

The curiosity of wanting to see the face under the bucket hat shone brightly in their eyes. Sadly for them, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing it.

My eyes were the reason why. Everyone has at least one part of themselves they hate the most and for me, it's my eyes. They were one of my insecurities. It's been like that since I was a child. My right eye was blue with brown specs in the middle, my left eye was brown but all around the edges, they were a concentrated dark green.

As a child, I was often called names and made fun of because of my eye color.

FLASHBACK:

Avery walked to school hand in hand with her mother. It was her first day of school and she couldn't be more excited than she already was.

She was so excited to make new friends, learn new things, and explore the world of growing up.

When they reached the school gates Avery's mom knelt down to Avery's eye level.

"You excited?" She asked her daughter.

"I'm so excited. Super, super excited!" Avery clapped her small hands as she looked around at all the other children coming into the school.

"That's great. When you come home you can tell me all about it, OK?"

"Yes!" Avery squealed. Her mother gave her a hug and a kiss on the forehead and watched as her daughter ran into the school.

"My name is Avery and I'm six. I hope we can all be best friends." Avery introduced herself with a toothy grin.

"I'm sure you'll make lots of friends." Her teacher encouraged with a kind smile.

"I have a question?" A child raised their hand.

The teacher gave him permission to speak. "Why are your eyes like that?"

"Ya, it's so weird."

"You look like the witch's cat in a book I read with my mommy."

Avery gaped at her classmates in shock at how mean they were being. She wanted to cry but didn't want to show any form of weakness at all. This just showed how strong-willed she was.

The teacher could see Avery was upset so she hushed the children and told them not to make any rude remarks about others' appearances.

Children were too truthful about things. On some occasions it was good but most of the time it wasn't and in this case, it certainly was not.

Sadly for Avery from that day on she found different ways to shield her eyes from others. But as she grew older she realized there was no point in trying to hide anymore. But sometimes when she felt uncomfortable or was in a new and unfamiliar environment she kept her head down to cover her eyes.

END OF FLASHBACK:

"My name is Avery... Daly and I'm sixteen. I hope we can be friends. I'm also from England which is why my accent is like this." I say.

"That's great but if you wouldn't mind could you please take off your hat." Ms. Arnold's kindly asks.

I hesitantly bring my hand up to my hat and take it off. When I do I look up at the class and see and hear some gasp and murmurs. I'm pretty sure it's about my eyes.

"Woah your eyes are cool."

"Yeah."

"Omg, she could be a, like, face model."

I almost smile.

Almost.

But as usual, I don't.

"Take a seat anywhere you like." Ms. Arnold's tells me and I nod my head and go towards an empty seat in the middle of a classroom.

I sit next to a dark-skinned girl with brown curly hair and when she smiled at me it felt so contagious that I almost smiled too.

Almost.

"I'm Faith Olivers." She introduces herself.

"Avery Daly. As you just heard a few seconds ago." I say.

Ms. Arnold's let us do what we want in the class since it's our first day back and I get to know Faith.

From the way she's been acting she seemed like a nice person with a great personality. She was always smiling too which makes her really pretty.

It would be cool to smile like her too but I guess it'll take time.

"Come sit with me at lunch?" Faith asks me hopefully as we stop by her locker after three boring classes.

"Uhh, are you sure? You really don't have to." I tell her worried that she was only doing it because she felt she had to.

"Are you kidding? I'm one hundred percent sure." She smiles at me.

We walk down the busy student filled halls until we reach the cafeteria.

There were many people seated here. I even spotted my 'brothers' with their friends. I followed Faith as we navigated our way through tables and eventually she stopped at one and sat down.

There were two other girls there and three boys sitting at the table. If I were to take an educated guess they were Faith's friends.

"OK guys meet-" Faith starts.

"Avery Daly. The Daly brothers' sister that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere." One of the girls says squinting at me through her rather large glasses and resting her head on her hand as she studied me as an inspector would.

"You sound like a complete idiot Veronica." One of the boys says laughing.

"A creepy one to be exact." Faith laughs. I'm put through another round of introductions.

Veronica who spoke first was like the gossip girl of their friend group. She was very straightforward and fun to be with which is probably why she had so many friends that could tell her the latest tea. As in gossip. Brown hair and brown eyes and a petite physique.

Ron was the boy who made the remark about her being a complete idiot. Whereas Marcus was the one who called her creepy. Ron had dirty blonde hair that was tied into a bun at the top of his head that looked pretty cool and grey eyes and tanned skin while Marcus had short brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes.

Elena and Gray had ginger hair and green eyes with loads of freckles dotted on their faces from the summer sun. Elena was a sophomore and her brother Gray was a junior and he often sat with them when his friends weren't there. It was the first time I saw siblings willingly sit with each other at school since most of the time they'd be anywhere but. They seemed quiet too.

We eat our lunch together. It was mostly them talking while I listened but I didn't mind. Their conversation was quite entertaining.

"What do you have next?" Snapping out of my thoughts I realized it was Ron talking to me.

"I have AP Literature next. What about you guys?" I ask putting down my drink and looking around the table.

"Me too," Marcus said smiling. Veronica had AP Literature too so we all decided to walk together.

The bell rang and the cafeteria was slowly emptying as students went off to their classes.

"Se you guys later." Faith says and she goes off to her next class that sadly wasn't with us. Elena, Gray, and Ron also follow suit.

While we walked down the halls towards the class someone bumps into me.

"Sorry." The person says and quickly turns towards the school entrance probably skipping the rest of their classes.

My eyes followed him as he walks and quirk my head to the side as he seemed strangely familiar. "Who was that?"

"His name is Camryn. I'd stay away from him if I were you." Marcus says with a serious look in his face. When he says the name Camryn my eyes widen. I shake my head thinking nothing of it. There are plenty of people in the world also called Camryn so it can't be him. Right?

"Rumour has it that he's been dealing and that's he's in with the wrong crowd," Veronica says like a true gossip girl.

"So a gang basically?" I frown.

"Yup. He was in juvie for two years and he just came back. Again rumor has it he got caught trying to sell drugs to someone and was in some gang shooting." Veronica says smiling proudly that she knows this.

"Interesting," I say nodding my head at the new information I've received.

"But whatever he's not important. What is important is that there's a party this weekend. A senior is throwing it, we should go." Marcus says full of excitement.

Veronica agrees instantly and they both turn to me. "What?"

"You're going!" They say in unison and I almost smile. Almost.