by Sara Schoen
Rebellion Project
By Sara Schoen
Rebellion Project
Copyright © 2016 by Sara Schoen.
All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: June 2016
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
www.limitlesspublishing.com
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-657-2
ISBN-10: 1-68058-657-2
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
This story is for everyone who’s afraid to chase their dreams because of a small voice in your head that says you can’t. It’s for everyone who’s scared to tell anyone what they want in fear of failing and letting down those around them. This is so you don’t wait, so you don’t let the opportunity pass. So you don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, and so you can look them in the eyes and say, “Watch me,” while you prove them wrong. You can do whatever you want. It’s your life. Live it for you, and take the chances you can.
Keep believing in yourself and your dreams no matter what.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
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Chapter 1
He’s Bad News
Monday. To everyone around me it signaled the end of their weekend and the start of another school week. They were forced to rush through the homework they had put off to party all weekend. Whether it was drinking Friday night and sleeping through the hangover the next morning or waiting until Saturday night and goofing off on Sunday, the same few continued to neglect their work. How did they expect to pass classes, get good grades, and then go to college? Getting good grades in high school wasn’t difficult, but they couldn’t keep slacking off and expect the same results when it came to college.
Yet they didn’t see it that way.
To them it was just another Monday. Another week they had to get through until the weekend. To me, it was pure torture for a different reason.
“Hey, GG, can I copy your homework?” a guy asked jokingly, already knowing what my answer would be as I walked past them to get to my locker.
I ignored him, so the girl with him answered for me. “She wouldn’t let you copy her homework if you married her first, and you still wouldn’t get in her panties then. They’re in too tight of a twist from the pole she has stuck up her ass.”
I sighed, trying to brush off their words, but after so many years it had piled up. It began in middle school when I skipped seventh and eighth grade to enter high school two years early. I became the butt of everyone’s jokes because they needed something to make fun of. Whether it was my intellect or how I didn’t have friends in my grade because I skipped straight to ninth grade and was younger than everyone else, they always had something, and what stuck the best was my good girl reputation. They didn’t agree with my moral compass, and the constant backlash had made it more difficult to shake off their words, even the ones who made it seem like a compliment were typically giving backhanded remarks.
“Hey, GG, you look nice today,” another guy said, offering me a smile before he added, “glad to see the white still works on you.” A smirk spread across his face as he walked past, proud of his comment on my virginity status.
A break never came. I could never have a moment when I didn’t feel scrutinized and mocked for my choices. As the insults and jokes just kept coming, I wished I had begged my parents to let me stay in my grade. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so ostracized from my peers. I pushed past people and tried to ignore their comments as I finally made it to my locker. I could focus on something other than the adults—and I use that term loosely—I was forced to be around for school. I had to admit while Mondays were typically the worst day, because they would use their fun as ammunition to taunt me, this was nothing compared to the last four years of my life.
I had been ridiculed about my goodie-goodie reputation, or GG for short, as they started to affectionately call me freshman year, for as long as I could remember, and as a senior in high school now I hated it more each day. GG stood for goodie-goodie, goodie-two-shoes, teacher’s pet, even tattletale for the few times I told the teachers someone cheated on a test or were breaking the rules, like cutting class. I stand by the fact that rules were made for a reason, so logically, rules are made to be followed. It wasn’t my fault they broke the rules, but it was always mine they got caught for it.
“Hey, GG,” I heard the all too familiar voice of Kayden Daniels say behind me. “Do you mind not telling Mr. Nelson about the homework that’s due today? I didn’t do it, but I’d like to know now if you’re going to be a bitch about it and tell him anyway, so I can copy off of someone else.”
I rolled my eyes with an accompanying scoff, a habit I had formed since meeting Kayden. Most times I didn’t know I did it until my mother called me out for it, but it was hard not to when Kayden thought he could charm his way through life. At first I was also charmed by him, but not anymore. Now he was one of the worst when it came to making fun of me—in fact, he started it—but to everyone else, Kayden was the perfect guy. I guess he didn’t like, after the last time he bullied me to get his way, when I told the principal where he and his friends snuck off to smoke and where they’d take their girl of the day. Needless to say, since then he’s been relentless.
“Hey GG, I’m talking to you,” he stated as he slammed my locker shut, almost catching a few of my fingers between the wall and the door while he was at it.
“Watch it, Kayden!” I yelled as I spun around to face him. Once upon a time we were friends, but grade school friendships were quickly shattered on his rise to popularity. I became a stepping stone and he left me behind. He became the star soccer player at our high school. I wasn’t even sure what position he played to be honest, but he had a scholarship lined up for college next year and most of the girls at our school made a habit of swooning over him. There were times I saw him kissing three different girls on the same day, just a few minutes apart. It was disgusting to think about.
“I’m so sorry, GG.” He smirked, knowing I hated the nickname. I’d once made the stupid mistake of asking him to stop. Something I attributed to being thirteen. I’d missed out on how the teasing would play out becau
se I skipped two years of school. Was it really because a guy liked me? I doubt it. I took it as an insult, not a compliment. I didn’t have any friends to help me through it. They had been in a different school about two miles away, while I was forced to experience high school alone. If I’d stayed in middle school, then maybe I would have learned that he would continue because I disliked it, and ever since then he’s used it to address me every time he sees me.
“No, you’re not.” I sighed sadly before I opened my locker again and started to move books around. I put in the books I needed near the end of the day into my locker, and took the ones out for my first few classes and put them in my backpack. I hated coming to my locker during the day, and took care to avoid needing to rearrange my notebooks again, because Kayden would be around to make my day just a little worse.
“Don’t be upset, GG. It’s only a matter of time before you find someone to tattle on, and then you’ll be your old self in no time,” Kayden stated with a smirk and a lifted eyebrow. He knew I was hoping he’d say something supportive or friendly because I wanted to put an end to our constant bickering, but of course he took the opportunity to make fun of me instead. Why did I have to skip and force myself to be out of place?
I didn’t get the chance to tell him he was nicer when he was younger because the second I opened my mouth Cassidy Parks walked up and wrapped her body around Kayden, effectively cutting me off from the conversation.
“Kayden, what are you doing? You were supposed to meet me in the wrestling room for a little wrestling of our own,” she said in a breathy sigh as she tried to sound seductive. I have never tried to seduce someone, but judging from the eye roll Kayden flashed and the exasperated sigh that escaped his lips, she wasn’t doing it right.
“Well, we can’t go now because you just told GG where we would be, which means that teachers would catch us and suspend us for getting caught a third time cutting class.” He looked at me with a thankful expression, but he changed it to despair and sported a sad pout when Cassidy glanced up at him.
“I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you, GG,” Cassidy scoffed as she stood to her full height. I wanted to fight the rude response that danced on the tip of my tongue. I preferred to be silent, unseen, but Cassidy had a way of pushing my buttons to bring out the worst in me.
“Sorry, Cassidy, but I can’t help that I make you realize you’re fake and not fooling anyone. I mean, I’ve seen puddles deeper than you, and children with more respect for themselves,” I replied as I glanced at her body wrapped provocatively around Kayden, who had a smile plastered on his lips. I slammed my locker shut and walked off without another word, but I could hear Kayden laughing behind me. I just couldn’t be sure whether he was laughing at me or with me. Knowing him, it was most likely at me, but the joke was on him because I already told Mr. Nelson that the project was due today, and there’s no way he could copy someone else’s short story and not get caught.
A smile curled onto my lips as I walked into English class and took my seat at the front. Even without assigned seats I always sat in the front. It made Parker Collins, my best and only friend since starting high school, annoyed because she hated sitting up front. She said something about not wanting to be too close to the teacher, but she would sit next to me every day without fail. I think she felt obligated to since she knew no one else would. They all avoided it so they wouldn’t be chastised like I was. I never realized how quickly distance came between friends in other grades until they were gone, not even my old friends from middle school talked to me for fear of being discounted and ridiculed as I was. Now I was lucky to even have someone sit next to me in class. It was upsetting. Then, as if on cue, Parker walked in and groaned when she saw where I was sitting. She fit in with almost everyone, and moved between the barriers of social circles easily. Too bad that social trait didn’t extend to me.
“Seriously, Lauren? Would it kill you to sit in the back just once?” Parker questioned as she slid into the seat next to me. I had to admit, it sounded nice to hear my actual name for once, even if Parker sounded annoyed. “Why are you smiling, anyway? We’re taking a test today. That shouldn’t make you happy.”
“I wouldn’t be able to focus if I sat in the back with you,” I replied, ignoring her comment about the test. We had to take it, there was no way around it. We’d studied all weekend for it, and were as prepared as we could be. “Then your grade would drop as well since you study with me.”
“I wouldn’t need to study with you if you would just let me copy the answers for the study guide,” Parker retorted as she flipped her long brown hair out of her face.
“But then you wouldn’t study,” I stated matter-of-factly.
“But I’d have the information in order for me to study when I’m not with you,” Parker replied. She hated that I didn’t even let her copy down my homework, but I didn’t want anyone to get good grades by just copying; if I had to do the work, then they should too.
I paused momentarily; no wonder Parker is my only friend. My reputation preceded me, and before I even met them they disliked me. Parker and I became friends when she got stuck with me as her lab partner in science our first two years here, and if that wasn’t enough our moms had forced us together as kids and again when I skipped straight to high school. She didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. She stuck around, but most people left me when social advancement was available. That’s depressing, I thought sadly as I looked toward the door.
My eye caught two people in the middle of a make-out session in the hallway. I grimaced momentarily at the sight of the public display of affection until I felt my heart longing for the closeness and adoration of a significant other. It was the one rule my father gave me that I didn’t like; I couldn’t date until after college.
A longing sigh left my lips just as the guy turned around to walk off. Of course, it was Kayden, with a triumphant smile on his lips. Our eyes met. I let out a groan. It just had to be him. It was always him. He smirked once he was sure I’d seen him. He lifted an eyebrow as if to say ‘tell me I’m good’ before he flashed me a curt wave. He even blew me a kiss before sauntering off, leaving his latest girl to wonder if she’d be Mrs. Daniels one day. I scoffed at him as I turned back in my seat and met Parker’s bright green eyes.
“What’s up?” she asked, an eyebrow lifted high on her forehead as she glanced between me and the door, attempting to see what I’d been looking at. There was nothing for her to see. If Kayden had still been there, she would have made the connection easily, and probably started another fight with him. Whenever I mentioned him, she would ask if he was making fun of me again. She liked to tell him off for it, and honestly I think he was scared of her at times. When she was with me he left me alone, or pretended he didn’t see me. I wasn’t sure what she said to him, but it worked in my favor.
“Nothing,” I said with a sigh as a few more people walked into class. They were late. As they passed by, they commented on my goodie-goodie reputation with snide remarks or by simply calling me GG. I felt a frown crease onto my face as I tried not to let it get to me, but I couldn’t help it. I was tired of being the butt of everyone’s jokes. I wanted it to stop, but I didn’t know how.
I glanced out the door again just as my teacher, Mrs. Kiggins, walked in and started talking. I noticed Kayden walking hand in hand with a different girl than before. This time he didn’t even look at me, but as the door shut he leaned in to kiss her. I didn’t understand what girls saw in him because he was a jerk, he drank underage, stole things and boasted about it, took girls’ virginity proudly then left them, and the list went on. He’s bad news, and I was thankful the door cut off the scene he was trying to rub in my face. He knew my parents’ rules, and he took every opportunity to show me what I was missing.
Chapter 2
Live a Little
I placed my coat on a hanger by the front door, as I walked into the house. I couldn’t fight the relief that washed over me, thrilled to finally be home
away from my peers. My shoes were put on a mat my father had designated for our family’s shoes years ago. He had done it so when I came inside and was messy from playing I wouldn’t track mud throughout the house and infuriate my mother. I grew to accept that everything had a place, and should be in its place. At least that’s how I was raised. The rules were strict at times, but it wasn’t so bad, it kept me in line and I could think of a few classmates who needed that more than I did.
Even though some rules were strict, my mother consistently became more open minded and lenient as I grew up. She said I needed more freedom, and more chances to make my own mistakes while I had them around. That way I wouldn’t panic when I moved away to college and didn’t have them around to help guide me. It was more than I could say about my father. He had a set plan for me since I was born, and I had grown to accept the plan over time, but a part of me still wished for more. Or at least for something different, because there is so much I want to do, and none of it includes becoming a doctor.
I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts as I walked into the kitchen to join my mother while she cooked. I took my assigned seat at the table and placed my bag down with a thud as I slid into my chair. She was so focused on cooking that she didn’t notice Parker walk in behind me, putting her shoes off to the side of the mat instead of on it, and roll her eyes when she saw me sitting down to do homework. She silently pleaded with me, hoping to convince me to go upstairs and do just about anything other than study.
I was about to give in and take a break before starting our homework when my mom spoke up, preventing me from leaving.
“It’s good to see you’re taking your future seriously and studying. Just don’t forget to fill out your application for college as soon as possible, it’s due next week.”
