If I Die Young..

Chapter One.





         My name is Dawn Wood. I am fourteen years old. I moved to the city of Victoria last year from Thetis Island, a small gulf island just off of Vancouver Island. I fit in perfect there, I had a big farm with horses. But my father passed away from Pancreatic cancer just two days after my fourteenth birthday, so my mother had to find a job, and the only place she could find was in Victoria. So we had so move to the city. I'd visited Victoria a few times when I was younger, but I don't like the city. I didn't fit in at my new school, not at all. Everyone gave me odd looks when I passed them. But most of them had fancy clothes and perfect hair. I got hand-me-downs from my older cousin, and hadn't had a hair cut in five years. I always wore my dark brown hair parted on the side and back in a braid. All of the girls there also wore a lot of make-up. I've never liked make-up, and I'll probably never wear it.

         Life has been really hard for my mother. I still hear her crying every night about my father, and the stress of her new job. I give her her own space, and I never complain about how I miss home. There's not much to do now that I've had to sell my pony, Willow, so I decided to start writing this.

         Yesterday was my first day at school. I heard people whispering about me. They were talking about how weird I was, which I found kind of weird myself, because they hadn't even spoken to me. A blond girl named Maia passed me a note during my first class. It said:

         Hey

You're really pretty, Maybe we can be friends! why don't you meet me outside at lunch? I'll be by the flagpoles.

-Maia (:

         I thought it was going to be hard to make friends here, but someone already wants to be my friend! I was excited, so I went to the flagpoles like the note said. Maia was there waiting for me.

         "Hi! Shawn, right?" she said.

         "Dawn, And you're Maia right?" I asked.

         "Oh sorry! And yes, I'm Maia. So where are you from?"

         "I'm from Thetis island" I said shyly.

         "Oh cool! Well, it was nice to meet you Dawn, but I have to go now! Why don't you come by the mall after school? We could go shopping!" Maia suggested, a little too excitedly.

         "Hmm.. I'll have to ask my mom, but I'd love to! Thank you so much for inviting me" I smiled.

         The bell rang and I walked to my next class. The day was pretty long, and people kept staring at me oddly. I ignored them and continued working until the day was over. I walked to my house.

         "Mom, I'm home!" I yelled.

         "Oh hey hunny, how was your first day?" she asked.

         "It was really great!" I said "A girl even asked me to go shopping with her after school.. can I go?"

         "Sure, I'll drive you, okay?"

         "Thanks mom!" I said, and we left for the mall.

         When we got to the mall, I didn't see Maia anywhere. I figured she'd just forgotten. So we went back home.



         The next day at school, people kept pointing and laughing at me. Some people even called me names. I ignored them and kept walking, looking at my feet. I walked right into a boy and blushed. He looked at me.

         "Watch where the hell you're going, ugly b*tch!" he yelled. Everyone started laughing at me. I tried to ignore it, but it was getting to be too much, so I ran into the bathroom and started crying. Maia and a few of her friends walked in.

         "Look guys, the hillbilly's sad!" Maia said, and they all started laughing. I looked at Maia confused, and ran out of the bathroom. The bell rang and I walked to class, careful not to embarrass myself. I sat down at the back of the class. I couldn't get myself to stop crying though, and when my teacher walked in, she looked at me and asked if something was wrong. I shook my head and told her it was just allergies. People passed me notes all during that last class. Most of them said things like: Go back to the barn you hoe, You're the ugliest person I've ever seen, Were you raised by cows or something? I didn't understand why they were being so mean to me. I was glad that was the last class of the day. When the bell rang I walked home, and went straight to my room, locked the door, played my iPod, and cried.



         All of this bullying continued for weeks. The sadness was unbearable and I needed to find a way to cope. People kept calling me fat and ugly. So I started to skip my meals, sometimes I didn't eat for days at a time, and when I did eat, I'd throw it up after.

         One day at school, Maia pushed me out of her way. I slammed against a locker and fell to the ground. Then I realized my wrist was bleeding. Everyone gasped and laughed at me "Haha she slits her wrists too! What a wuss!" The principal saw me, and sent me home. So I walked home. But when I walked passed the kitchen, I saw a knife sitting on the counter. I looked down at my wrist, it was dripping blood onto the carpet so I grabbed the knife and ran to the bathroom. I locked the door and wrapped my wrist in toilet paper. Hot tears were streaming down my face as I held the knife to my wrist, and cut.