I looked down the stairs to see Nixon waiting like a watch dog with a rather impatient scowl on his face. I wasn't sure if I was ready to face him but Valerie nudged me down the stairs to go to classes. Nixon's head shot up in my direction so that ours eyes met in a smoldering showdown. As the puzzle pieces of my memory came back I noticed that the intensity of my feelings towards Nixon were increasing rapidly. I wasn't ready to acknowledge these emotions that I didn't understand but I realized that this 'bond' he spoke of connected us in unimaginable ways.

"Rowen", Nixon uttered softly as I reached the bottom step. "I wanted to talk to you later. I have so much I need to say", he told me with his eyes cast downward. I wondered, if I felt his pain, did he feel the pain that I had spent the past 4 years undergoing. If he had felt the pain I endured, I wished he would have stepped in to support me. Instead he had spent the past 4 years filled with hatred towards me for something I didn't know. There was too much between us now that I feared we couldn't turn back time.

"I'm not sure what we have to say to each other", I said trying to defer him from whatever he had planned to tell me. I felt the pain in his heart from my rejection towards his advances. I knew he wanted to redeem himself but he was the furthest person from my mind. "Did you finish the essay for English class. It's due today. I know it must have been hard for you to find something nice to say about me", I said bitterly.

"You're wrong about me Rowen. I finished my essay a while ago. I just wanted to talk. Later tonight?" He queried anxiously. I didn't want to fix the situation between us right now. It was easier to leave Nixon as a person who could continue hating me forever. I expected our friendship to remain one of passive indifference. Suddenly he was trying to turn the tables but the damage was already done. I wasn't sure if we would ever be able to reconcile with each other.

"Maybe. I think I can fit you in for later", I remarked as I walked out the door. It didn't really matter what I told him because tonight I would be gone. I looped arms with Valerie as we trailed out the door to go to school.

Nixon raced in front of the both of us mumbling under his breath. I wasn't quite sure why he was running so quickly but he looked determined. When he returned he was clutching my backpack with a slightly uneven smile on his face.

"I have your backpack from last night. You left it behind so I got it for you. I didn't look inside I promise", he said. I ripped the backpack from his hands but didn't respond to his kindness. Instead I took my seat in the back of the car sulking over the fact that nothing was sacred anymore.

The car ride to the school became even more awkward as Ember joined us. She was sitting next to Nixon in the front seat. I kept glaring daggers at the back of Nixon's seat as he chatted away with Ember like there was no bad blood between us. I couldn't believe that everyone had forgiven her so easily for all the horrible things she had done.

On top of her atrocious behavior, there was also the matter of the pictures she had taken that night. I had my own bone to pick with her as soon as we were alone. In fact I planned on approaching her the moment we were alone.

We arrived early to school this morning but it was already crowded. Every single eye landed on us as we exited Nixon's vehicle. I was certain that people were wondering what Ember Price was doing hanging out with the rejects. It was surprising but no one dared to approach us as we made our way towards the school. Valerie started to follow me to class but I stuck up my hand to stop her.

"I have to talk to Ember", I said seriously. Valerie nodded as she gave me the space I desired. In an effort to confront Ember I trailed behind her until we reached the hallway by our classroom. I pulled her into a nearby classroom then I closed the door behind us. Finally I was face to face the girl who had bullied me for so long.

"Gabby", Ember said with her eyes cast downwards. "I didn't know you were alive", she said looking down at the ground with a guilty expression. I felt like Ember might know something very important about my past.

"I'm not Gabby", I said in a firm tone. I'm Rowen, the girl you beat up, tortured and tore down every moment you could get", I said strongly. It had taken me great courage to finally face a manageable demon in my life.

"Rowen, I beg you for forgiveness. I have always been disturbed. My sister", Ember said as she kept her eyes trained downwards. "I will never hurt you again. I will change my ways just like I promised Val", she said as she tried to bow down before me. I hated seeing this submissive side of Ember because it made me feel emotionally conflicted.

"No, you don't get to call her that. And to be honest I don't believe you", I told her. "You said that you didn't send me those photos. If you claim you are going to change make it right by telling me the truth", I said harshly.

"I didn't send you those photos", she said as she stared directly into my eyes. "I was supposed to take those pictures for my father. Valerie stopped me from giving them to him", Ember scoffed sourly.

"Why did your father want my photos", i queried in a curious voice. Ember moved her gaze back to the ground guiltily. If I didn't know Mr. Price then what could he possibly want from me, I thought.

"He said he wanted to make sure the past remained that way", Ember said darkly. "He was good friends with your father. I didn't know it was you. I thought they killed you", Ember explained to me.

"I'm very much alive. I need to know something. I will believe that you burned those pictures like you said you did. But first you have to explain how those pictures ended up in my locker", I demanded violently. I slammed my backpack down onto a nearby desk with a strength I didn't even know I possessed. The strength of my slam managed to make Ember cower in fear.

"Did you take a look at the photo's you claim I took?", Ember said as she brought her quivering hand up to the zipper of my backpack. She dumped the entirety of the photos from my backpack onto the table. "Look at them closely. I can assure you these are not the photos I took", Ember said nervously.

It was then that the first trickle of students appeared outside the classroom watching the drama unfold with curious eyes. No one tried to enter the room but I couldn't risk anyone seeing those photos. I ripped the photos from the table then shoved them quickly into my backpack. As I was doing a particular photo in the batch fell onto the floor.

"Oh god", I choked out. I stared at the picture as I picked it up from the floor many times over. The picture showed Ember cutting my hair while all of her posse stood around laughing. Every single person who could have taken the picture was in the picture. This could only mean one thing for certain. "Oh god, if you didn't take these, then who did", I said in an exhausted voice. I had a feeling I already knew the person responsible for taking the personal photos. I just didn't want to believe there was someone that evil out there waiting for me.

"I'm not sure who took those photos but I promise from now on I won't hurt you", Ember said. "This is my second chance and I'm not going to ruin it. I won't go back to my father", Ember said as she sat down in the seat next to me. Everything Ember told me effectively eradicated any thoughts I had about her.

"What are you all doing standing outside the door?", Mrs Grendyl yelled as the bell rang loudly. The students that had been standing outside the classroom awkwardly watching now trickled in cautiously. I was left to my own imagination that filled with images of the one person who hated me so intensely. This person would have done everything to exert his authority over me; Samuel.