Cold is my most vivid impression of Alaska, and even though I moved to this town two months ago, I still cannot get used to its cold.

There were very few people in this town, and maybe that's one of the reasons why it's even colder. Seattle was much nicer, and I knew it because there were people there with whom I could relax.

Since I’ve been here, even though I was with my mom, she wished more than anyone that I wasn't her daughter. I tried every way I could to please her, but her eyes remained cold as a stranger's, and she thought I was to blame for her terrible life.

Yes, my father abandoned her, so I became a way for her to vent her anger. I thought she'd get better when she remarried, but it's obviously gotten worse for me. My stepfather, Jack, was an asshole.

While I was standing in front of the mirror looking at the clothes I had chosen to wear today, obviously not very fashionable ones, or nice for that matter, my mother yelled that I was going to be late for school.

I had to close my eyes tight and take a deep breath. As I went downstairs, my mother, Marilyn, was waiting in the kitchen.

“Is that what you’re wearing for your first day of school?” Marilyn scoffed, looking me up and down. “Well, not everyone can afford new clothes like you.” I shot back with a sneer.

I walked to the fridge to look for something to eat. But Marilyn barged over and slammed the door shut. I couldn't take my little finger back in time and it got red and swollen as the door was jammed shut on it.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? You know the rules. You want to eat, you buy your own food.” She snapped at me.

“I haven’t been paid yet.” I held back the pain and said as calmly as I could.

“I don’t care. Why don’t you call Celie? I know that she loves to help you out? We haven’t received a check from her since we moved here two months ago. She won't change her promise, right?” Marilyn said with a look of contempt in her eyes as I finally freed my finger from the fridge door.

I took a deep breath. Marilyn was my mom, but she acted like Celie was my mom, and I'd rather Celie was.

“Celie said that it could take a while since we moved. And it’s not like this town gets a whole lot of mail on a regular basis.” I gave up, I fingered the few coins in my pocket, I could find some food outside to eat.

“Don’t be a smart ass to me.” She glared in my eyes. Whew, I had to get out of here. But a body that smelled of alcohol stopped me and he tried to hug me.

“Going to school? Remember to stay away from those stupid high school kids, okay?” Disgusting! I quickly pushed him away, Jack, my stepfather always seized any gap where my mom wasn't around and tried to flirt with me.

For two months, I'd told Marilyn about the way Jack treated me, but every time she angrily told me to cut the bullshit. She despised my terribly flat figure, and how could Jack, whom she loved dearly, betray her? I couldn't handle the way Marilyn was treating me anymore, and in another year I'd be out of here and away from these assholes.

I walked out. I actually hated the cold.

I looked around at the woods that were surrounding our house with no neighbors in sight at all. I looked back at the dilapidated two-story bare wood house that I had to call home but should really be condemned and I let out a sigh as I heard Jack yelling inside before I started walking down the long driveway.

“It’s alright Ella. We’ve only got one more year of this and then we’re out of here.” Ava said. She was always in my head when I was alone and she knew that everyone around me didn't believe she existed.

When I tried to explain Ava's existence to Marilyn, she got me to a psychiatrist, that's Celie.

I had no expectations for this treatment. However Celie didn't treat me like I was insane, and for the first time, I looked a stranger straight in the eye.

She told me that Ava did exist and all I had to do was accept her and treat her as my closest friend. She gave me a wink and said that a voice existed in her head as well.

I joked about whether we were aliens, and Celie didn't give me a straight answer.

She wanted me to find out for myself when I turned18. And, she also promised me that she would provide me with the support I needed to live.

I refused, but she told me that a mysterious man had asked her to treat me that way. It was a secret between Celie and I. I never told Marilyn that the check was sponsored by the man behind Celie.

I tried several times to explore the man's information, but Celie said that the donor's only request was to keep his identity secret. I didn't go any further because I really needed the money, and I didn't think there was a situation that could be worse than the current one.

First at home, then at school, and although when I came to this town on my first day I foresaw that I would be the target of the people who thought they owned the town, I didn't expect it to be in the way that I would be tormented.

After about half an hour, I finally made it to my high school, which was in a far suburb away from town, and it was surrounded by tall trees.

The first time I saw the school, I thought someone was pulling my leg. It actually looked like a castle. An abandoned castle. There weren’t even that many kids in this town so why would they need such a massive building to go to school.

When I finally got to the high school, I stood out the front for a moment and I looked up at the large building where kids were going inside with their friends and they were all laughing and carrying on.

I checked myself over one more time and I realized that the sleeve of my jacket had rolled up a little, revealing a bruise on my arm so I quickly pulled my sleeve down.

I didn’t want anyone seeing it or asking questions about it. And I walked into the building and found my way to the office. I got my class schedule and everything that I would need and then I walked out and I started looking for where my first class was.

When I got to my first class almost everyone stopped talking so they could stare at the new girl. I don’t know why I was surprised. This was a really small town. Of course they would know who I was.

But I wasn’t expecting them to start mocking me. One of the guys in particular, wearing a letterman jacket, was at the front of it all.

“Oh. She’s the bitch from Seattle.” He said.

“How the hell can you even leave the house wearing clothes like that? I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything like that.”A girl said.

“She looks like such a loser with those glasses.” Another girl said. And I realized that I hadn’t seen anyone in this town wearing glasses. I was the only one.

“It’s alright Ella. Just one year.” Ava said to me. So I exhaled deeply and Iwalked to the only spare seat and sat down with my bag next to me. The kids didn’t stop until the teacher came into the room and I was happy when he did.They were all still whispering and staring at me,but at least they weren’t saying anything out loud anymore. I took notes the whole way through class because school was too important to me to fail. But as soon as class was over, I dreaded the sound of that bell. It meant that I was on my own again. I stood up and started putting things into my backpack that had holes all over it.

“Look.She can’t even afford a decent bag for her books. How pathetic can she be?”The jock laughed, with his friends joining in.

“I heard that her mother is a cleaner at some filthy old nursing home. No wonder she can’t afford anything decent.” A girl said.

I was hoping they would give it a rest after they got it out of their system, but I wasn’t that lucky. Of course I wasn’t. I left that class without saying anything to anyone and I got to my next class and I found a seat that no one was sitting in. But the bullying and teasing didn’t stop because most of the same kids were in this class as well.

They were relentless but then I noticed it got really quiet as they stopped their laughing and whispering and their teasing of me. I looked up and I saw two incredibly gorgeous tall, extremely muscled twins walk into the room with black hair and clean shaven that had the attention of everyone in the room.

As soon as they walked into the room they were focused straight on me, walking towards me without blinking or hesitation.

I looked straight at them and my eyes narrowed as I saw that they were approaching me. I was pleading with my eyes that they wouldn’t come to me, I just wanted them to leave me alone. I wasn’t the girl that they wanted.

Tristan reached over and grabbed my hand in his hand and his twin Nathan pulled me straight into a hug against his solid chest.

I could feel his heart beating like it was going to explode. The look in his eye was enough to tell me that he was excited to see me.

“Remember Ella, we’ve already asked you not to run away from this place.” Tristan said in his magnetic voice.

It was almost magical. I came back to my senses long enough to push them away, which took everything I had, because Nathan had me in such a tight hug.

“I told you two. Leave me alone. I’m sick of your stupid little pranks.” I said, still trying to push them off of me.

I got even more intense stares from the rest of the class during that lesson. Tristan sat on one side of me and Nathan sat on the other. Tristan was always trying to reach over and hold my hand, but I would pull it away and make it look like I was taking down notes from the teacher.

“It’s alright Ava. Just one more year until we are out of here.” I said as I was walking to my locker after class when someone pushed their elbow into my ribs and I hit the lockers that were lining the wall.

I turned to see that it was Leia. A real fan of the twins and her lackeys that always followed her everywhere.

But Leia walked really close to me and got in my face.

“You stay the hell away from the twins. Do you understand me? They’re mine.” She threatened me through gritted teeth.