Anastasia

I was busy placing my books in my locker, my eye catching the end of the bandage on my wrist from what I had done early today.

I woke up with a groan, my body shivering from being naked and my body covered in dry blood. I suppose that happens when you fall asleep in a pool of your own blood.

Sadly, the nightmares still came last night.

"You did this to me!" Gisele's cries appear in all of them. Tormenting me and making me wish the cuts I had done before sleeping didn't heal so quickly. I wish I could bleed out slowly and peacefully.

I focus on my wrist, as my other hand comes up to pull my sleeve down. I hope no one else saw it. My mind is already thinking of the blade in my back pocket. My mind is telling me to use it, to do what I should've done last night.

"What the fuck?" I hear as my hair is pulled back, and my head is thrust into my open locker door.

"Hopefully, this beating takes longer to heal," the voice says.

I hear a crack, feeling blood rush down my mouth as I realize my nose is broken. My hands come up to hold it, the grip on my hair loosening and allowing me to get away.

I push past Megan and Tanisha, both of them laughing. Harley is behind me, cackling.

"Seriously, what the hell happened? She looks like she didn't even take a hit from us?" Tanisha says, still laughing as I run to the bathroom.

Everyone is moving out of my way, most of them staring at me and laughing, others avoiding eye contact and acting like nothing is happening.

I push the door open to a thankfully empty bathroom. My left hand is still gripping the bridge of my nose as my right hand is under it, trying to catch the blood before it spills everywhere.

I go straight to the mirror, checking how bad the damage is, but I'm thankful to see my nose has stopped bleeding.

My nose is already healing. It has a slight bump on the bridge and a minor cut, but otherwise the internal damage seems to be repaired. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." I say, knowing that my healing powers were going to cause the bump.

I take some tissues, wet them and use it to clean up my face, gently pressing it against my nose as I clean up all the blood. My eyes are full of unshed tears, the damage to my nose causing them to swell. They most likely will be bruised by the end of the day. I doubt my healing ability will have completely healed my nose and eyes by the end of the day.

As soon as my face is clean, I hear the bell ring. I decided to wait a few minutes before leaving the bathroom. Hopefully I'll be able to leave and go home without bumping into anyone.

I look into the mirror one last time, making sure I have cleaned up all the blood before pushing off it and walking towards the door. I keep my head down as I walk out of the bathroom. I bump into something hard.

"Not again," I say, my hand coming up to hold my nose, trying to stop the blood from pouring out of it again.

Who the hell is walking the hallways so late? I look up, my eyes coming into contact with a green pair; I stare into them, my bleeding nose forgotten as I feel complete. My heartbeat picks up its pace, beating as if it has a purpose now. For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm not alone. I feel like I have found my purpose.

The anger dies on my lips. Instead, a whimper comes out.

Derek's eyes widened in shock. His heartbeat is so fast and loud I can't help but focus on it. The way it beats with mine, making a song that is every bit as unique as it is beautiful.

And that's all I do, even when he grabs me by my shoulders and gently pushes me back into the bathroom. I focus on the sound of it, trying to memorize it, so that I can remind myself of it later.

"Fuck, how? Why did it have to be you?" Derek says, his hands combing through his brown hair, his muscles stretching the sleeves of his black shirt. I focus on his muscles, unconsciously licking my lips, my Omega purring at the sight of my mate.

"Listen, I know you don't like me, but why the whole pushing me into a bathroom thing?" I say, confused and giddy at finding my mate, even if it was Derek.

Fuck, it was Derek. My brain finally registers what is happening.

It's Medeia's Derek, her boyfriend for years.

I look down, focusing on my shoes, dreading the words I know are about to come.

"Look Alice," Derek starts.

Him getting my name wrong hurts more than it should. "It's Ana," I say, my voice soft as I still look away from him. Not wanting him to see the hurt in my eyes.

Derek nods his head before starting again.

"Look, Ana, I can't do this. I have Medeia and well, if it's between Medeia and you, I would always choose her," he says. The way he says it causes my heart to break as the realization that I never had a chance dawn on me.

His eyes glance at me and then at the door, showing how uncomfortable he is about this whole situation.

"I can't deal with this today; I'm planning on asking Medeia to marry me and you come in here and ruin it." He continues, the weight of his words and what they mean hit me like a brick wall.

"How the hell did I ru…" I try, wanting to understand how being my mate could ruin that, but he just interrupts me.

"Fuck, how am I supposed to do this?" he runs his hand through his hair.

"Do what? What the hell is wrong with me being your mate? It's not like I'm asking you to fucking marry me?" I say, feeling brave, even if it is just for a bit. I know it's because of my irritation at him making this out to be my fault.

"You don't get it, do you? Being seen with you is social suicide, so imagine being mated with the stupid cursed girl?" he says, his voice full of venom. His eyes look me up and down before he scoffs.

The notion makes me flinch as I take a few steps away from me. He sighs at the hurt he can clearly see on my face.

"Look, I'm sorry," he says now, his voice calm, "But can we please just keep this between us for now? I want to hold off on breaking the bond with you. I have seen how painful it can be."

His words make me feel guilty. I immediately imagine Jacob and what he has been through. It must be bad if Derek doesn't want to break the bond with me.

"But just don't say anything," he finishes, making me scoff at the thought of me actually telling someone about my mate and how he doesn't want to be with me or reject me.

He turns his back on me when he sees me nod my head. I roll my eyes as soon as his back is turned.

"Fuck, like I could ever love her," he says to himself as he walks towards the door.

"What did you say?" I ask, thinking he was speaking to me.

I see him his shoulder move up and down as he sighs, his shoulders tense before he turns back around to face me.

"I could never love you!" he says harshly, making me step back, as if I were punched.

"How do you know you could never love me?" I ask, my voice shaking from heartbreak.

"Love you? You?" he scarfed, failing to disguise the arrow-sharp disgust captured so perfectly in the tone of his voice.

"Really? You, the girl no one can stand, the girl whose parents left her because they couldn't even love her. Seriously, Ana, how do you expect someone like me to ever love you?" he adds, his words stinging as they remind me of how different he and I really are.

"Only an omega like you could think she has a chance with the Alpha's beta. Why would I downgrade from someone as perfect as Medeia to someone as worthless as you?" He adds, glaring at me as he does so.

"A person raised on survival. Who's only reference to 'true' love is from little girl books and regurgitated Hollywood scripts? You think you

deserve love like the rest of us? People like you disgust me," he finally admitted.

"I could never love you. I don't plan on disappointing myself like that," he says.

"FUCK YOU!" I get out, my voice louder than what I thought it would be. I had to at least try and defend myself.

"What's going on here?" Derek and I look towards the door, seeing Medeia standing in the entrance, anger clear on her face.

"Nothing baby, she just asked me to do something for her and I said no," Derek says, his arms wrapping around Medeia as she reaches him.

She smirks at me before pulling Derek into a passionate kiss. The sight of her kissing my mate causes the air to be knocked out of my lungs and my body to fill with unbearable pain. It's as if my body is being pierced by millions of needles at the same time. I can't help but grimace.

Derek must sense it because he looks at me while kissing Medeia, his mouth leaving hers as he rests his head against hers.

"I'll see you later baby, Jacob and I have a lot to talk about," he says, kissing her before quickly leaving.

Once the door shuts, Medeia's eyes are on me. The poison in them causes me to step back, my back hitting the wall as she stalks towards me.

"Ana, sweet, sweet little Ana. Don't you ever speak to Derek again!" she says, her hand brushing my hair before she pulls my hair.

I groan at the pain.

"If you try anything with him, I will make sure you regret your life. You're a worthless slut," she slaps me across the face as she says those words.

My cheek is stinging from the pain as I hold it.

I watch her wash her hands before leaving the bathroom, most likely washing 'the curse away' from touching me. I see the door close behind her. My legs feel like jelly as I slide down the wall, bringing my knees up to my chest so I can rest my head on them.