Chapter 1

Kim wasn't feeling too good today. Not that she was in any way sick but then she just felt this emptiness in her. Something was going to go wrong with her life. Not that the way her life was going she really enjoyed it, but then she was really used to it.

Just then her hunch became real. Tasha, her sister approached her. If not that Kim didn't have the strength to stand up, she would have stood up and run before Tasha gets to her.

"........ Did you really say that to him? " Tasha shouted.

Tasha couldn't just understand her sister. Why would she just ignore the most handsome guy in their school whom all girls wish to talk to.

Kim looked at her not knowing what Tasha was talking about. She knew Tasha to be a trouble maker and she can make anything but cause trouble.

"Won't you answer me!" She bawled.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Kim said calmly.

She was already having enough of a headache.

"I'm talking about Paul," she said in anger.

Kim didn't know what her stress was. She's the one whom he talked with, not her.

"I'm not just interested in talking to anyone" Kim replied without looking at her sister who was boiling with anger.

"Don't give me that crap girl!" she bawled.

Tasha was one of the school hotties, she carries herself with so much regal that it shows vividly in how she walks. She doesn't particularly talk to Kim but today she came all because a news was passed to her that the cutest guy in their school tried to talk to her younger sister and he was ignored.

Kim on the other hand couldn't fathom the reason her so called elder sister was getting rattled up just because she ignored a guy.

"Why shout?" she asked, a bit irritated by her behaviour.

"Don't you dare ask me such questions. You, who is from nowhere, got a chance to speak to Paul and all you could do is ignore him. At least you should have accommodated him so that I can come claim him from you before the poor guy gets fixed in your horrible miserable dirty life" she said, eyeing her.

Kim was used to all the abusive words Tasha did to her and now she was more glad that she ignored the guy.

She then ignored her words and picked up her book and started to read. Everytime things like this occur, she tries to picture herself as if she wasn't around there. Sometimes it became unbearable that she began to wonder why the Gramm adopted her.

If she was to look into it, it's not as if they were in need of a child because they got Tasha and her elder brother Matthew. This thought baffles her a lot but she couldn't get an answer. She also knew that one day the truth will surface.

That same evening when they got home, Tasha, just for revenge for getting ignored, lied to her parents that Kim skipped school. The mother who is always looking for an avenue to punish the poor girl, didn't even think twice before believing.

Kim, knowing her parents' hatred for the poor girl, especially her mother, does hinge on that to make her suffer.

"Kim! " Liza shouted, it was more like a roar.

Kim when she heard that roar knew immediately that Tasha had been up with her games. She has gotten so used to it that it never bothers her anymore.

She walked slowly to the living room where Liza was sitting and stood a distance from her.

"Can't you come closer?" She blurts out.

Kim took a step further.

"How dare you ingrate, skip school to go sleep around with men!" She shouted.

"I didn't skip school" Kim defended herself.

Being a very meek person, she was still grateful to them for saving her from the pain and loneliness of the orphanage home. But isn't the orphanage better off this torture? Yet Kim would think that they changed to her because they might have heard a secret about her family. She never blamed them for what they were doing to her.

"You dare stand in front of me to lie?"

"I'm not lying," Kim said with a fidgeting voice.

Truly she was tired of all they did to her and she wished her life could be better but it seems she was doomed for pain.

The beating Liza gave her didn't affect her as much as the announcement she made after the whole beating.

"Today is the last day you will see the wall of that school. I can't let my husband waste so much money on a moron! " she said with so much resentment in her voice.

It was like a whole building fell on her when she heard that. Education was her only hope for getting out of suffering. Now it was said to her face that her way of escape had just been sealed.

Kim's tears fell uncontrollably as she began to beg Liza but she turned deaf ears. Tasha was so glad by this announcement and smiles danced in her pale blue eyes.

Looking at the gladness rolling in Tasha's eyes, one will think that she just ended the life of a competitor. When in the real sense, Kim wasn't even close to her competitor.

Kim had a gaunt look due to how she was treated. She didn't even have time to take care of herself. All she just tried to do is to get herself cleaned while Tasha on the other hand was a beauty to behold. She has all the time and enough money to take care of herself. She doesn't do anything aside from partying and reading her books.

Despite how spoiled Tasha is, she took time for her studies. Although she's not the top of her class, she has good grades. This was one thing Kim likes about her.

Although Kimberly is the smartest kid in her class, that shouldn't instigate envy from Tasha because they are not classmates.

"Mum, don't do this. I'll do anything you ask me to do. I swear" Kim cried out.

That word immediately caught Liza's attention that she turned to her.

The look Kim saw on Liza made her know she is in a whole lot of trouble but she was willing to do anything to retain her education.

Not that Liza really wanted to send her to school but her adoption papers said that she must be sent to school. If not for the conditions given to them when they want to adopt Kim, she would have been thrown out to the street.

Kim knew that from now her life will be dealt with miserably in a double fold but she was willing to pay the price. Her only hope of freedom and survival was education. She wants to go to school and get a nice office job. She wasn't praying for wealth but for freedom from the Lion's den.

Not that she wasn't grateful that she was brought from the orphanage but the pain she had to go through was just so much. Most times she blamed her parents for dying alone and not taking her along. She really wished to die but it seems that death was also an enemy to her.

Looking at the smile on Liza's face, she knew that her suffering just started.

"What have I done to make them hate me this much?" She thought.

This is a question she would give anything to know the answer. Nonetheless all these are her cross, she doesn't have a choice but to carry it until fate decides to free her.