Disclaimer: I don't own Alex or Olivia. However, I do own Arianna, Amanda, Andrea, and all the other characters you don't recognize.

First of all, this is completely AU. Alex and Olivia are in high school. Also, the title of this story comes from a song by Martina McBride, Concrete Angel. You'll understand later on. Enjoy!

"Hey, Lex!" calls Arianna, one of my best friends, waving to get my attention. I climb out of our car and wave to our driver before looking around to locate where Arianna's voice is coming from. She's leaning against the brick wall of our school, smoking a cigarette.

"Those things will kill you," I tell her, a note of disapproval evident in my tone.

She rolls her eyes. "And hello to you too."

I laugh. "Hi."

A few moments later, our other friend trot up. Andrea and Amanda are twins and the four of us have known each other since kindergarten. Today's the first day of high school, but we're not too worried. We've always been the popular ones and we always will be.

"Have a good day, girls!" calls the twins' mom and they roll their eyes.

"Bye, Mom," they say in unison.

"How was camp?" I ask them. Their mother forced them to go to camp for the whole month of August, so Arianna and I haven't seen them in months.

Andrea makes a face. "Bo-oring."

"Dirty," adds Amanda.

"Hey, germophobia is Alex's thing," says Arianna.

"Mysophobia," I correct her automatically, and she rolls her eyes.

"Someday, you're either going to be an English teacher or a politician."

"Politicians are pretentious crooks," I tell her, disdain lacing my voice. "And English teachers have to deal with annoying kids like you. I'm going to be a lawyer, thank you very much."

She laughs. "Sometimes I wonder why we hang with you."

"Because you love me," I reply, flashing my most charming smile.

"Well, anyway, everything at that camp was covered with gum," says Amanda, going back to the original subject.

"What's so gross about gum?" asks Arianna. "I chew gum. So do you. Even Alex chews gum."

"Nothing's wrong with chewing it, but it's disgusting to stick it under tables, on beds . . . you get the picture."

"Anyway," I cut in. "What do you guys have first period?"

Amanda checks her schedule and makes a face. "Math."

"English," says Andrea.

Arianna and I glance at each other and smirk. "Ari and I have all our classes together," I tell them.

Andrea rolls her eyes. "That's nice." She's used to us bending the rules whenever possible.

The bell rings. "Bye, Andy," says Arianna, dropping her cigarette and stepping on it to put it out. "Bye, Mandy." The twins trot off and she turns to me. "I love saying that. Come on, Lex." We link arms and start off for our first class – gym.

The gymnasium in high school is about three times the size of the one at our elementary school. I groan. Size = running further, playing longer . . . "I hate gym," I grumble.

"Yeah, because it's so dirty," teases Arianna. I give her a light punch on the shoulder as we change into our gym shorts and t-shirts.

But she's right. The gym is dirty, the change room is really dirty, and the showers are so dirty that a shudder runs through my body even thinking about them.

We change quickly, then Arianna nudges my shoulder. "What?" I growl, irritated about having to put my beautiful, clean, new clothes on the dirty benches while I pull a scratchy gray t-shirt over my head.

She nods towards a dark-haired girl on the other side of the change room. She's tall and very thin, with olive skin. She's wearing baggy clothes and looks very uncomfortable, holding her gym clothes in her hands but not making a move to change into them. There's something about her that's . . . interesting. Something that makes you want to get to know her.

"Don't stare," I say, suddenly uncomfortable myself. "Some people are shy." I've always been secure with my body – people tell me all the time how beautiful I am – but it's a confidence that many teenage girls don't possess.

Arianna snickers, but doesn't take her eyes off the girl.

The girl turns around, sees Arianna staring, and looks at the ground. Ashamed. Feeling like an idiot, I grab her arm. "Stop."

Arianna shakes me off. "Okay, okay." She kneels down and ties up her running shoes. "Let's go."

I follow her out into the main gym, but my eyes linger on the dark-haired girl for a moment before I turn away.

Arianna and I sit cross-legged with the rest of our class, in front of our gym teacher. She gives me a disapproving look and asks, "What's your name?"

"Alex," I tell her.

"You need to put your hair up so it doesn't get in your face. Do you have a hair elastic?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Yes. It's in my bag."

"Go get it," she orders.

I turn to Arianna, who rolls her eyes. Then I get up and jog into the change room to find an elastic.

The girl we saw before is still in there. She's in the process of changing and her shirt is off. Even though I know I shouldn't, I can't help but stare. Covering her back is an array of dark bruises and red welts.

Thoughts race through my mind at the speed of light, none of them making any sense. I've never seen anything like this before. Who –?

The girl whirls around to face me and gives me a look that could freeze an entire ocean. Her chocolate eyes flash as she pulls her gym shirt over her head. That's when I see the burns on her arms. They're cigarette burns – I recognize them immediately. "What the fuck are you doing?" she hisses.

"I'm sorry," I stammer, swallowing my next words. What happened to you? Who hurt you? And why?

With another dirty look, she turns away and flounces outside. I stand there staring at her, wondering what just happened and what it means.

Then I remember why I'm here to begin with. Rummaging through my purse, I locate a hair elastic and pull my waist-length blonde tresses into a ponytail before jogging back into the gymnasium and plopping myself down beside Arianna. My eyes scan the room until they locate the girl I saw in the change room. She's leaning against the wall, sitting all by herself, clutching her knees to her chest. I wonder about her. Then I wonder why I care. She and I are light years apart. I'm the popular one, the perfect one, the queen bee. I'm smart, blonde, thin, beautiful. I have lots of friends. I have lots of money. I have it all. And this girl – I don't know her, but she looks like she has nothing at all.

Arianna nudges me. What took you so long? she mouths, but I just shake my head.

Our gym teacher, who's introduced herself as Ms. Blaine, starts to take attendance. "Danielle. Marianna. Caileigh. Olivia."

The girl I saw in the change room raises her head and quietly says, "Here." So her name is Olivia. There's something about her fascinating about her, something that makes me want to get her know her better, to know things about her. Not because I want to be part of the rumour mill as I usually am, not because I want to share her secrets with the entire school, but because there's just something about her that makes her unique, but in a good way. And maybe I'm just a goodhearted person who wants to help her. But no, that's not what friendship is. You can't be friends with someone just because you feel sorry for them.

Arianna nudges me again and my head snaps up. "What?"

"So nice of you to join us, Alexandra," says Ms. Blaine sarcastically. "I called your name. Twice."

Blushing, I toss my head, which is a nervous habit I have that I've been trying to break for a long time – I know it makes me seem conceited. "Here."

"Thank you," she says condescendingly, then goes back to taking attendance. When she's finished, she says, "Now I want you to get into pairs."

Everyone jumps up, immediately making eye contact so they don't end up partnerless. I look at Arianna, but Ms. Blaine shakes her head at us. "I can see you two are going to be trouble." She gestures to Arianna. "You be with Ella." She turns to me. "You can be with Olivia."

I groan. This is a great start to the year. Why does she have it in for us already?

Arianna turns to me with a confident smirk. "Jealous," she says in a stage whisper. Ms. Blaine hears and glares at Arianna as she prances off to partner with Ella, a small girl with dark, curly hair.

I walk over to Olivia, who's leaning against the wall, a bored expression on her face. I take a better look at her. She's wearing a long sleeved black shirt under her gym t-shirt and sweatpants under her shorts. Well, I know why that is. She has shoulder-length brown hair that looks like it hasn't been brushed in a week and huge chocolate eyes, so deep that they seem as if they can penetrate my soul, and I have to look away.

"Go get a volleyball," Ms. Blaine instructs us.

Since Olivia isn't making a move to do so, I jog to the storage room and grab a volleyball. I hand one to Olivia.

She smirks. "You can stop being so nice now."

I just stare at her in confusion. What does she mean by that?

She rolls her eyes. "Throw."

I toss her the volleyball and she bumps it in a perfect arc. It soars up into the sky, then falls down and lands on my head. It doesn't hurt, but it's kind of embarrassing, and I blush.

Olivia looks at the ceiling. "You're supposed to hit that thing, Einstein. You go to it, not the other way around."

"Right," I agree sheepishly and throw the ball straight up. I try unsuccessfully to bump it. The ball flies behind me and hits the wall.

Olivia rolls her eyes again. "You have to take off your watch. Otherwise it won't work."

I run to retrieve the ball, then reluctantly do as she tells me. But then where do I put it? The floor is dirty.

She smirks at my hesitance. "Princess."

Casting her a defiant glare, I carefully lay the watch on the ground next to me. I put my hands together and bump the ball toward Olivia.

It doesn't arch the way it's supposed to; instead, it barrels straight at her and hits her right in the nose. Surprise flashes in those bottomless chocolate orbs and her hand flies to her nose.

"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry," I apologize to Olivia, but I'm not even sure if she hears me. She's too busy trying to staunch the blood flow from her nose.

Ms. Blaine runs over to us. "What happened?"

"It was an accident," I explain hastily. "The ball hit Olivia."

She turns to Olivia. "Are you okay?"

Olivia's doubled over, clutching her nose. "Yeah," she manages. "I'm fine." She takes her hands away and I see that they're covered with sticky red liquid. Blood. I feel faint as more blood drips from her nose to land on the gymnasium floor.

Our teacher gives me a disgusted look. "You take her to the nurse," she orders me.

Olivia's eyes widen and her face pales. "I'm fine," she repeats, bringing her hand back to her face to curb the blood flowing from her nose.

"No, you're not," says Ms. Blaine. "Alexandra, take her to the nurse."

Her eyes get even bigger, but I say quietly, "Come on," and she reluctantly follows me out of the gym.

The second we're in the hallway, Olivia pulls away from me, still clutching her bloody nose. "I'm fine," she gasps. "Take a walk, then go back to class."

"Are you sure?" I ask in concern.

"Yes," she growls. "Stay away from me."

"Where are you going?"

She pushes open the side door to the school. "Out."

Is this worth continuing? Please review if you like it!