Lia was always the kind of girl that lingers at the edge of the crowd, kind of like unstirred cool aid. she was beautiful, kind, and very quiet. she was the first person you noticed in a room, but she was always aloan. many times you heard people calling her the prettiest 8th grade girl at her school, and when you saw her long curly blond hair, ice blue eyes, and blemish free skin, it wasn't hard to understand why. she would walk down the hallway, usually sticking to the wall, and people couldn't help but to notice the long sleeved t shirts that always covered up her perfect skin. they all knew she was hiding sometheing, a drug addiction, cut wrists, anything. what she was realy hiding was far worse, but by the time they realized what was happening, it was to late, she was already gone. she was absolutly stunning, but what they couldn't see about her, was probably the most important thing about her life. her mother had died when she was born, and her fatheer still blamed her for his wife's death. her father worked long hours, and by the time he returned home, his breathe would wreak of the sweet nectar that was his release. he gave her almost nothing, in fact, the only thing he had ever reely given her, were the purple and black jewels that she kept hidden under all of her colorful fabric. no one knew who she was, when ever they looked at her and tried to guess her true identity, it was as if they were trying to look through grape cool aid. she was tortured at home, and at school, she was knowwn as "the girl with the perfect life", they didn't realize it was far from being so. she was 14 years old when it happened, when her fatheer reached the boiling point. school still went on without her, and the only one to realize that she was no longer walking down the hallways, was Annie Brown. Lia had many things in common with Annie, one of the only differences was that Lia was now free, but Annie was still trapped within her own horrible secret. a girl, tanned skin, brown hair, green eyes, and purple jewels the color of her favorite drink resting beneath her jacket, walks home from school, dreading having to deal withe her guardian, her brother. because of Lia, Annie, too, was free. after that day, her brother never again gave her the purple and black jewels she had always known. thanks to Lia, Annie would no longer have to hide within her secret, thanks to Lia, Annie would live.