Find Me Novel – My heart was beating like crazy. Now that I saw her up close, I had no doubt in my mind that we looked so much alike. She looked like me. We had the same eyes. We had the same nose. We had the same lips. What the actual? How was that possible? When I heard Janet bullying her, I wanted to burn this school down. I wanted to rip Janet to pieces. I felt this wave of protectiveness wash over me, and I had no idea why. Why did she look like me? Why did I want to protect her? Why did I even care? Was Gray right? Was she a part of my family? Was she mine?
Aria POV “Hello, ugly.” I heard a voice behind me as I closed my locker. I turned around, keeping my head low. Here we go. Every school I’ve attended has had at least one mean girl who enjoyed calling me ugly, poor, mute, or stupid. I was used to it, and I found it best to just let them talk. There wasn’t much I could do anyway. I didn’t have it in me to talk back. Talking back always led to physical violence. I had enough of that at home. My eyes caught three pairs of legs standing in front of me. All of the girls were wearing heels.
One of them was wearing a skirt. The other two wore jeans. I couldn’t see past their waists. “Who are you?” the same voice asked me. “Why did you come here?” I furrowed my eyebrows. Why did it matter who I was? The middle girl grabbed my arm. I winced and tried to stop myself from whimpering. I hit my arm pretty bad as I fell down the stairs yesterday. I had a huge bruise on my arm, and the girl was just putting pressure on it. It wasn’t the worst pain I’ve felt, though. “Didn’t you hear me, you poor little thing?” she asked angrily. “Who are you?” “No one.” I mumbled quietly, keeping my eyes on the floor. “Look up at me, little prick.” the girl said, squeezing my arm even tighter. I did as she said. I was allowed to look up if the person asked me to.
She was a lot taller than me, so I had to lift my head to look up at her face. Her eyes widened slightly. She looked up and down my face, and her eyebrows furrowed. I heard a few gasps around us. It confused me, and I wanted to look around to see who gasped. I didn’t. I wasn’t allowed to. I could only look at the girl in front of me because she asked me to. “Why do you look like him?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me. My heart rate picked up, and my eyes widened. I look like someone? They were talking about me yesterday? Who do I look like? Her grasp on my hand tightened even more. Involuntary tears started gathering up in my eyes. My arm was hurting like inferno. “Let her go, Janet.” I heard a deep voice say.
The girl let my hand go, and I immediately looked back down. “Grayson.” I heard her say. “What are you doing here?” “I’m saving her from your bitchiness.” the guy said angrily. “Leave her alone. Don’t piss me off.” “Why do you care?” the girl sighed angrily. “Who is she to you? Who is she to him?” Who is he? Why would I be anything to anyone? I was nothing. I was no one. “Stay out of our business, Janet.” the guy said. “Leave the girl alone.” “Why?” the girl snickered. “Are you speaking for Gabriel now?” She took a step closer to the guy who defended me. “Is he speaking for you, Gabriel?” she asked, raising her voice a little. There was another guy here? He must have been standing a little bit further away. I only saw four pairs of legs. That’s probably why the girl raised her voice to speak to him. I didn’t dare to look up. They could punish me. “You heard Gray.”
another male voice said, sending shivers down my spine. “Leave the girl alone.” “I am your girlfriend, Gabriel.” the girl said angrily. “I have the right to know who she is.” “You are not his girlfriend.” the guy who defended me laughed. “Shut up, Grayson.” the girl said. I heard footsteps approaching, and a fifth pair of legs came into my view. I pressed myself closer to the lockers behind me. I had nowhere to go, and I was really scared. What if they hurt me? What if they punished me? What if they told my parents that I looked up at the girl? My heart was racing impossibly fast, and my stomach kept turning. “Leave my friend alone, Janet.” the guy said. “He is right. You are not my girlfriend. Stop implying that you are.” “Gabriel…” the girl spoke, but he interrupted her. “Enough, Janet.” the guy said angrily. “Leave. Now.” A few moments passed, and nobody moved.
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. “Fine.” the girl said angrily. “We will talk about this later, Gabriel.” I watched as three pairs of legs started walking away from me. My gaze fell back onto the floor in front of me. I clenched my fists and tried to calm my heartbeat down. The two guys in front of me won’t hurt me, right? “Hi, Aria.” one of them spoke softly. “I’m sorry about Janet. She is a prick.” I stayed silent. I wanted to thank him for helping me, but I was too scared to speak. “My name is Grayson, but you can call me Gray.” the guy spoke again. I forced myself to speak. I didn’t want him to think that I was ungrateful. He could hurt me if he thought I was ungrateful. “Thank you for helping me.” I said quietly, keeping my eyes firmly on the ground.
“There is no need to thank me.” he said softly. “Friends always help each other.” Friends? Did he want to be my friend? Why? We couldn’t be friends. My parents would never allow it. They would punish me like never before. I was never allowed to have friends. My parents were scared that someone would find out about the abuse. I can’t even count the number of times they’ve told me what they would do to me if I had a friend. The only reason they sent me to school was to stop people from asking questions. They knew that Child Protective Services would come knocking if they didn’t send me to school. “Can you look up at us, Aria?” the nice guy asked me. Can I look up at them? Why? Would they hurt me if I didn’t? Was it a test? Would they hurt me if I did? My heart raced, but I did look up at them. The first guy I looked at had a big smile on his face.
He was tall and muscular. He had dark hair and brown eyes. “Hi.” he smiled at me. “It’s very nice to meet you, Aria.” It was? Why? “It’s nice to meet you too.” I said quietly, keeping my eyes on him. “This is my friend, Gabriel.” he said, pointing to the guy standing next to him. I looked at the guy he was pointing at, and my heart stopped beating. He looked like me. What? My eyes widened as I watched his jaw clench tight. Was he angry because we looked alike? Why did we look alike? Who was he?
Gabriel POV My heart was beating like crazy. Now that I saw her up close, I had no doubt in my mind that we looked so much alike. She looked like me. We had the same eyes. We had the same nose. We had the same lips. What the actual? How was that possible? I watched her as she walked away from us. I really wanted to reach out and grab her before she left. I had this need to touch her. I had this need to hold her. I had this need to keep her safe. What was wrong with me?! When I heard Janet bullying her, I wanted to burn this school down. I wanted to rip Janet to pieces. I felt this wave of protectiveness wash over me, and I had no idea why. Why did she look like me? Why did I want to protect her? Why did I even care?
Was Gray right? Was she a part of my family? Was she mine? Why was she so scared? Did someone hurt her? Maybe she was just shy? I clenched my fists and tightened my jaw so hard that my teeth started to hurt. “You need to talk to your dad.” Gray mumbled, pulling me out of my thoughts. “She is not just some random girl, man.” What could my dad even say? He would probably just tell me that I was crazy. “What’s her last name?” I asked Gray, pulling the phone out of my pocket. “Evans.” Gray said, looking at my phone over my shoulder. “What are you doing?” I started walking toward the cafeteria. Gray followed me, keeping his eyes glued to my phone. “Trying to find her on social media.” I mumbled. “And how would that help?” Gray sighed.
“I’m not sure yet.” I mumbled as I scrolled through my phone, opening every app I could and trying to find her accounts. “Just talk to your dad.” Gray sighed again. I ignored him and continued to look down at my phone. Gray opened the cafeteria door, and we walked inside. “What do you want to eat?” Gray asked me. “I don’t care.” I mumbled, walking toward our usual table. “Just get me something.” Gray mumbled something, but I ignored him again and walked away. She didn’t exist. Aria Evans had no accounts. I furrowed my eyebrows. How didn’t she have at least one account? “Did you find something?” Gray asked as he sat down and placed the tray in front of me. “Nothing.” I said, looking up at him. “She doesn’t exist.” “What do you mean?” Gray asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “She doesn’t exist.” I repeated. “She doesn’t have any social media accounts.”
Gray’s eyes widened. “Not even Instagram?! Is she living under a rock?!” I rolled my eyes and looked back down at my phone. “Are you sure that her last name is Evans?” I asked. “Yes.” Gray said. “Aria Evans.” “I mean, she could have an account under a different name.” I mumbled, looking back up at Gray. “Maybe that’s why I can’t find her.” “Why don’t you just talk to your dad?” Gray sighed. I was afraid of what he would tell me. I knew for a fact that she wasn’t my sister. My dad would never keep something like that from me. I would know if I had a sister who was put up for adoption. But my parents would never do that.
My parents would never put her up for adoption. But what if she was my cousin? What if my aunt and uncle did have a child and put her up for adoption? Did my cousins know about her? I highly doubted that, though. I knew how much Andrew and Luke wanted a sister. If they knew about her, they would have done anything that they could to find her. They would have stopped their parents from giving her away. “Are you scared of the truth?” Gray asked after I didn’t respond to his earlier question. Him and his ability to read me like a book.
“Maybe.” I mumbled, running my fingers through my hair. “Come on, Gabe.” Gray sighed. “What if she really is a part of your family? Don’t you want to know?” I did want to know. But I was scared shitless. But what if Gray was right? What if she really was my cousin? She was so shy and scared. What if her life with her adoptive parents wasn’t good? What if they weren’t treating her right? I was sure that Andrew and Luke would want to know that. They would burn world down if she really was their sister and someone wasn’t treating her right. If she was really treated badly, I needed to save her. I wanted to save her.