Under the Sharks' Influence

Prologue

CORI

I like to believe that I'm a good person.

That all of these secrets I collect inside of me are just temporary, and eventually, I'll feel confident enough to pour them out.

But for now, I force them in and nervously bite the skin off my lips until they bleed.

I've conditioned myself to spew these perfect little lies. After all, I've had plenty of practice.

At first, it was just a tiny detail change in my story, but the more I lied, the deeper that hole became. I needed those lies. Lies to chase away fears that burn fiercely inside this teenage head of mine.

If I've learned anything at all, it's that death is the only sure thing about life.

We live, and we die, and some of us even die a little bit while we live, and if you ask me, that's heartbreak.

We can't control when we die, but we can control how we spend our life before that time comes. It's simple, really, we just choose, and the result of those choices could be life-altering or unforgettable.

And if you choose wrong?

Well then, you and I have a lot in common.

When I walk through the doors at school, I'm the girl that warrants everyone's stares. The girl who betrayed her best friend.

The liar. The murderer. The fake.

Amongst the lies, one truth remains… responsibility is not easily divided.

And most of the time, it's cast on the undeserving, but that's not me.

Not this time. I'm not here to prove my innocence, and let's face it, I'd be wasting my time.

Everyone twists the truth until it's what they want to hear, anyway.

So, according to the rumors, I'm the villain in this story.

I wave the truth around like a loaded gun, and everyone that knows what actually happened is terrified of it going off. So, I keep my finger off the trigger because the lies are where I'm most comfortable.

I glance down at the fresh grave and imagine mine beside it.

"Honey, are you ready? Your plane leaves soon."

I nod, dropping the flower I'm holding to the dirt, hesitating a split second before standing up.

"It's okay if you want to change your mind,” my mom whispers, her hand resting on my shoulder.

"No, I have to go. It's the only way any of this gets better."

Without me in this horrible city, there's no endless reminder, and no one whispering about the downfall of the pretty and popular Corinne Clark. So, I grab my suitcase out of the car and get on my flight to Legacy Bay, putting a thousand miles between me and this nightmare that has become my life.