Hate Me (Worthy Of Love series, #1) Read Free Page A

other universities in that regard. As it was renowned for its English department, all dorms were named after a writer from the 19th Century. The building itself was historical and being a red brick university, Montgomery had its fair share of international students.
    I carried the black bag under my arm and dumped it in their wheelie bins. A Korean girl smiled at me. I only knew she was Korean because of the small flag on her shirt. I returned the smile and could tell she was a little curious as to why I was hanging around her dorms. For the most part, the locals didn't mix well with the International students. They preferred to keep to themselves and had a set of friends from their own ethnic groups. The Chinese hung around with Chinese, Ghanaians with Ghanaians, Arabs with Arabs and so on.
    ' Unni! ' someone called. I assumed it was her name and thought it was  quite lovely sounding. Mine was boring and plain, and Mum admitted to me she hadn't thought it through, because I'd been a difficult birth. She felt pressured to come up with something and said the first name in her head: Amanda.
    I shoved my hand s in my pockets and made a quick detour to the cafe on campus. I bought a caramel latte and sipped slowly after nearly burning my throat in an effort to warm myself faster.
    Afterwards I walked to the lecture hall which was on the other side of the campus. I was envious of a couple sitting on a bench. He was looking at her like she was his whole world. I wondered what it would be like for someone to look at me that way? Don't go there, Amanda . I wasn't worthy to be loved. I stepped on the fallen Autumn leaves. The leaves from the trees lined up on either side of me were various shades of green, yellow, orange and purple. With Autumn, came the sign of change. Did I dare hope something would change for me this year? Even if one other person other than Rene was nice to me despite any rumours they heard about me, It would be enough. It had to be enough.
    I attended my morning lecture and noticed an absence of Jennifer. Without their ring leader, her friends could do nothing but send me hateful glares, which I was long used to. I had never once expected the past to be buried as my mother still mistakenly believed would happen. This would follow us for the rest of our lives. We had been offered the chance to live in anonymity because our house had been badly trashed on a number of occasions. Broken windows, graffiti on the walls, eggs splattered on the doors, you name it, they did it. My mother had refused. As far as she was concerned, she hadn't done anything wrong and so, why should she be treated like a criminal? We moved house after much persuasion by the police but against better judgement, we stayed in Montgomery, a small city most people had never heard of. Montgomery was a town compared to London. Our overall population was somewhere close to three thousand. I stared out the window.
    Professor McAdams was quite a large woman and had difficulty moving around. She mostly s at and used the computer for her slideshow presentations like she was doing now. I liked Professor McAdams but not the subject she was teaching. I had no choice but to take a language module to make up my remaining credits. It was compulsory for all first year Montgomery students. I think this was to stop us from switching from Literature to Language or vice versa and annoying the admin staff.
    'Amanda,' Professor McAdams said. 'Can you answer the question since you seem to think the view outside is more interesting than your studies?'
    I turned beetroot red at the giggles. They mostly came from Jennifer's friends, Vanessa and Louise who hadn't taken my snarky comment to heart and were still sporting tans three shades darker than their natural colour.

 
     
    ~
    I scanned the canteen, hoping to run into Scott and Matt from my drama class. I froze when I saw them with Jennifer.
    She smiled sweetly at me. 'Hi, Amanda.'
    Matt grinned. 'Why didn't you tell