Author's Note: Award for most original-sounding title to a fanfic? Obviously not me! :P

Title: My Hate Isn't Hate (Your Love Isn't Love Sequel)

Chapter One: Prologue

I didn't think I would ever be able to move on. I mean, c'mon- My father abused me as a child and nearly killed me and my friends, then my mother goes missing and is presumed dead? If something like that happened to you, you'd break down and cry.

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty depressed for a while after my dad was put behind bars. I mean, for one, I was living with total strangers. Everyone at school always had this look on their faces when they talked to me; They pitied me. I hated that look. I ostracized whatever friends I had and for a long time I was alone.

I was going through denial. Denial that my mom wasn't really dead. I looked everywhere for her and I called up every single one of my relatives. No one had seen her or even heard from her. It was like she disappeared off the face of the earth.

Carly and Freddie did everything they could and I'm thankful for them for that, but there was no hope. After nearly a half-a-year of searching later, I finally succumbed to the awful truth that my mother was dead. If no one had seen her, how could one person survive so long on their own? She had to be gone. The night I told Carly and Freddie that I finally accepted my mother was gone, the two had already planned what to do next as part of the whole "moving on" process. They helped me map out the rest of my life and I decided on becoming a respectable member of society after I graduated from high school. I raised my grades from "failing" to "passable" and graduated.

By some crazy turn of events, me and Freddie became somewhat of an "item", I guess. We started going out a year or so after my dad went to prison. It was a depressing night for me as I was thinking about my dad and my mom; Carly was visiting her granddad in Yakima and Freddie happened to be there. Sure, I was feeling sad and vulnerable, but it's not like he totally came onto me and we ended up sleeping together. He was just being a friend and it was then that I realized he was there right from the beginning. From the moment I revealed my darkest secret to Carly, Freddie, and Spencer, to that very day. Our relationship was a little awkward at first, I admit, since we were always so used to me ripping on him all the time. But we made it work.

And here we were, three years later. I moved out of my foster parents' place when I turned 18 and Freddie moved out of his mom's place- He was 19 at the time. We moved in together in a small studio apartment in Shoreline. Freddie goes to university part-time and works at some kind of computer company; fixing computers or making them or something. I go to the community college near our apartment during the day and freelance as an artist as night. Spencer helps my budding career a lot.

Even though we live a little's way away from Carly and Spencer, we still make an effort to see them or talk to them as often as we can between school and work. That was one of the many things I appreciated about my best friend. Mostly phone calls, but once in a great while Carly found time between her acting gigs to come see me. I usually complain about how weird Freddie is and my suspicions that he may be cheating on me or something. Carly always eases my worries and reminds me that I'm the only girl he has eyes for. So cheesy, but it brings a smile to my face.

But lately, I've been getting more and more tired. Tired of this charade of living my life as if everything's alright. I did pretty good at keeping a happy face for the first few years, but now things are just taking its toll.

I'm tired of this.

Author's Note: Prologue is a little too angsty. Urgh. The rest of the story will be in third-person.