Bruised Not Broken

*flashback* Joy woke up to the sounds of thundering and lightning. Terrified she jumped as it sounded *c***k* *fflllll* *Pop* the thunder roared. Finally 6 year old Joy gets up, running to her big sister Lisa’s room. She jumped in the King sized bed slipping next to her sister & ducking her head under the covers. She hugged Lisa tightly. Lisa stirred in her sleep a little rolling over to hug her baby sister. “It’s okay Joy Joy I got you let’s go back to sleep. Joy drifted asleep safe & sound in her sister’s arms. *End of Flashback* Joy is a young she wolf with low self confidence due to the lack of attention and affection from her parents. she has 2 older sisters & her parents are the Leaders of her pack. Lisa her oldest sister who is 20 years old had always been there for her since she was born, she tucked her in at night, soothed her when she was afraid, taught her how to bath, taught her about makeup, her hair everything a she wolf would need to know. She taught her about mates & the mate bond, she taught her how to cook, clean, read & write, she prepared her to be a successful she wolf. Lisa is beautiful she took after mom’s looks red hair & All. She’s really tiny like mom as well. Samantha was the middle sister born 3 years after Lisa, she’s 17 years old a year older than Joy. Sam took after our father’s looks. She was stunning, she had honey blonde hair with deep blue eyes. She’s a little on the taller side at 5”6 she just crossed the short meter & just missed the tall. She was thick, thick thighs, small waist, small topped. Her eyes slanted like Chinese with long curly eyelashes we all had our mom’s eyes. She wasn’t as nice as Lisa. She always compete with Joy, picked on her, teased her, was always yelling and slamming doors, she was so mean & rebellious even to their parents. There’s an annual pageant where she wolfs from Every pack on the continent of North America come to compete and it’s called She Reigns Pageant. Contestants must compete in Dresses - Formal Swimsuit- Wolf form- Talent- Sparring competition The winner is crowned The Queen She reigns & there’s a second place winner crowned The Princess. Joy POV Hey I’m Joy & I’m 16 years old. I have long brown hair with streaks of blonde in it. I have deep green eyes. A lot of people says I’m Gorgeous, some stop & stare at me all googly eyed and stuck looking stupid, some compliment me verbally, some nod with a smile whatever that means *rolls eyes*. Sad to say I don’t see what they see. When I look in the mirror I see everything that’s wrong with me & I can bare to even look at myself for 2 minutes. It saddens me. I often feel alone. Although I have my big sister Lisa who’s always been my person, I don’t have many friends or anyone to talk to. I spend a lot of time by myself in my room, in the library, or in my studio. My dad built me a recording studio in our pack house. He’s an amazing dad. He buys me anything I want & even things I didn’t even ask for but we barely see much of each other. He’s always busy building a successful company and extraordinary pack. I mean I don’t complain I live a very comfortable life but I just wish that my dad spent more time with me. Sometimes I feel as if he doesn’t even see me. Me & Sam were homeschooled but we were free to go wherever we wanted. I walked into the living room to see my mom in there watching her favorite show “Jordan’s Crook” , it was a medical show filled with drama & romance. She had her hands on her face with her mouth wide open sobbing with real tears sliding down her face, literally sitting on the edge of her seat. I looked at the screen to see what had her all worked up. There was a plane crash & the doctors were frantically searching for each other. Some were bruised, others were injured & 2 was dead. I almost started crying too. I had to remind myself that it was just a show. I wiped my face & approached her Mom was a beautiful red head with bright green eyes and a beautiful smile. She was gorgeous. Her hair was mid back length hanging a little below her shoulders and she had a swoop bang in the front. She was slim build small waist & very short in height, but don’t underestimate her she was a force to reckon with & her wolf Nina was no joke. She was beautiful light brown with green eyes like mom. Little in size like mom but she was quick & swift like a ninja. Many people suffered the consequences of sleeping on her. She spent her days working with Dad at our family’s company, & when she was free she’d binge watch her show, nail salon, hair salon she never really had much time for us either. We talked somewhat (especially more than me & dad) but we didn’t really have a relationship although I wish we could. Maybe some day but if not at least I’d always have Lisa. “Hey Mom” I waved and greeted her with a kiss on both cheeks like the French “Hey Darling “ mom said as she wiped the tears from her face “ Excuse me dear sometimes I get so caught up in these shows” she giggled a little. “ I can see why I almost got caught up myself “ I giggled too. Come sit she said as she patted the seat next to her where you headed to ? Just gonna go to the library to check out this book I’ve been waiting to come out. She looked at me and smiled. Ooh you love your books, I truly love your love for reading. I blushed nervously feeling a little uncomfortable she didn’t realize my love for reading so much grew because the world there seems so much more than what’s here with them. The love in the stories I read I’ve only experienced from Lisa but I’d never say that to her. Well okay love have a wonderful day she said as she got up & walked away heading downstairs towards the kitchen. Our pack house was huge almost like a castle there was so many rooms here. We lived in a closed off town in wolf territory distant in the forest. The ranking wolves The Alpha family, Beta family, gamma family and elite warriors lived in the castle with us. The pack & warriors lived throughout the town in beautiful houses. We had cooks, maids, house keepers, & gardeners who took care of the castle we paid them nicely & treated them all with respect, well all of us except Sam, as I mentioned earlier Sam wasn’t really nice. We had a theater, a library, game room, chill room, spa, & I told you about my studio, there’s so much cool stuff inside of our castle. There was a grand staircase that lead to all the floors & an elevator too because our home was so big. Our town had a pool, basketball court, tennis court, golf course, library, amusement park, water park and zoo our town was what you would call Litty lol. The garden was huge filled with a wide variety of flowers. There were roses, orchids, lilies, daisies, dandelions, sunflowers, So many different beautiful colors & aromas of flowers. I love my home. As I sat on the couch where mom left me my sister Samantha walked in. I held my breath praying she was in a good mood today & wouldn’t bother me. Boy was I praying in vain sure enough Sam was up to no good. She walked up to me Eeew she tooted up her nose I should’ve known you were in here I smelled something foul when I walked in the room she looked at me with disgust. Hi to you too Sam I said ignoring her rudeness as always. I didn’t really stand up for myself especially when it comes to Sam I usually just ignore her rudeness until she gets tired. I was so reserved and shy, I didn’t like confrontation or chaos. I hated loud noises except for music, music was in my DNA, I was born to be a star but I hated the spotlight, but anyway back to Sam I’m so excited The She Reigns pageant is coming up & I’ve totally got this in the bag. Sam said as she laughed. That’s pretty cool Sam I’m routing for you I really hope you win. Save your luck Joy I don’t need your hopes I’m dope in real life like who’s better than Me she laughed & got up to walk away, She stopped in front of me with a devilish smirk on her face. Ooh and Joy Joy I hope (in a real sarcastic tone) you’re not even thinking about running for the pageant you’d never win especially against me she threw at me and then walked away laughing. Joy sat in that spot sulking and with thoughts to herself I’d never be good enough for the pageant I wouldn’t even think about embarrassing myself like that. Lisa walked in on Joy lost in her thoughts Joy Joy what’s wrong why the long face oh it’s nothing Lee Sam was just talking about the pageant but I wouldn’t dare to embarrass myself but why is Sam so mean. I looked down feeling sad & worthless. Lisa put her hand under my chin & lifted up my head Joy Joy look at me. I looked up at her. Joy Joy you’re so beautiful, smart and talented you can do whatever you put your mind to. I smiled softly looking away from her thank you Lee I love you she hugged me tight & kissed my forehead I love you too Joy Joy believe in yourself, The only way you can’t win is if you don’t try.