Starfallen

The cold morning air was pressing against the windows of the Hill household, but it never made a difference inside the house. The house was always warm, the movement and laughter is what kept it so warm—plus the fireplace. There were nine Hill family members in total, Mr and Mrs Hill and their seven children, the oldest recently went off to college; leaving six of their children still in the house.

Flint Hill was the third oldest, he was the type who grew up preferring to play alone instead of playing with his siblings. He liked having time alone, it was peaceful in the quietness.

"Hey, have you heard about that new theatre down by the ice cream parlor?" Flint's younger sister Heather asked, she had wavy light brown hair, she shared the same eye colour as their mother, dark brown.

"Yeah, Nova is applying to work there," Flint responded, leaning against the counter with a half finished bowl of cereal. "Plus Shiloh helped build it, too."

Shiloh was their older brother, who was the second Hill child, he just turned twenty in the beginning of the year. He was hard-working, and girls loved him, which he showed most of them love back, Flint never understood how he could easily go out with a girl any day.

Heather scoffed, "I don't see why you're friends with him, he'll just drag you down with him."

Flint knew who she was talking about, it was his best friend, for some reason Heather always liked talking bad about him.

"Shut up, you know that crap isn't true about him," Flint snapped, he would always defend his best friend. Heather just rolled her eyes and reached into the fridge for some juice.

"Yeah sure, Oh! Have you met that new boy? He's in your class. He's really hot."

Flint just rolled his eyes, dropping his now empty bowl into the sink. "God, you're so annoying."

Flint began walking past her, already dreading the fact that he has to go to school with her for two years. Heather just continued to follow behind her older brother, clearly not done talking. "I'm not annoying, you're annoying."

"Heather, leave me alone."

"No, I'm giving you great advice about staying away from Chris, he's only going to drag your social status down."

Flint paused while putting on his shoes to give her a look—half questioning if she was serious and half annoyed by her. "Why would I listen to someone just starting the ninth grade?"

He didn't give her enough time to answer before he left outside heading straight for his brothers car that Shiloh cherished. It was a black Buick GNX that their grandfather had gifted him for his eighteenth birthday. The old man only showed his love by gifting his family expensive presents.

"Hurry up," Flint said, tugging on the passenger door handle as Shiloh walked outside.

"Geez, relax man, before I make you walk to school," Shiloh said.

The drive to Cold Creek high was a ten minute drive from the Hill House. When Flint stepped out onto the curb, he spotted his best friend right away. Chris and April were getting dropped off at the same time, they were known as the June Twins.

"Hey, Flinney."

April said swinging her arm over Flint's shoulder, her arm was already around Chris' shoulder.

"Hey guys."

The three of them continued walking towards the school, some students staring while whispering to each other.

None of the three friends noticed the dirty blond-haired boy looking at them from afar. "Who's that?" The blond-haired boy spoke, looking at the boy with black messy hair that was near two blond haired twins.

No one noticed the dirty blond-haired boy watching them from across the crowd of students, they were all used of getting stared at already.

"Who's that?" He asked, eyes glued on the dark haired one. "That's April June, she's pretty cool," the boy next to him responded.

"Don't fall for her, she rejects every guy that tries." The boy patted his back before they both left towards the school.

The trio shared their first class together, it was math which they were all skilled in. They usually raced to finish the questions, sometimes it was April who won, sometimes it was Flint, and rarely it was Chris who won but he was never far from finishing.

"I'm almost done," Chris mumbled underneath his breath as Flint got up with a completed paper, he didn't wait for Chris to be done and headed straight to Mrs Walter's desk.

Flint was about to drop his paper onto her desk when a taller boy with dirty blond hair dropped his paper onto her desk first. Flint looked at him, his hair was a mess, including his clothes—it was as if he just yanked them on from his closet.

Flint blinked a few times comprehening what just happened, the new kid beat him.

"Perfect score, Mister... King?" Mrs Walter handed him his paper back, with a fifty out of fifty on it with a check mark.

The blond haired boy nodded with a polite smile resting on his face, "yes ma'am."

He turned to look at Flint while he was handing her his paper, the blond haired boy had green eyes. That's when Flint understood why everyone liked him, he didn't look as stupid as he was.

"I didn't expect anyone else to finish right away," he said still smiling, there was something about the new student that rubbed Flint the wrong way.

"Another perfect score Mister Hill," Mrs Walter said handing his paper back.

"Thank you, Mrs Walter."

"I'm Kane King, I just recently moved here." He introduced himself while holding his hand out, expecting Flint to shake it instead Flint just walked back to his desk.

There was something about Kane King that instantly irritated him, it was crazy, he never met someone so... irritating...

When the school bell began ringing the students emptied as quick as it rang, some having conversations while others had their eyes half closed—still tired from waking up. Flint grabbed his binder that was basically empty, after all it was only the first day back, and he headed straight for his locker.

The twins following behind him, yapping to each other about how the new kid was supposedly smart. When Chris opened his locker, the three of them read "Crybaby Stalker" in red marker on the locker wall.

April tried to wipe it away, only for the red to smudge everywhere. "It's fine April," Chris said moving her arm from his locker—he closed his locker a little to loud when someone walked up to them.

"Hey everything alright?"

The three turned to look at who was talking, half expecting one of the bullies teasing—but instead it was Kane King.

Chris just nodded, while Flint just continued to glare at if as if Kane was a threat to them. April elbowed him when she saw him glare at Kane, "relax, he's just being kind."

Flint didn’t believe it, he couldn't bring himself to trust Kane King. There was something about him, whenever he seen him he had this feeling in his stomach that was weird.

The three of them began leaving, with a Kane King following along. His excuse to Flint was he wasn't my sure where his next class was, too Flint's luck they shared the same class again. It was English Language Arts, ELA for short.

When the four of them turned the corner just as the hallways began un-crowding, as most students were already in their next class. There three seniors near a water fountain, Chris automatically slowed down when he saw them.

Flint sighed when he saw them.

"Goodness, I swear if they start something." April said, underneath her breath. "What's wrong?" Kane asked.

The tallest boy in the group—Troy Harlan, he was known for targeting coloured students and great at being a jerk and nothing else—noticed Chris and Flint right away.

"Well, look at who it is, guys," Troy said, pushing off the wall. "Coldcreek's favourite Stalker and Dirty Feathered In-"

BAM

Troy was on the floor with a bloody nose, and Kane was standing above him.

"YOU SEVEN INTO THE OFFICE NOW!" a man's voice echoed throughout the hallway. They all began heading towards the office, Troy was helped up by his friends.

It didn't take long for three boys to be suspended, Troy Harlan, Kane King, and Flint Hill.

April shot up from her chair, "That's absolutely stupid! I don't understand why Flint is suspended, he didn't do anything!"

Mrs Walters, who'd been called in to help sort the mess, quietly sighed—clearly deciding whether she needed the job or not. "April I know this looks unfair-" "no! You don't understand, this is complete racism! I'm sick of it! Throughout our whole highschool years he has always targeted Flint and you know that!"

"Miss June, calm down, you seven will all attend detention for a week, you three are suspended for the remainder of the week."

Before anything else could be said, Flint stood up and began leaving. It was only the first day of school and he was suspended, for doing completely nothing.. again.

He ignored everyone that was calling for him to return back to the office, he couldn't go back there he had to cool off before he yelled at someone—he always suppressed his emotions, it was easier then letting them out.

Flint didn't stop until he made it outside, letting a breath out once the air hit his face—calming down a bit until the doors swung open behind him.

It was none other than Kane King, "hey Flint, hold up."

Flint sighing as his anger returned, he started to walk—in any particular direction—he just needed to get away from Kane.

"Flint." He called out again, now a few feet behind him.

"What?" Flint abruptly stopped and turned around, Kane almost walked into him—he was now standing a few inches in front of Flint.

Flint's eyes wandered down towards Kane's lips then back at his green eyes—then he felt that stupid feeling in his stomach again. A tight, uncomfortable feeling he hated.

Just the sight of Kane made his emotions flare in ways he didn't understand, and that only irritated him more.

"Are you alright?" Kane asked, putting his hand on Flint's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"No, I'm sick of this, and this is all your fault so quit pretending to be a hero and leave me alone I'm not some idiot that needs saving!" Flint spun around to walk away again.

Kane stood frozen for a second, surprised that Flint wasn't just glaring at him but instead speaking to him.

"I'm not pretending to be some hero, that guy was asking for it." Kane responded, still following along.

"You didn't have... look just leave me alone."

"No, look I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make your life worse, I didn't think they would suspend you." Kane said, running his hand through his dirty blond hair that was messy.

"Why wouldn't they? I will always be a savage in their eyes, you don't understand how it is to live in this stupid town as an Indian kid."

"You're an Indian? Ohh, I thought you were mexican." Kane shook his head, snapping out of his rambling. "The point is, that they shouldn't be getting away with this, you were literally just standing there."

"Look, just leave it Kane." Flint quietly spoke, his throat tightened as he tried to keep everything bottled up.

Kane didn’t chase after him when he started to walk off again, he understood that sometimes you had to be alone.

- - -

The End of Chapter One