One
Today is the first day of my third year in high school, and damn, does it suck to be a junior. All I want to do right now is stay in my room and watch movies all day long. Or maybe, I can do a little website hacking for fun. Anything else rather than going to school, please.
Maxwell-Watson High is the only school that accepted me after I got expelled from many other schools. This school is also the last school where I get to ‘proof’ everyone else that I am better than before. And it’s just for the sake of my family’s surname because that’s what my parents only care about. Nothing else.
Now, Maria is currently taking care of the school administration or whatever it is. Maria is the head of the maid in the house I live in. She’s been taking care of me ever since I was a baby. She’s the one who’s always there for me, replacing the role of my parents. I actually love her more than my own mother because she understands me and cares about me, unlike my mother. All she does when I do the wrong thing is to shout at me, call me names, or slap me. All she cares about is the family name that she and my father have built for years. Not sure about the specific.
I have done everything to make my parents angry. To make them even more disappointed in me with all of the problems I’ve caused. The odd thing is that they haven’t disowned me and thrown me out of their life just yet until now. They should’ve done it by now because of the hatred, anger, and disgust I always see in their faces whenever they see me. Maybe they haven’t done it because they’ve been busy with their businesses for these past six years. They even rarely stay at home because of their so-called business trips.
After Maria gives me my classes schedule, she leaves the school and leaves me on my own. I check my schedule and find out I have Spanish in the first period after homeroom. Homeroom isn’t important, so I’ll just skip that one. I probably won’t attend all of my classes. What’s the point of attending any of my classes, anyway?
I move my feet towards the peaceful and vacant school garden, away from all the nuisance of school. After walking through the school compound for a few minutes, I arrive at the secluded area of the school. The garden. A wooden bridge immediately catches my attention, and I head towards it. I look into the river to discover the sides are dry with cigarette butts under the bridge. I look around the empty garden for anyone else and find no one in sight. I jump down onto the river bank and immediately go under the bridge. I kick the cigarette butts aimlessly, wondering who has been down here. I shake off the thought and sit on the ground, putting my light backpack on my lap.
I take out my phone from my shirt pocket and plug in the earphones. I put them into my ears and put a song from my playlist on. Loud noise fills my ears, and I close my eyes as I enjoy the flow of the music. I drum my fingers against my arms as I listen to the song when I feel something poking on my shoulder. I swat whatever it is away and continue to listen to the music, feeling slightly annoyed. It taps on me again, and I slap it away much harder. With annoyance building inside me, I open my eyes to see what has been poking me. I scowl and feel a little stunned as I see a pair of grey eyes staring back into my brown ones. I glare at the person in front of me, pulling my earphones out of my ears.
“What do you want?” I ask the boy.
“This is my place so, you better go somewhere else or-” He says threateningly, but I cut his phrase.
“Or what, huh?” I challenge him. He looks a little taken aback by my reaction, but he immediately regains his composure and glares back at me.
“I’m the one who got here first so, you’re the one who needs to go.” I scowl at him. The words only seem to piss him off more, and somewhat, he has a glint of amusement in his eyes as well.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been here countless times since my first year. So, you need to leave now.” The boy stated.
“No.” I cross my arms over my chest, keeping my piercing gaze into his eyes. He sighs to himself.
“Well, if you want it the hard way ...” He reaches for me, but before he can touch me, I grab his arms and twist it. He groans in pain, and I shoot him a glare.
“Don’t you fucking dare to lay your finger on me.” I seethe, and he nods his head vigorously.
“Okay, okay! I won’t! Let go of me.”
I let go of his arm, and he pulls it away from me. He rubs his arms and winces quietly.
“Damn, why so harsh?” He mumbles to himself.
“I’m just defending myself. Stop acting like the victim. And no, I’m not going anywhere so, you better shut the fuck up and mind your own goddamn business or get the hell out of here.” I glare at him threateningly, and he puts his hands up in surrender.
“Alright, alright.” He says, moving away from me and taking a seat a few metres away from me. He stares at me cautiously, and I ignore him, putting the earbuds into my ears again.
“What’s your name? I’ve never seen you before.” The boy asks. I take off one of my earbuds and glare at him.
“Remember what I just said before?” He stares at me in confusion, and I continue speaking. “Mind. Your. Own. Fucking. Business.” I say.
He laughs humourlessly before his face turns serious.
“You’re in my territory now. It also means that you’re my business as well, new girl.” I only stare at him blankly and roll my eyes at him as I put my earbuds back into my ears.
“Now you’re ignoring me? Don’t ever think that you can get away from me that easily.”
I sigh and turn to face him.
“I’m Morgan. Happy?” I raise my eyebrows at him, and he nods at me.
“You’re new here?” He asks again.
“Yes. What about it?” I scowl at him, and he shrugs his shoulder. “Nothing. Just wondering. I’m Alex, by the way.” He says, and I only nod at him.
He finally shuts up, and I can finally enjoy listening to my playlist. I sigh and close my eyes as I lean my head onto the concrete wall behind me.
“Why are you here? I’ve never seen a girl skip her class. Most girls attend their classes because they’re so eager to see the boys or teachers they consider as hot.” He says, chuckling at his own words. I scoff at him, shaking my head at the stupid thing he just said.
“I’m not one of those girls.”
“If that’s so, what are you actually?” Alex asks, amusement twinkling in his grey eyes. I stare at him dead in the eye and say, “I’m a vampire.”
“Ha, what a nice joke you got there.” He rolls his eyes. I huff and scowl at him.
“Now, can you kindly shut the fuck up? I want to listen to my playlist.”
“Sure. Whatever.” Alex shrugs his shoulders and shifts away from me. I sigh quietly, grateful that he finally gets to stop blabbing and stay quiet. I play my playlist again and sigh as the song goes into my ears. From the corner of my eyes, I see Alex lighting up a cigarette. He breathes out the smoke, sighing to himself as he stares out at the garden above. He turns to me and offers me a cigarette from the pack.
It’s been a while since the last time I’ve smoked because Maria caught me doing it at my balcony and scolded me. She seized my cigarette pack and told me that my room smelled like shit because of it. She also said that it’s unhealthy, but of course, being the disobedient person, I ignore her words of wisdom and begin smoking again without her knowledge. I have to take some peppermint candy and spray some perfume on my clothes after I finish smoking so I won’t get caught by Maria again. Ever since then, I actually stopped smoking for months, but the sight of the cigarette in Alex’s hand is really tempting, and I end up falling into the temptation.
I shake my head, pointing at his cigarette. He hands his cigarette, and I take a drag from it, letting the poisonous fume fills my lungs.
“You smoke?” Alex asks, staring at me with a hint of surprise on his face. I roll my eyes at him and blow the smoke in his way.
“Yes.”
“You don’t seem like the type of person who smokes,” Alex says, smirking at me. I only shrug at him and hand him his cigarette back. He breathes in the smoke. His cigarette lights up as he does so.
“What makes you think I’m not?” I stare at him. He passes me the cigarette, and I gladly take it.
“You have this innocent look on your face so, I never really guess you’re the kind of person who smokes.”
“Ha, innocent. You’re definitely blind.” I scoff, and he laughs at himself.
We stay in silence for a few minutes, doing nothing but smoking cigarettes together. I take a quick look at my phone screen. 8.25. I let out a sigh at the time, deciding to go to my first class of the day.
“I’m going to my class now. Bye.” I get on my feet, dusting off my skirt from the dirt. Alex looks up at me.
“What’s the course?”
“Spanish.” I open my backpack and take my peppermint pack. I take two of them and pop them into my mouth. I hand Alex the peppermint pack, and he puts some of it onto his palm before putting it into his mouth. I take back my peppermint and put it into my backpack. I quickly spray some perfume onto my clothes and hair and put the bottle back into my bag as Alex stands on his feet. His height towering mine.
“I’m coming with you,” Alex says.
He stands too close to my liking, and I take a step back away from him.
“Whatever.” I shrug.
Alex turns to me and holds out his hand. I shake my head and climb over the bridge railing by myself. He follows suit, and after he lands on the bridge, we immediately walk towards the school building.
We walk through the hallways, and soon enough, the bell rings through the building. Students begin to pile out of the classrooms and into the hallway, heading to their next class. Alex pulls me into a room, and we find a teacher there, erasing the writings on the whiteboard. He ignores the two of us as we walk into the room. I go to the seat in the back of the classroom and sit there. Alex takes a seat beside me, and I shoot him a look.
“What? I always sit in the back, and that seat you’re taking is my usual seat.” Alex says, and I roll my eyes at him. I keep ignoring him, acting as if he doesn’t exist as I take out my pen and notebook. I put them down on the table, sighing as I watch other students walking into the room.
After a few minutes, the class starts. The teacher begins to explain today’s subject, and I listen to him as I draw stupid, random things on the last page of my notebook out of boredom.
“You don’t take your classes seriously, do you?” Alex asks.
“No. Not really.” I curtly answer as I continue on marring my notebook with the black ink of my pen. He nods, and I ignore him again. I shut my notebook as I get bored of doodling and stare at the whiteboard, feeling Alex’s gaze on me.
“It’s not nice to stare at someone, you know.” I say as I keep my gaze fixed on the whiteboard.
“I’m not staring. I’m thinking.” He denies. I turn to look at him and find him staring at the pen on his fingers.
“About what?” I ask, feeling somewhat interested in his thought. Alex turns to me and smirk.
“None of your business.”
I roll my eyes at his response.
“Whatever you say.”
