Chapter 1
Anastasia Walker’s POV
I woke up to the ringing of my phone alarm. I had to get ready for school. Why was it not the weekend yet?! I groaned It’s still Wednesday, you moron! my subconscious reminded me.
I dragged myself out of the warm comforters of my bed and headed towards the bathroom. After taking a warm shower, I covered myself in my fluffy pink robe and dried myself. I walked in to my walk-in closet and selected my outfit. I decided to wear an over-sized black hoodie, which was a norm for me and paired it with black tights and my white Fila’s.
Another hoodie outfit, I’m sure that my cousin, Ariana will murder me after seeing this. Ari wanted to be a model and despised it when I wore baggy hoodies. I mean why would anyone decide to ditch soft hoodies and wear skin-tight outfits all the fucking time! I love all my crop tops and stuff, but my hoodies will always be my bae.
I lightly coated my eyelashes with mascara to pop my deep-blue eyes and some lip-balm on, while brushing my long, wavy brown hair. I took my bag and hurried downstairs towards the kitchen, my mum and dad were having their breakfasts, while checking their phones.
My dad was the CEO of the Walkers Enterprise and my mom had her own fashion designing company. They both were busy and always had little time for family, prioritizing their work. So, me and my twin brother, Alexander grew up with our grandma in Houston, Texas. I had moved back to LA six months ago, after my twin, Alex died in a car accident.
Alex and me were always inseparable, we were best friends and had an unusual telepathic connection. After his death, I became depressed, at least that’s what the doctors said. I didn’t believe that Alex had died, I was in ‘denial’ as my therapist put it.
My world started to crumble without Alex, I stopped going out with my friends, stopped genuinely smiling, stopped playing piano, I stopped ‘living’. I was just ‘existing’. I cried myself to sleep everyday and had nightmares.
So, my workaholic parents decided to move me back to LA to have ‘a fresh start’ they claimed. After I moved back to LA, I was transferred to a new high school, to which my cousins went. Ariana and Noah were my uncle’s children. Asher and Felix were my aunt’s twin children. Ariana, Asher, Felix and me were of the same age and we’re completing our last year of high-school. Noah was 2 years older than us and at college.
“Good morning” I said to my parents.
They both looked up from their devices and replied with a “Good morning, dear”.
Martha, our maid, lays a plate of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries. I thank her and devour the plate of pure ecstasy.
I mumble a bye to my parents, they reciprocate it with a “Bye, take care dear.”
I walk out to find out my Black Audi R8 parked, retrieving its keys from my bag I slide into my car. This car was my personal favorite and a gift from Alex.
I open my phone and play “Breathin” by Ariana Grande, partially because it reflects the phase of my current life appropriately and because she has an angelic voice. I reach the gates of my school and park my car. As soon as I step out of the car, I see Ari walking towards me. Ari is a beauty who makes guys swoon with her Hazel hairs, vibrant brownish-golden eyes and attractive curves and long legs. She has been my best friend since childhood. She was bubbling excitement when I moved back to LA.
“Hi Ana!” She squeals.
“Hey Ari” I reply and she eyes me from my head to my toe. “Why?!” She groans.
“What?” I ask, even though I perfectly know what the problem is.
“No normal person wears hoodies all the time!“She exclaims. I laugh and shrug at her.
I see Asher and Felix walking towards us.
“Hiya Sisters!” Asher practically yells.
“God, Ash! They’re not deaf, For God’s sake!” Felix exclaims.
Asher and Felix are devilishly handsome with dirty blonde hair. Every girl at this school vied for their attention. They are madly protective of me and Ari, like those cliche over-protective brothers! Though they were twins, their personalities were extremely different.
Asher was the happy, warm, positive, ‘only good vibes’ one, while Felix was the cold, heart-breaker, ‘hard on the outside but a softie on the inside’ type. They balance out each other’s positives and negatives and are known as “The Golden Duo” in the school.
We walked into the school, all the eyes were on us. Girls envied me and Ari for being close with Asher and Felix, while boys checked out me and Ari. But the boys never had the courage to approach me or Ari, because of the twins.
The first time I came to this school, a lot of boys approached me and made infuriating comments on my body. Felix and Asher had noticed it and beat the shit out of the boy. Since then no one dared to annoy or cat-call me and Ari. The Twins are kind of annoying due to their over-protectiveness, but I still love them.
All of us had the same first-class, English. The noisy chatter came to end when our teacher, Mrs.Morton entered the class.
“Good morning kids!“She enthusiastically began, Mrs.Morton was a lively woman in her early forties. She was genuinely passionate about teaching English, and it clearly reflected in her teaching, she was my favorite teacher so far.
“Today, I am going to pair you guys for a project, recently we have finished the Great Gatsby, I need you guys to do character profiling of Jay Gatsby, and express your opinion on should Gatsby have or have not taken the blame from Daisy” Mrs.Morton continued.
She started reading out the pairs from a paper.
“Alice - Adrian”
“Anastasia - Apollo”
I had no idea who Apollo was, I tilted my head towards Ari as she gasped hearing to who I was paired with. Ash and Felix stare at each other, as if having a conversation with their eyes.
“Who is Apollo?” I questioned. Man, I really need to make friends apart from family! Now that I think of it I don’t know any other person in this school except for my cousins. I internally groaned at the idea of socializing, I’m bad at socializing, very bad.
Why was I partnered with a stranger?! I petulantly throw a tantrum inside my head and shake my head at my own stupidity.
“Have you been living under a rock for the past 3 months?” She asked disbelievingly, “Apollo is the school’s bad boy and infamous Quarterback.” She said pointing discreetly at a boy, who I assumed is Apollo.
I turned to look at Apollo who seated at the last bench. To say that he was handsome was an understatement. His golden-brown hair was tousled messily, yet to perfection; his jaw and cheekbones were defined; his plump pink lips were parted slightly while his honey eyes were intensely set on me, piercing right through my soul. He was staring at me as if I were a science specimen.
Ari nudged me and I turned back to face the teacher, trying to focus on the class. The bell rings and I start to gather my books. I turn to ask Apollo about the project, but don’t find him in the class. I’ll talk to him during lunch, I planned.
I had history, while Ari had math, so we parted our ways. Mr.Lancaster, our history teacher were going on about American Civil Wars, while I took notes furiously.
“Hey” I voice called from beside me, I looked up to see a blonde girl with blue eyes.
“Yeah?“I ask, “Can I borrow a pencil?” She meekly asks, almost as if intimidated by me.
“Sure” I say handing her a pencil from my case. “Thanks” She mumbles shyly and introduces herself “I’m Isabella, you can call me Ella” I smile at her and say “I’m Anastasia, please call me Ana”
I get to know Ella during the rest of the class, she was a very sweet girl. She was an only child, had a poodle named ‘Koko’, had an allergy to peanuts, and adored BTS. She rambled on and on about mundane facts about herself, I found it adorable. Her alacrity made my history period less boring. She asked me about my birthday, where I had come from and other mundane things.
The bell rang. “Which class do you have?” Ella asked. “AP Biology” I replied.
“Oh! I have literature” She said making a sad face, I chuckled at her expression and said, “Then, I guess I’ll meet you during lunch”. “Okay!” She said smiling again. “Bye!” I said, she reciprocated the same.
I walked to my next class feeling glad about making a new friend. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it to be. I feel my phone vibrate and check it. Ari texted me that she wouldn’t attend the AP bio class as she wasn’t feeling well. I ask her if she wants me to skip class with her, but she replies with a “don’t worry, I’ll be fine”
I put my phone back into my pocket and wonder what’s wrong with Ari. My body hits something and I instinctively shut my eyes waiting to fall on the ground from the impact. To my utmost surprise I don’t fall, instead I feel strong arms holding me by my waist.
I peek through an eye, to see Apollo holding me. I look into his honey eyes, and everything stops for a moments. His eyes pierce right through mine, making me feel naked, making me feel as if he sees right through my soul. I see golden specks adorning his brown irises, giving his eyes a touch of warmth. His strong, hard arms encircled around my waist send sparks throughout my body. Is this electric, giddy feeling what those romance novels describe? I wondered.
I snap out of the trance and regain my balance. My body suddenly feels cold at the loss of his touch, as he withdraws his hands from my waist. “Watch where you’re going,” He says in a cold tone.
“Sorry” I blurt out, still overwhelmed by our initial proximity. He starts to walk away, but I call out his name. He turns around with an exasperated look.
“Uh...We have an English project together, When do you wanna start?” I ask. He contemplates for a moment and says “Tomorrow”
“Where?” I question.
“Your place?”
“Okay, Tomorrow at 5, my place” I answer.
“Your address?” He asks.
“I’ll text you” I say without much thought. He looks at me with an amused glint in his eyes.
“Do you have my number?” He asks.
“No,” I say, my eyes widening at the realization.
“Give me your phone” he says, I fish out my phone from my pocket and give it to him after unlocking it and opening the number pad. He types swiftly and hands me the phone.
“Bye,” He says in a frigid tone walking away. I frown at his back as he walks away.
Well, that was weird.
I walked to my class. Miss Smith glared at me when I entered the class “Miss Walker. You’re late!” She scolded.
Miss Smith was a 45-ish year old woman, who acted and dressed up like a teenager, and had an obsession with over over-lining her lips and wearing blood-red lipstick. She was super bitchy to me since my first day, and I had no idea why. So, whenever I felt rebellious I annoyed the hell out of her, just for fun and she regularly gave me detention because of it.
“No, mam, I’m pretty sure that I’m Anastasia” I reply innocently. The whole class snickers and Miss Smith’s face turns red in fury.
“Shut up!“She screeches and I smirk feeling elated that I managed to vex her, again.
Give me the slip. Come on! give me the slip, I chanted in my head.
“Miss Walker, detention!“She says, handing me the yellow slip, while I smirk at her.
I walk towards my seat, turn back, face Miss Smith and say “And Miss Smith, are you auditioning for Pennywise ’cause the lipstick makes you look like a clown” with a wink. The whole class bursts out laughing.
Her face was worth the detention, she looked completely pissed. I chuckled sitting down on my chair. After 20 more agonizing minutes, the bell finally rings.
I literally skipped towards the door. I entered the cafeteria and walked towards our lunch table, Ari, Ash, and Felix were already seated at our table.
“Hiya, fellow Walkers and Miss Jones!” I say in a sing-song voice. They stop whatever they were doing and scrutinize me from my head to toe.
“What happened?” Ari asks.
“I got on Miss Smith’s nerves, wait! more like danced on her nerves. And man was she pissed!” I chuckle. They all laughed with me.
“What did you do this time?” Felix asks amused.
“I was late and then told her that she looked like a clown with her lipstick” I smirk.
“I’m so fucking proud of you” Ash wheezes out, still laughing like an idiot. Felix shakes his head in amusement.
“Man! I wished I was there” Ava sighs.
“Are you alright now?” I ask.
“What happened?” Ash questions.
“I-I was just feeling a bit sick, so missed the class” Ari stutters.
“How are you feeling now?” Ash asks worriedly while Felix and I eye her dubiously.
“I’m totally fine now” She smiles.
I go to the cafeteria counter and buy cheeseburger and some fries with chocolate milk. Hey! A girl needs her food.
Ash tries to steal my fries, but I slap his hands away. He whines like a baby, I shake my head and hand him some fries. I spot Ella in the cafeteria and wave at her, she smiles and waves back. Ella sees my cousins eyeing her curiously and blushes.
“Who is she?” Felix asks.
“Ella, a new friend I made during History,” I say excitedly.
Ari and Ash smile at her and she smiles back. I see Felix stealing glances at Ella.
Ooohhhh! Someone has a crush!
I smile at Felix, he quickly looks away, lightly blushing at being caught. “I never thought that I would ever live to see you blush, Lixxy” I whisper to Felix. He glares at me, I chuckle and shrug.
The rest of the lunch passes with Ash cursing his teachers for the ginormous amount of homework he received today and Ari talking about her new modeling project.
The other two classes pass in a blur I spend the Detention sketching in my design books. If there was something I was genuinely passionate about, it was fashion designing. Not bragging, but I am kinda good at it, I had genetically inherited talents from my mom, she is a renown fashion designer.
After detention, I drive back home, did my homework and got to bed thinking about a certain boy with honey eyes.
A/N: Hey lemon drops! Thank you so much for reading it, please point out if you see any mistakes.See ya at the 2nd chapter
Vote and comment.
love,
Alice
