Chapter 1 ~ Oh Brother
Lexi’s POV
Have you ever felt like you were going to die? The deep and dark feeling in your soul when you suddenly realise it was all about to come to an end?
Maybe you have. Maybe you haven’t. I can guarantee it is the worst feeling anyone could ever feel. You’re so scared for that split second that you don’t know what the hell to do.
Maybe you’d welcome it or maybe you’d be just as scared and unprepared as I was…
“Anyone but miss Garcia,” Mrs Blake sighed, looking to all the other students in her classroom. Her dark eyes glanced over each one of us, over the ones half asleep, the ones doing their own thing, then some paying attention and the one holding her hand up. Me.
Mrs Blake sighed, her wrinkly lips coming together as she waved a few fingers in my direction.
I dropped my hand, put on a smile because I had no issues with the question she’d asked. I went to answer that cellular respiration was a set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of organisms to convert chemical energy from oxygen molecules into adenosine triphosphate and then release waste products when I was stopped unprofessionally.
I rolled my eyes when the door swung open and the one and only Tommy Garcia walked in.
Oh brother, I thought, watching him glamorously stroll in and catch mostly everyone’s attention. He put on his signature smirk when he realised he’d grabbed the spotlight.
“Took you half the class to walk the hall, did it, Tommy?” Mrs Blake asked, suddenly looking a lot less old and grumpy. I grimaced a little when she gave him a wonky smile but a seductive look.
She did not just do that, something muttered in my head. She’s married and could be older than sixty years old.
“More or less,” he answered, moving through the desks and coming my way.
I ignored him but he had to go ahead and mess my hair up when he rubbed my head as he passed behind me.
“Jerk,” I grumbled, shoving him away as he chuckled lowly and slumped down into his chair a few seats away from me. I brushed my fingers through my hair to fix it up.
Let me introduce you to my asshole of a brother, Thomas but much preferred as Tommy. He wasn’t my blood brother, he was my foster brother but I’d been with him and his parents for more than eight years so we were a tight family.
Tommy almost ruled the school with his group of friends, all very popular to everyone here. He was the captain of the boys’ football team with an amazing girlfriend and high grades. A happy, safe and rich family. Loyal and smart best friends.
He had everything everyone wanted.
Well, mostly everyone anyway.
I had the happy and rich family, the amazing friends and popularity and that was what I was happy with. I didn’t have a guy in my life but it wasn’t like I was trying to get one either. Maybe sometime soon things could change and after everything I’ve been through, I want to get over the fact that I am a little afraid of love.
“As I was going to say before we were all rudely interrupted,” I looked back to give a glare at Tommy, who gave me back a goofy grin before I turned back to the front.
“Alexis, not everything’s about you,” Mrs Blake hissed back, flapping her hand around and making a few others laugh. I clenched my jaw because I had the answer, a simple answer to say to get this over and done with.
“Tommy, since you came in incredibly late, I presume you have studied chapter twelve in your textbook?”
“Sure,” he shrugged and I prepared myself to laugh at him because I knew he never studied it. He was too busy with his training and his girlfriend on the weekend to study this week’s chapter.
“Good. And tell me what cellular respiration is,” Mrs Blake replied, folding her skinny arms over her large chest. She looked amused, probably thinking he’d get it right when I knew full well he wasn’t as smart as he looked.
Looks fool, I remembered someone telling me. Someone so beautiful on the outside but so ugly on the inside.
I heard Tommy curse under his breath before he sat forward, his eyes looking to me as I smiled devilishly back. He inhaled, putting his elbows on the desk and looking back to the teacher as she and everyone else waited patiently.
“Cellular respiration,” he started, stopped for a moment before he smirked and sat back, looking like he was impressed with himself. “Is cellular respiration,” he finished, making me laugh out because that was the dumbest thing he could have said. I shut myself up quickly though before Mrs Blake snapped.
I heard a few others laugh off softly around the room before everyone became silent when Tommy got up.
“Cellular respiration is when reactions take place in a cell of an organism to transform chemical energy from those oxygen cells or whatever to,” he stopped, mumbling something.
“Adenosine triphosphate,” I told Mrs Blake.
“Adenosine triphosphate!” Tommy repeated, making me roll my eyes. “And then it all releases the waste or whatever.”
“Pretty much spot on,” Mrs Blake smiled, gesturing him to take his seat again.
I turned to look at him, gave him a glare as he winked back.
“Partnership,” he whispered, leaning in towards me as the two people in between us looked from him to me.
“You’re as a dumb as a sloth trying to quicken its pace without me.”
“Good thing I have you,” he smirked back, making me roll my eyes and turn back to the front as Mrs Blake continued to go through the PowerPoint that was projected up onto the screen before us all.
***
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the rest of it.
This is a short story with two parts.
Part 1 is this, Truths & Dares
Part 2 is Secrets & Lies, which will be uploaded after this
Feel free to comment/review at any time so I and others know what you think of my work
Thanks so much
xxo
