Hello. So this is my first story. Like ever. So try not to hate it too much.:)
Would love any feedback& critism etc.
DISCLAIMER:
The lyrics are Celestica, by Crystal Castles. I don't own them. It's an amazing song though.
No direct mention of Alice in Wonderlandy stuff yet, so no disclaimer for that.
...
Voices.
James' new car. Hannah's continual rejection. Olivia's rumoured hospital stay; she is so pregnant/anorexic/has STDs. Did you hear that from Dana? 'Cos it's so not true, she's just a jealous bitch. Alex is so dumped. Seriously. I can't believe he would do that! Ms Holmes's been seen in like, five different clubs, picking up college boys. Yeah, seriously, Evie totally saw her last nigh..Oh. Here she comes. There she is. Shit, new girl here already?
I instinctively reached for my iPod as soon as I heard the noise die down. Ipod, iPod, iPod. Blocking my ears with the earphones, I cut off my connection to my surroundings, the gaping kids, the shabby classroom, the raising of the eyebrows. The students were still frozen, staring at me even as I slid into my desk.
As we fall into sequence/And we're eating our young/Remain silent and still for modesty
Realising that my eyes had somehow been closed and my fingers were tapping the desk absent mindedly, I hastily reopened them, returning to the little classroom full of the gawking teenagers. Catching eye of a brown-haired, hazel-eyed kid, I gave the meanest glare I had through my cold, robin-blue eyes. He turned away, gulping and furiously blushing. How sweet, I sneered inwardly.
When the splints have been broken/And they can't help you now/Do you pray with-
"Excuse mee. Hello?" The trance-like calmness that the music brought me shattered. I peered out of my heavily-eyelined eye, narrowing them when I saw a bleached blond standing in front of my desk, holding my earphone hostage.
"So. Guessing you're the new kid?" She stated with a playful glint in her eye. I wasn't too keen on what would happen next. Her kind were everywhere.
"You deserve a gold star." I replied with a flat voice, devoid of the fake sweetness she carried. Just get the hell away. I'm trying to be good this time.
"You're..what, Alyssa? Anna or something?" She carried on breezily, pretending she didn't hear my comment. Her eyes, however, betrayed her sickly sweet demeanor, now edged with anger? Annoyance? Disappointment that the new kid didn't play along or and shy away in her presence, perhaps.
"Alice." I kept my eyes on her, staring at her evenly as her spinich-coloured gaze looked me up and down. She squinted slightly on seeing my oversized Nirvana tshirt, trying to read the tiny writing resting beneath Nirvana's signature crazy smiley. It said Here we are now, entertain us, but I doubted she had space for a classic like Smells Like Teen Spirit in midst of her trashy pop-song filled playlist.
"Huh. Well I'm Jessica. Sure you'll fit right in!" She flashed me another venomous smile, showing off a row of perfect teeth, and flounced back to her seat next to a brunette. Whisper, followed by a snigger and quick look back at me. I thought dismissively as I retrieved my earphone, rolling on my desk from where the blonde left it. The brunette glanced at me with a smirk on her face as the blonde sneered. Still in middle high, are we?
...
The maths lesson had gone by in an insignificant blur, the school bell jolting me back to reality. I stared down at the lined paper that I had absently doodled on, inked with a rabbit. A rabbit? Randomer than usual. Give you that. Shoving the stuff down my bag, I stood up, making sure the oversized t-shirt didn't ride up above my butt. One of the problems with wearing only an oversized tshirt over fishnet tights.
Apparently I had English next. I squinched at the white paper that was given this morning, trying to make sense of the lines and shapes. I wasn't too good with maps. I was still trying to recognize the squiggles as a map when I bumped into someone.
"Shit. Sorry. Wasn't looking. Are you okay?" A boy's voice said, after clutching a hand around my waist to prevent my fall. I regained balance immediately with my eery, cat-like sense of composure, and looked at the boy. I stared at his brown eyes, which was partially covered by a fringe of smooth, chestnut hair. I had the sudden urge to brush it out of his eyes.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I gave him a brief, quick smile.
"Good. Sorry," He than squinted slightly, looking at me. "Hey, you know who you remind me of? You look seriously like Alice Glass, from Crystal Castles." He rambled on hastily, blushing slightly when I gave a look of faint surprise and amusement. "I mean, you know, with the blue eyes, short black hair and all that...Hell, you probably never heard of her..Er, Sorry to-"
"No," I cut him off. "I do. Know Crystal Castles. Just surprised you knew them." I gave him another faint smile. At least one person in this tiny school had good music taste.
"Are you kidding?" He brightened up, giving a grin of his own. "I never miss their USA tours. They're amazing."
"Hey. Same. I mean, I even saw them live in-" I suddenly noticed that the corridor had turned suspiciously quiet. There was only a few kids left in the corridor, eerily contrasting to the swarms of teenagers that invaded the space just few moments ago. "Shit. I think we're late."
He looked up, suddenly aware of the empty space as well. "Oh. Damn. Well, see you around...?"
"Alice."
"Alice?" Corners of his mouth quirked up. "Well. Wishing my name was Ethan now. I'm Kieran." Cute. He dropped his hand away from my waist self consciously, blushing again as he realized it had been there the whole time. "Er. Sorry again. Bye!" He said, walking speedily away.
I glanced up at the clock on the wall. 10 minutes late? If I went to class now, I would probably draw even more attention. Guess I'll just have to bunk off.
This school was fairly easy to escape from, with the side entrance being miles away from any teachers strolling around. I walked casually towards the side entrance, having already thought of a legitimate excuse. The key was looking like you belonged, without any nervous side glances or quickening of paces.
Bingo. I pushed the wooden door, wondering where I was going next, when I bumped into a figure standing right in front of the side door. Shit. I remained on the ground, thinking of my next move. Of course, with my fairly realistic sounding excuse, I would be able to get off the school grounds; but getting away without seeing anyone would have been cleaner. Ah well. I braced myself for the next words, and looked up.
It was a boy.
I flinched a little in surprise. Where I expected a crumbly teacher to be, a tall, strange boy was standing there, looking at me. He was not someone you'd see but not notice, not a no one that would pass fleetingly at the corner of your eye. Messy silvery white blonde hair was tied in a tiny ponytail, with long strands of hair covering his -or what used to be- right eye. Only his grey left eye stared coldly and uninterested at me, intense and distant at the same time.
His eye patch was not the most eye catching -no pun intended- thing about him, though. He wore a white, slightly big, silk dress shirt, with three buttons undone, to show a hint of the skin underneath. A big scar was clearly visible along his collar bone, startlingly maroon against the smooth white skin surrounding it.
Realizing that he was still staring at me, I stared at him back. It was what I was best at. I could scare people off with just a glare, make them blush with just a glint of the eye. We stayed there, me sitting on the floor and him standing over me, looking at each other eye to eye. Who was he? What was with him? Did I know him? No, I would've definitely remembered him. So why was he here? How did he end up just standing in front of the side door?
Millions of questions ran around in my head, bursting with curiosity. But I didn't say anything. I wanted to know what he wanted to say, why he remained in this eye lock with me.
At least 5 minutes had past -which was a definitely a long-enough-to-be-uncomfortable time if all you were doing is stare at some stranger-, both of us just staring, waiting for something to happen, someone to say something. Tension and intenseness built up around us, the sort that you get in a movie when someone's about to say something important. The reality was much more disappointing, however, when the boy finally spoke in a clear, cold voice.
"You were supposed to be blonde."