Chapter 1: A New Beginning
I arrived at the gate of my new school, but I became nervous. Aunt Claire decided to drive me to school on my first day even though it was literally walking distance from my new house. She insisted, so I pretty much couldn't refuse.
"Alright then, I'm gonna go now," I turned to face her. Unsurprisingly, she was examining my clothes from top to bottom with a disgusted look.
I sighed, "Aunt Claire, would you stop judging my clothes?"
She came to realization and said, "I'm sorry, Addie, but it's just, well, I just wish you'd dress more like a girl."
What I was wearing was completely bland and mundane. It was a grey long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans, both two sizes too large for me, hiding any curves I had lying underneath. My hair was wavy and messed up, half of it covering my face. The look I was going for was 'invisible' or 'don't bother to glance twice' and I'm sure I pretty much nailed it.
I rolled my eyes, "I have boobs. They can tell I'm a girl."
She was still dissatisfied but didn't say. "Well, alright then, have a wonderful first day at school!"
Then I was walking into my new school.
X
It was much like any other public school. No one really noticed me. I'm not even exaggerating. Really, no one noticed me. I would expect some people to have their heads pointed my way since I am a face they have never seen before but no one seemed to give a damn. So, instead, I started to examine people.
There were the classics – the jocks, the cheerleaders, the goths, the nerds and a lot of others that I couldn't really put a finger on. I'd probably hang out with the mediocre kids for it would be the safest spot to be in the social hierarchy.
From a distance I saw a blonde cheerleader laughing with her friends and pointing at a girl with straight chestnut hair and dark brown eyes. Then, the cheerleader took a cup of coffee, walked over to the brunette and 'accidentally' bumped into her causing the coffee to spill all over her clothes.
"What is your problem, Chelsea?" the brunette asked in rage.
"It's not my fault! Looks like my coffee is attracted to freaks like you," she replied with a bitchy tone. Her friends were laughing by the sides.
The brunette just asked, "What have I ever done to you?"
Chelsea's face turned from a fake smile to a glare, "You existed. Now get out of my sight, freak."
The brunette walked away, and at one point she caught me staring. I showed her a look of sympathy but she just shook her head and walked away. I felt sorry for her. She reminded me, of well – me. I used to be treated like that, bullied for the reason of just merely existing. It hurt, and I could feel the same pain as I witnessed the event.
One thing for sure – stay away from Chelsea.
X
My first class was English and I was late. Well, you couldn't blame me! The hallways were extremely confusing. I was about 10 minutes late when I arrived to my first class. I knocked on the door.
"Sorry I'm late," I apologized, still panting from running around the halls.
The teacher looked thrilled to see me. "You must be Adelaide Haller. I'm Ms. Jones, your English teacher. Come on in, don't be shy." I entered and now I felt the eyes on me. God, how uncomfortable it felt.
"Class, this is your new classmate, Adelaide. Where are you from, Adelaide?" Ms. Jones asked me.
I kind of wished I was actually from Adelaide because to answer her question by saying "Adelaide" would be rather amusing.
"Um," I began, "before this, I lived in Texas," I said.
"Well, you don't have an accent," Ms. Jones said.
"Oh, I lived there for a few months. I've been moving a lot," I clarified.
Ms. Jones grew curious, "How much?"
"Well, I've moved four times in the past year," I said.
She was extremely shocked. "Why?" she asked and I kept silent. I couldn't answer. So I just said, "I have my reasons." The whole class seemed confused but Ms. Jones didn't ask further (thank God).
"You can take a seat right next to Mr. Maximoff," she told me, gesturing to the only available seat at the back of the class.
The walk there felt awful. Eyes staring and making way for me, so I just kept my head down. Soon, I was close to reaching and I forced myself to look up and something silver caught my eye. I widened my eyes at the boy who would sit beside me. His hair was silver and tucked underneath his beanie. He wore a leather jacket and a band shirt alongside skinny jeans and sneakers. Dare I say, he was fairly attractive.
I took a seat beside him, but I was too mesmerized by his hair I found myself still staring. Suddenly he turned to face me and our eyes met in intense contact. I quickly shifted my gaze to my table. I could hear him chuckle beside me.
Throughout class, I caught myself stealing glances of the boy's hair. Without realizing, he caught me as well. "It feels like a compliment that you can't stop staring at me, but it's starting to get quite creepy," he said in a flirtatious tone.
My cheeks filled in color as I tried to cover, "Oh sorry, I was admiring your hair. It's silver."
He chuckled. "I'm Peter," he offered me a hand. "Adelaide," I said as I took his hand and shook it, only once, since I was afraid something unusual would happen if I held it for too long. "So, what's up with you?" he asked. I grew confused, "What's up with me?"
"Yeah, why do you move so often? Your mom a secret agent or something?"
I tried to hide my panic. Without thinking, I yelped immediately, "No!" My squeal sounded a little too unconvincing.
I could tell he was confused judging by the look he gave. He was about to ask another question but I cut him, "Why are you so curious about me?"
He said, "Well, you're the new girl. It's normal for me to be curious. What's not normal is staring at people's hair for the entire class." I scoffed, "Shut up. I was just," I began to say but he cut me, "Checking me out?"
"Ugh no," I said and once again he swooped in, "It's okay, I think you're pretty cute, too." I found myself blushing.
Oh my God, stop it Adelaide!
In my defense, no one ever had the guts to flirt with me in my previous schools since they found out about my 'freakiness' before they could even attempt to approach me. Or maybe, they just were never interested with me to begin with, because my exterior had always been repulsive.
I cleared my throat, "Can you please shut up, I'm trying to learn and you're kind of distracting me."
"I'm distracting?" he smirked. "That wasn't a compliment," I told him. He leaned back on his chair and said, "Still taking it as one."
I rolled my eyes and continued on paying attention to the class. It was easier now knowing the boy next to me was extremely annoying and is not worth my time.
An hour passed before the bell rung. "Alright, class dismissed," announced the end of the class. Everyone left rather quickly, but I was still struggling with getting my file to fit in my bag. Soon, I was the only one left.
Or so I thought. "God you are slow," said a voice from the corner of the room. Peter was there, leaning back on the wall with his arms crossed. I glared at him before getting up. I was heading out and he began to follow me.
"Why are you following me?" I asked him. "Well, you're new and you have no friends. So, I, being a courteous, handsome, charming person would like to help you on your first day," he explained. I scoffed, "No thank you. I can handle myself. Now, if you would excuse me." He still insisted, "You're going to get lost."
I turned around to face him and said, "No, I won't." As I turned back in front, I accidentally bumped into someone and dropped my things. The person I bumped into seemed fine and kept walking without hesitation. Meanwhile, I was there picking up my things before heading to my next class.
Peter was right, though. I got lost and was late to class.