*Rhea's POV*
I sat in my car with my hands still clasped on the wheel, staring at the green windows of my beloved school. I was parked in my usual parking space in the parking lot. I always arrived early to school, knowing that it usually took me a while to get the courage to get out of my car, however pathetic that was. The school never looked that crazy at this time of the day, yet it was still scary nonetheless. That's what happened when you had no friends, you never had anything to look forward to at school. Nothing to give me the push I needed to go on with my day. No, not the push I needed, more like the push I wanted. The push I needed was the distant sound of the bell ringing, signaling the start of class and as usual, the fact that I was once again late. I jumped in my seat and quickly got out of my car, running toward the main door without looking back.
As I timidly walked into my English class, I noticed how the teacher no longer bothered to even look at me as I walked in. He was probably already used to me being late, I was no longer even worth the bother to give me a detention.
Today the class looked even fuller than any other day. I was used to seeing at least five seats available from which I could choose from, but today there were only two, and one of them was not even an option for me. If that seat had been the only one available, I would probably have turned around and walked back to my car without a second thought.
The other seat was not the best, either, although I was glad that it was at least at the back of the class. I never liked sitting in the middle or front rows. They made me feel claustrophobic and vulnerable, two things I deeply disliked. What I didn't like was that it was right next to a guy I had seen before but had never once talked to. He was intimidating, perhaps not in the same way jocks were, but nonetheless it made me uncomfortable as I walked toward the seat next to him. I had seen him pick on kids before, and even though he had never picked on me, I was still cautious. The last thing I wanted was to have another asshole make my life harder. He was taller than most jocks, too, and was scary in a dark way. He was usually seen wearing a trench coat and was rumored to being from a so called trench coat mafia. Although to be honest, I preferred his way of dressing to that of most people. Didn't change the fact that it made him more scary looking, though.
As I was walking to my seat, someone put their feet in my path and I nearly fell on my face, if it wasn't for my reflexes that made me grab onto a table. I turned to look at who had done so and found a girl I had never even talked to laughing and looking away from me. Unbelievable, I thought. My cheeks got red and before I knew it I found myself giving her hair a strong tug, which made her scream and everyone's eyes turn to me. I continued to my seat not daring to look back at people's eyes, mentally preparing myself for the teacher's scold. It never came, though. After a moment of silence, he continued with the lesson.
"Stupid teacher, I hate when people feel sorry for that bitch," the girl spat, looking back at me. When our eyes locked, I gave her a taunting smile, which portrayed the courage I knew I didn't have. More than anyone, I was shocked with myself. What had suddenly given me the courage, and what will the consequences be? I guess I was doomed to find out sooner or later.
All the while I was completely conscious of the guy sitting next to me. I had heard his name once before as I walked down the hall, although at that moment I was unable to recall it. I started with a D, that much I knew. It didn't matter much, anyway.
I hadn't been paying much attention to the teacher's lesson until I heard him say the words "Partner with the classmate next to you". My eyes flew to my teacher, wide and panicked. I never liked partner-related school projects and usually managed to convince the teacher to let me do it alone. But my english teacher was different. Only once had I tried to convince him and ended up listening to an after class lecture about my poor social skills. I truly hated him.
"This will be another creative writing project, but this time, I want to see what stories you people come up with as partners. These stories will not be the product of one mind only, but two, and thus I expect them to be extraordinary," the teacher said, looking straight at me, and I could almost hear the warning in his eyes. "And you will not have class time to work on this project, so you better see how you work things out with your partner. It is due this Thursday, and have I mentioned already it is worth 10% of your grade? No? Well, now you know it."
Yeah, I truly, absolutely hated him.
Just as he's done talking the school bell cut through the air and everyone quickly rose to their feet, almost automatically. I remained in my seat, feeling slightly dumbfounded and unable to look at my project partner. He remained seated too, which only made matters worse. If the due date wasn't so close by and my English grade wasn't so low, I would have probably ran away and cared less about the project.
Just as I was getting my courage to look turn to him, my project partner rose to his feet, flung his bag to his back, and left the room without giving me a single glance. I remained seated for a few minutes and felt myself sink into my own pathetic existence.