Her chocolate brown eyes immediately met his coal black ones, somehow stunned by how dark they were, almost the same shade as his raven hair, straight and just reached the top of his neck along with short, messy bangs that fell over his forehead. High cheekbones, strong jawline, fit and built body but subtle muscles showing from beneath his shirt and jacket, though his physical appearance indicated that he was probably around her age, if not more. He was clean-shaven and his skin looked pale enough that normal people would consider it sickly but it surprisingly complemented his youthful appearance well. With a black leather jacket, white t-shirt, ripped jeans and sneakers, his clothes made him look like one of the biker kids or even one of those bad boys Alexa had always read about in young adult novels these days, though he looked to be more of the school's resident heartbreaker than the resident troublemaker.

And she instantly hated him.

However, regardless of her first impression of him, she reluctantly took his hand after realizing that the throbbing pain in her head wouldn't let her get back up on her feet as easily as she hoped. He pulled her up with ease as though she weighed no more than a feather, his strength even surprising Alexa herself. Last time she checked, her BMI still deemed her slightly overweight than other typical girls of her height and age, something she had been trying to fix for the past few years, ever since she took her physical appearance more seriously than before.

"God, I'm so sorry," he was saying. "I should've seen where I was going. It was totally my fault."

Alexa didn't respond immediately. She was too enraptured by his voice; there was something pleasant and melodic about the deep, velvety and somewhat husky voice that seemed to be natural without even trying. It sent shivers down her spine, although whether or not she liked it was being contested in her conflicted mind. She dared say that it was angelic, even, as though he could compel her to do anything he wanted her to by just speaking to her in such a heavenly voice.

That was before she realized what was happening, and turned down the yellow brick road of fantasy and the grey asphalt road of reality. Troublemakers wouldn't say that, she thought to herself, re-justifying her judgement of him, but heartbreakers do. She shook her head and brought the logic back into her head, replacing the frown on her face with a scowl as she immediately whipped her hand away from his before he could do anything else. A flash of guilt struck her heart for a moment when his face contorted with offense for a split second before it was masked by an expression of curiosity—despite how much she despised this person, she still didn't want to make a bad, long-lasting impression to others, especially when everybody around them were already staring at her and whispering behind her back.

"Don't be," she hissed quietly, ignoring the eyes set upon her, including his, and turned towards her books that were spread out all over the floor. Blood began rushing into her cheeks and she found herself wishing that she'd just stayed in bed earlier this morning, where her bed covers and curtains would shield her from the rest of the cruel world she lived in. It was a miracle that nobody had started to laugh at her yet; what was worse, however, was when she glanced at her surroundings, the other kids weren't laughing quietly to themselves and pointing fingers at her or taking embarrassing pictures of her and sending them to other kids in school, as she'd expected.

Instead, only the guys were snickering with amused smirks on their faces, while the girls were a different story. Their glares were accusing her, scorning her with looks of disgust and contempt. They did whisper amongst themselves but while staring at her with disdain, glancing back and forth from her to the young man standing before her. The only few of them that did have smiles on their faces did so maliciously, as though they had other devious intentions for her even after such an incident.

Just one bad luck after another, she scowled to herself while bending down for a quick moment to pick up one of her books, then another and a third. When she reached for the fourth book in front of her, her hand collided with someone else's, causing her to flinch away when an invisible electric shock ran through the veins in her hand while trying to bite down her tongue to avoid yelping out loud, which would have made her even more embarrassed than she already was. She rubbed it with her good hand and cursed under her breath. It wasn't painful to her, but it was unexpected.

And when she looked up, she stared into the same pair of black orbs she did earlier, this time with a half-playful, half-guilty smile with his teeth biting into his lower lip, glancing down at the handful of the rest of her books which he'd already picked up without needing any call for aid whatsoever from Alexa herself.

"It's the least I can do," he said before he went around her and picked up her bag as well, stuffing the books back into the whimsy object before grabbing the ones that Alexa was holding and fitted them inside, too, before handing it back to her. She grabbed it by one of its straps but just stood there, unmoving, unfazed but unsettled. He then studied her profile for a minute and pointed a finger in the air in front of her. "Wait, aren't you one of the new kids who just moved here? What're the names again—"

"Alexandra," she said with some hesitation. She hadn't decided whether she could trust this young man or not, but sharing a name wouldn't hurt—or would it? "Alexandra Young, but my friends call me Alexa."

His eyebrow twitched ever so slightly and his eyes glinted with curiosity she'd never seen anybody look at her with. "Am I your friend, then? Can I just call you Alexa or would you rather like Alexandra…?"

"Okay, slow down there, buddy. And that does not mean that we're friends." She found herself hating this person, whoever or whatever he was, even more.

"Okay, then." He extended his arm once again, and this time Alexa did not intend to accept it at all. "Damien Blackwell. No, I am not the kid from The Omen series and I promise you I am not the Antichrist. I am also not the musician or the artist. Just because we all share the same name and it's not a particularly common name, doesn't mean I'm the same person as all those people." When she simply stared warily at the hand and left him hanging for a few seconds too long, he folded his hand and brought it back to his side. "I'm guessing you're not a people person, huh? Still mad about earlier? I said I'm sorry, all right? Do you want me to go down on my knees and beg for forgiveness? Because I can and I will, if I have to."

She couldn't believe the words he was saying and shook her head violently. "What? No. God no. Look, I'm not that pissed, believe me. We can forget it ever happened at all." Probably because a bunch of other girls staring at us already wishes I'm dead because of how they're all staring at you with sickening dreamy-eyes and how you're talking to me, a literal nobody. "I just want to get to class without being tardy on the first day, all right?"

Just as she was about to turn around and leave the boy where he stood, his hand reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her to turn back around as she now stared at him with annoyance. What's with this guy?

He exhaled deeply, glancing around nervously while his eyes refused to meet hers this time around. "Hey, look—why don't I walk you to class? I mean, no offense, but you seem pretty lost there before I smacked you head on earlier. What's your next class?"

She sighed impatiently. Even if she ignored him, she figured he was one of the type of people who wouldn't get off your back until you told him what he wanted to hear. It was annoying, even if that meant that she could stick around him for a little longer—something that she found herself wanting to do despite her own logic sense—more than she knew she should.

"Biology."

His entire face lit up, as though he was a starving homeless man who was just given a slice of bread and a bottle of water for the first time in weeks. It scared her. "Well, coincidentally, that's my next subject, too. You're a junior this year, right?" She sighed again before nodding. Why was he doing this, and why was she still going through with it? "That's great, then! Hey, maybe Mr. Simms will even pair us up as lab partners! Give us some time to know each other a little better, you know."

No, I don't, she groaned internally. And God, I hope not. She wanted to decline his offer and head there on her own, even though they would both be going the same direction. At least she knew the general direction, however, which she figured was good enough and she would be able to find the classroom all by herself, without constantly being the damsel-in-distress with a terrible sense of direction.

Glancing at a clock above one of the classroom doors along the hallway, however, and finally noticing that there weren't that many people left loitering around the halls, she reconsidered his offer. If she took too long in finding this god-forsaken classroom, she was going to be late and detention would be the final hell of the day, worse than even this incident alone. It wouldn't look good in her permanent records—detention on the first day of school wouldn't appeal as much in her future college application—and his intentions seemed genuine and honest enough that she might put some trust in him, though not all of it. She still had walls and fences she felt she needed whenever she would be around him. But she supposed that a friendly helping hand shouldn't be too troublesome at all.

Besides, she was going to need all the help she could get if she were to survive high school here. The strange mist must've had some hallucinating effects after what she'd witnessed earlier this morning, and the residents here might look welcoming in the outside but she had a feeling that they were all just masks to hide something more sinister underneath. She didn't want to know what, but if there was some indication from someone that looked as though they could help her in some way—any way—she might have to rethink her judgement on them more than just twice.

The trip to their unfortunately-shared biology class was short and silent, to Alexa's relief. He did not say anything else to her nor did she want to herself, though she could see his hidden smile despite being a few paces behind him, staring only at the back of his head, at his raven-black hair, with only a little of his face turned to her whenever they turned around the corner. She was, however, not wrong about being late to class. When they first entered the room, whatever conversations their classmates were having immediately ceased and all eyes turned to the two of them. The glares returned to her while none of the girls dared to stare at Damien except a select few who she did not doubt were part of the popular clique.

One of them, a girl with long, wavy, golden blonde hair that practically shone under the bright lighting of the room, stunning features that were practically perfect and quickly earned Alexa's envy, wearing a white top underneath a denim cardigan and jeans, made immediate and intense eye-contact with Alexa that she forced herself to look away, terrified of the sheer look of murder in her eyes as soon as she spotted her with Damien.

"Late to class on the first day of school, Mr. Blackwell?" The teacher, Mr. Simms, glared at the two of them with arms crossed in front of him with irritation written all over his aged, wrinkled face. He looked to be in his late forties, with olive skin and salt-and-pepper hair that looked more like a wig than natural. "And you brought a friend with you, too."

"Won't happen again, Mr. Simms," Damien said quickly with a confident grin all over his face that Alexa wished he didn't have, should they avoid getting in any more trouble with their clearly-displeased teacher. "I'm turning over a new leaf this year, I swear."

"I'll believe you when I see cows jumping over the moon," the teacher scowled, rolling his eyes before he turned to Alexa. "I do not wish to see this sort of behavior in the future, all right, Ms. Young? I'll excuse you this time, just because I know this is your first day of school. Believe it or not, this place is a lot bigger than it seems, so I'd suggest getting used to knowing where your classrooms are so that you can get there in less than five minutes, all right? Next time, detention. Remember that."

Alexa couldn't help sighing. The teachers back at her old school would've sent her straight to an hour of detention after dismissal time, even for new students, if they were ever late. There was a certain level of discipline there that scared all the students into being quiet and more disciplined than students in most schools, so much that Alexa often thought of her fellow schoolmates as robots, especially during class time. She was only lucky enough to find friends in the more relaxed students, those who, to her, prioritized their personal and social lives rather than just their grades.

"Now both of you, pick a seat, anywhere you like. I won't start assigning you lab partners until next week, but for now, I'd like to discuss a few basic rules of the class." Mr. Simms's statement received a negative response from majority of the class that had erupted into a series of complaints, just before he hushed them all back into silence. "Afterwards, I'll explain a little bit of what we're going to learn for the rest of the year, and maybe look into the first chapter if we have enough time."

More groaning, and this time they weren't silenced at all as Alexa and Damien parted ways towards different directions of the class. She immediately found an empty seat near the back of the class and against the wall, where she could safely hide and avoid attention from most of the class and the teacher himself. She dropped her backpack next to her desk and couldn't help but search for Damien, who had settled in somewhere in the middle of the class. She didn't even realize there was an empty seat left there for him, until she realized that he was, in fact, sitting right beside the blonde who was staring daggers at her earlier, moments before she witnessed them lean towards each other and kissed.

Her heart ached in defeat. Of course he had a girlfriend, she scolded herself, destroying any shred of hope for him left inside her. She was even surprised by her own feeling of disappointment; it wasn't like she liked him or anything, right? She despised him from the second she first saw him, and she thought that would be her final judgement of him that would forever be planted into her head. And yet, she didn't realize that there was still a part of her, regardless how tiny it was compared to the enormous size of her stubbornness, that actually hoped that she could be somewhat closer to him, perhaps in a way that was more than just friends.

And she hadn't even decided whether they were officially friends or not.

She couldn't resist having her eyes remaining at the couple even when Mr. Simms had launched into a practiced speech about his personal class rules in addition to the school's. Their lip lock had turned into quite a passionate make-out moment before he was the first to pull away, but his hand quickly found hers as the two began laughing and presumably speaking romantic nothings at one another until Mr. Simms called them out and told them to step out of the class if they continued such behavior.

Alexa clenched her jaw and finally found the strength inside her to tear her eyes away. When their laughter became louder and were accompanied by whom she assumed were their friends, also few of the popular kids, she couldn't help but have an unpleasant thought appearing in her mind; one that involved Damien speaking to his girlfriend about what happened just minutes earlier, starting from the moment she'd crashed straight onto him, and sharing his mocking views about Alexa, probably making fun of her clumsy behavior and her horrible appearance.

And he was being so nice to her earlier, too. The regret on his face seemed completely genuine, which was why she'd relented into letting him accompany her all the way to class. Had the entire gentlemanly act been nothing but a terrible, cruel lie? A ruse, only to fool her into trusting him while giving her a chance to stab her in the back when she least expected? How many more tricks was he planning to use on her the next time they encountered one another?

Another lie, she thought darkly to herself, bringing her eyes away from them and onto the cream-colored wooden desk in front of her, struggling to not let her emotions get the better of her that they would be exposed in her outer self as well. Another heartbreaker.

Despite being able to restrain her emotions from overflowing, she couldn't stop the flurry of memories that came right after them, immediately flooding into her mind like a disastrous tsunami, wrecking everything else in its path. Memories of her past life back in the town she grew up in, a life that she'd just abandoned the night before when she finally gathered the courage to let go of the one person she kept holding onto even when she shouldn't.

Turning her focus into her studies, she solemnly took out her notebook and flipped open a random page while tuning into Mr. Simms droning on about how he demanded a high level of discipline from them, especially in his class, a lecture that she seemed to have heard multiple times before in her previous school. She tried paying no attention whatsoever to the center of the class where Damien and his girlfriend was, though it proved to her rather difficult when staring at her teacher's direction meant that she was staring at their direction, too.

Why am I making such a big deal out of it? She began to scold herself, something she always did whenever her feeling of self-loathing decided to overwhelm her thoughts. This time, she hated how she was already having mixed emotions towards someone who she barely knew, who was clearly taken and who she should hate in a million ways more than just one. More importantly, she hated the fact that she should've known better after what happened last time.

Fortunately for her, class went over quickly, though not quick enough as she literally counted the seconds that passed and how many more she had to live through before she could get out of that torturous room. Once Mr. Simms dismissed the class, she didn't think twice before grabbing her bag and immediately bolting out of the room without a single word spoken. Just as she passed the couple, however, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder to notice the sheer look of confusion on Damien's face while the same glare had returned to his blonde girlfriend's.

Clearly the girl hated her now. She'd just showed up in class less than an hour ago with her boyfriend, and she didn't even know they were dating. She'd casually accepted his offer to walk her to class just because she thought it would get her in less trouble than she already was, only to realize that she could've dodged a bullet with both the teacher and the girlfriend if she hadn't taken his offer. It wasn't like Alexa had intended to steal her boyfriend away from her. She barely even liked him at this point, especially after the horrible thoughts her mind conjured up earlier in class.

There was a slight tug in her heart that almost compelled her to say something—anything—to them, perhaps to apologize in case the girlfriend thought anything funny had happened between her and Damien when the only thing that happened was an embarrassing mishap that deemed her as a klutzy student for at least a week now. Despite the urge, she remained silent and kept her mouth shut as she disappeared from their line of vision and rejoined the stream of students, even ignoring the fact that she was being a human ragdoll again as she wandered around to find her next class, silently hoping that nothing unfortunate would happen to her again this time around.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she met up with Celeste just as she turned around the corner that led to her next class—without bumping into anybody this time—and immediately told her what had happened, hoping that her new friend would give some insight to her, and maybe even an advice or two.

"Whoa, hold on there," the redhead exclaimed with wide eyes as soon as Alexa finished telling her story to her. Their teacher hadn't arrived yet, which gave them both some time to talk as they chose a seat right next to each other. Alexa couldn't help but notice that he wasn't sharing a class with her this time, much to her relief. "Did I hear you correctly? You bumped into Damien Blackwell, had him walk you to class because he offered to and escaped with your head intact?"

Alexa scrunched her forehead, staring at Celeste with a look of confusion. "That's quite the exaggeration. I mean, she sure looks mean but I don't think she can do any real harm to me other than possibly ruining my social life until I graduate from this damned place, something that I can't care less about, actually."

"Well, first of all, you do not know how damned this place actually is." A flash of regret momentarily appeared in her eyes before it disappeared as soon as Alexa noticed it. "But this is Meredith Cromwell we're talking about. She is not just what you would typically call the 'Queen Bee' of this school, but she is probably the literal queen of Silvercrest High itself. On top of that, she has a seat in the Town Council for some unknown reason, and she is not even of legal age to do that yet. She has that much influence, just so you know."

Alexa shrugged. "So? It can't be that bad; I didn't even flirt with him on the way there. Also, how the hell would you know anything about her? I thought you were homeschooled?"

"Homeschooled does not mean that I do not have at least a friend or two who knows what happens around town," said Celeste as she added a mischievous wink. "And let's just say, nothing good ever happens to people who messed with her, including and especially people who messed with her boyfriend, none other than the bad boy Damien Blackwell himself." She sighed. "I've always read fictional stories like these—you know, the only place where I can actually learn what other teenagers are like. I never thought my first day of high school would be similar to such stories, happening to the only person I've made friends with here so far."

Alexa didn't respond but simply stared at her friend. Half of her was still in disbelief—how much could one person trouble her when they'd barely spoken to each other yet—but half of her was terrified for her own throat. Of course she had to mess with just the wrong person on the first day. Of course her life wouldn't be any better once she moved here.

She didn't get a chance to reply when the teacher finally arrived, a woman in her middle ages just like most of the teachers they had in the school. It was algebra class and the teacher, Mrs. Rosales, started off the class unlike most teachers did, which was usually introducing themselves and which topics they would have to stress about for the exams that they would learn throughout the year, but rather she immediately began writing down sums for the class to solve, something that Celeste struggled with slightly, Alexa had noticed, but the latter quite proficient in. She thought it was ironic considering how she loathed the subject for ultimately being useless in real life, but until she was a legal adult and could make decisions all on her own, she was just another mindless slave of the school.

At least it got her mind off the dark-eyed boy her mind still subconsciously conflicted about, as well as his Californian-beauty of a girlfriend who had milk-pale skin rather than tanned. She still had the rest of the school year to worry about them, anyway.