Chapter 2
I blinked my eyes open and yawned. Grumbling, I turned off the alarm clock that was beeping loudly. My eyes automatically closed again but I forced them to open. Blinking a couple of time, I got up and set my crimson comforter to the side. I ran my hand over my face and then got up.
I hated mornings. I never seemed to get enough sleep and always got a headache. Now, I know what you're thinking. Headaches in the morning? Yes, headaches in the morning. Every freaking day, I woke up to Jared's Linkin Park music. Personally, I liked Linkin Park but waking up to it every day in your life seems annoying. Unfortunately, his room was right next to mine so it was like noise of hell to me. Adrian always went to school early so he never said anything and Devon always woke up way too early to care.
I groaned as I brushed my teeth. When will he stop already! I guess I was lucky enough to have my own bathroom atleast. After I spit the foamy toothpaste out, I pounded my head against the door softly, hoping for once God will have pity on me and somehow get Jared to turn that hell off.
I waited for a few moments. The sound was still blaring out of his room like never before.
Damn.
Giving a silent sigh, I quickly put on a really loose fitted and oversized black t-shirt and some blue/green jeans. I glanced at the clock, thinking it was probably 7:25 or 7:30 but what I saw left me completely shocked. It was 7:50. School started at 8:00!
Oh damn.
Hurriedly, I grabbed my backpack and rushed downstairs. Jared was patiently eating his toast. I hated whenever he did that. School started in less than 10 minutes and he could get out of the house at 7:55 and not be late. He had a fucking car. I, on the other hand, had to fucking walk to school and it took me almost 15-20 minutes. I quickly put on my sneakers and ran out the door and to school.
-:-
"You're late, Ms. Carter," my English teacher, Mr. Turner said as soon as I entered the room. Twenty-five pairs of eyes looked at me and a few snickered. Mr. Turner looked at me, expectantly. "You know the drill. Stop standing like an idiot, Carter, and get a late slip." This time, more people snickered and a few in the back laughed. It was official. God hates me.
Dejected, I left the classroom and walked back the way I came back. Rounding off the corner, I saw the office come into view. I groaned loudly. There was a huge line in front of the office for late people.
Great.
Not only am I going to have to get a late slip but I'm going to spend half the period getting it. Yup, God, you hate me. I get it.
I sound so pathetic right now, don't I?
I thought so.
Standing in line to get a late slip was the last thing I wanted to do right now. Eventually, after 20 minutes, I finally got my turn. Taking the late slip from the evil secretary, who was looking at me in disdain, I walked out the office and back to my English class. Oh, did I mention the office and my class were at total opposite ends of the school? But I was late already so why not just take my time to get to class? I gave a silent sigh as I rounded off the corner. Glancing at the wall beside me, I stopped. A poster hung there. It announced the final basketball match against Croft. The championship game. Croft High was our biggest rival and had been for the last 20 years or so.
It was hard to tell which school was THE best mainly because where Croft excelled, we didn't and vice versa. I really liked the poster though. Roswell was one of the richest schools in the city so it could afford professionally made posters for each and every event. It's not like we were too lazy to get our asses up and draw something on a big piece of paper but it was easier for the Student Council because they didn't have to waste valuable time, though they hand-made posters when it came to Homecoming games and dances and Prom.
Roswell and Croft are major athletics supporters. We played almost each and every game. Basketball, soccer, volley-ball, tennis, softball, baseball, tennis, hockey, etc. But our most important sport was football, according to most people. I rolled my eyes at the thought. I hate football. It was Devon used to talk about at home before he got addicted to basketball. All of my brothers, yes, including Chase, played sports. Chase used attend Roswell as well so he played football for one year, volley-ball, soccer, hockey, and basketball. When he used to attend Roswell, he was like the ultimate jock. It was a surprise for everyone when he turned down three sports scholarships to three of the best universities. Devon plays basketball and does track so he's really fast when it comes to running. Jared plays soccer, football, and volley-ball. And lastly, Adrian plays basketball and volley-ball and a bit of track. Unfortunately, I don't play any sports so I kind of sucked when I used to take gym. Hell, I can't even play dodgeball and that's saying something. I was a HUGE laugh in the girls' change room.
Later when Chase found out, he actually taught me how to play volley-ball. I smiled at the memory. Chase had come back for the summer last year and when Devon told him what had happened over dinner one day, he had told me that starting the next day, I would be learning to play a sport of my choice. I picked volley-ball because I didn't have to run much in the game and by the end of the summer, I even beat Chase once. But I still think that was a complete fluke. Of course, no one else knew I played and Chase didn't tell anyone either. The last time we talked though, he did say that if I didn't atleast try out for this year's Junior Girls' Volley-Ball team, he'd do something really bad to me. And I wasn't about to take up on his offer.
Mr. Turner glanced at the door when I stepped in and then turned back to his discussion again. I dragged myself to my desk and took a seat. A lot of scribbles were on my desk. Most of them were comments about me though. Almost everyone who had a course in this classroom knew I sat on it. How? Because of Kai Hiwatari.Kai was one of the popular jocks and a huge jerk at that. How does he know me you ask? He's Jared's best friend.
"Now, since the period is just about to end, here's what you have to do for tomorrow. We have just finished reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. At the end of the book, you all know that George killed Lennie. We're going to have a mock trial in this class. I want each of you to either be a district attorney or a defense lawyer. Anyone here have any clue as to who a defense lawyer or a district attorney is?"
A couple of people raised their hands.
"A district attorney is a type of lawyer who would try to accuse George of killing Lennie?" A girl named Josie guessed and Mr. Turner nodded in confirmation.
"That's right. A DA is a lawyer who accuses the defendant."
"A defense lawyer is a lawyer who tries to prove that the defendant is innocent," I said without raising my hand. Mr. Turner nodded and smiled slightly.
"That's right. But next time please raise your hand." Mr. Turner moved his gaze from me to the rest of the class once again. "When you pick what you want to be, make three or more points why a) George should be charged with murder or b) why George should be free to go. That's all for now. We will discuss more as time progresses." At the same exact time, the bell rang, initialing the end of Period 1 and start of Period 2.
I got up quickly and got out of the door. I needed to get to my locker and fast. Why you ask? Well, because, I have Gym next period and need to get my gym clothes before I get late again.
I opened my locker with ease and ran to the gym. Opening the gym doors, I was relieved to see that Ms. Levitz wasn't there yet. As I walked to the change room, I could faintly hear the giggling sounds coming from inside. I opened the door and stepped in. A few girls stopped talking and looked over to see who had entered but once they saw me, they went back to their chattering. Quickly slipping out of my clothes into my gym uniform, I walked outside. By now, Ms. Levitz had come and was setting up volley-ball nets. Noticing me, she spoke.
"Don't just stand there, Carter, help me put these up." I nodded and held up the metal rod while she tied the net on it. The other girls slowly started coming out and sat in their squads. We had squads, each having five girls, for Ms. Levitz to remember our names easily. After she was done tying the net, I walked to my squad and sat down.
Haley Kent sneered at me and smirked. "Try not to get hit by the ball too many times this time, Carter." I had the pleasure of having her in my gym class last year and I was horrible at it.
Notice the sarcasm in the first part.
Even when we had played volley-ball before in gym class this year, I had sucked. Half the time when we played games, the ball always hit me in one way or the other. Even after Chase had coached me in it. Somehow I always froze up when I saw the ball come near me.
Ms. Levitz took our attendance and then went to the Equipment Room to get a good volley-ball. "Now, listen up," she started and we grew quiet. "Today is the second last day of our volley-ball unit. So, I decided on playing a game."
How was this any different other than everyday?
"With the boys," she finished. I groaned quietly while Haley and her group tittered. Haley was a good player in volley-ball. And I mean good. She had been on the team for 5 years now. To her, it was another way to impress the boys. Especially Devon. For some reason, he was her flavor-of-the-month. Of course, he knew that but didn't do anything so I suppose he had a bet going down with his friends concerning her.
Just as I had thought that, the boys had come to our gym, Devon being one of them. He glanced at me for a millisecond before moving his gaze to Haley. She gave him a flirty smile that he returned with one of his own. I looked at Haley. She was gorgeous. It was no wonder everyone went coo-coo over her. With straight, sleek blonde hair and a pair of dark willow green eyes, she was the epitome of beauty.
I moved my gaze from her to another place and it was then I saw a tall guy staring at me. He had dirty blonde hair and the most beautiful bluish-gray eyes she had ever seen. Okay so those were the only bluish-gray eyes she had ever seen but that was not the point. My face grew red and for a second I thought he was looking behind me to some other girl but it was then I realized I was leaning on a freaking wall. I averted my gaze looking everywhere but at him but I guess curiosity took over me and I looked back. Though he wasn't looking at me anymore, as if feeling my gaze, he turned around and looked at me and caught me staring.
Fortunately that was when Ms. Levitz and Mr. Smith came back. We gathered around them and waited for them to announce our teams. "Well, since there are about 24 of you, we have decided to make 4 teams of 6 people. Each game will lead to 10 points and after that, the teams that were currently playing will get off and the other two will play their game."
"You will be marked on this and it will count towards your in-term marks. Now, we have decided to make co-ed teams so there will be 3 boys and 3 girls on each team." I groaned again.
"The first team includes Devon, Haley, Jamie, Kent, Clark, and Rina. You are Team A. Team A will face Team B which has Riona, Noelle, Bryan, Janice, Tom, and Marcus. Team C is Charlie, Shea, Dave, Owen, Thomas and Michelle. The rest of you are Team D. Everyone separated into their teams and Ms. Levitz lead teams C and D into the next gym. Our big gym had been separated into two smaller ones. One for boys and the other for girls.
Mr. Smith blew his whistle and handed Noelle the volley-ball to serve. I played the middle position. As I took a look at my team quickly, I noticed that the guy who had been staring at me was in my team.
Great.
Noelle served the ball.
Let the games begin.
-:-
I rubbed the small ice-pack on my forehead as I started for lunch. The ball had hit me more times than I could count. Devon and Haley kept on spiking the ball and in return, I was almost always up front when they did that and whenever I tried to hit the ball, it hit me instead.
"Hey, are you okay?" A voice asked me from behind. Noelle Ivanov. As in Kai's current girlfriend. As in the younger sister ofTala Ivanov, Jared's and Kai's best friend. Like the first two,Tala was also a jock. He had been over to my house a couple of time to hang out withKai and Jared. He was just like Kai. If possible, much worse. He knew I used to have a huge crush on him last year. To this day, he holds it against me.
Okay, I still like him so sue me.
I touched my forehead gingerly and grimaced. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I said when she fell into step with me. She gave me a sympathizing look and I thought she'd go away after that. Surprisingly, she didn't. After a few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. "So what do you want?" I know I sounded a little rude but at the moment I didn't really care.
"Nothing really. I just wanted to know if you were okay or not. Are you new?" I gave a bitter laugh.
"I wish. I've attending this hellhole since last year." Now, it was her turn to look surprised.
"So how come I never noticed you before?"
"What can I say? I'm invisible. Now, I know you have something better to do than going around with a ghost so why don't you go do that?" Noelle gave me a shocked look.
"Look, I was trying to be nice," she started but I interrupted.
"I don't need niceness from people like you. Leave me the hell alone." I glared at her viciously and stalked off. I hated people like that. Oh sure, Noelle Ivanov was really cool and nice but it was the fact that she hung out with people who made my life hell that made me despise her.
Oh sure, looks aren't everything but if they judge me, why can't I?
I threw the ice pack that had melted into the garbage can and went to my locker. Taking out my sketchbook, I opened it and started sketching. I loved art. It was my escape from reality. I could transfer all my emotions into my sketch and that was the one thing I loved about art. It was like magic. You know, when you touch something and you feel that electrifying spark? This was the same. When I touched the pencil, it was like all the emotions I welded up inside me would move on the paper through the pencil.
I was so into sketching, I hardly noticed someone looming over me until they gave a little cough. I snapped my sketchbook close and looked up.
It was the same guy from gym.
"Do you usually stare at random girls or do you want something from me?" I felt my mouth say. Instead of glaring at me and dishing out a million insults, he gave a slight smile.
"May I sit down?" Without waiting for an answer, he sat down.
"I didn't say you could." He shrugged uncaringly. "So why would you ask?"
"Politeness," he replied, looking at me. I scoffed.
"Look, why the hell are you even here first of all?" I asked glaring at him, hoping he'd get the message and go rot in the hole where he came from. He didn't.
"Are you usually this bitchy when someone's trying to be nice to you or is it just PMS?" He asked me, an amused glint in his eyes. I looked at him with my widened eyes and opened and closed my mouth like a fish.
"I can't believe you just said that," I said angrily.
"Chill yourself, ok? Wanna tell me what you're doing here alone?"
"No."
"Oh, is this your sketchbook?" Before I could process what was happening, all that was left in my hand was my pencil. I tried to grab my sketchbook from him but he held it too high.
"Give it back!" I growled. "My art is personal. You have no right to look at it."
"Oh live a little. Stop being such a frigid bitch," he said dismissingly, shuffling through the pages. "This is some good artwork. You did it?"
"No, a little invisible alien from outer space took over my body and did it," I replied sarcastically. He laughed and patted my head like I was some dog or something. This boy was staring to annoy me now.
"Cute."
"I know."
"…"
"Don't you have some popular table in the cafeteria to sit at and preach about your oh-so-good deeds?"
"Not really, seeing as how I'm new."
Oh so that's why I've never seen him before. Hehe…my bad.
"Well why don't you go anyways, seeing as how you already act as annoying and stupid as them?" I asked. "You'd fit right in."
"Yeah, actually your brother did invite me to sit with them…"
"So leave."
"Nah, I think I like annoying you better." He gave me an annoyingly sexy smirk and handed my sketchbook back. I snatched it from him and glared at him as he stood up. "Well, lunch is just about over so I have to go. I know you're really sad from the inside that I'm leaving." I gave him a dry look and scoffed. "Try not to miss me much, oki?" With that, he swaggered around the corner like he was the king of the world.
Ugh…I hate this school.
So...how was it? Please leave a review! Thanks to Uzumaki Angel, anonymus elephant, and Ivory Black aka Torri-Ciob... for leaving me my first reviews and alos to those who added me on thier storyalerts list!
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