Chapter 1: Rumors and Choice Words

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Maths would have been my favourite class of my entire schedule, if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to sit next to Blake Kingston the whole double period. My class had assigned seating and even though I had begged and pleaded with Ms Pollet not to seat me next to Blake, she decided to ignore my wishes (and any hope of maintaining my sanity). As I walked into the classroom my eyes locked onto Blake sitting in his usual seat beside mine, chatting with some stupid jock whose seat was two rows in front of us. Blake wasn’t a bad looking guy. His sandy blond hair fell to just above his clear blue eyes and his skin was a lovely natural tanned colour. It was his personality that was ugly. I dumped my books on the desk with a loud crash and those baby blues of his found my dark hazelnut eyes.

“Would you like to slam those books down any harder?” His voice was as cold as ice and his face was contorted in that of disgust. I could slam them into your head is what I wanted to reply. Instead I simply ignored him and took my seat just as the teacher walked into our classroom. The jock scurried back to his seat two rows ahead and I was left alone with Blake. I organised my books on my table and pulled out my workbook and a pen. I had finished ten of the questions on the board when I heard snickering coming from beside me. I turned my head to see Blake on his phone, fingers tapping away against the screen of the latest version of the iPhone. I rolled my eyes and tried to concentrate on my work but his incessant tapping and snickering had made my patience run out.

“Can you stop giggling like a schoolgirl and get the hell off your phone?” I snarled at him, trying to keep the teacher from hearing. He smirked at me.

“You’re just jealous, Sierra. Why don’t you just fuck off and do your work like a good little girl?” he sneered, which made me want to punch him in the face.

“Go to hell Kingston.” I muttered.

“Only if you’re not there, Denali,” he shot back. I slammed my pen down on the desk and fumed at him.

“Sierra Denali!” My name resounded from the front of the classroom. I looked up to find Ms Pollet standing behind her desk with her hands on her hips, staring straight at me. “If you would kindly get back to work, it would be appreciated.” Blake had to bite his lip to stop him from laughing. “And Blake Kingston, put that phone away right this instant or I will take it and you won’t see it for a week!” Blake’s head shot up to meet Ms Pollet’s eyes and his phone immediately went into his pocket. It was now my turn to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

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Walking home was always the worst part of my day. I didn’t mind the walk to school but walking home was torture. After six hours of school the last thing I wanted to do was walk home to do even more school work. When I finally reached my front door I stepped inside and yelled out “I’m home!” in case anyone cared, which they normally didn’t. But on this occasion I got a reply.

“In the lounge room, my darling! We have guests!” Ahh… That explains it. My mother never greeted me when I came home, unless there were people around to hear her negligence towards her only daughter. My brother was the golden child/prodigy. I was ‘the other one’. Luckily for me, my brother didn’t live at home anymore. He moved out last year, meaning my parents stopped comparing me to him and started ignoring me. Which, in the scheme or things, I didn’t mind all that much.

I walked into the lounge room and froze at the sight I took in. Blake Kingston, his mother, father and his little sister were all seated in chairs around the room. Them being here could only mean one thing. My mouth flopped open as the anger began to rise in my chest. I looked at my mother, smiling pleasantly and giving me her smile-and-be-nice-and-behave-or-else look. The rage in my chest bubbled up and overflowed as I screamed at my mother.

“Are you fucking serious?” My mother’s face was one of masked fury and pretend shock. The Kingston’s were all gaping at me like I had grown another head. I received no answer so I decided to repeat the question. “Are you fucking serious?” I screamed, my eyes still on my mother.

“Sierra! Language!” Mum scolded and turning to the Kingston’s with a sweet smile she said, “Excuse me I need to have a word with my daughter.” She gripped my upper arm hard enough to leave a bruise and dragged me into the kitchen away from her guests and turned her hard glare on me.

“What is wrong with you?” She snarled. “Are you trying to embarrass me? Make me look like an idiot?” I didn’t know whether I should scream at her or break down in tears.

 “What’s wrong with me? What is wrong with you?” My voice had softened and was starting to crack as tears threatened to fall. “How could you bring him here? How?” She looked at a loss, like I was a mental patient. “He’s made my life miserable since I was six! He cut my hair off when I was 10! He pushed me off the playground and broke my arm at 12! When we were 15, he hit me in the face with a cricket bat and gave me a black eye and a concussion!” My mother looked as though she didn’t remember any of what I was saying. Which is probably because she didn’t care enough to notice. “He has done nothing but make my life hell and you’ve invited him to stay here?! Are you crazy?” By the time I was finished I could barely breathe. It was like I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs and I was fighting for breath. That is when I started crying. And screaming. “You don’t know anything about me because you’ve never cared enough to notice! I’ve done everything you’ve ever wanted me to do and you and dad still treat me like I’m a maid who means nothing! Well I’m DONE!” Sobs racked my body as I ran back through the lounge, ignoring the Kingston family, and bolted upstairs into my room where I slammed the door behind me and threw myself on the bed.

Bang Goes That Theory (slowly progressing)Waar verhalen tot leven komen. Ontdek het nu