|maneater z.m.|

TWO

With a parted mouth and scared eyes, she rereads the note in her bedroom- gripping onto her velvet robe. She brushes her hair aggressively, drifting her gaze from the white vanity mirror before her and the heart shaped note. What am I gonna do? Should I tell mom? Were her initial thoughts.

After deciding not to worry her mother, she clenches the note in her hands and places it in a small turquoise colored box beneath her bed. She grabs her phone after lying down on her bed. She goes to the Home app connected to her house- making sure all doors, windows, and the garage were closed and locked.

Her nimble fingers go to the surveillance cameras at her moms dance studio. The recordings were no help- it was too dark and rainy outside to decipher between a person and any other object.

"Hey love bug, what are you up to?" Miriam enters Ambrosia's lilac colored bedroom, going towards the vanity to turn on a bamboo diffuser filled with eucalyptus oil and water. She draws the curtains down before sitting next to Ambrosia on a queen sized bed.

"Scrolling through the schools website again." She lies, rushing from one app to another. "I'm so nervous."

"I'm sure it'll be great lovie, don't worry. I brought you your medicine, water and some tea." Miriam says, combing through Ambrosia's long dirty blonde hair with her fingers to calm her.

"Momma, did you see anything odd in the cameras tonight?" Ambrosia asks calmly, not a hint of worry in her cooled demeanor.

"Well, my girl did beautiful développés despite her doctor's advice. Baby, I could see you crying. You need to let yourself heal. Your father has not even authorized you running, let alone dancing again."

"I know... I just can't not dance.."

"After you're all better, you'll be back to dancing in no time, baby. It's late, we should both go to bed. You start school tomorrow."

Ambrosia nodded with a small smile, leaning into her mother before engulfing her in a big hug.

+

Holding onto the tassels of her backpack tightly, Ambrosia walks into her new school nervously. She walked in through the main entrance before entering the office with numerous secretaries and faculties getting ready to start their days. She walks to the closest one, greeting the older lady with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Ambrosia Belmont. I'm new and yesterday my father spoke with the Dean..."

"Yes, yes. So I have all your things right here. You're our only new student today, considering we're already into our second semester. I have your school ID, schedule, locker number and combo, parking pass, and a note to show teachers in case you don't feel well and need to see the nurse."

"Thank you."

"Stay here for a minute please, I'll call down Niall. He's apart of the Student Life club at our school and will show you around because you guys have similar classes."

Ambrosia nods and looks around the brightly illuminated office. Large windows took up an entire wall and the rest were colored yellow. Pictures of recent and past sports teams, valedictorian, and proms adorned the walls in chestnut colored frames. She smiles brightly seeing her siblings there. Gemma smiled holding her diploma that said Valedictorian in golden letters and Harry wore the prom king's crown. Getting lost in her own world, Ambrosia did not even notice when a blonde boy walked into the room.

"Hi, I'm Niall Horan, it's nice to meet ya." He says, hand out waiting for Ambrosia's. She snaps out of her own thoughts to place her hand in his to shake.

"Ambrosia Belmont, it's nice to meet you too."

The bell rings, signaling their first class started- according to the schedule in Ambrosia's hands. Chemistry. Ambrosia internally puked reading the word off the paper.

"So the layout of the school is pretty easy once you get used to it. Every building has a different subject, and every classroom goes up in order so our first class, Chem 207 would be the 7th classroom on the second floor of the Science building." He explains after dropping off her books at her locker.

"You haven't said a word, are you nervous?"

"Yeah." Ambrosia responds, walking beside him through the big campus. Teens sprawled across it- studying on picnic tables, reading on the grass, painting on the floor. Everything about the school intimidated her- especially since her father was the head of the parents board, brother was starting quarterback and lacrosse star his four years there, and her sister was valedictorian. Thank God they did not share the same last name. She did not want everyone to know who her family was.

That way, nothing was expected of her.