- murderer. jacob barber

two.

x| chapter two.
' gone too soon. '

alice pike was never late to school. this was the first sign that today was anything but normal. she always made sure to wake up early enough to leave just the right amount of time to walk to school and comfortably make it to class way before the bell. today she had woken up early enough, and everything was just on track, but then it wasn't. and now, she walked into her first hour of classes, biology, about thirty minutes late.

she opened the door, a small sigh leaving her lips. she felt all the eyes in the room shift her her, making her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. she tried to ignore them, making her way to her seat. as she sat down, she kept her eyes on the lab table in front of her. the other kids in her lab group had already been doing the experiment, so she just tried to catch up. "what'd i miss, ollie?" she soon asked the boy sitting next to her.

it was oliver ruben. he was a strange boy to say the least. but, he was her friend. oliver came from a pretty rough family, one which he never really talked about to other people. except he'd told alice, only because one day she had witnessed it when they were hanging out. and now every time they hang out, they go to her house only.

he was a tall and lanky boy, who was incredibly pale. he had long, curly hair that looked as though it was a black mop upon his head. he usually was seen wearing large sweaters with jackets hanging over them, most of his clothes seemingly too large for his body. you could practically see the bags under his eyes from a mile away, suggesting his horrible case of insomnia. he was usually looking pretty rugged, which was basically why he had no friends. but despite all of that-

oliver was probably the best friend alice could ever ask for.

most people wouldn't suspect that the two were friends. alice came from the perfect family who had great jobs, made good money, and cared far too much about appearance. she always had on a tidy outfit, something in style, something her mother helped her purchase. they were polar opposites but somehow made perfect for eachother's company. and in a way, alice liked that he had no other friends. in her own conceited way, it made her feel good knowing he would never be too busy for her. she liked the comfort of knowing she could always call him up in a crisis.

"-nothing worth talking about." ollie shrugged to her, his head propped up by his arms on the lab table. he honestly hadn't been paying much attention, so even if it was important he wouldn't know. he parked up a bit, tilting his head to her. "but on the other hand, i've got something worth talking about." he mentioned, sitting up a little straighter than before. "where have you been?"

alice shook her head at his question, it wasn't exactly something she had wanted to talk about. "my mom kept me held up. it was nothing." she sighed, very quickly shrugging off the question. she didn't think it was important anyways. she was never late, so why make a big deal of it?

soon enough she looked up to the other two across the table from them. they were the ones actually doing the work. she sort of felt bad that she hadn't been helping this whole time. "shoot sorry, let me." she quickly commented, grabbing hold off the stirring stick in one of the beakers. she brushed hands with the boy across from her, it made her sort of uncomfortable for some reason.

the boy, better known as jacob barber, let go of the beaker, letting her take control of it all. he didn't mind, he hadn't wanted to do it anyways. his mind had definitely been elsewhere that morning, stuck on something.

the teacher mentioned something about the experiment they were doing, saying a phrase that happened to set up perfectly for a joke. "that's what she said." jacob chuckled under his breath, causing the other kids at his table to laugh a bit as well, besides alice.