⚠️ TW: Mentions of Abuse⚠️
"Ryan! Get the fuck up!"
I shoot up from my bed when I hear pounding on my door.
Fuck, I think I just got whiplash.
Ow.
"I'm up!"
I check the time and realize that I've woken up late.
Shit!
I'm gonna be late on my first day.
It's not my fault though, Axton and I were on the phone for 9 hours yesterday.
This man has got me whipped.
I quickly spray some dry shampoo in my hair because I have no fucking time for a shower, throw on my uniform, grab my bags and art supplies and finally make my way downstairs.
"It's about fucking time." My dad mutters.
"Sit down." My mom says.
"Oh, it's fine, I'll grab some food-"
"Sit!" My dad screams before slamming his fist onto the table.
"O-okay," I say before putting my bags down and taking the seat farthest from them.
"Jackson's mom called this morning..."
Oh shit.
"...she said you broke up with him and kicked him out of the house. That true?"
"I- uh- yes. But it's because he cheat-"
"Are you fucking crazy!" My dad yells causing me to flinch.
"I-I'm sorry."
I wince in pain when my mom yanks my hair and directs my face towards hers.
"It's because she a fucking slut. She's probably sleeping with that rich boy who drove her home a couple of weeks ago. Aren't you?" She snarls down at me.
"No!" I try to defend myself but my voice comes out weak.
"DON'T FUCKING LIE TO US!" She pulls harder.
"I'm not! I promise!" I feel tears begin to blur my vision.
I gasp when my dad grabs my throat.
"You will be coming home from work from now on. No more staying at Arya's." My dad warns.
"Let her go, we don't need the school on our ass." My mom says before lighting a cigarette.
"Get the fuck out of my house." He says before pushing me away.
I quickly squirm away, grab my stuff and make my way to the door.
I check myself in the mirror and notice that my hair is tangled but luckily, there's no bruise.
I know you're probably wondering...
Why the fuck do you still live with your shitty parents if you're 18 and legally allowed to leave.
Truth is, all the money I make from work, they take.
So, I don't have enough to move out and be on my own.
And they won't kick me out since I'm the fucking breadwinner of the family.
I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of colleges to see if I got into any of them.
I wanted to take a gap year but I don't think I can take another year of being at home.
I would rather live in a dorm than at home.
As soon as I move out, I never have to see them again.
Since Arya hasn't been replying to any of my texts, Xander offered to show me around the school today.
I'm worried about Arya, she's never gone MIA for this long.
What if she is cheating on Xander?
NO.
No. She would never.
I stand by a stop sign in my neighborhood and wait for Xander.
A blush forms on my face when I notice a text from Axton.
How are you feeling?
Nervous.
I thought Ryan Simmons never gets nervous?
Well, she was fucking wrong.
Don't worry, you'll be fine! Everyone's gonna be there.
Yeah...but you won't.
True. Do you think anyone will notice if I put on one of Xander's uniforms and pretend to be a student?
I don't want you coming here.
Why?
Because one, you're hot and two, your hotness is for me and me only. I don't want other bitches eyeing my man.
Alright, I'll let it pass since you had such great reasoning.
Are you coming over after work?
I cringe when I think about the conversation I just had with my parents.
Can't tonight :(
Boo! I'll call you then.
Okay, as long as it's shorter than last night's conversation. I woke up late.
No promises.
Your brother's here. I'll talk to you later <3
Bye, beautiful.
Bye!
I quickly put my phone in my back pocket, threw my things in the backseat of Xander's car, and got in.
"Hi!"
"Hey! Someone sounds excited" He laughs.
"More like nervous. I feel like I'm about to barf."
"Uh well in that case, if you're gonna throw up please do it outside of the vehicle."
"Will do." I laugh.
"Any word from Arya?" He asks.
"Nope. You?"
"No." He sighs and I watch as he clenches his jaw in anger.
"Don't worry Xan, you'll see her today."
"I know."
I don't think I've ever seen Xander pissed before.
I'm so used to him being all bubbly and happy...this is weird.
We continue talking until he parks the car in the school parking lot.
"Holy shit this place is huge!" I gasp.
"I know right." He laughs before helping me with some of my bags.
We make our way to the administration office so I can grab my schedule.
"Well, good news, you have your first period with all of us." He says as we walk out of the office.
"Ouch!" I gasp when I realize that I've accidentally hit someone with the door.
"Oh god. I'm so- Arya?"
"Oh uh hey!" She says nervously.
And then things get worse as soon as Xander walks out behind me.
Uh oh.
"Arya?"
"Hey, Xander."
"Where have you been?" I ask.
"Oh uh-"
"Is everything okay Ari?" A guy asks from behind her.
Xander and I both look at him.
He's tall, not as tall as Xander but tall.
Tan skin and bright hazel eyes.
And a smile that kills.
Ryan...shut up.
"Uh guys, this is Oliver. Oliver, this is my best friend Ryan and my boyfriend, Xander." She introduces us.
I hear a breath of relief leave Xander's lip when she introduces him as her boyfriend.
"Hi! Ari, I didn't know you had a boyfriend." Oliver says while looking down at her.
And panicked Xander is back.
"Oh yeah, I do. Anyways, what are you guys doing here?" She asks.
"In case you forgot, I just transferred here," I say while holding up my schedule.
"No way so did I," Oliver says.
Oh lord.
"Alright, well we'll leave you guys to it. I'm gonna go show Ryan around." Xander says before gripping my wrist and pulling me away before I could say anything else.
"Xander! You're walking too fast." I complain.
"Sorry." He mumbles.
"That's him." He says.
"What?"
"That's the guy that kissed Arya on the cheek."
"Are you sure?"
"Fucking positive."
"Okay, calm down. She introduced you as her boyfriend so he knows to back off." I say while attempting to put in my locker combo.
"It doesn't matter! If a guy wants something, he'll go for it. Plus, have you seen how hot she is."
"Xander, Arya is not gonna cheat on you," I say before finally getting my locker to open.
I shoved most of my books and supplies in before shutting it.
"She's just being nice by showing him around."
"She could have shown you around. You're new here too."
"Damn, I'm offended. You don't like showing me around?" I joke.
"Of course I do, I just would have liked it better if Arya were here too."
"Ahhh my favorite bitch!" Xander and I both turn around to see an excited Lili and a tired Jesse making their way over to us.
"Lils!" I gasp.
"How are you liking it here?" Jesse asks while rubbing his eyes.
"It's a lot better than my last school, that's for sure."
"Did you guys meet the new guy? What was his name again babe?" Lili asks.
"Uh, I think it was Oscar," Jesse says.
"Oliver." Xander and I say.
"That's it! He was really nice and Arya was showing him around."
"We know, we ran into them outside of the office."
"I'm gonna go. Lili, do you mind taking over as the tour guide?" Xander asks.
"Not at all!" She laughs before hooking her arm into one of mine.
Xander walks off towards the front door of the school.
"I'm gonna make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Jesse says before giving Lili a quick kiss and then trailing behind Xander.
"Jess is still stressed?" I ask as we begin walking down the hall.
"Yes. He literally just eats and sleeps the whole day. Like a fucking baby." She groans.
"Has his band started to talk to him yet?"
"Jonah has the other two...not really." She says.
It's been about two weeks since the card went missing and poor Jess is still in a slump.
"I'm sure they will get more opportunities," I say.
"That's what I said but he won't listen."
"Just give him time."
"Yeah, you're right. How are things with Axton?"
Amazing.
Fantastic.
Stupendous.
"They're pretty good. We went on our first date a couple of days ago."
"OMG, how was it?"
"We walked around SoHo, he bought a tiara for a girl-"
"Uh, what?"
"What?"
"He bought jewelry for another girl?! What the hell? How did you not beat her ass-"
"Oh my god, Lili! She was a fucking kid!" I laugh and I watch as her cheeks heat up a bit.
"Oh."
"Yeah..."
"Anyways, forget what I said...continue."
"We went to dinner at this nice Mexican restaurant and he got me this beautiful necklace," I say while pulling the collar of my shirt down a bit to show her.
"Love it." She says.
"And we may or may not be boyfriend and girlfriend," I say quickly.
"Ahhhh! Yay!!" She cheers which causes some people to stare at us.
We continue talking before the bell finally rings and we have to make our way towards first period.
When we walk in, I notice all our friends.
Jess and Xander have taken the two farthest seats in the back but left the two in front of the open for Arya and Lili.
Asher and Lina are in the middle row talking amongst themselves.
Cameron is in the front with a few of his baseball teammates.
I wonder if Madison is here?
"Well if it isn't my New Years' lover."
That answers my question.
"Hey!"
"Hi!" She laughs.
I honestly have no fucking clue as to what I was thinking on New Year, I felt bad for her since everyone else had someone to kiss.
She wasn't the first girl I've kissed but she definitely kissed the best out of all the others.
I'm at a point in my life where I'm questioning my sexuality.
I really like Axton, he gives me butterflies, and every time we kiss I feel like I'm on cloud nine.
However, I also find women attractive.
When Jackson and I were together, he hated the fact that I was uncertain of my sexuality.
But when I talked to Axton about it, he was supportive.
Thank god.
"Come on!" I laugh as she drags me to the back so I can take a seat next to her and Xander.
Once the teacher comes in, she doesn't bother to introduce me to the entire class which is honestly a relief because I hate public speaking.
We all pause when Arya and Oliver make their way into the class giggling amongst themselves.
Arya takes the seat in front of Xanders while Oliver takes the one in front of mine.
The teacher looks annoyed by their tardiness but eventually goes back to teaching.
I gasp when I hear something snap.
I look over at Madison but she looks just as surprised as I.
I look to my right and notice that Xander snapped a pencil in half.
A mechanical pencil.
Like one of those overly expensive ones from Papermate.
This is gonna be a long-ass day...
The day goes by slowly, I begin finding my way around the school, luckily I have classes with everyone.
Except for advanced art.
"Class! This is Ryan Simmons, the scholarship recipient of the Mitchell family scholarship. Introduce yourself, Ryan." My teacher says,
Oh god.
"Uh- hi, my name is Ryan but you guys already knew that...I've been painting and sketching for as long as I can remember, and uh...yeah," I say bluntly.
"Right...well why don't you take the spot next to Hayden. Hayden, raise your hand please."
I watch as a guy with pitch-black hair and a piercing on his eyebrow raises his hand.
I quietly walk over to him and drop my stuff on the counter in front of me.
I notice as the whole class begins to break off in pairs to work on a project.
"Hey new girl, wanna be partners?" Hayden asks.
"Sure."
I follow him towards a large blank canvas on the other side of the room.
"So what do we have to do?" I ask.
"Basically, you and I have to incorporate our biggest fears on this campus." He says.
Oh...great.
"So, what's your biggest fear?" He asks.
Men.
Just kidding.
Kinda.
"Failure." I blurt.
"Oh uh well I was gonna say clowns but I like the direction you're going with." He says which causes me to burst out laughing.
"What made you scared of clowns?" I ask.
"My boyfriend took me to a circus a couple of years ago and it was 'glow in the dark' themed. So, when I wasn't looking, a clown popped up in my face and I uh...punched it."
"HA!" I laugh.
"If I have to pick a more mature choice, I guess I would say death." He says.
"Why don't we do something along the lines of failure leading to death."
"I like that!" He says excitedly.
He takes out his notebook and we both begin jotting down some ideas.
Eventually, the bell rings and the whole class begins to make their way toward the lunchroom.
While Hayden and I were walking out, his boyfriend came up to us and kissed him.
They're so cute.
Ugh, now I miss Axton.
"Hey babe, this is Ryan, she's new. Ryan, this is my boyfriend Carson." Hayden introduces us.
"Hi!" I smiled at him.
"Hey!"
"I'll see you later Ryan."
"Okay bye."
"Bye!" They say before walking over to the other side of the lunchroom.
"Ready for lunch?" I hear a voice ask.
"Oh so now you're talking to me." I walk past her and make my way toward the lunch line.
"What do you mean?"
She's kidding, right?
"Arya- you've been ignoring Xander and me for a week!" I whisper-yell.
"I-I'm sorry."
"That's all you have to say? For fuck's sake Ari! Xander thought you cheated on him. He saw you with Oliver at a restaurant a couple of days ago. He saw him hug you and kiss your cheek."
"He did? Why wouldn't he talk to me?"
"Oh, I don't know...maybe because you've been ignoring us." I roll my eyes and pay for my food.
"I'm not cheating on him."
"I know that, but he doesn't."
"What's going on Ari?" I ask.
"Nothing."
I pull her towards the restrooms.
"Enough with this bullshit Ari, what the fuck is going on with you?" I yell.
"N-Nothing."
Jesus fucking Christ.
"Whatever." I begin to walk away.
"My grandma's dying."
WHAT?!
----------Author's Note----------
I'm curious, who's your favorite character and who's your least?
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
-Pradabagg
Word Count: 2346