C H A P T E R T W O
"I Leave it to my audience. If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one?"
- Abraham Lincoln.
SCHOOL WAS A COMPETITION MADE BY TEENAGERS WHO KNEW NOTHING BETTER THAN TO COMPETE EACH OTHER FOR WHAT WAS QUEEN BEE.
There were rules and there were flaws. She was a competitor in a small line of characters competing for the crown that was High School acceptance. If School were a game, she'd be the first pick because Piper had everything she could hope for. Her amazing, spectacular superstar of a dad named Tristan Mclean who made all his teachers swoon on teacher conference day. A house on the coast of California with the view of paradise. She never had to worry about everything since everything came to her.
Piper hated school for many reasons for the fact that school was school. Everything for what school was seemed pointless in her eyes and yes it was pointless. Everything about school from what she learned her entire life,would she one day forget. What she had remembered from Kindergarten to Ninth Grade was the memories from the friends she had made and the friends she had lost.
Like anyone, Piper had a share of her own problems. But of course, who wanted to hear her problems when Piper Mclean was perfect and popular. She didn't have problems, Piper told herself shaking off the feeling of sweat drip down her neck.
"Yeah, I bet your life is so awful," Drew would tell her now if they were still friends.
They used to be friends. Drew was her best friend - maybe even a sister to her. Then, she ditched her for a bunch of other girls. Who needs her anyway, Piper said to herself. She did of course even though she would never admit it because like she said, Drew was a sister to her.
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THERE WAS A STACK OF INVITATIONS AND VALENTINE CARDS stuck inside of her locker. She never left her locker closed. She did that once and the next day, there was a pile of papers taped to her locker. It took forever to take the paper off. And even that, the tape's damage was permanent. She grabbed as many handfuls as she could. A few slipped right through her clutch, but not like she cared.
They were covered with hearts and balloons. A few had cartoon characters. Each one of them wasn't all special. She had spotted them at TARGET last week and it was hard not to see them since of all places, TARGET had inherited the magic of Valentine's day and packed the entire store with hearts and lovable teddy bears. Her mouth grimaced. Valentine's day. She let the word stay on her tongue, tasting worse than metal.
A few people walked by her to their lockers exchanging, remotely big smiles as it stretched across their face. It was like a swarm of bees except their symbolic colors were not yellow and black but instead, red and pink and white.
Everyone around the school had decorated the lockers with big hearts and flowers. She felt bad that she had decorated anyone's locker, but someone had decorated hers. Even the teachers were smiling and somewhat happier than usual if that was possible.
Oh, of course. She could only help but grown in annoyance. Today was Valentine's day. The cursed day of the year, she thought but she knew no one would agree with her because they'd be too busy shooting love arrows at their crushes.
She looked down at her clothes in dismay. The first thing that struck her mind was to wear something similar to her PJ's since Piper had come to that dreadful time of the month where Mother Earth came for a visit and brought with her blood. On the other side of her bed, she had picked out another outfit, opposite to her other one. She had been doing the same thing for about a long time, and she always ended up picking out the Forever 21 outfit. It was a plaid shirt and tight, black leggings. They were enchained with a few sparkles, lined against a pair of combat boots and Piper could only help but imagine how incredibly uncomfortable she would feel.
Well, at least this plaid shirt has red on it, she thought to herself, sadly. Someone tapped their finger on her shoulder. Piper jumped and turned around, doing both acts all at once.
"Hey, Piper! I was wondering if you could come over to my practice today," wasLewis said, dusting his finger against her plaid shirt."That'd be really sweet if you'd give me some moral support."
Moral support? Yeah, right. This kid wanted more than that.
She couldn't believe her ear on what she was hearing? Couldn't his fancy rich father buy him a few cheerleaders to do some flips for him? Piper shivered and pushed his hand away.
"No, thanks. I'd rather not. Besides, I'd probably be too much of a distraction for you to handle-" She eyed him carefully. What his name again? It was on the tip of her tongue. There were so many boys, it made her head all fuzzy. Was he Jack or Liam? Marcus? Lewis? Including, most of them looked the same with their weird hairstyles and Under Armor or Nike clothes. Like a pair of Oompa Loompa, she laughed to herself.
"Lewis." He finished for her. Lewis put his hand back down and into his pocket. It came to her mind that he was the weird stalkiest one that followed her to her house last week. Maybe it was just because she was a fan of her father. Probably was it.
He narrowed his eyes and frowned."Whatever Mclean." and stalked off.
He shoved past her and whispered a curse. Lewis stalked away back to a group of his friends as he glared right through her soul. Well, that boy has serious problems. Piper covered her head, thankful for once that her locker was the bottom one. She was for certain Valentine's day hated her or loved her way too much for her to handle. It was a cursed day, she told herself.
"Wow, just my luck," She muttered. This was just a wonderful way to start the day.
She leaned over to grab the numerous invitations that fell to the ground. It was a busy time of year, considering it was Valentine's day. Piper pushed them deep into her locker and dropped her backpack onto them. A lollypop crushed to pieces because of the force. Piper rubbed her hands together as the essence of the candy made it to the trash can.
"ONE FOR YOU AND ONE FOR YOU!" DREW SMILED THROUGH HER NEW PAIR OF EARRINGS AND A BIG LOAF OF HAIR SPRAY THAT COVERED HER EBONY HAIR.
Drew was handing out envelopes for her party this weekend. Most of the classroom had gotten an envelope of their own, of course only the ones Drew knew would boost up her popularity like the star students and people who played a sport. Everyone went to Drew's party since her parents were known for hosting the best evening dinners from parent's children who were good friends with her parents.
The least popular kid's desk was left untouched. When Drew came to Piper's desk, she barely glanced at her direction, looked from afar as if Piper didn't exist, and moved her position toward the person sitting next to Piper desk. She didn't really mind not getting invited to Drew's parties that were stacked with gourmet food and a beat box. So, what? Piper thought.
At the same time even if Drew and Piper were no longer friends, she felt a sad sinking feeling go down her throat. It was probably going to be a ton of fun, she couldn't help but think.
When had she ever gone to the bathroom and actually needed to use it, Piper couldn't remember when. Instead, she locked herself up inside the stall and just sat there on the toilet. She looked like a little odd, but it didn't matter because no one could see her. For a few second she just sat there, taking advantage of the quietness and trying not to smell anything whatsoever in the bathroom.
She closed the stall as quiet as she could and took a glance over at the mirror. It was stained and a blurry, also there was rust on the edges of the mirror. Still, she could see herself on the glass. Piper didn't look like a wreck. In fact, she didn't look half-bad. Then, why did she feel so bad and sick? Sick of everything and everyone. Fame got sick and gross sometimes. Her frustration left an aftertaste in her mouth that she couldn't get rid of.
The first bell rang for the First Period. She grabbed his binder from the side of the bathroom where she had left it. Her mouth opened in horror for her binder was covered with water. A janitor must have swept the bathroom floors before she came here.
Piper ran to her bottom locker to grab her belongings; a saxophone and music book. She was already hungry even though lunch didn't start until next period. Her stomach grumbled as she grasped it tightly. It wouldn't hurt if she ate a little snack. At the back of her backpack, she found a snack bar. Her hands ripped the wrap in vain as she took a bite of the treat.
She could overhear whispers from the lockers a few blocks away from hers. On the other side, a couple was making out. He grabbed the girl's shirt as her hands fumbled around his curly hair. Piper's face burned bright red as the boy pulled his hands up her shirt. Piper could only shake her head. Where were the teachers when you needed them? Why was no one noticing this?
She put the disposable plastic wrap in her backpack and closed her locker door. Piper had a few more minutes before Band started.
Then, she glanced over at the locker three lockers away from her. How could she had never noticed for it was the only one that was blank and not a single part of the locker was entranced with stickers. He was taking his books for his next class. It was hard to find boys in this school that was never with their gang of friends. He didn't look familiar. She wondered as if she had seen him from anywhere but he didn't look at all familiar.
She looked him up and down. His dirty, blonde hair combed in some period of his time, but now it was a little messy. His eyes were the bluest eyes he had ever seen before. She had to take notice of the scar fainted on his lip and quickly looked away because that was rude. The kid glanced up at her and her heart sunk.
~Coming up~
Jason III
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A ton of people don't like Drew but it's just because there isn't much spotlight in her in the book and I don't think she's actually that much of a bad person that people being her to be. Well, hope you liked this chapter. Next one is Jason!
Ta Ta Mortals