Taylor's POV (past)
"Bryce." he smirked.
-
First day of school. I got this. I was dressed in a white crop top with light blue ripped jeans. A black backpack was flung over my shoulder. My glasses sat in a drawer near the bed side.
"You're gonna be late doll!" Mom's voice boomed through the house.
"Coming!" I yelled.
A familiar black leather jacket was hung behind my door.
Hm.
"Taylor!"
Something was pulling me towards it. There was a sort of longing familiarity with the jacket. Like a lucky charm.
Last minute, right before running out the door, I grabbed the black leather jacket and tied it around my waist while rushing down the stairs.
My footsteps thundered throughout the house as I ran downstairs. The front door was open revealing a tall lean boy with brown dipped dyed hair. He was wearing a black henley shirt that revealed his abs.
"Bryce?"
"M'lady." he joked, doing one of those boyish hair flicks.
"You know this boy?" Mom asked, poorly disguising her concern.
"Yeah, I met him at the wedding." I shrugged, thankful, she didn't mention my name.
"He's offered to take you to school." Mom said knowingly, frowning, her back turned to him.
My cheeks flushed. He wanted to take me?
I smiled a sweet cheeky smile like a child asking for candy. "Can't he?"
Mom seemed to be debating weather or not to let me go. She eyed his lip piercing judgementally.
Seriously?
You're gonna judge someone just because of their choice to put a piece of metal in their lip? What's the difference with earrings then?
She looked at me sadly, her eyes looked longingly as if I was already gone.
"Okay." she whispered, glaring at Bryce.
-
Bryce manoeuvred around the traffic with his convertible red Porsche. The cold wind ran through my hair, speeding past the sides of my face.
"Aaaah!" I screamed, a huge smile plastered on my face.
My eyes were watering slightly from the wind but the freedom I felt was priceless.
Bryce chuckled as he saw how much I was enjoying myself. His swept-over hair ruffled through the wind.
As we neared the school grounds, I fixed my hair, combing it through roughly with parted fingers.
People were eyeing Bryce's car as we arrived. People were eyeing him. People were eyeing me.
"So you're pretty famous here eh?" I joked.
"You'll see flower girl." he smirked.
The moment I stepped on school grounds, Bryce put an arm over my shoulders. Normally I wouldn't allow it. But why not.
The school's bad boy wants is walking the hallways with me. In that moment, all my worries of being the new nerdy kid again was gone. The people parted like the red sea when they saw him.
I think I need to get my schedule.
"Um, I-" I started
"Chill out, it's still early." he cut me off.
He led me to the outdoor cafeteria where there was a row of lockers and two main round tables at the entrance. The grass was vast and littered with more tables.
One of the main ones where a group of dangerous looking people sat on the table,-nope, not on chairs, on the table- smoking cigarettes.
I mentally scrunched my nose. Ugh.
To my surprise, Brad started leading me towards them.
"Hey man." One of them called out to him.
I recoiled automatically.
"Samantha," Bryce started.
"I want you to meet Reece."
The most dangerous-looking guy jumped off of the table. He had pink hair -yes, pink- eyebrow piercings and a lip piercings. Next to him, Bryce looked just as threatening as me. Tattoos lined his arms, the most prominent one being a letter 'a' on his pointer finger.
He pressed his lips into a thin line before doing one of those hair flicks.
"I'm Samantha." I said putting out a hand.
He looked at it like it questioningly.
"In normal meetings, you shake it." It came out ruder than expected.
The people at his table eyed me down threateningly.
His glare sent me daggers and if looks could kill I would be 6 feet under by now. So what, I wasn't going to cower so easily. I smiled a sweet smile, my eyes saying worse.
Simultaneously, they all burst out laughing.
"Okay Sammy, you're pretty brave." he put out his fist and I bumped it.
A gorgeous blonde girl stepped next to him, he eyed her lovingly before putting his arm over her shoulders. Her hair was half shaved and she had a similar 'a' tattoo on her neck.
"Hi!" she squealed.
She may look threatening but her smile was the friendliest smile I've seen.
"This is Abby." Reece said planting a small kiss on her forehead.
"That's Anderson, Killian and Olivia." Abby nodded at each one of the three people at the table.
Anderson had dark hair and had a body similar to Bryce's. In all honesty, he seemed like the sweetest one there.
Olivia looked more threatening than Abby. She had fiery red hair that curled all the way to her waist. She reminded me of a scarier Merida from Brave.
Killian was slightly stout, he had a scar along his forearm and had dark blue hair.
They flashed me a small smile but Killian grinned brightly.
They returned their seat on the table, making space for Bryce and me.
It felt uncomfortable sitting on the table instead of the chairs but why not?
I rested the soles of my Converse on the bench while sitting on the wooden table.
"Bryce here." Killian offered Bryce a cigarette from a box which Bryce took gladly.
"Want one Sam?"Bryce asked, balancing his cigarette between his teeth.
I don't smoke. I wanted to say.
"She's probably never smoked Bryce." Olivia said with a smirk, before blowing a puff of smoke through her nose.
Instantly, I started fanning away the smoke with my hand before realising how rude that was. She didn't seem to care as she shrugged as if she expected me to do that.
"You don't want to try? It wouldn't hurt." Bryce offered.
No thank you.
"Sure." I said simply.
He lit his cigarette with a lighter from his pocket, took a puff and removed it from his lips, balancing it with his fore and middle finger.
I parted my lips and allowed them to hug the rim of the paper killing machine. I took a deep breath allowing the smoke to enter. The smoke dried the lined of my throat instantly making me want to cough my heart out.
I recoiled, coughing up puffs of smoke.
Olivia smirked.
"Don't breath in too deeply when its your first time." Abby said sweetly as she reached over to pat my back.
What am I doing? Where was the little kid that saw the sign of cigarettes and ran away as fast as she could swearing she would never go near them? I should be at the admin office right now, getting my new schedule, making good first impressions. Meeting teachers before classes.
I should go.
"Okay." I said as I placed the lit cigarette in between my lips.
-
I was loosing myself, I was finding myself. Abby went clothes shopping with me and told me where were the best places for cheap clothes and which ones were good for school. A part of me hated everything she chose and another part of me was excited to start anew.
It was like plunging into ice cold sea water after a sauna.
You're shocked at first as the cold pulls you into its skin pricking arms but, you get used to the cold and darkness that you become one with it.
curglaff (n.) the shock felt in bathing, when one first plunges into cold water.
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