"Chelsea?"
Chelsea jumped lightly, almost dropping her book. She felt her face flush before she even looked up. Once she did, she started at the sight of the girl in front of her. She saw a slim figure and long black hair that was thrown over her right shoulder. Her hair reached the top of Chelsea's desk. It was Ashley. Chelsea wasn't friends with her, or at least she thought she wasn't, but she at least knew her. Chelsea forced a smile at her. "Yes?" asked Chelsea. She heard her own voice tremble a little. Although she knows Ashley, she was still nervous.
Ashley crossed her arms over her chest. "What's wrong with you? You didn't bother to wave at me across the room this morning. Hell, you didn't even look at me in homeroom." Ashley certainly didn't look pleased. She didn't want to sound angry with Chelsea, but she couldn't help it. Especially this week. She saw Chelsea's surprised expression and let out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry I kinda yelled at you, but you're my friend so I want you to act like it. It's bad enough that you hardly talk." As she turned to walk back to her desk, she ruffled Chelsea's hair, leaving Chelsea with messy hair. Of course, she fixed it.
You're my friend, Ashley had said, so I want you to act like it. Well, how are friends supposed to act? Chelsea was new to this "friendship" thing. Well, not really. She had a friend named Nathan for 8 years until he unfortunately moved out of Teltick City, her home. He was really the only friend she had. Shaking her head slightly, she continued to read her book.
Every once in awhile, Chelsea looked up just to see what was going on. Usually, she saw students sitting on desks, students pushing each other, students kissing, and so on. But today, she saw something much different. At the door entrance she saw a boy. Chelsea knew that her face had flushed already.
The boy was wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt with the sleeves pushed up, navy blue jeans torn at his knees, black Converse shoes, and had beautiful white hair, or at least seemed white in the light. His hair, other than being white, was kind of long compared to other haircuts. He was stunning, Chelsea thought. What sent chills up her spine was his eyes. They were incredibly beautiful. His eye color was blue. Chelsea always wanted blue eyes. Instead, she got stuck with brown eyes.
He shot her a quick glance. Although it was just a glance, it felt like he was staring at her for more than 5 minutes. Chelsea lifted her book to her face to block her view of him. After a minute or so, she lowered her book to check if he was still there. He was gone. Chelsea let out a sigh of relief. Pushing a red strand of hair behind her ear, she closed her book and looked toward the chalkboard in front of the class.
Chelsea loved school, more than her home, honestly, but at times, she wished she had a place to go where no one would find her. She didn't feel like she fit in at all. All the other girls wore makeup, jewelry, wore stuff like skirts and dresses, and dated boys. Chelsea disliked makeup, wasn't that interested in jewelry, hated skirts and dresses, and didn't find a point in dating. From what she's seen, dating was all about kissing and holding hands and hugging each other. Just thinking about it was funny enough to make her giggle.
The bell rang, almost causing Chelsea to scream. Fortunately, she covered her mouth in time. Strands of hair fell to cover her face. Damn it, she thought. Once she pushed her hair back again, she took a deep breath, let it out slowly, sat up straight, folded her hands, and looked at her teacher, beginning her history class.
***
"Man, that lesson was boring!" a boy with black hair exclaimed as he went out the door. Class was surprisingly already over.
Chelsea packed her books into her old backpack and started toward the door. Waving goodbye at the teacher, she tried to picture the boy she had seen earlier. Did he really look at her? If so, why? Did he really have white hair? So many questions filled her head, she wanted to yell. Of course, she couldn't. With that thought pushing away her questions, she headed to her next class, Algebra 2. That was her least favorite class. She had trouble understanding it.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw that white-haired boy again. He was leaning against the wall in the hallway, hands in the pockets of his jeans. His left leg was bent a little. Once he caught sight of her, he pushed himself off the wall and seemed to be walking toward her. Chelsea's heart rate sped up and she felt her face heat up so much, she was sweating. She bit her bottom lip and turned around, walking away from where she stood.
"Hey, wait up, ginger!" the boy yelled. He pushed through many students, leaving them with a confused expression.
Chelsea really started to worry now. Ginger? No one has ever called her that. It was strange. With her heart pounding, she started to half-run towards the girls' restroom. He couldn't follow her in there, obviously. Once she closed the door behind her, she tried catching her breath. Why was he trying to talk to her? What kind of weirdo does that? She felt the urge to start crying. She was very frightened. She had to get to class soon, so she opened the door a bit. She didn't see him around.
Chelsea suddenly felt extremely happy and ran to her classroom. For the first time, she was glad to go to Algebra class. Once there, she sat down just as the bell rang. That was way too close, she thought. She's never been late to a single class before. She didn't plan to be late now just because some random guy happened to want to talk to her. She smiled as her teacher walked into the classroom with a stack of papers in both hands. His name was Mr. Vega.
"Alright, we're going to start off class with a small test. If you for some reason don't finish it," the teacher said as he looked directly at Chelsea,"don't worry. It won't affect your grade in the slightest bit. Please take a sheet of paper and pass it down." The tables were aligned into 4 rows with 5 tables in each. Chelsea, as always, sat in the back corner. She felt more comfortable knowing people couldn't really look at her. She brought out her pencil and eraser as she began the test.
***
It was almost the end of school. Time sure flies. During her breaks, Chelsea didn't see the boy again, which was a relief. Although she was glad she didn't see him, she still had questions. More questions now, anyway. Back in her homeroom, she pulled out her book from her backpack. Once she opened her book, she heard a familiar, unwanted, voice.
"Ginger!" With wide eyes, Chelsea looked up to see the white-haired boy right in front of her desk. Up close, she could see that his face was sweaty, as if he ran to class. His T-shirt stuck to him and, awkwardly, outlined what looked like his abs. Of course, she could be mistaken. Chelsea's face had turned red. He leaned over her. "What's wrong? Are you sick or something?" the boy asked. Chelsea covered her face with her opened book. She tried to ignore him by pretending she never heard anything or anyone. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" he exclaimed. Chelsea could hear the rage in his voice. She thought she heard him growl a little. He had had enough and knocked the book out of her grasp and it hit the floor. Chelsea really felt like crying now. "Now, look at me, you redhead." Everything happened so fast. Shuddering, Chelsea looked up. She could feel the students' stares striking her like arrows on a target. Everyone fell silent. Fortunately, Ashley began a conversation loud enough for the whole classroom to continue fooling around like they always did.
Now I can confirm that you really are my friend, Ashley, Chelsea thought. Thank you so much. "What do you want?" Chelsea asked in a low voice, too low for anyone else to hear. Surprisingly, he heard her.
"After your stupid school, class, whatever you want to call it is over, I want you to go to that pink library two blocks from here. I have to discuss something with you. Something very important. If you need to call me by my name, it's Hunter. Hunter Liam." His voice was soothing. He gave her a warm smile, and bent over to pick up her book and froze momentarily. He smiled even more as he read the title. While he was bent, Chelsea caught a glimpse of something in his back pocket. It looked like some sort of handle. "You read The Magisterium Series? I didn't think anyone read those books. Pretty interesting, huh?" He was still smiling. This was too weird. One minute, he is rude, the next, he's nice?
Chelsea looked down at her desk. "Um . . . Y-Yeah . . ." She looked at him as he straightened up and handed her her book. Chelsea carefully took her book back from him. Chelsea began to like this side of Hunter. Nice, polite, calm.
"Well, I better stop bothering you. I expect to see you at the library." Hunter leaned over Chelsea, his face a few inches away from hers. His eyes looked even more beautiful up close. They were enchanting. Chelsea could feel his warm breath on her face. Almost immediately, she opened her book and covered her face with it. She had begun to sweat. Although she couldn't see him, she was sure he was smiling, possibly even laughing silently at her. "See you, Chelsea Emma." His footsteps grew quiter until they faded completely. Chelsea put her book down and looked at the door that leads out into the hallway.
How does he know my name? If he knew my name all along, why call me "Ginger"? Why "Redhead"? Chelsea hid her face with her sweaty hands. She parted her fingers to see if he, for some reason, came back. All she saw was Ashley's perplexed face. Chelsea hadn't realized she was holding her breath until she let it out. She looked at the clock. 10 more minutes until school's over. Chelsea put her book away in her backpack and crossed her arms on her desk, resting her chin on top of her arms. Her stomach felt weird just thinking about how close he was to her physically. She could still feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. Was she really going to meet him at Labyrinth Libreria? That library had the name Labyrinth for a reason. It was a pretty big library with a bunch of sections. It's normal to get lost there. Letting out a sigh, she made up her mind. Hunter Liam . . .
***
After school, Chelsea headed straight for the library. She still didn't know why she even decided to go. What if he wasn't going to show up? Just the thought of being left behind again made her feel upset. She didn't want to be kept waiting for someone to show up to turn out that they weren't even going to show up at all. She stopped at the steps of the library. She was having second thoughts already. Maybe she should just go home. Chelsea hardly knew Hunter, so it probably wasn't safe anyway. Chelsea wanted to believe he wasn't to be trusted, but she couldn't bring herself not to trust him. There was something about him that made him look trustworthy. As Chelsea turned to walk away, she heard the library door open. She turned back quickly.
"Chelsea. I have been waiting for you. Please come in. We have much to discuss." It was Hunter.