~Malia~
"Class, eyes up. This is our newest student so I expect you treat her with dignity and respect. Please, introduce yourself," the short, stumpy looking woman told me.
Curious eyes all swept my way and I wanted to bury my head in my hands. It was a class of at least twenty students, all looking perfectly polished in their white button up shirts and plaid blue skirts for the girls and navy blue dress pants for the boys.
I was thankful that I had allowed Mar to do my hair and makeup that morning, glad that I wasn't going to stand out too much. The two nights I spent with my grandparents was healing, to say the least. They were a lot more light hearted than I had hoped, albeit a bit withdrawn but I was used to abuse so anything even remotely gentle was good enough for me. I brought my attention to the teacher who looked like she was seething at me because of my ignoring her request.
I quirked my eyebrows up at her glare, annoyed that I even had to stand in front of the classroom to begin with, let alone say who I was. I sighed and began to speak.
"My name is Malia Echols."
Murmurs erupted from the students and I didn't hide my confusion or surprise at their reaction. Was I the talk of the town or something?
The teacher who I compared to Mrs. Trunchbull from Matilda looked at me expectantly to say more.
"I'm from America?" I said, more like a question in response to her probe for more information out of me.
The class started giggling at my admonition. Of course I was from America, that was stupid of me. I should have said something different but it didn't matter anymore, it had already come out of my mouth. No use fretting over the past and things that no one could ever change.
Mrs. Trunchbull clicked her tongue and swept her dark eyes framed by bushy black eyebrows over my uniform and sent me on my way to an empty seat that was thankfully in the back. I didn't mind that the longer distance made my arms quake with the pressure of the crutches I still had to use.
I had to wear a skirt, which was to my dismay. My pale skin never looked good in a skirt and the scars littered across my legs were difficult to cover up, but Mar helped me, she gave me something that helped women cover up blemishes on their faces and we put it on my legs. The official story was that I was in a car accident and we were keeping my tragic past to ourselves, not wanting to incite a "scandal" for the Spencer family name.
I didn't mind that they thought of my past as a scandal, but honestly it was more for my personal protection than anything. If someone found out about Robert, they could go and try to interview him and he could spew all kinds of lies about me and my mother, which wouldn't just hurt the Spencer's, it would hurt me as well.
Hobbling my way past the curious stares and whispers, I found myself seated next to a brooding boy with dark brown hair who was too busy writing in his notebook to even spare me a second glance.
There was a very dark air to him that intrigued me as it reminded me of my own darkness that was ever present inside of me, something that I worked very hard to keep hidden, but with him it was like he didn't care who saw it.
He must have sensed me staring at him and his eyes swept up to meet mine in an angry challenge, something glittering beneath the surface of his dark brown eyes and strikingly handsome face.
I panicked and quickly looked away, hoping that he would forget all about it and leave me alone.
Mrs. Trunchbull instructed all of us to open our books and started our lesson, causing me to sigh and withdraw into myself yet again, wondering how I was going to survive in this place.
***
"Hi, I'm Lizzy!" a preppy and very happy girl said to me as she came bounding up to me in between classes.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm-"
"Malia, I know. We all know who you are, you're the talk of the school!"
"Oh."
I didn't really know how to respond to that. Did I thank her?
I looked her over and noticed she seemed very kind, light blue eyes and bright blonde hair, freckles dotting her nose and cheeks. She looked approachable, someone I could potentially be friends with.
"Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch together?"
"Umm yeah sure thank you!" I told her, grateful to finally have a friendly face and someone to eat lunch with.
"Who do you have next?" she asked me and I showed her my schedule.
"Ew. Mr. Johnson is terrible, but at least it's an easy class, I love history. You can follow me, we have it together! Do you want me to carry your books for you?" she asked me, motioning towards the fact that I was carrying my textbooks while also trying to maneuver myself on my crutches.
"Yes thank you so much!"
I was right, we could definitely be friends.
"So I hope this isn't intruding or anything, but did you break your leg or something?" she asked me motioning towards my crutches, her voice displaying all of the innocence in the world, but I had a feeling the answer would be all over the school in a matter of a day.
"Oh, I was in a car accident a few weeks ago. It was pretty bad and I got a little banged up but I'm okay," I told her, lying effortlessly through my teeth.
I didn't really feel bad about lying to her about my injuries, if I could have I would have already lied to my grandparents about them as well, but unfortunately they had to know everything about me and my background.
"Ouch, well I'm glad you're okay. Was anyone else hurt?" she asked, concern clearly on her face, and it wasn't being faked either, I could tell when someone was being fake towards me.
"No, just me. I ran into a tree trying to miss hitting a deer."
"A deer? Where exactly did you used to live? The middle of a forest?!"
"Hah, well umm yeah actually. Where I lived there was an abundance of deer and they were always in the middle of the road, deer accidents are actually pretty common back there," I told her, and it really wasn't a lie.
"Wow that's insane! I'll have to tell the guys about that. Come on, let's walk to our class."
And so I followed her down the long ass corridor full of students who looked at me like I was a piece fo meat ready to be devoured and thrown to the wolves. I kept my head down the rest of the way to class.
"Here, we usually sit in the back," she said and I followed her down the length of desks until we came to a stop beside a girl who had short cropped black hair and a megawatt smile and the same boy from my previous class who looked brooding and mysterious, a permanent frown etched onto his handsome face.
"Hey guys, this is Malia Echols," she said, over pronouncing my last name which was kind of weird to me until I realized that they had probably talked about me before, considering how rich and well known my family was. The Spencer's. It was going to be weird trying to think of myself as one of them when all I ever saw myself as was my mom's daughter.
"Hey," I greeted them with a half smile and a tiny wave considering my hands were constricted because of my crutches and the girl with the dark hair hopped up and gave me her seat, taking one closer to the middle.
"Oh no you didn't have to do-"
"Nonsense, I wanted to. I'm Raina by the way," she told me, extending her hand and when I struggled to shake it she just stood up and pulled me into a soft hug. I realized only after she hugged me that she didn't have a British accent like the rest of the group. I wondered if she had grown up in the states.
"And this little ray of sunshine here is Henry," Lizzie told me, her blue eyes shining in mischief as she introduced me to her male friend.
He barely looked up from what he was doing but when he did, I could see the distinct green and brown mixture of color in his eyes, whereas before they had been so dark I could only make out the brown pigment in them. The light color of his medium blonde curly hair brushing over his eyebrows made him look all the more approachable, note the sarcasm. I could tell he was probably really tall as well, his long and lanky legs extending underneath his body and outwards under the chair in front of him.
"Hey," he said gruffly, not bothering to turn his attention away from what he was doing.
Well, he really was a ray of sunshine wasn't he?
I looked around and saw a few more people that were paying attention to the interactions I was having with everyone.
I focused my attention on trying to sit down without falling when the most gorgeous man I had ever seen stepped in my path.
Striking blue eyes, olive skin. Deep brown chestnut hair, so dark it was almost black. It was shorn close to his scalp but you could tell he was trying to grow it out.
High, sharp cheekbones and a straight nose framed his face and I found myself irrevocably powerless to the strength within his almond shaped eyes. It was like they pulled me in, entranced me with his spell.
"That's my seat," was all he said, and damn if his voice didn't do things to me...and then I processed what he'd said to me. It was as if I was insignificant to him, his words so effortless and filled with nonchalance as if I were simply a bug to be crushed underneath leather of his fancy shoes.
"Excuse me?" I demanded of him, not allowing any man to talk down to me, especially not after what I'd been through.
He was at least a good foot taller than me and that not only intimidated me but also attracted me to him. Until what he did next.
His eyes grew steely and angry, and they reminded me of Robert's eyes when he was about to beat me. When this man stepped even closer to me I flinched back out of habit, cursing myself for thinking I was safe and could speak back to anyone.
I braved myself for the pain of the hit but it never came, instead I heard a few quiet chuckles descend around me and I opened my eyes and looked up from where I'd cowered down. He didn't hit me?
"I wasn't going to fight you for it, take the damn chair if you want it that bad," he said, his accent emphasizing his words.
I looked around sheepishly with wide eyes and hoped that no one would put two and two together.
I sighed and plopped down into the seat, putting my crutches to the side and caught the dark mysterious Henry staring at them with a strong intensity.
Great. The last thing I wanted was to draw even more attention to my past.
I shoved the crutches as far behind me and out of sight as I could and laid my head down on my arms, a sensation burning into my side letting me know that the man sitting beside me who'd basically just ridiculed me in front of the entire class was burning holes into me with his eyes.
It was going to be an interesting year and a half at Wilmington Prep.