Grey
My mechanical pencil stays frozen over the blank sheet of notebook paper as my teacher's voice buzzes in my ears. My mind goes in and out of focus, random thoughts whizzed through my head. Just as I was about to plunge into one of my day dreams completely a loud bang jolts me back to the real world.
I look around the classroom, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I search for the cause of the sudden noise. That's when my eyes finally spot a pink figure standing in front of the classroom door.
Storm Winters had her arms crossed as she casually stood in the doorway of the class. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders like a pink waterfall as she scanned the classroom for an empty seat.
Storm, as usual, was tarty to second period, which to me was no big deal.
But the teacher didn't agree.
"Miss Winters would you care to explain why you are late?" Miss Waller asks, glaring at Storm. Her thin wired classes hung off the crooked bridge of her nose as she angrily shook her head in disapproval.
Everything in the classroom stops as the whole class watches the exchange, waiting for Storm's reply.
"Dunno, just am." Storm said with a casual shrug as she makes way deeper into the classroom.
"That is not an acceptable answer Miss Winters" Miss Waller huffs, narrowing her green eyes at Storm and making her crows feet stand out even more.
"Oh piss off" Storm sighs, rolling her eyes in obvious annoyance. She takes a seat next to a girl with platinum blonde hair.
Miss Waller's jaw drops in shock before she quickly screeches, "to the principal!"
Storm grits her teeth in annoyance as she stands from her seat. "Anywhere is better than here you old witch." Storm mutters angrily as she storms out of the classroom with a trail of smoke in her wake.
The door slams behind her and everyone immediately goes back to writing notes as if nothing happened. I silently sigh to myself as I rest my cheek in the palm of my hand. Instead of surrounding myself in my usual daydream of random food combinations memories fill my head.
Memories of when Storm wasn't like she is now. When she dressed in all pink and wore her brunette hair in two pig tails. Back then she was always smiling and making others laugh alongside her. She bubbled with happiness and was always kind.
It's been years since anyone's seen her genuinely smile, or do anything kind without a favor in return. Storm now had the reputation of a delinquent with a serious need for speed.
I couldn't help but wonder what happened to make her change so drastically.
***
The bell rings signaling the end of fourth period and the beginning of first lunch. I sloppily shove all my papers into my bag before walking out into the crowded hallway. I search for my short best friend and her less short boyfriend as I walk. As I come up to the end of the hallway, right before it meets the main hall I see said best friend whacking her boyfriend's forearm with a book.
I smile softly to myself and start walking towards them.
"Hey Kay" I greet as I stop right in front of her.
"Hey G, tell Josh to stop stealing my books!" She huffs, glaring daggers at her boyfriend of two years.
He chuckled "G tell Kay that she's so adorable when she's mad."
"Tell each other yourselves weirdos" I gag, plastering a mock disgusted expression on my face. We finally start to walk towards the cafeteria, with Kayla filling Josh and me in on all the drama that's happened today. We walked down the few steps into the cafeteria and immediately get in the back of the lunch line.
Josh whines about how long the line is and I laugh at his impatience.
"Suck it up buttercup."
I catch sight of Storm walk away from the lunch lady with only a green apple in her hand. She tossed it up and caught it absentmindedly as she wondered around the lunchroom looking for a seat.
Kayla taps my shoulder which makes me focus on grabbing a tray with a slice of pepperoni pizza on it. I grab a green apple from the fruit basket and move down the line. I punch in my school ID number and walk away when the lunch lady gives me a thumbs up.
I find our usual table in front of the tall, uncovered windows and sit down. I take a bite out of my apple as I look out over the buzzing lunchroom.
Friends sat with friends and talked about everything their mind could come up with. I heard multiple people laughing their asses off, and seen a few teary eyed people before Kayla sits down right in front of me, blocking my view.
I raise a questioning eyebrow at the small pout on her lips.
"Josh is upset because I wouldn't buy him a cookie, so he whined about it the whole walk over here." She grumbles, softly glaring at the large child next to her.
I let out a soft chuckle at Josh's hurt expression before I heard a loud 'clang.' I look to where the noise came from and see Storm covered in milk. Her apple core was on the floor as well as a plastic tray that did not belong to her. The scene was right in front of my table and I had a perfect view of it.
The girl who stood in front of Storm sneered in disgust as she looked at the strawberry milk dripping off of Storms clothes. Oh shit, I'd know that bleached blonde ponytail anywhere. London Daniels, I know interesting name, the rich girl of our school. London came from one of the richest families in town, and she definitely acted like it.
"Watch where you're going bitch" London barks out, her voice sharp with annoyance. Her lipgloss caked lips were pulled back in a sneer as she snickered at Storm's appearance.
Storm clenches her jaw and before I could register what was happening Storm had her hands wrapped around London's hair. Everyone gasped in shock as they watched Storm shake London's head like it was a maraca.
"I so wish I had popcorn" Kayla mutters as she watches wide eyed and mouth slightly open. She decided fries were a good replacement and starts shoving them into her mouth without looking away from Storm and London.
"Watch your fucking mouth before I rip all your extensions out of this ugly little head of yours" Storm growls, adding to her threat by ripping out a few of London's extensions.
London yelps in pain as she thrashes around, desperately trying to get away from a furious storm.
"Spill milk on me again or even come near me and I'll make sure your perfect face is unrecognizable." Storm spits, letting go of London's hair with a glare.
She walks out of the cafeteria, angrily wiping her hands down her clothes. I watch her back until she was out of my sight and by then London had scurried away and there was only a tray and a few blonde hair extensions to remind everyone of what just happened.
"Holy shit!" Josh exclaims, turning around to face me wide eyed like a puppy. He looked from Kayla to me, still in shock as Kayla and I sit nonchalantly.
It's not the first time I've seen Storm blow up and threaten to rip a girl's extensions out of her head and it probably wouldn't be the last.
The overwhelming feeling that I should look behind me swells in my chest and I quickly swiveled in my chair and quickly looked out of the window behind me.
I saw Storm angrily kicking her car as she looked like she was screaming. The glass did well to hide her voice though. She suddenly pulls herself away from her car and runs a hand in her bright pink hair. She freezes, her hand still in her hair as she whips around and looks straight at me.
Our eyes connect and I swear our hearts synchronized just for a split second, despite being a good distance away from her. I quickly look away, turning around to face my friends before she decided to come back and hit me with a cactus. A rumor I overheard Kayla tell Josh.
I sneak a glance over my shoulder a few minutes later and find Storm now laying on the hood of her car. She was staring at the sky as she brought a cigarette to her lips.
It was then, looking at the wild, unrecognizable Storm Winters sprawled out on the hood of her car I decided to find out just who she had become.
I decided I was going to befriend Storm Winters.