Waking up each morning was like experiencing a new type of hell. The life he lived was so not worth the efforts he was putting in every single day. That was the only reason why he lay on his bed with his back faced upwards and his head twisted on one side as his chocolate brown hair sat swirling over his eyes. He was finally comfortable after hours of twitching and turning and was wide awake, lost in the train of his thoughts. Unfortunately, fate had different plans for him because he didn't even hear the footsteps echo behind him, and by the time he did, it was too late.
A groan of surprise stuck in his throat as all of a sudden a wave of cold washed over him. His head turned and he caught a brief cold shower, as ice-cold water rained upon him. His bed was soaked as was his whole damn body as he fixated his glare upon the culprit.
"What that fuck is wrong with you-" he started, only to be stopped by another wave of ice-cold water splashing upon his face. The glare prominent in his amber eyes, he stared at Mia Andrews standing at the foot of his bed with a hand holding an empty bucket pressed against her hip. A frown was plastered on her face as he got up fuming but changed into a lazy grin as she caught the thunderous expression in his eyes.
"Good morning," she said, an evil smile grazing her lips. She was enjoying this, that sadist.
Angel hissed at her, his anger getting the better of him for a second. But in the end, she was an integral part of his life. If something were to happen to her, he didn't know what his father would do. After all, she was who she was. Leaving his rage behind for a second, he ended up sighing and rubbing his face, to drain at least an ounce of his anger.
"Rise and Shine fuming bird, time for school!" she said, dropping the bucket and flaying her hands around. He shook his now wet head, and immediately perked up as an idea struck him. Matching her evil grin he picked up the soaked pillow from beside him and didn't hesitate once as he threw it at her.
The pillow hit her square on the face and he closed his eyes as a satisfied smile grazed his lips. She immediately stopped what she was doing and glared at him, but he remained unfazed as usual.
He smirked. She now knew how he felt.
"Get out. I'll get ready and come out." he said, not evening bothering to look at her as he got off the bed and walked towards the closed doors of his washroom.
"Fine." She said and stomped out of the room.
Dios, he hated school. He hated the attention he got every single day, from the girls who had their expectations, from the teachers who awaited his grades and the boys who looked forward to playing with him. Maybe if he had been brought up in a slightly different atmosphere, he would've enjoyed these simple experiences. But there was no sense of tolerance left in him.
The only people he could tolerate now were his closest friends. Mia Andrews, Christina, Jack and Luke. They knew when to back off and when to come close. And because of their family background, he had to stay close with them.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and walked out of the bathroom, not at all looking forward to the useless day ahead. With a white towel covering his lower body, he walked into his walk-in closet, looking for the plainest clothes he could find. The least amount of attention he attracted the better for him. But it was another day of his normal lifestyle. He might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
He put on the first thing he saw, giving up on the search for plain clothes. Black ripped pants and a plain white t-shirt which hung loosely against his chest, with his leather jacket on top, he reached forward for the last piece. He hung the one thing his mother had left for him around his neck. A necklace, with a piece of blood-red glass, hung between forming a locket.
A reminder of the blood which was lost that day.
He walked to the dining area after changing, into the area of temporary normality. He faced his friends after the last night's hunt.
"It just doesn't make sense. I mean who does that? Don't your teeth hurt?" the excellent shooter, Jack Davis was saying. This might be one of his stupid attempts at making things seem normal, and it actually worked.
"I do." Christina Morris replied. Angel saw Jack put his head into his hands as he looked back at Christina, who sat there, her fingers twirling her short blonde strand of hair,
"But you're biting ice cream-" he started, but Christina stopped him with an uninterested wave of her hand.
"I just do." she said, a yawn leaving her mouth.
Mia raised her hand to say something but Angel tuned their conversation out. His eyes settled on Luke, who just sat there, amusement written all over his face. He looked over at Angel, noticing his stare and smiled, and Angel smirked back, making him realize what he was about to do.
Angel walked, his footsteps as silent as a mouse, as he strode towards Jack. Apparently, luck was on his side for today because Jack got up to take the honey from Mia, leaving his chair all lonely. Angel grinned slightly as Jack shifted back, about to sit down comfortably. But Angel had different plans for him. Without any warnings, he reached forward and pulled back the chair and then Jack was falling back down with a loud thud.
"Shit." he swore, his hand already reaching out to rub his lower back. All of them burst out laughing as a trail of profanities left his filthy tongue.
"It's not freaking funny" he murmured under his breath and got up to smack Angel on his head only to end up losing his balance yet again and landing back down. An even louder laugh left their lips. Some entertainment had been due for a while now, Angel thought as he reached for his chair and pulled it back with a loud screech.
Jack sat on the floor, taking deep breaths only for show, to look pissed. But their laughter was contagious and it soon broke through his tries. His eyes betrayed him as he glanced at his friends who had turned red with some tears leaking out of their eyes. They matched his gaze, Christina biting the inside of her cheek as Mia looked away hastily and Luke staring right back at him, a grin on his face.
And all of them burst out laughing.
Amidst his laughter Jack raised his free hand, pointing it towards Angel's seated figure. Angel looked down at him, frowning in confusion as he looked at Jack's outstretched hand.
"What?" Angel asked, his tone betraying nothing.
Jack looked up at him and made a face. He pointed towards his hand raising his eyebrows. Angel kept a straight face and asked again, "What?"
Jack's expression morphed into a deadpan look and he asked, "You seriously don't know what to do?", pointing at his hand in vain, a spark of annoyance lighting his eyes.
"No." Angel said, but a grin broke free of his lips.
"You're an ass." Jack muttered as got up on his own, murmuring under his breath. Angel let out a small laugh as Jack shot him another glare and sat on the table, his hands crossed and his eyes narrowed.
"Aww. Maybe next time you can ask me to pick you up." Christina cooed, teasing him. Jack raised his finger with a sickly smile on his face and Christina shook her head as she too raised both her fingers in the air.
Angel shook his head as he turned his gaze towards Luke, who was now holding his cat and looking at it as if it were the most important thing in his world.
"Sometimes I wonder if you loved your girlfriend more or your cat. Maybe that's why she broke up with you." Mia said causing Luke to glare at her. She had surely hit a nerve and Luke wasn't going to back down. Angel looked at Luke and put his arm on Luke's shoulder to calm him down. He let out a sigh and got out of his seat, not wanting to deal with any more messes. "Come on people. You want a ride, get off your asses."
Luke snickered and got up as Mia rolled her eyes and got up nonetheless. Jack and Christina followed their heed, hand in hand and yet their arguments rising in the air.
Angel's index finger wound inside his key-ringer as walked out the door, spinning the keys with a whistle playing on his lips.
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The drive was calm and peaceful. Angel's thoughts finally fell at peace and he couldn't feel less glad about it. Alas, Angel thought, as the voices behind him finally spoke up, it only lasted until he reached the gates of hell. As he reversed into the parking, the argument resumed,
"How do you eat the ice cream then? You should say I'll lick it." Christina said, sounding immensely smug.
"Watch me, Morris, I'm always going to say that now. No matter where or when." Jack said, a smirk lighting up his face. Christina stuck out her tongue as they climbed out of the car.
Luke scrunched up his nose in disgust, not wanting to understand their conversation. Sometimes Angel wondered how he ended up in this group, even though it had been him who had brought them together. Mia was the exception, Angel thought as he glanced at Mia's bored expression and looked back ahead.
Shaking off his thoughts and expressions, Angel walked ahead with Luke by his side.
"You alright?" Luke asked, already knowing the answer which would come out of his best friend's mouth.
"Sure. The worse is already over, ain't it? Angel replied a sarcastic smirk lacing his lips. Luke sighed, "I know last night was hard. But we have to get over it. I'm sure it won't happen all the time." he said.
But none of them believed his words.
Angel just nodded and moved on ahead, towards his locker, making up his mind to remove any trace of last night's events. He just wanted to get over those left out feelings and emotions. He had almost lost his crew. If it weren't for the help he got from 'et Predators' he would have never forgiven himself.
Traumatized from those events he walked on even faster and entered his class, his face void of any emotions or feelings. His mask was back on with full force. Another day. Another life.
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"Name." the receptionist asked, her eyes glancing around the computer screen in front of her.
"Raylene Walker" Ray replied as she looked around. The receptionist seemed a bit busy, so Ray left her for a bit as she turned and faced the hustling hallway. Thankfully she was dressed in the plainest clothes she could find, allowing her to blend in with the crowd and avoid any attention. Being the new student wasn't a total bust now, was it? She absolutely loathed attention.
The receptionist looked up, her fingers reaching her spectacles to push them back against the bridge of her nose, "You understand that dyed hair will not be tolerated in this school." referring to Ray's newly dyed hair.
"What, this? Actually, I may have seen plenty of hair in there-" Ray pointed at the corridor, "Dyed, into shades of red and like mine, blue." she said raising her eyebrows and was ready for the argument.
The receptionist nodded and squinted a bit as she looked up at Ray, "Just don't get into any trouble honey."
Stopping the argument burning on her tongue as she realized that she meant no harm, Ray shot her a cheeky smile as warmth rose in her cheeks and said, "I'll try not to."
The receptionist let out a chuckle and handed the schedule to Ray and said, "Quite the rebel, aren't we?"
Ray's eyes widened in surprise and she smiled at the receptionist. "Thank you, Ma'am," she said politely as she turned and walked towards the doors of her class. All the way she reminded herself that not all the people were out there to get her. Calming her swirling thoughts, Ray walked towards her first class of the day.
She took a deep breath and walked into her class with a knock on the door. Time to leave the past behind, she thought as everyone's eyes turned towards her. Yet she kept her gaze fixated on the teacher standing against the whiteboard.
"Ah. You must be Ms Walker." A middle-aged man said. He stood behind the main desk and looked at her through his unusually large glasses. She slowly nodded her head and shook his outstretched hand, trying her best to avoid the curious gazes of the students surrounding her.
"Well class, you finally have a new student after a long time. Treat her well. Please, Ms Walker, take a seat."
After checking for any empty seats, Ray finally sat down beside a blonde girl, who looked back at her with a comfortable and welcoming look in her eyes. Her hair was tied up and yet it reached the middle of her back. Ray bit back her surprise as she took a seat and shot the girl a smile. The girl beside her immediately perked up and gave a huge smile.
After a long pause, which Ray had no idea how to fill, the girl beside her cleared her throat,
"Hello. My name's Michelle Millar. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said, her tone soft.
Ray raised her eyebrows and smiled at her, "I'm Raylene Walker, but you can call me Ray." she said, "It's nice to meet you too."
Michelle grinned and said, "It's nice to have a new student after a while. The only new students that joined our class were about two years ago."
Ray's curiosity sparked and she said, "Oh?"
Michelle nodded and turned in her seat, the words of their teacher already unheard and forgotten. Ray angled her body similarly as Michelle motioned for her to do so and turned her eyes to the group which sat in the back,
"There. Those five joined the school at the same time two years ago, and have been together ever since," she said as Ray's eyes settled upon the group of three boys and two girls. The one with the chocolate hair matched her gaze and slanted a look sideways. His amber eyes were dull in colour as if they were too tired of the occurring around him. Unable to break away for a while, Ray racked her brain and narrowed her gaze as he did that same.
Where had she seen him? she thought, but nothing came up.
She felt the blonde shaking her shoulder. She snapped out of the stare and looked at her, making a note of researching about him and his group of friends later on. If she had the time.
"It's crazy. Don't get me wrong, they're really friendly and never cause any trouble, but we've never had anyone join this school ever since. Until you that is." Michelle said. Ray nodded and bit her lip as she thought of a reply.
When a thought finally struck her, Ray opened her mouth to speak up but was cut off as the door of their classroom burst open. Her eyebrows rose as she saw a healthy bald man covered in blue paint, head-to-toe, walk-in. Michelle let out a cough as warmth rose to her cheeks. The sir in the classroom sighed as removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
The smurf was fuming, Ray thought as she leaned back in her seat and shook her head, already knowing the culprit. Think of the devil, Ray thought as the smurf was followed by the school prankster, that is, her best friend, Cameron Williams. He was smiling at his masterpiece. But as his eyes lay on her the grin on his face turned into a smirk.
And she smirked right back.
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Hello Readers,
Hope you enjoyed the third chapter.
It took me forever to write this. Let me know what you think about this chapter.
Vote, comment, share and enjoy!
Thank you for reading,
-Ruth