Chapter one - Heartbroken
I hate school. Let's start with that.
School is an awful prison, and it makes it harder and harder to spend time with him.
Before school, I have a date. Well, it's not really a date. I picked up the habit of going to a coffee store near school every morning, and he is always there.
I haven't learned his name yet. I never saw him at my school, and I'm not sure about his age, although he is apparently older. He's always there, and we have talked, laughed and shared drinks for a long time. He is just marvellous.
I might sound like I'm in love, and I think am.
Today, I have another of those dates. No surprise there.
I awoke with the freaking beeping of my alarm clock in all its horror. Not even the thought of him can make me happy. It is way too early. Nobody should be awake at such a horrifying hour of the morning. The sun hasn't even risen!
Complaining to myself, I crawl out of bed and drag myself to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Then, I stare at myself in my body length mirror, trying to choose the perfect outfit.
I hardly spend that much time choosing what to wear, mostly because I'm a fashion icon and I always know what to dress. Says who? Me. I mean, if I don't flatter myself, who will?
I decide on a vapourous long skirt and a tight dark top and walk into our small kitchen, where my mum is cutting some slices of bread, singing quietly to herself. I grab a bagel and give her a side hug as a greeting.
Most people don't believe we're mother and daughter. Her dark hair and eyes contrasts with my much paler complexion, making me look much more like my father. It's the two of us now. I can scarcely remember the time I lived with my father.
When my mum found out about his gambling problem, she got my full custody and I moved in with her. To be honest, I don't miss it. I miss my friends back in Nova's Academy of Art, but besides that, I'm glad I'm here now.
"Bye, mum!" I say as I throw my bag over my shoulder and cross the door.
"See you later, sweetheart."
My morning walk to school is always quiet. There are not enough people awake to cause much racket. The clicking of my heels against the pavement is quite comforting, and the chilly wind of March doesn't bother me.
The sign above the glass double doors says 'WOTT' and a bell rings as I walk in.
The large coffee shop is crowded with brown and beige chairs and tables. The servers move around from table to table, few people inside this early, in their brown uniforms and twinkling smiles. It smells like happiness to me.
I don't need him to turn around to know it is him. I could just see it in his light brown hair and all the black lines painting his arms, snaking inside his shirt. He is sitting on one of the many stools displayed along the counter, also the only one occupied.
"One blueberry milkshake, please," I order as I sit down on my usual stool.
I peek at him with a shy smile and he looks up from the newspaper he was reading, some iced drink in his hand.
"Good morning." His smile is dashing and his voice is a sweet melody I ought to listen to all the time. Why am I so cheesy?
I mumble a short, "Hey."
A blueberry milkshake is set on the counter. I thank Gema, the waitress that always served us, a pretty brunette with a smile as lovely as herself.
I take a sip of my drink, and maybe I look at him not so subtly. What? The guy is hot!
His deep blue eyes stare at me softly.
"Do I have something on my face?" he asks, holding my gaze.
Blood rushes to my cheeks and my voice gets caught in my throat. I was embarrassed; I knew I shouldn't look at him like he is a dream, but he is.
"A few things," I try to cover up, "Eyes, a nose, lips..." that I want to kiss so badly. "You name it."
He smirks at my stupid excuse.
"Were you looking at my nose?"
"Maybe." I shrug and try to change the subject. "What are you drinking?"
I look away and take a sip of my drink. He had completely discarded the paper, and his body was now facing me. I am not sure if he is into one of our serious talks or just comment on the weather, but I never know anyway. I don't think he does either.
"It's one of their many originals," he says and points at the long menu placard against the wall in front of us. He is trying all of them before deciding his favourite. "It's the Delaware Frozen Coffee."
Yeah, they give weird names to everything on the menu. Almost everything.
"Is that any good?" I ask. "In your scale of drinks."
He pushes the paper cup to me, and I take a sip. As expected, bitter.
"It's better than the Minsk Explosion but still much behind the Vanilla Venom."
"I still can't believe you willingly drank something named Venom."
He chuckles. "Yeah, Gema says I was the first to order it. I'm still alive."
It could be one of those poisons that take a long time to take action. I mean, it's been a month, but you never know.
"Are you sure you have felt no strange effects?" I ask, "Like having a sluggish black creature living inside you?"
The grin plays on his lips as he takes his drink back and finishes it in one gulp, his throat completely exposed.
I'm even turned on by his neck. I'm so fucking ridiculous! Please assume I have dignity.
Once again, the bell rings to announce someone walking in. My head darts to the side to look at that someone. It is a guy, a very handsome guy in sunglasses and a leather jacket. I bet the motorcycle parked outside is his.
Next to me, my date follows my gaze and looks at him.
"He's cute," he admits, and I think my heart stopped.
Does he mean cute for me to go hit on or cute for him to go hit on? I don't like either option.
"You think he is cute? Do you like men?" I stammer.
Please don't be gay! Please don't be gay! We have so much potential!
"Men, woman..." he trails whilst he turns back to the counter without another look at that guy.
I sigh in relief. Bisexual is cool. This is not a lost game. I was panicking for a second there; I thought I had been fooling myself for the past months.
Checking my watch, I realise I have to go if I don't want to be late to hell... I meant school.
Before leaving, I turn to him. "What did you do on your school trip when you finished the sixth form?"
I have to assume he's older than me. He's nothing like those airheads from my school, and I'm not just talking about looks.
"Snowboard in the mountains. Why?"
"We haven't picked what we want to do yet. I'm just collecting ideas," I shrug. "Well, I gotta go. See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow." he waves.
I pay and grab my bag. After a small walk, I was staring at hell... School! Sorry... Anyway, Hathor's School, home to a bunch of cocky idiots. It rose high and scary, the stupid grey structure.
I flinched at the awful sound that announced the beginning of the first period. I'm pretty sure that fucking bell is guilty of 90% of teenage stress. The other 10% are stupid teachers, like my Science teacher. I swear to god she'll kill me of boredom one of these days.
Two hands grab my shoulders when I was on my way to my first class through the large corridor. I turn to a smiling Courtney.
Court is my best friend. We met in NAA (Nova's Academy of Art) when we were only twelve and since then we're inseparable.
She's a pretty brunette with green eyes and a terrible fashion sense. Opposites attract. We've been together through thick and thin and I can't imagine my life without her.
"Good morning, AJ," she said with a beaming smile. She's one of the few who still calls me that. "Ready for your favourite class? Miss Thomas awaits."
I follow her with a displeasure groan. Miss Thomas hates me and I hate her as much as cats hate dogs and vice versa.
I walk inside the room and take my place next to Courtney in the back row. I could feel her eyes on me as soon as we walked in. If looks could kill, I'd be spread on the floor.
Jessica, the teacher's pet, walked in too, waved at the short old woman with a smile and sat right next to me. I hate her too.
Not hate per se. I probably sound really hateful right now, but I'm not. Most of the time. It's a vehement dislike towards her kiss-arse attitude, but Court likes her, so I have to be nice. She's head of the students' body and she's in charge of prom and the senior trip along with other boring stuff.
Courtney wanted to be part of the whole thing and dragged me with her. Not that I mind, it's just that I would rather not spend so much time with Jessica.
"Hey girls!" she beams. "We have to plan the school trip. I say we meet at that coffee place near the school after lunch. I've been wanting to try it for a while now and I haven't got the chance so far."
Seriously? Can't we just do that in the library? Doesn't the students' association have a room or something?
The coffee shop she's talking about is WOTT and I don't want to go there with them. It's my place! Mine and his. It's special!
"Sure," says Courtney with a smile. "I haven't gone there either."
"You sure you guys want to go there? There are way better places to go to," I argue, but they dismiss me quickly.
Although I know perfectly that if I told Courtney about it, she would back me up, I haven't talked to her about him.
It's been months. I had plenty of chances to tell her, but I wanted to have something valid to tell before we had that conversation.
I roll my eyes as the class starts and Miss Thomas mumbles about rocks and, at some point, hit me with her book, Snape style. I hate her.
Soon enough, my morning classes ended after hours of suffering, and Jessica dragged me, Courtney, and two other guys to WOTT.
We sit in a booth by the window and order. For a change, I ordered a plain black coffee. It was worth a questioning look from Gema. She left our drinks on the table, scanning us to find my usual partner.
Lunchtime was wasted discussing the damn trip. Jessica wants to go to the beach. Court wants to go to Germany. The other two guys liked the snow trip idea. We ended up deciding on Germany after a long discussion.
We decided on some details and reviewed some problems. It was excruciating.
Eventually, the two other guys left, and we closed the matter, for now, enjoying our time here.
"The Germany trip was a great idea, Courtney. You are a genius," Jessica praises as if she hadn't been arguing against it minutes ago. "I liked your idea too, AJ."
I keep my face neutral. "Call me Avery."
Gema shows up with a blueberry milkshake in hand. I look at her, confused, when she placed it in front of me. "I didn't order this."
"It's from that guy over there," she says, and I glance at where she is pointing.
Sitting in a booth not far away, typing fast on his laptop, is him. He looks up for a split second and we lock eyes; I smile and he smiles back.
"Who's that guy?" Jessica frowns. "You got a secret boyfriend?"
"He's cute," is Courtney's comment, flashing me a smile and wink in approval.
I feel blood rush to my face, a small smile appearing on my lips. "He's not my boyfriend, he's just a guy I usually meet here."
"Okay, Jess, why don't we head to school while Avery here goes talk to Table Guy?" suggests Courtney, while dragging Jessica out of her seat.
"No!" I complain. "No need to go away. I'll not talk to him."
Jessica stares at me with a weird expression all over her face. "Then we stay."
It was no use fighting over it since Courtney had already crossed the distance to the door with Jessica's arm forcefully locked against hers.
I see what this is about. I'm going to have to pay for their drinks.
Inhaling deeply, I get up with one purpose. I need to stop delaying this! I'm going there and I am going to tell him how I feel.
Milkshake in hand, I walk toward him, my heart racing. Why am I so nervous? I've talked to him so many times. This is no different.
He doesn't even notice me at first. I'm about to say something when, suddenly, another guy shows up, drinks in hand. The redhead sits next to him and gives him a quick kiss on the lips.
I freeze a few feet away from them, wide eyes and pulsing heart. That's when his eyes meet mine and I can see his jaw tense. I was not supposed to see that.
At last, I can feel my legs again and turn around without waiting for him to get up and find some stupid excuse. I throw the damned milkshake in the rubbish as I cross the glass doors, leaving the stupid coffee shop behind and catching up with the girls.
"So, how was it?" asks Courtney, laying against a wall with Jessica, who seems pissed. I don't know why.
I restrain myself from crying. "He is an idiot."
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Hello, guys! If you're reading this story, I like you.
Fun fact, it came to me in a dream, for real.
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