by Rua Hasan
Yes, aliens. Matt and I tend to drift from one certain topic to another. It was like we were both weird in a good way and aren’t afraid to show it. Matt and I also agreed to meet each other outside of school tomorrow because I’ve never attended the high school in this town as I moved away at the end of middle school.
We would then get our schedules together, and he would show me around the place.
I hope it would be just like it sounded. I just wanted this year to go by without any drama and conflicts. That’s the only wish I had. But sadly, only one person could decide whether my last year of school would be a walk to the park or another journey to hell.
Let’s just hope I wouldn’t bump into Tyler.
Chapter 3
I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. When I sat down, I poured milk into a bowl of cereal in front of me as I listened to the ticking of the clock. The only sound that was heard in my empty kitchen was my munching as my teeth crunched on the cornflakes.
The time was 7:15 AM, and I had half an hour left before my first period class starts.
I was all dressed in short skinny jeans and a t-shirt. I had my long brunette hair down naturally and had a light makeup on my face.
The school wasn’t too far away and was only a five-minute walk or one-minute drive. But I would prefer to walk to school because traffic tends to increase early in the morning, and it’s more relaxing.
I finished my breakfast and put the bowl in the sink, telling myself that I would clean it once I’m back from the 7-hour torture. I looked at myself in the mirror for the last time and grabbed my bag as I walked to the door.
I may had been cool and relaxed right now, but honestly, I was freaking out inside.
Yes, I know I’m paranoid.
I opened the front door, but before I could take a step out, I turned around and looked at the empty house which used to be the loving home of my parents.
“Mom… Dad… I’m leaving,” I whispered before closing the door behind me.
I walked down the road leading to my school as I looked around the quiet neighborhood. The sun had barely been up for more than half an hour, leaving the air cold and moist. The only people in sight were the parents walking their children to school and teenagers walking themselves to school as well.
I sighed as I walked past the house next to mine. The curtains behind the glass windows were closed while a car was parked right outside the house. It’s like no one was home, or they were just sleeping because it was awfully quiet. I told myself that once I was done with school, I would introduce myself to the neighbors.
I finally made it in front of the school but didn’t enter it just yet. I took my phone out from my pocket and checked the time which read 7:30 AM. I still had fifteen minutes left before the class begins. I walked through the gates to see Matt waiting for me with three girls by his side.
They were smiling and laughing but before I could approach them, they hugged each other ‘goodbye’ and walked away, leaving Matt behind. He noticed me when I was a couple steps away then smiled and gave each other a hug.
“So, why didn’t you tell me the girls are into you?” I teased, poking his stomach with my elbow.
He pulled away and plastered fake look of hurt on his face.
“Crystal, even if I didn’t tell you, you should have known it with my charming looks,” he said. I rolled my eyes playfully while shaking my head at his cockiness.
“Oh, shut up. It’s too early to brag,” I said.
He gave me a smirk and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, dragging me down the hall. We walked past a couple of doors as I looked around the place filled with teenagers, chatting about their summer. I saw a couple of unknown faces that I was thankful for because maybe I could start anew. However, there were some faces that looked familiar―from the people who would just ignore me, to the ones who would call me names.
I didn’t know if they were going to recognize me as the person everyone looked down at or as a completely different person. Whatever happened, I was going to leave the past behind and start a new life with new friends and new people.
Matt and I walked through the door with the word ‘office’ on it. The place was pretty full with a long line of students waiting to retrieve their schedules. I walked toward the end of the line with Matt behind me.
“I hope I have some classes with you,” I said nervously.
Matt put his hand on my shoulder and gave me an assuring smile.
“Don’t worry. Even if we didn’t, we could still meet up while walking to class and at lunch.”
I took my phone out to see that we had ten minutes before the class would start. I tapped my foot as I waited for the line to shorten. Finally, when I had my turn, I gave the lady behind the desk who was typing on the computer my name. She looked through a couple of papers then handed me my schedule. I stepped to the side and looked at it while I waited for Matt to get his.
I skimmed my eyes through the classes I have been put in which read:
First period: English / room 9 / Mrs. Visconti
Second period: Science / room 34 / Mrs. Montgomery
Third period: PE / the gym / Mr. Bonny
Fourth period: ICT / room 20 / Mr. Jones
Lunch
Fifth period: Math / room 45 / Mr. Tran
Sixth period: History / room 19 / Mr. Parker
Seventh period: Art / room 100 / Mr. Schubert
I groaned to myself when I saw I had math for fifth period. It was one of the subjects I hated the most apart from Science. But thankfully, I had PE for third period which in my opinion was the best, and I think I could handle Art as the seventh.
I looked up to see Matt coming my way. He looked over my shoulders to see my schedule. I waited for a moment until he was done skimming through it and heard him cheer in delight.
“Yes! I have you for first, second, and sixth period,” he said while giving me a side hug. I smiled in relief, glad I wasn’t going to be completely alone in all of my classes this year.
“That’s awesome,” I said, as we started to walk out the door and into the hallway. I looked at the class number for my first period class, which turned out to be in the front of the school. I sighed in relief because I’ll be starting off my day with a simple subject: English.
By the time we were walking to our first class, the hallway was a sea of students shoving each other. Luckily for us, we made it to our class on time. Once we were inside, I sat on a random empty seat, while Matt sat next to me as the teacher looked through a couple of papers.
When the bell rang, Mrs. Visconti closed the door and walked to the front of the class.
“Good Morning, everyone!” she said. “My name is Mrs. Visconti, and I will be your English teacher. Let’s all get along nicely.”
I leaned my back on my seat, trying to get comfortable throughout the first forty-five minutes. Since it was the first day, the teachers were light on us, but on the second day, we would have our own assigned seats and a bunch of homework that I would be dreading to do.
I glanced toward Matt who was flipping his pencil with his fingers, doodling something on the desk.
Slacking on the first day?
I sighed as I focused all of my attention on the teacher in front of me, letting my eyes flicker on the clock across the room every now and then. Forty minutes to go.
***
I walked out of my fourth period class, and looked around the place to see everyone rush toward the cafeteria. I felt my stomach grumble as I walked through the crowd of students. The first four periods had been going by smoothly. A couple of people recognized me and gave me welcoming smiles but other than that, nobody bothered me. I didn’t do much in my first four periods as all the teachers were introducing themselves and their rules.
I was starting to think that maybe this year would be fine, because so far, I haven’t spotted the only one person who could ruin it just yet―Tyler Grey―and that was a relief. It wasn’t like I was afraid
of him. I just didn’t want to deal with the drama and conflict every time he was around. Even if he was here, I just hoped that maybe he had changed.
I walked into the cafeteria toward the long line to get my lunch. I decided to grab a slice of pizza, an apple, and orange juice. When I was done getting my lunch, I looked around to look for Matt. I spotted him at the center of the room, talking with a bunch of people near a table. I walked over to him, trying to ignore the curious stares of some students. When I got closer, I noticed that the three girls with him were the same ones from earlier this morning, with one of them was sitting next to a guy who had his arms wrapped around her.
It didn’t take long for Matt to notice me. He got off of his seat, and gave me a side hug. We walked toward the table he was sitting at previously, as everyone’s eyes averted toward me.
“Ready to meet a couple of friends?” Matt asked me quietly.
I glanced at him, giving him a little smile and nodded my head.
“Everyone, meet Crystal,” Matt said.
I was surprised to see their eyes widened and their mouths opened.
“You mean, Crystal…” the guy asked.
“The one and only,” he said, patting my back.
I turned to look at him, giving him a confused look as I lifted an eyebrow. One of the girls who was sitting next to the guy spoke first.
“Matt has told us so much about you,” she said and I smiled.
“Good things, I hope?” I said.
They all nodded their heads, and I thought I was liking them already. I placed my tray on the table and sat on an empty seat. The table was filled with a total of five people, excluding me. Three girls and two boys, including Matt.
“Okay, Crystal, this is Troy, and his girlfriend, Jasmine,” Matt said while pointing toward the couple smiling at me. I gave them a smile and waved.
“This is Eva and Sydney, the annoying twin sisters, who are so persistent they can make you do anything.” Matt teased, and I noticed they were indeed identical.
“Hey!” The twins glared at Matt.
I smiled to myself and took a bite of pizza as I listened to Matt argue with the twins, while the others started to laugh. Throughout the lunch period, Jasmine and the twins, had been telling me the gossips of the school and who the wannabes were.
But then all of a sudden, Tyler was brought up. Jasmine said something about him not coming to school today which made me sigh quietly in relief.
Something inside me was hoping that he was no longer in this school, but I was wrong. According to Jasmine, he skipped school all the time. This meant that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t be seeing him around that much. Maybe it would be better if he didn’t recognize me.
I just had to see when the time comes.
***
I walked through the front door and placed my bag on the counter. I looked around and imagined my parents, welcoming me home with warm smiles.
“Mom… Dad… I’m home,” I said to myself before walking into the kitchen.
When I was done having dinner, I made my way upstairs and into my room with my bag in my hand. I threw it on my bed and grabbed my phone as I looked through Facebook and Instagram. When I was done, I felt like I couldn’t stay in my room any longer. I walked to my closet and took my sports clothes.
I put my running shoes on and walked out the door, making sure to lock it after me. I started off by jogging to a park nearby, but when I was there, I began to run like my life depended on it. I ran passed a group of children laughing and a couple who were kissing on a bench nearby.
I was so focused on running that I didn’t notice the change of a path in front of me. I turned to my right suddenly, colliding hard into someone’s chest. I would have called it a wall if it wasn’t for the fact that its owner wrapped its arms around me.
“Ugh, I’m so sor—”
I apologized for my clumsiness as I looked up to the person I bumped into, but stopped as a gasp escaped my lips. My eyes widened as I stared at the person in front of me.
Oh, why did this had to happen to me?
Of all people, I just had to bump into him―Tyler.
Chapter 4
I stared at the face I hated the most for ruining my childhood. The same exact person who was standing in front of me and had his arms wrapped around me. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat as I tried to act natural. Maybe he didn’t recognize me. I mean, I did look like a whole new different person after all these years. Yeah! I shouldn’t fret. It wasn’t like out of nowhere he would know that I was the Crystal Clare he used to bully.
Besides, if he was the hottest guy in school, I was pretty sure he’d been with a lot of girls to not remember my face.
I observed his face and was surprised to realize that Eva was right. He was indeed damn hot. Those mesmerizing eyes were looking at me with an emotion I couldn’t quite figure out and his face looked like it was sculptured by a goddess.
I coughed awkwardly, and he released his hold on me. I looked at the ground, scratching my head nervously. I gathered as much courage needed to apologize to him and walk away as if nothing happened, but before I could even open my mouth, his husky voice had spoken.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” he said. I looked up to see his shocked face disappeared and formed into a smug smirk.
“The one and only Crystal is back,” he said, and I saw a glint in his eyes. His stare on me was so intense I shifted my legs anxiously as I glared at him, causing his smirk to widen. I could already tell I wasn’t going to get along with him anytime soon. The air around us was so intense, I could cut it with a knife. It felt like all the words I was just about to say slipped off my tongue.
He looked at me from head to toe with shock in his eyes. I saw his mouth opened, probably going to state the fact about my change, but I didn’t wait any longer to hear it. It was probably the worst and dumbest idea I’ve ever thought, but right now, in this moment, I could only blame myself so I did the only thing that could get me away from the last person I wanted to see.
I ran away from him as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough to evade the look of the shock and confusion on his face. I heard him say something that sounded like ‘wait’ but that was the last thing I was going to do. I quickened my pace just in case he was following me which would have definitely looked weird to the others around us who may have been watching. I mean, a girl running in sport clothes with a sexy guy who looked like a Greek god chasing her.
I glanced behind me while breathing heavily to see that I was alone. I let out a sigh of relief as my heart crashed strongly against my chest. I bent over to rest my hands on my knees and recalled what just happened.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
How could I be so dumb and careless? Now that I thought about it, I wish I could turn back time and stand in my place with confidence radiating from me! I told myself I wouldn’t run away from my problems anymore, but look what I did! I freakin’ did it again, literally. Oh, how much my life sucks!
No words could describe the humiliation I was put through because of my careless legs. But what on earth was I supposed to do? Stand as I let Tyler remind me of the times he would pick on me? I still don’t even know how I’m going to face him in school.
School! Just great! Another weight to add to my shoulders! I just hope Tyler wouldn’t target me again. After all these years, he just couldn’t get enough, could he? I wiped the sweat off my forehead and drank some water from my water bottle which I brought with me.
I told myself I’ve had enough running for one day, especially after running into and away from an ugly monster that creeps into the night, just waiting to crush every girl’s dream.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. I mean yes, I probably hated his guts and face, but for some unknown reason, every girl in school wanted to have a taste of him.
Ew. I couldn’t believe that thought actually formed in my mind.
I started to walk further from the park an
d went home. By now, time was moving pretty fast as the sun started to set. I dashed to my room, grabbed some relaxing clothes a.k.a my pajamas, and headed towards my bathroom to take a cold shower and clean my sticky and sweaty skin.
A few minutes and an empty shampoo bottle later, I was freshly cleaned. I grabbed my phone and laid on my bed as my wet hair soaked the pillows, causing me to get back up in annoyance.
Was it just me or am I the only one who hated that? The same way I hated Tyler more than my period.
Ha! Just kidding. What could be worse than a girl on her period?
The world may never know.
I browsed through my contacts and called Matt. After the third ring, he finally picked up.
“Yo, this is Sparta. How may I help you?” he asked. I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the caller ID and rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, and I’m Patrick,” I said as sarcasm slipped off my tongue, making him chuckle.
“Since when did Patrick have such a high and squeaky voice?”
“Hey! My voice isn’t squeaky.” I defended myself. It seemed as if I could never get used to his insults. Yes, I did take that as an insult!
“Sure, if that helps you sleep at night.”
I rolled my eyes, unable to come up with some cool comeback like I usually do. I would let him have the satisfaction for once.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“The sky,” he replied. I could already see the smirk on his face.
“Ha ha,” I said in a bored tone.
“What about you?”
“Oh, nothing really, just the usual. I went for a run and bumped into Tyler Grey, my archnemesis,” I said casually as if I was talking about the weather, swinging my feet back and forth while looking at my nails.
“What did you just say?” Matt asked, as his voice was laced with shock. He knew all too well that I hated Tyler, and if I had the chance to bury him six feet underground, then I would. He also wasn’t such a big fan of him. I mean, weren’t all guys like that when another steals all the attention from every girl?
