by Belle Harper
“Hello, you must be Alexis Turner?” The older lady behind the desk smiled up at me. She wore a floral shirt and thick, pink-rimmed glasses. I was a little fascinated about where the hell you would even find that color frame that I forgot to answer her as she waited.
I nodded and put on my best fake smile—the one I gave adults when I wanted to look sweet and innocent. She gave me a smile in return that told me she bought it. She shifted some paperwork on her desk as I waited.
“Sorry, love, won’t be a moment… I think it’s in the back.” I shrugged. I didn’t care if I was late to my first class. I leaned against the counter as I watched her go into a back room and open up a filing cabinet. I turned and watched the students as they walked in the hallway through the glass doors of the office. There were stairs across from me, and I thought I saw Raff run up either earlier. I wonder if we have classes together?
We were both seniors. Well, Shelly said that on the car ride up here, which was about all I knew about him. He had an uncle who seemed to think he owned him, obviously into drugs—that was easy to see. Yet Raff didn’t seem that type at all. And yet he got into fights on his first day of school and made a lot of enemies in a very short amount of time.
My eyes turned and I noticed all the female students were looking at someone. I glanced to where they were focused and saw a hot guy stroll through the crowd of students. They were parting for him like the Red Sea. He wore dark, fitted slacks and a black turtleneck. His jaw was smooth and defined, his eyes never strayed from where he was going. And his brown, wavy almost curly locks framed his face in such a perfect carefree way. He had an air about him and I, like the other girls, stared openly at him. I was totally fucked.
I bet this guy was Mr. Popular and had half the student body wanting a piece of him, male and female. There was no way to deny that the guy knew he was attractive and probably starred in many fantasies.
When his feet slowed and he stopped beside a tall blonde girl, I knew straightaway I wouldn’t be his type. Not that I was wanting to be his type; no, that made it better that I wasn’t. I needed to hide under the radar. Get schooling over and done with and leave this place. I watched the tall blonde as she flicked her hair and puffed out her chest which was already on display in the very tight red tank top she wore. But he took no notice to her flirting gesture. His eyes closed and when he opened them, they flashed straight to mine.
I sucked a sharp breath through my teeth. His head slightly cocked to the side, and I turned to see the office lady still messing around in the back office. Fuck, hurry up. My cheeks were burning hot. I totally got caught staring at him and he knew. Ugh, what did I just say about not drawing attention to myself? I can’t even stick to my own rules. Even if I wanted more, it wasn’t going to happen. I chanced a glance to see if he was still there after I stopped my racing heart, but he was gone. I sighed and slumped my forehead against the counter.
“Here you are, dear.” I looked up and took the paper from her outstretched hand. I looked down and went over my schedule… Ugh, what?
“This is wrong, I didn’t do world history. I can’t just jump into that now so close to graduating.” She took the paper from me and typed something on her computer. She moved the monitor so I could see what she tapped with her long pink nail.
“It says it right here, world history.” I looked closely. It did say that, but I never took it before and it even had grades. How did that get messed up?
“There has to be a mistake. Can I change? Make it a free period instead?”
She shook her head then pushed those pink glasses further up her nose. “I can’t change your classes. The principal can, but he is busy this morning. Can you come back after school?” I shrugged, I guess I would have too.
I left the office and stood outside the glass doors. I glanced down at the map and found my way to my first class. There were a lot of stares as I passed other students in the hall. I subconsciously rubbed my mouth on the back of my sleeve. Did I have food on my face? Or were new students not very common? It wasn’t a large high school, but I still thought I could blend in.
By the time I found my class, I had three tall guys following behind me. Like it might have been flattering for some girls, but not for me. I shot them my best “I’m gonna fuck your balls up if you don’t leave me alone” look just before I stepped into the class. I took a spare seat in the back as I heard the teacher yell at the tall guys to leave before she slammed it shut. I slumped into the chair and grabbed out my text for English.
“You seemed to have yourself a fan club.” I spun to the girl seated beside me. She had a pink shirt, like actually needing to iron and everything shirt. She had a headband to push her ash blonde hair from her face and a big grin.
“Ah… yeah. I don’t want a fan club.”
She laughed, then quickly sobered. “Oh, really? I have been here my whole life and I have never seen the basketball team stalk a girl anywhere like that. Let alone a new girl.”
Well, I guess this was my lucky day.
“I’m Ada.” She held out her hand to shake. I hesitated at first, but then took it.
“Lexi. Nice to meet you.”
“So, you are from Kiba? Dang. The Kiba boys won’t like the Kenneally boys stalking you through the halls.”
The what? I tried to answer her questions as quickly as I could while trying to listen to what the teacher said because I was not exactly some honor roll, genius student here. I had to work hard for the grades I had. But in the end, curiosity won out. I needed to know the social hierarchy of this school if I was going to survive here.
“Okay, tell me what that means.” Ada scooted her chair and desk closer, and you could see her eyes gleam with wanting to tell this information to anyone willing to listen.
“Okay, well, I’m from Watson. It’s the second biggest town around here.” I nodded for her to continue. “Well, there are a few smaller towns around and the boys who come from them are like super crazy over it all, like you know… their turf. No one gets it, but they take it seriously. The boys from Kiba don’t associate with the ones from Kenneally or Rawlins. And same for the Rawlins and Kenneally boys. They get into fights a lot.
“So, I guess you being from Kiba, the boys there might feel the same way about you. I have seen the Rawlins boys start a fight with one of the Kiba boys when he tried to date a girl from there.
“So, all in all, it’s like a regular high school, but you know, with weird turf wars that have been going on for as long as even my parents remember. But Watson and Port Willow are the only ones that don’t have these groups of hot guys.”
Great I just moved to some place where there was a live remake of the West Side Story.
Chapter Six
Lexi
My second class of the day did not go as well as the first. I hated statistics as it was but as I walked in I tried to ignore all the stares. Yes, I am the new girl. Get over it already. But where some turned away, a few of the guys in class stared openly at me and talking loudly. Were they the Kiba boys? They weren’t the guys on the bus, and I think most of them were freshmen. I moved to an empty desk and sat quickly. I pulled out my books and tried to read some text, just so I didn’t have to see them. The room went quiet and I glanced up.
Raff appeared in the doorway and as soon as his eyes caught mine, he moved and took the seat in front of me. Great, now I can stare at his pretty neck. I could still see the hint of his tattoo creeping up there.
My eyes were drawn away when Raff’s books ended up on the floor. There were two tall guys—the ones from earlier who were stalking me. The taller one with what looked to be a permanent scowl on his face, grabbed Raff by his long sleeve top and yanked him to standing. I backed up, dragging the desk with me. Holy shit. The teacher was in the classroom and this guy was going to fight Raff? What the hell did he do yesterday?
“Scum like you should go back to your trailer park pack.” His friend took a swing, but Raff moved and turned his body before
hitting the guy in the face with his elbow. Holy fuck, they were fighting, in class, with a teacher present. The guy’s nose made a crunch sound and I cringed. It was broken for sure. The teacher finally yelled out to them to stop. They either didn’t hear it or they chose to ignore him. The taller guy, was still holding onto Raff, and shoved him, Raff lost balance and the asshole took that opportunity to punch Raff in the stomach. Hard. Raff’s whole body bent over from the impact. Fuck.
“What is your problem, asshole.” I smacked my desk loudly with my hands and both guys flicked their gazes to me. Raff was more tense than before; he spun and I could see the way his eyes glared in my direction. He was mad. But seriously, the teacher wasn’t doing shit. The taller of the two leaned in toward me, his dirty blond hair cut short and his eyes were almost a rusty brown. They were distracting, so I looked away as I stood. He didn’t say anything, so I glanced over and I watched as his nostrils flared and I held my breath. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. This guy screamed dangerous.
His gaze turned deadly as he turned back to Raff, his fist clenched tight and he was shaking as his lip curled up in a snarl.
“You making a claim, boy? Cause you have no rights to.” He growled as he shoved Raff away and the teacher told them to take their seats. They both sat but they didn’t stop. They didn’t pay any attention, they studied me all class. Just whispering together and their eyes back on me. It made me uncomfortable, and I shifted in my seat trying to shake the feeling that they were planning something not too nice for me after class was done.
Had they never had a girl stand up to them before? Fucking bullies.
When the bell rang, I moved quickly so I could talk to Raff, but he left in a hurry. I guess he didn’t like me standing up for him. But I couldn’t just sit there and watch it. He can hate me all he wants but I would never sit back and do nothing while someone was being bullied.
I walked out of class and found the asshole there; in fact, he had all his friends with him—all five of them tall and intimidating. I felt so tiny as they boxed me in, my heart started to race and my palms got real sweaty. I did not do well with this; I could feel my chest starting to constrict as a panic attack was coming on. I was stronger… I wouldn’t let them see me like this.
“What are you? A pussy? Tell me you’re a pussy . . .. I would eat your—” The guy stumbled to the left and I looked to see silver hair. Raff. He shoved another out of the way and growled lowly.
“Leave her the fuck alone.” His voice was so deep that I felt it through my body, and it was so sexy.
“My father said you can’t claim, you have no pack,” one of the guys growled back, baring his teeth.
Okay, this shit was getting weird now. I moved to get away and Raff stood taller, blocking my escape, ready to fight all five of them even though he was much smaller than them. I could see their fists curled—this was not going to be an even fight—and I couldn’t just leave him here after what he just done for me. All the kids in the hall moved away or stood to watch this all go down. I was only just a couple of hours into my first day of school, I did not expect this.
“There is a claim,” Raff spoke loudly and I had zero idea what was going on. Claim? Pack? Was he meaning the Kiba boys thing? Did Raff join one of these groups yesterday and that was why he got into a fight?
“Raff, let’s go,” I called out to him. Begging him silently to leave. He didn’t move, but his head cocked to the side to let me know he heard me. I heard loud booming voices bouncing off the hallway walls, I turned to see three large men approach. What’s in the water around here?
“Parker, that is enough. You have been warned to stay away from Rafferty.” I realized these were teachers. Holy crap. They came and broke it all up and told the guys to leave. I watched as Raff’s clenched fists went to his sides and he stalked past me, not even giving me a second glance. I went to economics and tried to avoid everyone. But that was proving hard.
The food in the cafeteria looked better than any other I’d seen before. I noticed that most the students went to an outside seating area rather than eat inside like my old school. It was cold and damp today, so I wasn’t going to leave the warm building to freeze.
I saw Raff had grabbed some lunch and as he was leaving the building, some guys pushed him and he stalked off in another direction. I hated seeing this shit. I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what. I looked around at the tables. I wasn’t used to eating with others; honestly, I would rather be on my own, but maybe being alone wasn’t the best idea right now. This school was harder to nut out than others.
I looked for Ada but I couldn’t see her. I turned a saw what must be the jock table. Okay, that was a regular clique. All the guy there looked like footballers, some were like seriously ripped and most of them had tattoos. Holy crap. What the hell was going on with all these seniors and tattoos?
I think I lingered for too long as two of them turned and saw me. The one with the full sleeve of colorful tattoos caught my eye first. His lips were full, his dark brown hair styled in a messy look, and he looked almost bored at the table with all his friends. Like he wished he was somewhere else. Me too. The white T-shirt he wore was tight and showed that he worked out, there was no way he could get that body without a gym and weights. There were so many hot guys in this school… and I wasn’t complaining. Just, wasn’t expecting it.
When the guy next to him turned to speak to his friends, he didn’t. He kept his gaze on me. It felt like my body was drawn to him, like there was a strange connection between us. I wanted to know who he was, what he was thinking, what his lips felt like… When he blinked and looked away, I did too. The connection was lost, it was almost disappointing. I looked up once again to see him, but found the whole table staring at me, there was at least fourteen guys there. Seniors and some juniors.
Okay, that was my cue to leave. I took my salad wrap and bottle of water and took off. I wandered the halls of the school for a little while, looking for a quiet place I could escape to, eating and taking sips along the way.
When I saw more seniors walk through the hallway, I quickly turned on my heel and walked the other way. I looked over my shoulder to see if they were still there. I groaned when one had smiled and started to follow me.
Far out. This school was worse for stalkers than any other place I had been. When I got far enough away, I saw another group of tall guys, all staring at me. Yep, fuck this shit. I wasn’t sticking around to find out what they wanted. I quickly turned a corner and slammed into Raff.
Oh fuck. He grabbed my shoulders and held me steady. My heart skipped a beat. I breathed him in, he smelt amazing, like rain on a hot summer day. What the hell? How was that even a smell someone could have? I loved that smell. He was warm and solid beneath my hands. When he looked down to my hand that was still clenched into his tee, I let go and in my embarrassment, I ran.
I didn’t know why I ran, but I just wasn’t ready for all this… whatever this was. I had to escape. But I didn’t know if it was to escape the school, this town, the foster family… Raff? My heart was racing, and I didn’t know what was going on with me. I was confused and emotional—he made me feel things which was something I didn’t let myself do.
When the bell rang, I gather myself together and pushed all the emotions down again, took a deep breath and walked to art class like nothing had happened.
The art teacher was an older woman who wore overalls with many years of paint splatter on them. I liked her already.
“Alexis, its lovely to meet you. We are doing individual pieces. The theme is feelings. The medium is acrylic. And we have a spare spot here.” She pointed to a chair on an empty table, I wanted to groan. Feelings. Something I just didn’t want to deal with at all. But I loved painting so I was glad to be using acrylics.
There didn’t seem to be many kids in this class, I counted six as I walked in. I think I have found my favorite class of the day. I was given some paper and pencils to sketch my piece.
I saw that most students were up to painting their canvas and were setting up.
There was a loud bang and laughter as the door flew open and two guys pushed someone inside. When he straightened himself up, I realized it was the guy from the cafeteria. The one with the colourful tattoos, handsome face, the one who stared at me and I was mesmerized by his eyes. Oh God. He was looking at me again. But this time, he narrowed his eyes at me. I guess he didn’t like me. Ugh, what was up with me being attracted to bad boys with issues. And yes, him not liking me was an issue. But I guess that meant I would be safe near him. Even though I felt this pull to him, he obviously didn’t.
“Maverick,” the teacher raised her voice, “go get your work and stop distracting class. It’s not like you to be late. That’s your brother, don’t turn into him.”
He moved about the room, and I tried to distract myself with what I was going to sketch, but I couldn’t help but look out from the corner of my eye to watch him. Eventually, he sat with his back to me. I let out a deep breath and relaxed. Feelings… why of all the topics this was the one I had to do.
I had done nothing all class, but I felt drained from trying to convey an emotion. I packed the paper in my bag and returned the pencils to the teacher.
“Oh dear, you can take these with you.” She gave me a kind smile. I took them and nodded. I didn’t mind this type of charity, it would be nice to have them later when I got back to the house. I might be able to find an emotion then. Or at least fake it.
I made my way to my last class of the day. I followed my map; it wasn’t too far, up on the second level. I needed to speak to this teacher because I wasn’t supposed to be doing world history. As I got up to the class, I could see all the students entering. Crap, I wanted to chat with him before class started. I ran in last and closed the door behind me. When I spun around, I saw him. Butterflies danced in my belly as I took him in.
