Chapter 2 The New Kid

James Bayers Middle and High School stood as tall as any two story building would. The brown coloured stone wall usually gave the school a cool atmosphere in the summer. The school was named after the founder of our small town, Bayersville, a remote place in Wisconsin.

The first floor was for middle school while the second floor was for the high school or as I liked to call them "semi-adults". I quickly made my way past the thirteen year olds trying not to make eye contact with any of them. Not that I'm shy or anything just that these preteens tend to have this idea that we in high school knew it all.

Last month all I heard was, "excuse me miss, can you help me with my calculus homework?", "excuse me, do you know where blah blah blah is?" Annoying!

As I was about to climb up the stairs leading to my hall, I caught sight of the only friend I had in this school, and also this god forsaken town making her way up the steps.

"Chloe!" I shouted and ran to catch up with her.

She halted and turned toward me, her brightly coloured red hair swishing over her shoulders. Chloe Thompson was a light skinned beauty with almond-shaped eyes the colour of a meadow, which were always shielded with her glasses. Chloe was one of the most beautiful girls in school and would have been part the popularity crew if not for one particular she-devil sprung from the pits of hell that turned everyone in school against her.

"Looks like I beat you to it this time. I expect my history assignment to be at my desk by the day's end", Chloe said offering me the sweetest smile.

"You win this round Thompson, but I'll get you next time", I answered.

At the beginning of the school year, Chloe and I made a deal; whoever gets to school first every Monday morning does the loser's assignment for that week. You see, my weak point was calculus and mathematics and I had trouble pulling through, so Chloe offered to help, tutoring me, but I just couldn't comprehend the numbers and letters and signs all smushed together, it drove me insane. Now, history I love and enjoy so I had no issue with that. Chloe on the other hand, is a straight 'A' student, a genius at math and chemistry.

Although she gets all A's, she hates history, hates reading and writing long stories about 'dead people nobody cares about'; her words not mine. How she manages to pull through during exams, I don't know. So, I came up with the whole switcheroo idea. If I came to school first, she does my math and calculus homework, if she came first I do her history homework; a win-win, everybody's happy.

We both made our way up the stairs and into our hall. Without making eye contact with anyone we hurry to our lockers.

As I reached out to open my locker, I caught a whiff of something both nauseating and sweet in the air.

I heard Chloe whose locker was next to mine, sigh, and say, "The devil in pink clothing comes"

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against my locker. Not her, anyone but her. The smell grew stronger and the sound of three pairs of heels grew louder. Please walk away, please walk away. I continued the chant in my head, even when the footsteps stopped directly behind me. My eyes flew open when I heard that voice.

The voice that made my school life a living hell. The voice that turned people against me and Chloe. The voice that drips poison laced with sugar. The voice of Mirabel Snow, the queen bee, aka, the she-devil.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in"

I turned and faced her, leaning my back against my locker. Chloe stood beside me, arms crossed over her chest with a look of disgust on her face.

Mirabel had the face and body of a supermodel but she had a heart as hard as rock and cold as ice and a tongue that speaks sweet words promising mayhem and destruction. The blond hair was parted at the middle and cascaded down her shoulders. Her grey eyes were heated with hate and something else I couldn't place. Her lipstick coloured lips were twisted with a smile promising to ruin my entire week.

I took her in with my eyes. She sported a black crop top, the neckline low enough to show some cleavage. Her pink low-waist skirt stopped just above her mid-thigh with her black ankle heels matching her leather jacket. The vibe of 'I'm a bad girl, run for your life' vibrated the air.

"Isn't it too early for you to come to school? I thought you would sleep in and come in during lunch after....you know....getting wasted and piss your pants drunk at your coven meeting last night", I said with a look of boredom on my face.

Chloe chuckled and Mirabel's face laced with fury,

"You better watch your mouth Black, it could get you in serious trouble".

I took a step towards her, "Is that so? I'm intrigued".

I turned my gaze towards her pose, Rebecca Hopkins and Michelle Barker, both of them wearing similar clothes as their queen bee.

"I see you guys decided to dress alike. Instructions from your coven master?" They both hissed in anger.

Mirabel took a menacing step towards me, as she opened her mouth to answer, the bell rang. She closed mouth and stepped back.

"This isn't over", she said and walked away with her pose trailing after her.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards my locker.

"That was interesting", Chloe said as she closed her locker, books in hand.

"It's going to get more interesting later, believe me", I said as I opened my locker to retrieve my books.

"Oh I know and I can't wait. Come on calculus is first", Chloe said smiling like a lunatic.

I slammed my locker shut and rolled my eyes, "yippee".

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Calculus was boring as usual. I always fought the urge not to fall asleep in Mr. Reed's class. Mr. Reed was a young man in his mid-twenties with an average body build. He was good looking, well in a nerdy way. He always wore this old grey sweater I'm sure his mum made for him and threatened to kill him or herself if he ever took it off.

He was currently sitting on his desk explaining about how binomial differentiation would help in World War III or something like. I felt my eyes grow heavy and slowly closing, my mind already drifting away.

I heard the door open and a feminine voice saying, "Sorry to interrupt your class Mr. Reed but can I have a quick word with you?"

"No problem, Principal Mayfair. I will be back shortly class. Please study the equations on page 23".

I slowly blinked my eyes open as I heard the door slam shut. I looked towards the door and I saw the silhouette of Mr. Reed and Principal Mayfair talking. I wondered what they were talking about. I looked at Chloe next to me who looked up from her book and at me. I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged her shoulders, apparently reading my mind. She turned back to her book in deep concentration. No use getting her to say anything now.

I stared at page 23 on my calculus textbook, the symbols and words all jumbled together, making it difficult for me to understand them. I swear they always seem to know when I'm the one trying to solve them, I can hear them laughing in my head already. Ha-ha, got to catch us first if you want that A!. Annoying little imps. I'll catch you.

I was drawn out of my crazy thoughts when I heard Mr. Reed's voice." 'Listen up class. Looks like we'll be having a new student this term. Now I know it's a bit late into the term but Principal Mayfair made it clear that it was very necessary to enroll this particular student'"

I raised my brow at that. What a weird thing for the principal to do. The school doesn't enroll new students into the last two grades and not especially when it's the middle of the term. This kid must be really special. Let's see what they look like shall we.

I finally looked up from my book. The first thing I noticed...., wow the kid (scratch that, the man) was very tall. I mean next to him Mr. Reed looked like a dwarf but I'm pretty sure he felt more like a hobbit. He was probably up to six feet tall if not more than. The next thing I noticed was how dark his hair was. It was so dark that it could blend into the night.

Then I focused on his face. Dude was handsome (scratch that, smoking hot). You know those hot guys on all those romance novels? Yea imagine if the Greek god Apollo merged with one of them and had sex with Angelina Jolie.

His lips were perfectly set with a little hint of pink. His nose was Grecian, though a little crooked like he was just in a fight. He had the brightest green eyes I had ever seen. They were so deep it felt like he was staring into my soul.

I frowned at that. Wait a minute! They were actually staring me. I focused on the 'kid'. He was looking right at me. His eyes were so focused on me and his lips parted slightly. I couldn't stop staring back. There was this hum of electricity in the air and could have sworn I saw a spark in his eyes as he continued to stare at me.

There was a loud cough followed by, "Ok class this is Alex Thorne" Mr. Reed said gesturing towards the 'kid'.

"Please tell us a little about yourself"

The kid broke the eye contact and faced Mr. Reed. I suddenly felt cold like something or someone important just left me. I frowned. That was weird. And what kind of name is Alex Thorne? It sounds so fake.

"Well, Alex we're waiting". Mr. Reed said sitting on his desk, hands folded across his chest.

Alex narrowed his eyes at him, his head tilted slightly to the side.

"My name is Alex Thorne and that's all you need to know". With that he made his way towards the only empty sit in the class (which was two sits behind me).

God!! That voice sent shivers down my spine. I felt my nipples harden. What the hell?! Why now? And why him? Sure I've had my fair share of guys over the years (cough, just one, cough) and they (he) never made me feel this way not even a goose bump.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate breathing in and out. The scent of musk and the woods with a hint of raw masculinity invaded my nostrils. I knew it was him without looking and I almost fainted. My heart beat became faster. For some reason I wanted that scent to envelope me and carry me away.

Someone lightly touched my arm and I opened my eyes. It was Chloe.

"Are you alright?" she asked looking at me with concern.

I couldn't open my mouth to form words so I just nodded and smiled at her.

Throughout the class I could feel a pair of eyes on me.