Red Riding Hood

Chapter 2: First Day

The blue Chevy pick-up trunk rumbled obnoxiously loud when my mother pulled in front of Hawthorne School. A few students sitting by the stairs looked at our direction and snickered.

Just great.

I hastily said goodbye to my mom and hopped out of the beat-up Chevy. As I passed through the stairway, I made sure to glare at the students who laughed.

I entered the big glass door, and was greeted by a blur of noises. Girls squealed as they exchanged hugs with friends that they haven't seen over the summer break. Rowdy boys started to run around the hallway, shouting crude words to one another. Acquaintances started to have breezy conversations at the side of the hallway.

And then there was me. Grumpy and sleep-deprived.

I thread my way to my locker, bumping into a few people. I was still in a foul mood, so I didn't bother apologizing. (Which, by the way, earned me quite a few glares.) Reaching my locker, I opened it and shove some of my books in it. Just as I was about to close my locker, I felt someone slap the back of my head.

"What the...?" I turned around to see Jasper grinning down at me.

"Hey, Ice Princess."

I looked behind him and saw Lara and her posse of idiots giving me dirty looks. I returned my eyes to Jasper and scowled at him. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

"Doing what on purpose?"

I rolled my eyes. As if he didn't know what I was talking about! "Making your ex jealous. If you didn't know, she's standing right behind you and looking at me like I'm some dirty pig."

Jasper's face puckered up adorably as if he tasted something sour. "What? I can't talk to my best friend since, forever? And she has no right to get mad. She's not my girlfriend anymore."

My eyebrow twitched involuntarily. Did he really not know how nasty his ex was? But instead of saying that, I just went, "Uh-huh. Try telling that to Lara."

"Well listen," he said, choosing to ignore what I just said. "I have to go now, but can I bring you home later?"

I gave him a thumbs up.

"Great." He flashed me a bright grin before leaving.

I faced my locker and secured it with a red lock. As soon as I was done, I spun around only to be face to face with a pissed off Lara. Juuuuuuuuuust great.

Lara Lewis was a platinum blonde with dark blue eyes. Her hair was neatly divided at the middle, and it fell just above her shoulders perfectly. As much as I hated to admit it, she was pretty. In fact, I heard she just recently got a modeling contract with some local department store. Ugh. You would think pretty girls had the right to be choosy, but not Lara Lewis. Lara seemed to be driven to date everyone in the football team, even those who weren't even remotely cute. In fact, she had almost dated all of them. Except for one... Max. A.K.A, the hottest guy in school. (Probably even the whole Portwood, our small town.)

But it was Jasper that really turned her into a psychopathic stalker. After Jasper and Lara became a couple, Lara started telling Jasper that he couldn't hang out with me anymore. She got so jealous that she even tried douching me with iced coffee before. (Thank the heavens for training. I was pretty quick with the karate chop that made her let go of the evil drink) I already informed her countless times that Jasper and I were just friends, but did she listen? Of course not! She thought Jasper and I had a thing.

After their one-and-a-half-month relationship, Jasper ended things. Since then, Lara Lewis abandoned her dream of dating the whole football team. It was replaced with a much more sinister dream: to make my life as hellish as possible.

"Did you forget to brush your hair?" Lara asked, her voice deceptively sweet. "Because I swear it looks like a bird's nest right now."

Her posse of idiots, namely dumb and dumber, started snickering. I gave Eliza and Margaret a pointed look. Eliza was a brunette with a pixie haircut. Meanwhile, Margaret was a blonde with the biggest boobs. Ever. The two stopped laughing at once and started looking anywhere but me.

Lara took a step forward until we were nose to nose. I didn't step back because I didn't want her to think I was afraid of her. She hissed, "Stay away from Jasper. He's mine, bitch."

I plastered a fake smile. "Did you forget he broke-up with you? Because I swear last time I checked, he told me he's dating someone else."

After that, I stepped away from her and her dumb followers. I could feel three pair of eyes boring at my back, but I didn't care. I had no time for idiots like them. I walked to my first class, which was geometry. Upon entering class, I spotted my best friend, Emily.

Emily and I go way back, ever since we were in the sixth grade. Emily and I first became friends in art class. I was wearing a shirt of my favorite band, the Queen. She saw it and she said, 'sweet.' Then she started telling me that her favorite song of the Queen was Radio Ga Ga. I was so impressed that a sixth grader was knowledgeable about music in the eighties. Plus, she didn't disappoint me when she started talking about music in the sixties and seventies, too. Ever since then, we had formed an unbreakable bond. Our love for old music had brought us together.

Emily waved her hand as soon as she saw me. I sat beside her and I could see that she was itching to tell me something.

"Have you heard??" She asked me, her brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Heard what?"

"There's a new guy in school! And I heard he's smoking." She flipped her long red hair behind her to get it out of the way. "And I heard that he's even hotter than Max."

Max was the most popular guy in school, mostly because of his impossibly good looks. He was part of the football team, and he could practically get any girl he wants. He had light blonde hair and light blue eyes. His skin was sun-kissed from all the training he had in football. Personally, I think he was rotten inside. But I didn't say it out loud, because his fans behaved like a cult.

"Hotter than Max?" I raised an eyebrow. "Is that even possible? That guy can put a Greek god to shame."

Just then the speakers came to life. It announced that Belle Westbrook, which was me by the way, was needed in the Principal's office. Now.

What the freaking hell?

Emily and I looked at each other. I couldn't help but give her an accusing look. "You didn't rat about me writing that article about the cheerleaders whoring in the library, did you....?"
Emily gave me a hurt look. "Of course not! Give me some extra credit here, jeez."

"Sorry," I mumbled. The teacher already entered the room, but thankfully, she heard the announcement. She told me I'll be excused in her class. I said thank you before tearing myself out of the classroom.