ɴᴇᴍᴇꜱɪꜱ ║ ᴛᴏᴍᴍʏɪɴɴɪᴛ

Chapter 12 : First impressions

Ray bit down on her bottom lip, hands clenching into fists so hard that they created small while crescent moons on her palms. Angry tears pricked at her eyes, yet she refused to let them fall down her cheeks. She couldn't cry, not right before school.

Marcus glanced towards the rearview mirror, a hint of worry in his old eyes. He'd figured that there had been some sort of drama as soon as she got on the car. And it didn't seem to be good as the girl had almost been driven to tears.

The car ride felt much shorter than usual, and they soon pulled up in front of the huge school.

"Hey, are you going to be alright? You can always play sick and go home." Marcus suggested whilst looking back, but Ray didn't even want to make eye contact.

"I rather be at school than home right now." She muttered, desperately trying to regain her composure. 

The driver continued following the girl with his eyes as she harshly opened the door of the car and hastily leaving.

One step out, and Ray had already stopped, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air. Her tense body relaxed at once, removing the pressure of her nails from her almost bleeding palm.

'Calm down Ray... it's okay... they're always like that, don't take anything to heart.'
She repeated to herself over and over as she stood there with her eyes closed. 

Only upon opening them, she finally took in her surroundings. Ray could immediately spot the students coming from the other college, as they were wearing casual clothing unlike the ones attending Carisbrooke. They all looked amazed as they stared at the huge building ahead of them, another giveaway that they weren't familiar with it.

Ray then heard footsteps coming up to her and upon turning she found two of her friends there.

"Ew, do you see this? Everyone is showing off so hard." Diana cringed whilst looking around.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone's getting driven in their best cars." Celine pointed out, making Ray look around as she noticed that same detail.

"Damn, you're right." She exclaimed whilst staring at all of the super expensive cars pulling up to drop off more students.

"What the fuck, is tha- did someone fucking come in a helicopter?!" Diana asked in shock, pointing towards the sky where they did see a jet black helicopter lowering towards the school.

"Jesus fucking christ." Ray muttered.

"See? I knew this would happen." Diana shook her head whilst laughing. "Now come on, we need to get to home room." 

The other two girls also followed along, entering the very crowded school front hall.

But Ray couldn't distract herself, having her mind still set on what happened this morning.

🡆

The hallway was absolutely loaded with people, and people were so squished that there was barely any oxygen in the air. 

Ray along with her two friends pushed throughout the crowd, small steps as they tried to not harm anyone in their way.

"Why must the sports hall be across the school." Celine whined, then apologized to someone she had accidentally bumped into.

Finally, they managed to get into a much calmer hallway, which was longer de-tour towards the sports hall, but the girls preferred to live than be squished like cockroaches. There was much less people around, most either on their way to second lunch or having a free period.

Ray was eerily quiet, still shaken up from what had happened between her and her parents that morning. So much so that she slowly began falling behind her friends who were walking energetically, not paying attention to where she was going.

And unsurprisingly, she bumped into an incoming figure.

With a shriek, she stumbled backwards and thankfully managed to hold onto the near wall, preventing her from falling onto the hard floor. But the other person wasn't as lucky, harshly colliding with the ground.

Ray blinked furiously, looking up to see 2 guys circling the one that she had brought to the floor. But as soon as she eyed him, her mind went blank and her eyes widened so much that they almost fell out of their sockets.

She knew him. That was...

"Hey, Tommy, are you alright?" One of the guys asked, extending a hand to help his friend stand up.

Ray was too overridden by shock to say anything, completely frozen as she continued leaning against the wall. Tommy stood up, dusting himself off then looked up to make eye contact.

Suddenly, the girl felt like everything was crashing down on her. Rage, sorrow and annoyance filled her veins instantly as her face twisted into an angered frown.

Before Tommy could say anything, she straightened up.

"What the actual fuck!? Are you fucking blind??? Did you not see me walking?!" She yelled out, making Tommy flinch in the slightest, but rather of surprise than fear.

"I can't believe I have to deal with such stupidity this late in the fucking afternoon. Watch where you're going next time you mother fucking ass hat!" She clenched her firsts so hard that she almost felt her nails cut through her skin.

The three guys in front of her stared at her in shock, none uttering a single word as the girl stomped away. She didn't care to notice the rest of the students giving her strange looks, following her with their eyes as she passed her two equally surprised friends and simply continued walking forward.

damn ik it's a mess rn but pls don't blame ray