HOW TO MAKE DIAMONDS

PROLOGUE | SINOPSIS

She walked in like your typical angsty kid from an average teen movie. Earphones were on but the music was so disturbingly loud you could hear the heavy hard drums and eventual screams from a considerable distance. The playlist consisted mainly of Blink 182, Bring Me The Horizon and similar artists. That is until Maya showed up and pulled the phones from her ears, attracting her attention.

Jade was ready to blow up at the person who did this but held herself after realizing it was her aunt.

"Your schedule, locker information, and all that." Maya handed her the paper. "I managed to squeeze you into your favorite subjects and already spoke to my colleagues about not bothering you. They loved your grades so as long as you keep them up, it won't be a problem. Now, I still don't like that you're so hellbent on not making friends, as this is your senior year after all, but I'll also respect it."

"Thanks, auntie."

Maya nodded and smiled, saying goodbye with a simple squeeze on her upper arm before calling for one of her students that was passing by to discuss his latest assignment and how he could boost his grades so he won't fail her class. Wich still shocked her, considering it was Introduction to Art History, and the projects consisted mainly of drawings or collages or anything they could want to create.

Jade put her earphones back on, took a look at the papers her aunt gave her, and made her way to her assigned locker, being guided by the school map. The new student in the middle of the school year; Jade knew she was attracting attention, more than she wanted to. But it wasn't much of a choice, her sister was moving and she didn't want to live by herself in New York so she moved too - to live by herself in a whole new city. At least she was closer to the only relatives she still had.

Aunt Maya came here right after getting her degree to become a teacher, and Amber fell in love - and pregnant - with the most popular local tattoo artist.

Yes, being 18 and with an insane amount of money in her bank account gave Jade the option to stay back with all her friends, but her history and tendencies were enough to make her say goodbye, promise to visit, pack it up and leave.

She still has her privacy though. A house filled with a happy lovey-dovey couple and a soon-to-be crying baby wasn't in her plans so Ricky was nice enough to let her take the Loft he owns above his tattoo parlor.

She immediately shoved her helmet inside her locker and all her stuff, pulling out the tote bag Bea gave her, her pencil case, her drawing book, a notebook for classes, wallet, and a water bottle before heading to the second class of the day, having already lost the first.

AP World History. She's not a nerd or an overachiever, Jade just gave up on wasting her energy with people from her past high school, which left her with nothing else other than classes, and changing right now is not her priority. She's quite satisfied with it.

At lunch, she didn't have a specific table waiting for her. All attempts at making friends were quickly shut down and now, with her tray in hands, Jade walked towards the only empty spot she could find; except for one lonely boy, Kyle, from who she made sure to sit as far away as possible.

He was so used to people already knowing they were supposed to stay away that her presence surprised him at first, but he was fast to recompose himself and, as Jade mentally cursed her earphones for tangling inside her bag, he tried to kick her out.

"Seats taken."

"Yeah sure, I'll leave when your many buddies arrive to fill them." Sarcasm is her favorite form of expression.

She's no stranger to annoying popular girls trying to diminish her. School bad boys were no different. He had the looks, the attitude, probably some disgusting stories under his belt, and a few notches on his bedpost, but she was previously known as the school's slut - before becoming the one you should pity if you didn't want to look like a heartless monster -, that's enough to teach someone some surviving high school tricks. And the number of dumb comments thrown at her daily gave our beautiful girl a backbone and smart mouth that Jade wasn't scared to use.

Moody, annoyed, witty, and rude was almost her default mode in situations like these.

But she was still new, she didn't fully know the ropes and the ins and outs of this school. She didn't know Kyle and Kyle didn't know her.

He was stunned. Curious about the only person since that particular day in freshman year to dare say a word back to him. After all, sending his girlfriend's brother to the hospital was enough to scare all but Carter away. If it wasn't for Miss Maya, her hidden favoritism, and knowledge of the true reason why the fight happened in the first place, he would have been expelled on the spot.