Cortello - D'Angelo (New)

c h a p t e r f i v e

Chapter Five - First Day

adrian

School. School. School. School.

The word's been ringing in my head since I woke up. Now that I'm in the car on the way there, there's absolutely nothing else I can think about. The nerves have been bubbling since yesterday and now they're at an all time high.

The thing is, I wasn't very popular at my old school. Scratch that, I wasn't popular at all. I had a single friend who had more friends than just me so her time was split say 40/60. More often than not, I was stuck eating lunch, and everything else, alone. Group assignments were hell, as was everything else.

I was known as a loner and I was okay with that. It was partly my fault, anyway. I'm not the most extroverted person out there and find it hard talking to people in general so I never tried to branch out.

But if we're playing the blame game then we can also blame everyone else in my grade because teenagers find no difficulty in making snap judgements. Once they think something of you, it sticks and being a loner has stuck with me since the first week of freshman year.

I have no doubt that Cambridge Academy will be exactly the same, except now the kids are just richer and probably snootier.

Wow, hello hypocrisy. Talk about snap judgements, but I hardly doubt it's untrue.

"...- Adrian, are you listening to me?"

"I'm listening, I'm listening."

Elijah raises a skeptical brow, "What did I say?"

"Damon?" I take a chance on the only word I did register.

"Right, you were listening," he scoffs a laugh. "Anyway, Damon's picking you up after school. I advise you, don't be late. He'll get grumpy."

"Okay, got it."

"And you remember how to get to the office, right?"

"Straight until the end of the hall, turn left. The door says office."

"Wow, so you can listen, huh?"

I give him a pointed look, pursing my lips. I don't have the energy or the nerves to spare to engage in a battle of wits.

Elijah ignores my non-response in favour of laughing at me. Why? I don't know. I decide to ignore him entirely.

We're in the car for a few more minutes before I get my first glimpse of the building. Well, buildings. Three giant bricked buildings, on one plot. Two of them have a second floor and the third is a one storey. On the first building, the loud and proud "Cambdirge Academy" is so big on the front, I'm sure it can be seen from a mile away.

Oh, it's really happening. There's nothing I can say or do about it either. School is school, it's important and whatever else parents, or guardians, say. It's a non-negotiable rule from Darius and Luciano that I keep my grades up which leads me to believe that I will never be allowed to just not go.

Plus my tattoo deal with Damon entails I have to do everything Darius and Luciano ask, which means school and good grades included.

Before I gather the nerves to ask Elijah to turn the car around, he's pulling into one of the empty parking spaces.

"Are you ready?"