Always ✔

♡| Prologue

Claire's POV

I gaped at myself in the mirror, noticing my messy bun, nails trimmed, dark-circles under my eyes, the wrinkled T-shirt and a grimy pair of jeans.

Today was my first day of highschool. What would you expect a girl to dress like?

Of course, she'd have her hair curled or straightened, twisted into a stunning new hairstyle, heavy makeup, artificial nails with unicorns painted on them and brand new cloths.

All of this wasn't my thing. I like to keep it simple.

I fiddled with the blood-red lipstick that my mom had bought for me. Lifting it up to my face level, I examined it, twisting and turning it in my slender fingers.

Please mom, don't make me do this.

I brought the lipstick close to my lips and let the tip caress my lower lip gently. Bright red color filled my vision.

"No way in hell!" I grunted, rubbing my lower lip violently with a napkin to get the awful crimson color off my fragile, pink lips.

Calming down, I looked back at the mirror.

I'm ready.

No, wait.

A strand of my blonde hair fell on my face. Gently, I tucked it underneath my tied hair.

"Now, I'm ready" I smiled.

*****

I stared out of the window of my car. The trees and houses flashed by like speedy airplanes.

Talking of airplanes, my mind took me back in time to when I was in middle school.

I was a miserable, depressed, lonesome girl who walked by the edges of the corridors, hiding myself in the shadows.

They used to steal my notes, that took hours to organize, from my bag. Then they used to make paper planes out of them and aim them toward me.

When I used to scream, flail and wail, they'd say "It's just paper"

But little did they know (or maybe they did know) that the razor-sharp, piercing nose of the paper planes used to prick my naked arms as if it were thorns digging into my flesh.

It hurt.

Fantasizing about Bad Boys didn't help. According to some stories, the bad boy is attracted to a nerd but that wasn't the case here.

I spent my entire middle school waiting for that beautiful moment to arrive, but it never did.

In my heart, I wished my highschool would go better than middle school.

*****

Stepping onto the rigid tarmac road, I hopped out of the car. I lifted my head up to view the tremendously soaring, new highschool building.

The campus was huge, and convenient. Good thing, I could already spot places where I could spend time alone. I didn't expect anyone to be a friend of a nerd.

Gawking around, I started counting the number of flamboyant girls who were completely dolled up.

One...two...three...four...

A fraction of a second later, I realized, all the girls that I saw here were all dolled up. I was the only hypocrite who looked like a mugger.

I hugged my mom goodbye. She gave me wishes and kisses and talked about how I overpowered all the girls here.

I rolled my eyes.

After a lot of sentimental and emotional stuff, I finally walked away and into the school building.

Clutching the school guide, which was practically fifteen pages not fastened together, I stomped down the main hall toward the lockers.

As soon as I entered the locker corridors, three girls who were standing on the side, eyed and snarled at me as I walked past.

What was their problem?

I tried my utmost to ignore them but then there were these five guys who stood in the center of the corridor. They blocked the way of everyone who passed by. They'd sneer and tease everyone who tried to squeeze past them.

My heart rate increased and I found myself taking deep breaths. I didn't want to be hated and made fun of on the first day.

I came closer to them and my eyes met with one of the guys. He had light blue eyes; pale skin and his jet black hair were spiked.

He smirked, glaring at me from head to toe. A painful chill ran down my spine on seeing it - it was no friendly smile, and I didn't know what it was supposed to mean.

That was until I attracted the attention of his friends around him. They looked like those popular jocks that I saw in movies, but they were fiercer and definitely scarier. Some guys whistled in my direction, hooted inappropriate things, making me uncomfortable to the core.

I fastened my pace to get away from their sights but the blue-eyed guy blocked my way.

What the hell did I do? What was happening?

I stared at the ground, trying my best to avoid eye contact. He came up to me, and instead of saying sweet words about how a bad boy falls for a nerd, he gripped the papers in my hand, snatched them away and flipped them into the air.

My jaw dropped open as the papers came falling down.

"I was looking for a freshman like you on the first day" he clenched and unclenched his fists "Look guys, I found a fucking nerd!"

Everyone around started giggling under their breaths while these five guys laughed their heads off. My heart shrunk to the size of an atom. Tears stung the sides of my eyes and I gulped.

Did I just become 'That girl' now? That girl who gets bullied, just like middle school? Out of all those freshmen walking past us, they just had to pick on me. Why? Because I looked feeble and incapable of harm?

"Hey!" the janitor came ambling up to us "Clean up this mess, now!"

The bad boy gave me a death glare.

Automatically, my hands reached the fallen papers on the floor and started picking them up. My hands brushed the shoes of other students as I collected the papers and they didn't bother to move away or give me room to crouch.

I felt worthless, broken, shattered.

Just when I was about to break down, someone else crouched beside me. I looked up and stared into a pair of blue, compassionate eyes behind glasses.

"I'll help you with these" the blonde guy muttered, bending down and picking the rest of the papers.

The students around us whispered and gasped and some even chuckled but I didn't mind that anymore, I felt accompanied and liked at that moment.

"Here" he handed the papers to me, dusting his jeans. He wore a simple white T-shirt, his hair was brushed neatly in place and a pair of thin glasses sat on his nose.

"I'm Logan" he stated, shaking my hand.