Love Lessons (Marina Diamandis)

Chapter One

I wake up to the sound of my annoying alarm. Another, lame day of school waits for me, how great. As I stare at my own reflection in the mirror, I try to turn the half-dead version of me into what everyone at that fancy prison knows me for.

The result today exceeds my expectations and I am beyond pleased by it. I keep repeating to the girl behind the glass that this is her last year and it's almost over, that she has no other choice but to carry on. But I hate every single one of my teachers, and they hate me back so you'll guess it's not the most pleasant way to start a day.

After the tedious work of getting into that ridiculous uniform without losing my integrity - and whatever remaining of self-esteem there is in my system - I make myself a very nicely prepared bowl of cereal for breakfast. I walk to the door and patiently wait for the bus. There are still a couple of minutes left until it arrives, so I put my headphones on and listen to the first thing that comes on shuffle, not really paying attention to it.

When I say the teachers hate me, I mean it. Not because I give them a hard time, or because I make fun of them for the whole class to hear. That's not what makes them hate me, at least as far as I know. They do because they know I don't like them, so, why would they try and be nice to me?

I barely hear the bus arriving because I tend to listen to music really loud. I guess I'm used to trying to block my mom's voice when I'm at home. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against her, she can be very nice when she tries to. But I need my own space, and at the lack of it, the only thing left to do is create it, even if it's just in my mind.

I get on the same old bus that comes pick me up since elementary school. Ours is the only one in the area that has from kindergarten to high school together, so we could say, I've known my friends for as long as I can remember.

Biology is first today. The teacher is a real asshole - and I'm not the only one to get the worst of him - a 50 year old, grey haired man who never got himself a girlfriend, and is now doomed to die alone. He's so grumpy nobody would want to be with him anyway.

I walk to the classroom and take my usual seat, right at the front. I chose that one at first because I really wanted to pay attention and get good grades, but it wasn't worth it. Eventually that became my permanent seat because nobody else wanted to trade with me.

The bell rings and the rest of the class rushes to get in. To my surprise, a young woman walks in after them. She must be on her late twenties. I'm so used to my teachers being close to death that this feels almost like a vacation from the graveyard. I can tell she's a little bit taller than me. Her hair is long and black as coal, it stops about two or three inches below her shoulders. Her eyes look black under the artificial light of the classroom, but as soon as she's hit by the bright sunlight coming from the window I can see I misjudged them. They are in fact brown, a beautiful shade of it.

I question her choice of clothing, but then remember this is a young woman standing in front of me. Still, it seems too bright and young for a teacher. The fact that her boobs show up a little might be distracting for many of us, but I can tell she's not doing it intentionally. This is probably her first time teaching.

"Hi, class, I'm Miss Diamandis, I'm going to be your substitute teacher until Mr Heck gets better. Now, if you think you're going to do whatever you want in my class because I'm new in here, you're wrong." Her eyes and mine meet at the end of the sentence, and she doesn't break away from it. It's like she just knows.

I begin to feel awkward and look away, turn my face to one of my best friends, Caroline, who's as shocked as I am. Everybody's speechless, including me.

Under other circumstances I would have made a comment about what could have happened to the grumpycat. But with her I feel weak, like I've lost my powers. She must be my kryptonite, and I hope she never finds out. She's gorgeous, breathtaking; I just can't stop looking at her.