Submerse

~Chapter One~

I'm greeted with glares as I walk into the familiar classroom, It's the first day of term 2 and I'm back in this hellhole. I look down at my phone as an attempt to act busy and avoid the rude stares in my direction. I take my seat next to Emma, my best and only friend in the class. Emma mumbles something about some new kids that I don't quite catch but I still nod my head.

My fingers go on autopilot and play my 'Chic Nuggs Trash' playlist. Chic Nuggs is my guilty pleasure, no, a guilty obsession that very few people know about. It's almost as bad as my addiction for shitty reality Tv shows and gay fan fiction. I lift my head as the teacher asks for the class's attention. Next to Mr. Hunter are two hot identical twins. If one of them hadn't been wearing glasses, I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. "Class, please welcome Zachary and Levi", the class mutters quiet 'hi's and 'hello's in reply. Zachary interrupts what the teacher is about to say next and loudly says, "It's Zac."

Mr. Hunter is shocked with the sudden interjection and replies, in a slightly pissed off tone,

"okay, Zac, sit down now."

Jennie, Caine, Damian, and Ethan, the populars of the class are all impressed with the sudden act of immaturity and gesture for the twins to sit in the desks next to them. Zac confidently strides over followed by his hesitant brother in glasses. 'Oh great, that just so happens to be next to Emma and I. Honestly, I couldn't care less about them but Emma, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic. She was already hooked by their stunning looks.

I rolled my eyes at my best friend but had to admit they were pretty attractive. Both twins had striking bone structure, sharp jaw lines, prominent cheekbones, angular eyes, and straight thick brows. Can't blame her for. While Jennie was flirting with the 'rebellious' Zac, groping his biceps through his well-fitting white shirt. Her boyfriend, Caine, sat behind her as he stared daggers into Zac.

I look over at Levi as he pulls a book out his bag, he's soon engulfed and I'm curious as to what book he's reading. The book has a familiar yellow cover, with the outline of a head filled with hand-drawn streets, alleyways, and bridges. A while after staring intently, trying to distinguish the letters on the front without my glasses, I realize it's one of my favorite books! 'It's kind of a funny story', the novel that changed the way I looked at my own fucked up thoughts...

He catches me with my eyes glued to the book, I try to look away but it's too late. He says something but I can't quite hear over the music blaring in my ears. I take out my earbuds,

"Sorry, what?", I say slightly embarrassed, I feel the tips of my ears go pink and I smile sheepishly. Just imagining him hearing the terrible music I'm listening to has me stifling a laugh. He repeats himself while chuckling breathily,

"Oh sorry, my name's Levi, what's your name?"

"Naomi," I say with a smile

"AND I'M EMMA".

Levi seems shocked after Emma basically screams at us and I'm tempted to cut a bitch but his gaping mouth quickly turns into a warm smile,

"Nice to meet you both".

The bell rings and before Emma and I can leave the classroom Mr. Hunter calls us back.

"Hey, Emma, Naomi!", we both reluctantly turn to face him.

"I was wondering if you could help out the new students, they don't know their way around so could you just give them a hand?"

Emma squeals in excitement at getting to show Zac and Levi around. I, on the other hand, have to worry about more than just myself and Emma (which is already enough of a handful).

"Uhh, sir, we'll all have different classes. I don't want to be late to any classes or anything." I'm trying to think of any excuse to get out of this, my crippling awkwardness makes me terrible with people, especially strangers.

"Oh, don't worry about that, Naomi, You and Emma have at least one of them in each of your classes so that's why I'm assigning them to you", Mr. Hunter says that like it's supposed to reassure me but it does the exact opposite.

Despite wanting to, I don't refuse Mr. Hunter, instead, I let out an exasperated sigh and nod. I put a hand out and ask for each of their schedules to see which of our classes overlap, I've got Levi in five of my classes and Zac in three of them. Zac really doesn't seem like the type of person to enjoy art but I'm not judging.

"Well then, Emma you can take care of Levi and Zac, you can just follow me to art", I wave at Emma and turn away before I hear her asking Levi a ton of unnecessary questions. Zac follows me closely, the awkward silence is a little suffocating so I try to initiate small talk to cut through it.

"So, where did you come from?", I ask.

"Me and Levi are from Seoul originally but we've moved between the states and Canada, we were in Washington before".

I regret asking the question because I know he's going to ask the same thing back. How do I explain to someone that I've moved four times in the past two years because of my mum's death, my dad's job and hospitalization after the incident?

"How about you?", Zac replies with the same dreaded question.

I hesitate before answering,

"I've moved quite a bit in the past few years but originally my dad's from Shanghai, my Mum's from Vancouver. I was born in Vancouver", Zac nods.

"So it's true what they say, mixed people are the most attractive", he raises an eyebrow and smirks.

Maybe that was supposed to impress me but I'm really just taken aback. I let out a breathy laugh to cut through the silence but the discomfort I'm feeling shows through my expression. Zac doesn't seem to pay much mind to it so I don't say anything and we just head into the classroom.

***

I look over Zac's shoulder to see how he's going with his sketch. Wow... His drawing looks like it was done by a 5-year-old. The shading was too harsh, the fruits in the unevenly-drawn bowl look more like abnormal lumps. Zac really was struggling.

"Hey, let me help you there", he looks up seemingly surprised. I lean over my work, grab his pencil and slightly touch up his lines for him. I also add some gradient to the shading and light to his shitty 2D fruit bowl drawing.

As I'm leaning over I catch his gaze drifting down towards my low-cut top and out of the corner of my eye I see him smirk. Ya Nasty. I slowly pull away, pretending that I didn't notice anything. We lock stares and he smiles innocently at me.

"Thanks for that", maybe I was Imagining that...

"You're welcome", I reply with a little smile.