Chapter One

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Blackwell Academy: serene, historic and so, so far away from home. Arcadia Bay? Oregon? It was scary! Especially considering making friends is not my specialty. But I really wanted to make this work. It's good to go to new places! To step out of my comfort zone! Okay, maybe I was just trying to convince myself. Blackwell was the perfect place to study game design though, and getting a scholarship here was a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I wanted a career in the video games industry, Blackwell was the perfect place to start.
On the topic of scholarships, I quickly found out I was one of the only people with one. A lot of my classmates were loaded- lucky for some. I just hoped they wouldn't be completely out of touch with people like me; well, you know, normal people. It was going to be hard to make friends if that was the case. There was another girl in my dorm on a scholarship too though, Max. Her room was right next to mine and she'd seemed nice from what I'd seen of her when I was bringing all my shit up to my room the day before class started. Moving in was stressful, but my dorm room finally felt mine, felt personal. And Max seemed cool! She dressed kind of, uh, boring? Harsh I know, but she was a photography student, so I was sure she channeled her self expression through her photographs. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge, just because she doesn't have the same interests as me.
~
Morning

"Hey, (y/n) right?"
I rubbed my eyes. I had just stepped out of my room for a shower and the sunlight seemed all too brutal. I focused on the girl in front of me. It was Max, from next door.
"Yeah, hi, sorry I look so rough, I um, just woke up." I said laughing nervously.
"Don't be dumb, you look great." She smiled reassuringly "I was just wondering if you'd want to walk to class with me? I know it's tough when you first get here, and I have English first period if you're in my class."
"I do! That would be really great Max. Thank you." I felt a rush of relief as I had already met someone friendly and in one of my classes.
"Cool, I'll meet you out front when you're ready to head out then," she said with a smile, stepping back in her room to get ready.
Now it was shower time for this stinky bitch!
~
I got dressed and went to meet Max downstairs. I didn't wear anything too crazy- I wasn't quite comfortable enough here yet- but an oversized t-shirt and my favourite sneakers still made me feel good as I walked down the dorm steps. I'd put some make-up on too. I wasn't great at makeup but I had fun doing it and my bright eyeshadow had gone unusually well. A lucky fluke for my first day of class.

"Hey!" I said approaching Max from behind. "You ready?" I asked, trying to sound more optimistic than nervous.
"Let's rock and roll." she said with a grin.
"Jeez I didn't realise you were a dad" I replied giggling at the phrase I had only ever heard my father say. Max laughed too. I felt comfortable around her. The day was off to a good start.
~
First period flew by. My handwriting wasn't great, but I tried to make my English book look pretty and even added some stickers for flare. It definitely wasn't going to get this much effort all year but hey, you gotta start as you mean to go on. Max had gone and sat by Kate, so I ended up next to a boy named Warren. He was sweet, kind of a dork, but easy to talk to. He asked me a lot about Max- maybe he had a crush on her.
I walked out when the bell rang, but was met with an unpleasant encounter as soon as I entered the corridor. A boy rushed passed me, colliding with my shoulder and shoving me to the side, causing me to crash against the row of lockers.
"Hey what the fuck!" I yelled after him, embarrassed and pissed off.
His power walk stoped and he turned back and walked towards me.
"The fuck did you just say to me?"
Jesus, this guy was confrontational. He domineered over me, giving me looks like daggers.
"Do you want to watch where you're going like, you just ran straight into me!"
My heart was pounding in my ears. Was it anger? Partly. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous.
"Do you know who the fuck you're talking to bitch? Huh?" He said getting even closer.
"Woah, don't call me that." I tried to think of something else to say, some witty retort or comeback, but my mind was blank. Who was this boy? Why was he acting so entitled and mean? And why did he have to be so close to me? I could smell the weed and aftershave on his red jacket. Despite the situation it was kind of... pleasant?
He slammed his right hand against the locker, making me jump a mile. He smirked at me, presumably taking pleasure in the fact he made me flinch.
"You've got some nerve. You'd better watch your fucking back." he said. He sounded kind of jittery- was he that mad?
"Hey, you're the one who shoved me."
His smile vanished and my heart dropped. He pushed himself off the the locker, looking around the corridor.
"The fuck are you hoes looking at?"
For the first time, I noticed a couple of people had been watching this interaction. My face went even redder. This was not the impression I wanted to make on my first day. I looked back up to where the mystery boy was standing but he was already storming down the corridor.

"Y/n!"
It was Max accompanied by Kate.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine just- what a jerk! What was that all about?"
Max and Kate exchanged looks.
"Do you um, not know who that is?"
My face must have communicated how perplexed I was as Kate went on to explain.
"That's Nathan Prescott. He's very rich and well, very mean. He basically owns this school. I'm surprised he didn't lash out even more on you to be honest."
"I guess he must have really liked me then." I laughed trying to lighten the mood. The mood was not lightened.
"Serious y/n. He's bad news. You should steer clear of him for reals." said Max.
At least my first day couldn't have gone any worse right? All I had to do was avoid that Nathan boy and the rest of the day would be fine. Just stay out of his way. That would be easy, I thought.

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