Rayonnante - Paul Lahote

Chapter 5

Lena had always liked school. When she was younger, it was an escape from the negativeness her dad projected. Being at home with him had been difficult. He'd never asked about how her day had been, or fussed over her after she hurt herself. She'd once broken her wrist falling from her bike and he'd told her to stop crying, that he was the victim since he'd have to pay for her hospital bill. It wasn't that he hated her or anything. He just didn't really care about anything but himself. And although she'd tried really hard to be understanding, to tell herself that it was the death of her mother that had made him this way, she knew that it wasn't true. He'd just always been like that. In fact, her aunt Hellen had once told her that, before getting pregnant, her mother had been planning on leaving him because of his bad attitude. For a while it had made Lena feel guilty, as if she was the one who had ruined her mom's life by being conceived. But she'd quickly figured out that feeling bad about something she'd had no control over wasn't the way to go. Her parents had made their choices. Still, being able to spend the day with people who were actually happy was a benediction. In kindergarten, she used to beg her teacher to let her stay the night. Now that she was living with her aunt, she didn't have any reason to want to escape her house. Still, she liked the La Push High School. She enjoyed learning new things and talking to her classmates. Oddly enough, she liked the routine of it all. But still, she'd never woken up so excited to go to school.

She'd felt weird all weekend, almost empty. Being the happy girl that she was, she wasn't used to such feelings and couldn't truly understand the source. But something told her that it'd get better today. She made sure to put on one of her favorite shirts, a red one with small flowers on it that she knew looked good with her complexion. It was stupid, really, but she desperately wanted Paul to notice her. She didn't really understand why. It's not like she didn't know that he existed before Saturday. Everyone knew everyone in the reservation. But still, she'd never truly seen him before. At seventeen years old, it was surprisingly the first time she'd ever had a crush. It made her feel giddy.

Feeling too eager to wait any longer, she headed to school about fifteen minutes earlier than usual. The drive was very quick. In fact, she often walked to get there. But on days were dark clouds were looming in the sky, she preferred the safety that her vehicle provided. She'd been too optimistic so many times and ended up looking like a wet dog before classes even started. When she arrived in the parking, it was to discover that a lot of students were thankfully already there. She parked in the back, which had been her favorite spot since the time a few students decided that their senior prank would be to egg everyone's cars. Her Versa had been one of the only vehicle left untouched thanks to its location.

She got out of her car and walked towards the school, sharing smiles and greetings with her few students on her way. The building wasn't very big, the main hallway being where all of the lockers were located. She'd decorated the inside of hers with a collage of sunflowers that always made her smile when she opened it. Seeing that her books and binders had all been messily thrown in there the previous week, she decided to do some tidying up while waiting for the first bell to ring.

She jumped as she heard loud voices behind her. Instinctively, she stepped away from her locker, just in time to see a guy being pushed straight on her door, making it close down hard. Had she stayed where she was, she would've probably been seriously injured, she realized. Before she had time to gather her thoughts, however, something dark flashed past her.

The guy who'd almost crushed her was now being held by Paul Lahote, who was snarling at him and shaking so hard that his figure had become blurry. It's like time had stopped around them. Everyone was gaping. She remained where she was, frozen. Paul just wasn't the kind of person that you could ignore, especially when he was so angry. They'd all heard the stories about what he could do. And now, it looked like their classmate was next.