Burning Willow

II

"I'm glad you were able to join us today, Miss Brien." The Maths teacher said with slight disapproval.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Collins."

Class had begun five minutes ago. I took my seat next to Franny.

I had managed to dry myself of all the coffee, but still smelt like it. God bless Maya - who had an extra shirt in her bag.

"Why were you late?" Franny whispered.

"I bumped into this stupid guy and he threw coffee on me." I murmured.

Stupid, hot guy.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that." She frowned. "He's Chase, by the way."

"How do you even know that?"

"I had my first class with him." She said. "Mr. Reed made him get up and tell his name to everyone. He's kind of a loner, I guess."

Huh. That's fifteen seconds of my life wasted. I neither cared, nor wanted to know about this guy.

Man, what's wrong with me today? I had every right to be pissed off, and even though I was usually happy, today I was acting crazier than usual.

"Yeah, okay."

Anyone else would have ended the conversation there, but Franny was a rambler.

"Of course the only person he did talk to, was Daniel, the other new guy. They both moved here together."

"Why?" I asked nonchalantly. It wasn't unusual, but frankly, the people around me were the same ones I had been with since first grade.

"They're cute and all, but people are saying they just got out of jail, came here for a new start." She shrugged.

Where did people even here about this? Surely it wasn't advertised in the school magazine.

"People have nothing better to do." I snorted. "Remember in eighth grade how I went to the hospital to get a tooth pulled out and everyone thought I broke my arm?"

"Yeah." She laughed. 

Mrs. Collins kept droning out about the syllabus. Honestly she wasn't a bad teacher, just a very boring one.

It was hard to believe that guy had been to jail. They were probably just far-fetched rumors. He looked perfectly fine this morning when we had met.

But then again, I had known him for like, an hour. And in those two seconds our paths had collided, I had coffee thrown on me.

But jail? Perhaps. It was just that our town wasn't famous for crime, and nobody I had knew had ever been to jail before. I bet the cells in the station were hardly occupied.

I shook my thoughts away, wondering why I had been thinking about him in the first place.

But the first chance I get, I was going to get my revenge.

The rest of the class was boring. The day dragged on until it was finally lunchtime.

I got my tray and sat down with Maya at our usual table.

And my first sight of the cafeteria had been him, sucking off some girl's face by the wall before the entrance.

"God. Does he even realise where he is?" I said as I put my tray down.

Maya shrugged. "The jocks do it all the time. Why are you so pissed at him?"

"Because he threw coffee on me, that's why! Then he had the nerve to tell me to watch where I'm going."

Her shoulders rose and fell. "His friend is hot though."

"Maya, since when do you find guys hot? Only last week did you give me a lecture on how I should appreciate Jared Leto for his acting, not his looks."

Wordlessly, Maya pointed at him with a smug look on her face.

My head whipped in the direction, and I was surprised to find that she was right.

He was certainly very charming, with raven hair and a grin on his face. His face seemed to be perfectly symmetrical, and he was just as tall as Chase.

"If he's anything like his friend, I suggest you stay away from him."

Maya laughed. "Don't worry. And it's not like I have time for boys, anyways. With school and my dance classes starting, I barely have time to look at myself in the mirror."

And that was true too, because Maya Danton didn't have an ounce of makeup on her beautiful face, and neither did she wear any jewellery.

"Your parents are paying for the classes?"

"If I keep my grades up." She said.

"Don't worry, compared to mine, last year you deemed a better daughter to my parents than I did."

"Let's just hope I have the same reputation this year. Which reminds me," she checked her watch. "I have an assignment to complete."

I almost choked. "On the first day of school?"

She nodded. "That way, I can cramp more time for next week's dance lessons."

I passed her a tired smile. "Maya." I said. "I hope you fail this assignment and realize the importance of procrastination."

She cocked and eyebrow as she got up. "I'll pass, thanks. Anyways see you later."

"Bye." I said as she left.

I bit into my guava, instantly regretting ever having tasting the bland fruit. They put too many preservatives and chemicals in there, and I didn't want to end up in a hospital bed because of food poisoning.

When I looked up, I realised Chase had stopped kissing the leggy blonde.

Instead, he was staring at me.

Someone tapped my shoulder, and I jumped. 

It was Franny - she sat down next to me immediately, almost crashing her food on the table.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Are you?"

I frowned, not understanding what she was saying. Who did, I mean, most of the time, she was in her own world.

She pulled out her phone and showed me the most recent headline on the news app.

Right there, smack in the middle, was my stepfather's face.