Finally!

My shoulders sag in relief as I walk out of the main premises and wend my way towards the parking lot.

The day elapsed slowly but everything was fine except for the weird encounter with Roman James.

When Mr. Cole addressed him in the class, my mind immediately recalled Kristen's conversation in the coordinator's room.

To say Roman James is hot is an understatement. He has all the qualities of a skilled panty-dropper;

A face that makes girls weep? Check.

A body that can seduce Hitler? Check.

Enough confidence to melt Mount
Everest? Double-check.

He took the remaining desk, next to me, and started checking me out. But that was not the end of it, when I barked at him for checking me out he called me an angel and sniffed my hair.

Sniffed my hair!

What is he?

A fucking dog?

And then he ignored me as nothing happened for the rest of the class. He was in two more classes with me but I chose to sit in the middle and he sat at the back. It was like his seat was fixed and no one dared to cross him.

To stay away from any more encounters like that I kept my head down in all my classes and spent my lunchtime in the library.

As I reach the parking lot, my gaze goes to the students that are lingering around, laughing, and chatting with their friends and I can't help but think about the time when my life was just as normal as theirs. When I had friends that I hung out with.

Not now, Avery, you don't need to think about that now.

I shake my head and continue to walk but stop dead in my tracks as I reach my car. My eyes widen as I stare at my car in disbelief and almost lose my nerves. The two rear tires of my car are punctured.

PUNCTURED!

WHAT THE FUCK.

My car was in the perfect condition this morning, how did this happen? Someone might have punctured them because something like this doesn't happen magically. This is how people welcome new students in this school?

"People in this school are psycho!" I growl to myself, bending down to examine just how bad this really is. Fortunately, it seems to be limited to cosmetic damage. I don't know anyone here who can help me, and I can't call my mom because she is at work and I can't disturb her all of a sudden like this.

I get up and take in the sight of my car to look for any other damage just as my gaze goes to the car beside mine and my hands instantly start shaking with anger.

I think I know who's behind damaging my car because Mr. Roman James is sitting on the hood of his car with a big smirk which I would love to swipe off his face.

"This is what happens when you cross me, Angel."

Cross him? What does he even mean? You can't just damage someone's car and sit there without an ounce of guilt. And why did he do this? Just because of a small argument this morning?

I take a step towards him to show what happens when someone crosses me but come to halt all of a sudden because I become aware of the fact that he has drawn everyone's attention and now everyone's watching me curiously waiting for my next step. Although I would love to show him his place, I don't want to become the topic of the next gossip of ICHS.

And I am very aware of the fact that he enjoyed my reaction in the first class, he found me and my barking amusing and I know he is waiting for me to show some kind of reaction which will amuse him once again. But I'm not going to satisfy him by causing a scene here in front of everyone.

Two can play this game, Roman James.

Resisting the urge of beating the shit out of him, I just glare at him, unlock my car, make myself comfortable in the driver seat and lock the car again, fuming silently in the security of my car this time. I don't need to look at him to know that his expression is dumbfounded.

Tomorrow, I'll show him exactly who Avery Daniels is. Roman James won't know what hit him.

But right now I need to think about how to get myself home.

After spending fifteen minutes here, I could come up with only one option, to call a cab and head home and I will come later in the evening with mom and we'll take the car to the nearest mechanic.

As I am contemplating my option, a knock on the window startles me. I look at the passenger window and see a boy leaning down. He is really cute with blond hair, brown eyes, and a lean physique.

I am so engrossed at looking at him that I didn't catch what he was saying. I roll down the window and ask, "Sorry what were you saying?"

"I said that I saw what happened with your car and then Roman. I can help you if you want. I work part-time in a garage and I can call one of the mechanics from there." He smiles politely.

I look at him again, he is nice and decent but I still can't help but be suspicious of him.

Why is he helping me? Is this another trick of Roman James? I couldn't help but blurt it out loud, "Why are you helping me?"

"Well me and my friends were just standing there and saw everything and when you didn't do anything for fifteen minutes, we thought that we can help you, so here I am but that's okay if you've already called for help." He speaks as he points out his friends.

I look back and see his friends standing at the other end of the parking lot who are watching us.

I slowly get out of the car and walk around the hood, towards him.

"Actually no, I haven't called for help yet. My mom is at work so I can't call her. I was just thinking of taking a cab home but it would be nice if you can help me." I reply with a little smile.

"Sure I'll call someone and you can join us till they come to check out your car. Btw I'm Kyle Davilla," he extends his hand with a little smile of his own.

"Avery Daniels," I reply, as we shake hands.

"I know I saw you in two of my classes today. Come I'll introduce you to my friends." He jerks his thumb towards his friends.

We make our way towards his friends and he introduces me to Ben and then Claudia.

Ben is a nice looking guy and has a charming personality with his brown hair, black eyes, and a charming smile. His glasses sit on top of his nose which he pushes further up with his index finger as he looks at me. 

While Claudia, his girlfriend, is a good looking girl with straight blond hair and blue eyes and freckles covering her whole face. 

A real-life Barbie, I see.

"And this is Am-" Kyle continues but the redhead interrupts him in between.

"I can introduce myself." She waves a dismissive hand in the air and looks at me.

"I'm Amelia." She chirps with a warm smile and extends her hand to shake mine.

Even though I'm straight, I still subtly check her out. She has fiery red hair and blue eyes and curves to die for.

She's gorgeous.

Chuck Barbie, this girl is the real deal.

"Well my girlfriend Lily left early but we can introduce her to you later." Kyle speaks just as a few boys walk by and whistles, one of them even passes a suggestive comment about my ass which makes Ben glares at them while Kyle growls, " knock it off dude."

"I can't believe this is your first day and you have the whole of the basketball team after you already. They're all placing bets on who will sleep with you first, heard them talking about you in my English class," Amelia states, shaking her head in a disapproving manner.

I gasp. "You're kidding me!"

I don't want any attention on me. I hate attention.

She chuckles. "Nope, not kidding. You're fresh meat, and you're hot. The cheerleaders will probably approach you by tomorrow to join the squad," she replies, turning up her nose distastefully.

"I don't want to be a cheerleader." I groan as I shake my head at the thought.

Been there, done that, and look where it took me, all the way to California.

"Great, then we can be friends!" She grins and links her arm through mine.

What? Was that some kind of test?

I can't help but feel overwhelmed by everything. I didn't have any friends for almost four years and now I feel like I don't know how to socialize anymore.

I am so dumbfounded that I can't think of a single thing to say. She looks at me for a few seconds and when I don't reply, she asks, "It's okay if you don't wanna hang out with us."

"No-no, it's not like I have any friends here." I look down and curse myself for being so awkward.

"When is the mechanic coming to fix Avery's car, Kyle?" Ben asks, thankfully changing the subject from our awkward encounter, and my heart jolts. I look at him with wide eyes, just as Claudia and Amelia bark out a laugh.

Holy shit.

The dude has a deep voice and when I say I mean the magma chamber of a volcano deep.

The kind of voice which would turn heads in a room.

"Wow, this sure doesn't sound like a teenager's voice. You scared me for a moment." I laugh a little and take a look at Ben again to check if I didn't offend him, but he's chuckling too. 

They seem cool.

"He'll be here in ten minutes. But it will take fifteen to twenty minutes for him to change the tires." Kyle replies and sends an apologetic smile towards me.

"Well, we were all going to a cafe nearby for smoothies before heading home. Do you want to join us, Avery?" Claudia invites me.

"Yes. The smoothies there are to die for. You should definitely come with us. We'll be back by the time the mechanic is done with your car." Amelia joins and I can't help but think about how many times I have imagined a normal life with my friends going out to a cafe.

This is my chance to make new friends and move on in my life. To be happy and make people around me happy. To look back and say a big fuck you to my past because my past didn't break me, but only made me stronger and because I was happy once again.

I can't wait to tell mom about this. "Sure I would love to come with you guys." I smile and immediately text mom.

Me: Made new friends today. Going out with them for smoothies. Can't wait for you to come back and tell you the whole story. xx

Mom: Oh my god! I can't wait to come back and hear everything. I'm so proud of you my little bear. Make sure to lock the door when you go home and have lunch. I'll see you in the evening.

I carpool with Amelia and Kyle and Claudia sits in Ben's car. We reach the cute little cafe, purchase our smoothies and chat away.

I tell them about me that I'm from Sea Crest and we moved here a few days ago and they all talk about themselves a bit.

We discuss our classes and I have every class with at least one of them. I recite my incident with Roman James and Kyle and Ben say that he is a nice guy indeed. Claudia accuses him of being an asshole while Amelia is going on and on about his looks and skills.

I actually find Amelia entertaining and know that we are going to be good friends. Overall, it feels good to hang out normally with someone again.

We come back to school and my car is ready. I pay the mechanic even though Kyle fought that there is no need to pay, he'll settle it later. We all exchange numbers and they add me in their group. I wave them bye with a promise to sit with them tomorrow and leave school.

*****

The push isn't hard, but I wasn't watching and stumble into Ethan Brack, who merely shrugs me off. Assuming it was an innocent bump, I gather myself up and walk ahead, not willing to let people see how scared I was. 

"Don't you have any shame?"

Looks like it wasn't an innocent bump.

I turn to meet the voice.

Kendall. My former good friend and now my biggest enemy. The girl who used to gossip about everything with me now sneers as I pass in the hallway and loudly whispers behind me in class. Accuses me of things I've never done and spreads rumors about me. It's like she's made it her mission to make my life hell. More than it already is.

Heated green eyes spear me with hatred. "Why are you even here after everything you've done? No one likes you. No one wants to touch you. You're a whore, go back to where you came from."

And then, as if to emphasize her point, she spits on my face. The gob lands on my cheek, my whole body shudders and then starts shaking violently.

I turn quickly and run out of the school as fast as I can with tears spilling out of my eyes.

I can't do this anymore.

I can't face anyone anymore.

But I don't think I'm running fast enough. I look back and watch them all chasing me. Kendall, Ethan, Roman, they're all chasing me.

"They're going to kill me. They're going to kill me." I chant and increase my speed to run as far away from them as I can.

I run and run and run.

I jerk awake, drenched in sweat and tears falling down my face. I don't make any move to wipe those tears off of my face and cry a bit more. I thought my nightmares were over.

I lean back on the headboard and take deep breaths to calm down my racing heart and recount my nightmare.

"Dreaming about being chased generally means that you are being told by your unconsciousness that you're avoiding an issue or a person, Avery." Miss Damison's, my therapists, voice rings in my head.

It must be because I was so stressed yesterday that it triggered old memories. I look at the clock and it's 5:45 a.m and sigh, I have to wake up in 15 minutes anyway.

As I think over everything, I hatch a little plan for my revenge on Roman James.

A revenge that is necessary. I was bullied enough in my last school and I won't let it start here. I'm not that Avery anymore. I now know how to stand up for myself and I won't let anyone bully me anymore.

Roman James doesn't know it but I can be a little evil when I want to, I think with a smug face.

He doesn't know who he was messing with and he's so in for it. I can't wait for school to start today.

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