Welcome to all my readers!

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I hated him so much. Every single day, I couldn't go on about my life without having someone utter his useless name in front of me. Mum knew that I didn't like him. She knew how I felt whenever he was near me. Still, she made it her job to torture me.

What kind of mum talks about the one thing their child hates as the first thing in the morning?

I had a wonderful dream. I was sure of it. I was going to tell her about it but then soon forgot when I opened my mouth.

Mum took that as a cue to remind me that I hated Max Nights and I needed to go for my morning run if I wanted to beat him. Sure, she was trying to motivate me. But still, what the heck?

"It's a school day Alan!"

I was up and tumbling out of my room fast. School slipped out of my mind fast. How could I forget? It was Tuesday, a day that makes Monday look more evil.

The morning run was out the window.

"Kattie! Out. Now." I banged on the bathroom door again. She yelled back that she was busy. Of course, girls and their face masks they loved so much.

I didn't wait to fight with her. Instead, I rushed into mum and dad's room, pushing past the overflowing baskets of dirty clothes. Slamming the door, I got into the shower, rushing faster than Bolt. I barely got soap all over my body but then again, who would know?

I was in my jeans and white t-shirt fast, brushing my teeth with a new one from the cabinet bellow. I could hear muffles of Katie chatting with everyone and cursed. Of course that little bugger was trying to make my day worse.

I slipped on a checkered shirt before grabbing my bag. Before I heard Kattie whining about how I'm always making her late, I slammed onto my bedside table, grabbing my phone and was out the door.

I rushed into the kitchen, barely paying attention to everyone as I bit into the washed apple. Mum knew me too well.

"Let's go." I got the words out between chewing, waving to dad who responded with a 'don't slack off'.

I was in the car before Kattie could take control of the radio. There's no way I'm going to let her make my day worse by playing those fucking depressing songs by Billie Eilish the first thing in the morning. She whined, but soon pretended she didn't care when the radio decided to play Sam Smith instead. Of course.

"I'll won't be able to drive you back-"

"Shut up."

My jaw dropped. It shouldn't because it always happened. "Can you not!"

Katie barely turned to me. She was too busy running her thumb up and down her phone. "You should know by now Alan! How many times to I have to tell you to not talk when there's a song playing in the car?"

"You're not my mum!" I bashed the button and Sam Smith finally shuts up. Until Kattie pressed play again.

Cause you don't think I know what you've done.

"Don't test me Paws! My car, my rules." I turned the noise down a little. I could barely focus on the driving while my sister kept fighting for the radio controls over me. "If you want to listen to fucking depressing songs, then frickin' get your drivers license!"

I know I'm not the only one.

"You know I can't! And it's not depressing. Stop swearing."

"It's more like, you won't."

"Shut up and turn left. Tracy need's a ride." I roll my eyes, turning the wheels anyways. Of course. Being stuck with a sister the same age as you makes life harder than it already is. At least the music was off.

Tracy was in the back, pulling her blouse here and then, chucking her bag to the other side, making a chaos in my car before I knew it. I tell her every time and these days, I don't bother. I can't even begin to explain about the people Kattie hangs around with. I can't even talk shit about them because, unfortunately, we hung out with the same group of idiots.

"I heard that Max is going to start tutoring again."

I frowned. I hated that name. "Which Max?"

I ignored how Kattie rolled her eyes and focused on Tracy. She was styling her hair into a plait. "Dude, come on. Who else? Max Winters. I heard that he's going to do it this year since we're all leaving soon. Mrs. Yeum was so relieved, apparently. Something about having some time to eat her lunch. I think she'd finally getting sick and tired of us students."

Of course. Max fucking Winters. The perfect dude. Of course he was perfect enough to help everyone with work.

"If the school contains inhuman creatures like you and Kattie, yes, I'm surprised she even held in that long."

Tracy gasped. "You're technically saying that you're inhuman too, you know!"

I did't have to reply. I'd won.

Katie turned to Tracy from the passenger side. "Trace, you know I love and you're my best friend and all but, get your facts straight: I got adopted."

Tracy gasped again. "Oh my god, when?! Why would the Bakers even think about giving you to adoption?!"

I'm officially done for the day.

"You're humor is not appreciated here." I pulled into the school's parking lot, grabbing a space before another car stole it. "Now get out before I break your neck and feed your head to Jojo."

Jojo was Stratford High's infamous janitor. No one liked him.

The girls were out and I locked the car, pocketing the keys. I couldn't care any less of how Kattie got back home since she barely showed any care herself. So, being a normal person, I silently left them to wait for the other girls like losers and went into the cooled building, spotting Drake instantly.

With his rare height and blue checkered shirt that was bought when I bought my red one gave him away. He looked the same. Tall, good-looking, dark brown hair and a big nose. Of course, the nose only stood out if you look closely.

"Man, you're almost late again."

I shrugged, letting him walk along fur into the building to my locker. It's a shame that mine was a little more distant from the rest of our mates. "I'm here before Kattie bit my fingers off, so that's a plus."

"Where's she anyways?"

Drake knew Kattie better than anyone else in our gang. Ever since we were little, it'd been us three, hanging out together, getting into trouble together. He made sure to know what's going on in Kattie's life just like how I did.

"Waiting for the rest of their mini gang. Honestly, we have to find a way to get that girl a ride to school. I can't cope with them dude, seriously!"

Drake only chuckled as I busied myself in my locker. There wasn't much inside. It only had a notebook I keep for emergencies and an umbrella, alongside my sports bag. I like to carry my bag with me wherever I go, so the point of lockers don't really come in handy.

"Alan! Drake!" We turned in time to have a hand on the both of us cling on. I felt the weight faster than expected and my knees almost gave out. "Guess what!"

I groaned, leaning onto my now closed locker. "Bright, get off of me."

He didn't listen. "Coach is planning to taking us on a trip to the springs by the end of this month!"

"What? Why?" Drake was huffing and I guessed it was because he got most of the weight. Well, sucks to be him. "Brian Bright, let go of me or I'll swear I'ma let go and smash you to the lockers."

The guy let go. Finally.

"He said something about team building or so shit. Anyways, it's probably going to be fun but it's only for two days or something."

"How do you know this stuff? Why are you so early to school?"

We were walking to our homeroom now. I nodded at a few people, ignoring the waves of unknown girls. I don't know why they did that. I didn't even know them. Some guys who used to be in our classes from last year patted Drake on the back as greetings.

"I was practicing because I won't be here after school." I should've known when I noticed his wet dirty blonde hair. "Anyways, it's going to be so much fun. I heard that he might find a way to add a few others from our classes to join. You know, so it'll be more fun. It's never fun without the girls."

"I'm certain that you put that thought into coach's head."

We entered the class, noticed some people who were already in. I sat on my usual spot, near the door, more away from the teacher's desk. Then I realized that it was Tuesday, which meant that our homeroom teacher was our first period as well. English.

I hated English.

One, because the subject sucked. I wasn't planning on studying anything related to literature, so why bother me?

Two, Max fucking Winters. He was in it. He'd walk in a few seconds after the bell for it, with all the girls in the class behind him.

As if on cue, after Mr. Rick did the attendance and all and waited for the bell to ring, in came Max Winters. The perfect guy of Stratford High. Every girl's dream and every guy's pride. Except for me, that is.

God damnit, I hated just the thought of him.