I WALKED TO SCHOOL TODAY. The hot, Arizona sun glaring down on me was a harsh reminder that my father was dead—not that the early August sun was ever kind to the people in Tucson before tragedy struck. The cold, I thought, wouldn't had been a welcoming form of grievance either. Though while the big, yellow circle in the sky was supposed to bring light to my day, it looked as empty as I felt. An open sky was often described as beautiful, but I'd prefer to not be reminded of the hollowness that lived in my soul.

          Everyone had their fate, but some would think that maybe it would hit a little later in life, like dying of old age. Even an expected death would have sufficed, but a surprise attack wasn't something that I could see as fate. I saw it as a violation, which led to consequences I put into action due to my overbearing impulses.

          The world was scary, but, apparently, so was I.

          As I jammed out to a Sleeping With Sirens' song, I continued my journey to school. Walking the streets with music deafening my eardrums was chancy, I learned after I barely made a safe escape before me and a GMC van bumped heads. The car blew my colorful hair into my face, and I couldn't lie: the breeze felt magnificent in this hot weather.

          I made it to school earlier than if Dad would have driven me. That man never knew how to be on time.

          I unfolded my schedule when I stood in front of my locker. I examined it, thinking back to its history. The discoloring, the chipping paint, and other things made me shake my head. This locker had been through some things, and now we met again on the first day of senior year.

          I swung it open and, like clockwork, checked myself in the mirror I placed in it. I was glad to see that I still looked like myself—brown eyes, few blemishes, and a honey complexion—, contrary to how I felt. The face staring back at me wasn't unsightly, though. I never thought my face could break mirrors, but I couldn't put them back together either.

          When I closed my locker, I jumped because of the person standing there. Mandy Harmon was definitely not on my friend list and I to hers. Her vendetta against me led to the point of bullying, and frankly, I was beyond over it.

          "Did I scare you, Miss Crazy?" she said, her mouth twisting into a cynical smile.

          My fingers twitched at the nickname. "Yeah, your face isn't the most pleasant thing to see," I responded with a scowl. I checked the time and wondered where Calum was. He was supposed to meet me at eight. I turned back to Mandy and sighed. "What do you want, Mandy? This isn't the time to piss me off."

          "I just came to give my condolences. Losing your dad must be tough," she said, her calm tone overlapping with fake sympathy, "and by murder? Gee, it seems like his own craziness couldn't even save him, huh?"

          I curled my hand into a fist, heated. "Don't you ever talk about him again if you know what's best for you."

          She laughed. "Look at me, I'm trembling. Are you gonna go Super Saiyan on me and beat me up? You're so laughable, it's honestly pathetic."

          "Get lost, Mandy, or should I call Mr. Lovette out here to see your bullshit?" Mandy turned around to see Calum, my best friend, standing there with his arms crossed.

          Mandy rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Calum? You're friends with this loser?"

          Calum scoffed. "So hypocritical. You're the real loser since you have to pick on someone to make yourself feel better."

          Mandy glanced between Calum and me and then sneered. "Whatever," she said and walked away.

          Pissing me off was a skill, and she did it far too well. I sighed and unclenched my fist. If only I didn't want to cause a scene ,or I would had knocked her to next July.

          Calum walked up to me with a comforting smile. "Hey, bud. How are you?"

          "Calm, thanks to you," I responded.

          "You've gotta stop letting her get to you," he said. "It's not helping with your problems."

          "Well, it's kind of hard because it seems like she knows all the right things to say," I argued. "You forget that she knows my weaknesses."

          He sighed. Unable to retaliate, he changed the subject. "How's your mom?"

          I shrugged as we started to walk down the halls. The people passing by were all excited and cheerful. It made me jealous. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen her since the funeral," I responded. Then, quietly, "Thanks for going, by the way."

          "Of course, Val. Anything for you."

          As we entered our classroom, Mrs. Brookes greeted us with a smile. "Good morning, and welcome back." She had been our homeroom teacher ever since we were lost, little freshmen.

          "This is a great morning, Mrs. Brookes!" Calum beamed, probably high on crack. "I hope your morning is going great, knowing you just saw your two favorite students." This boy, I swear.

          Mrs. Brookes' shoulders shook as she laughed. "Sure, Calum," she said. "There are new arrangements this year, starting with a seating chart. I thought it would be nice to spice things up for the last year." She pointed to the Smart TV, where names were displayed on the screen.

          A seating chart, was she serious? Calum shot me a frown while I shot daggers at Mrs. Brookes when she wasn't looking. I searched for Calum's name on the screen, knowing that he was searching for mine. Then, we switched.

          Sadly, we were separated into opposite sides of the classroom. Great, I had the honors of sitting next to unknown people. As I plopped down in my seat, I laid my head down on the desk. Then, as if the world was finding ways to piss me off, a cacophony of books and chairs screeching erupted around me. It made me want to jump off a roof.

          Trying not to give myself a larger headache, caused by the explosion, I slowly lifted my head from the desk and rubbed my temples. I never knew a day could piss someone off so much, but Monday was making its way on the list. And to make matters worse, there was a curly-headed, pretty boy seated next to me.

          For some reason, Ashton Irwin bothered me in ways I couldn't understand. It was probably the fact that he was always happy. While my life was flushing down the drain, he smiled like there was peace on Earth.

          I didn't wish anything terrible against the guy, but damn... Couldn't his favorite show get canceled or something?

          "Hey," he said, actually speaking to me, "are you new here?"

          Had he been living under a rock these last two and a half years, or did he turn a blind eye whenever I was with Calum in his presence? Instead of answering him, I broke eye contact and observed everyone else.

          There was a girl who sat in front of me with white hair, which contradicted everything else she wore. If she wasn't a person, it was like looking into an abyss and seeing the white of someone's eyes—creepy and not so inviting.

          I turned to my right and almost choked. I'd seen hot guys in my day, but never one with such flavor. His skin looked like porcelain, but he had the physique of a real man. But I knew that some men were deceiving. They were charming on the outside but a complete asshole underneath their looks. Somehow, he gave me this impression.

          The bell rang, and Mrs. Brookes stood from her desk. "Alright, class. Welcome back! It's nice to see some new faces and better to see familiar ones. I know this seating chart is different, but I thought I should spice things up this year. You know, so you can get to know more people, broaden your horizons. Homeroom ends in thirty minutes, so I want you to introduce yourselves to one another."

          She took her seat, and the classroom started out in dull murmurs. What was with teachers and forcing people to be friends? Maybe some people didn't have friends for a reason.

          The possible asshole cleared his throat. "I guess I'll give it a go. My name is Brian James, and I just moved here from California. Um, I'm eighteen, love to surf, and like long walks on the beach."

          Why did that sound like a support group mixed with a Tinder session? Crazy enough, it made Goth Girl crack a smile, which looked murderous, but I wasn't going to call her out on that. Her stiletto nails could slice my throat in seconds. And as if she wasn't already scary looking, her voice really gave me the creeps. She sounded like she killed people for a living.

          "My name is Harley, and that's all I'm telling you."

          I wouldn't want to ask you anything else, I thought. I wasn't ready to spill my lovely details yet, so I turned to Ashton, signaling for him to go.

          "Um, I'm Ashton Irwin, but my friends call me Ash," he started out, his Australian accent still prominent. "I moved here from Australia with my pals when I was fifteen. I like to play drums and eat delicious food."

          Before I could get a word out, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Calum. Puzzled, I asked, "Why are you over here?"

          He smirked. "Because I'm evil. Have you introduced yourself yet?"

          "No, you interrupted me."

          "Good, I'll do it for you." He clasped his hands together. "People of this group, this is my very best friend in the whole wide world, Valentine Nauru. She's lived here all her life and is very popular with the guys. Isn't that right, Ashton?"

          Oh my gosh, he was so embarrassing.

          "What?" Ashton said, clueless, as was I.

          "I'm just introducing you to my best friend," Calum said and then picked up a piece of my hair. "Her hair stands out so much, don't you think, Ash?"

          Furrowing his eyebrows, Ashton glanced back and forth between my hair and me. Then, his face came to a realization, that I seemed to not know of, and looked at Calum. "She is the girl you're always talking about?"

          Calum talked about me to his friends? That made me feel kind of exposed for some reason because I never formally met his friends. I had classes with them at some point, but we never communicated. There were moments when they were present while I was talking with Calum. I could feel their eyes on me, and it made me a little uncomfortable, so I always avoided them. I never saw a reason to befriend them.

          A hand waved in front of me, and I popped back into reality. "Huh?"

          "Oh, I was just saying that you're so short," Calum said, laughing, but I didn't know what was funny. "Gosh, your shortness is adorable. You agree, right, Ashton? Because I remember this morning you said that you liked—"

          The bell rang, cutting him off, and everyone began to file out, including Ashton and Calum. I just brushed off whatever happened and waited for everyone to leave. Standing at an not-so intimidating height of four-foot-ten, I didn't want to get trampled.

          My headache was still throbbing in the back of my head, so I decided to test out the water fountains this year. Usually, I would buy water, but I didn't have cash on me. I looked at the set up of the fountain and sighed. There was no way my hips would be able to fit through that. I got my figure and height from my mom and all her Hispanic glory. My father gave me his black curls, which I dyed and straightened, along with his Middle Eastern tan.

          I guessed that I was going to have to tough out this headache.

          "Too big to fit?" I heard the familiar voice of Mandy say. "Lose some weight, will ya?" She sauntered off while I stood here, now self-conscious of myself.

          I tried not to compare myself to other girls who had the "model body," but when someone shamed you constantly, it made my dieting habits a little unhealthy. It was the price of satisfaction, not for her or anyone else, but for me.

          I had a feeling Mandy was going to release all her rage out on me just because it was our last year, but she knew that my anger was not to be messed with. After all, it was the control of my impulses, and the lack thereof, that caused her to hate me in the first place. Numerous apologies were sent to her countless times, but even I knew that apologies couldn't bring back the dead.

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REVISIONNNNSSS BABBBBYYY! You wouldn't believe how long this took. It's 6 am, and I started at midnight. All for one chapter. Anyways, I feel like this has more personality, more umph, you know? Or you don't know. I kind of change a lot, but not really if that makes sense. All in all, it just seems 100% better... I lied, maybe 95%.

Also, all I had today was one slice of pizza and that was over twenty hours ago, yikes. I'm kind of starving but its 6 am, so I can't eatttt. Aha, guess we'll wait until I wake up.

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. How do you guys likes the characters now, except for Mandy cause she's still a total biiiitch.

<3