“You said you wanted to talk.” I say, the moment Shawn's on the line.

“Yes, Hazel. I'm sorry for how I treated you. I never expected you to leave so soon."

I sigh. “Me neither.”

“And we didn't get to break up officially.”

Wait, wait, what?

“Shawn-”

“-I know we didn't put a label on whatever we had but I'm not going to hold you back from having fun in Australia, Hazel.”

I can't believe he's doing this to me through the phone.

“Shawn-”

“-I love you Hazel.”

“Don't ever call me or message me again, Shawn and I mean it.” It was hard getting those words out without betraying the tears leaking from my eyes.

“Hazel-”

I hung up and blocked his number, and also proceeded to block him on all my social media handles.

I'm so done with this kind of drama.

Diana enters my room and stops short when she sees my mood.

“Oh, shoot. Are you okay, Hazel?”She cautiously approaches my bed.

I nod. “Yeah. Don't worry about me. Did you need anything?”

“I only wanted to tell you that you need to be up by five a.m or five thirty at most. The drive to school is like a forty or forty five minutes drive.” She explains.

After another nod I give her, she excuses herself from my room and I'm left alone with several thoughts.

Sad ones.

hAzE to Ilovebrownies: Shawn broke up with me and I blocked him everywhere (8:25p.m)

Ilovebrownies: oh my God! why would he do that? girl, I hope you're okay???

hAzE: of course I'm not, but I will be.

Without waiting to see her replies, I turned off the lights and snuggled under my blanket, waiting upon the next day.

▓▓▓

It's weird to see everyone up this early. By 6a.m, we've already had breakfast, prepared by Tony, and by 6:10a.m, Diana was already driving us to school, playing an Aretha Franklin song on the stereo.

Xavier sat beside me while I looked out through the window until we reached school just about two minutes to seven.

As we got down, I assessed my outfit. A baby blue sweater over my favourite pair of jeans and black flats.

Not one of my best looks, but let's just say I just a bad break-up so I can look however I want.

Xavier and Diana followed me to the Administrative Office and helped me get my stuff. Schedule, textbooks, exercise books and so on.

Diana left the entire touring to Xavier.
Not long after she left, a slim platinum blonde comes from nowhere and hugs Xavier.

“I've missed you, Xavi.”She cooes, smushing his cheeks which turn red.

“We literally saw yesterday, Melissa.”

She rolls her eyes and they do this silent exchange with their eyes.

Um, hello, I'm right here.

They don't make an attempt to acknowledge my presence, instead, Xavier let's Melissa drag him away without a single apology.

Yo!

How on earth am I getting to the devotion ground now?

“You look lost.”

Annoyed, I locate the owner of the voice, and dang, he's tall. With blue eyes that could snatch your soul away.

“Yes, I am, actually. See, I moved in here recently and my guide just abandoned me, so...”

The boy smiles, but I don't think it reaches his mind.

Okay guys, I'm getting psychopath vibes from here.

“Let me see that.” He nods at my hand. The schedule.

I hand it over to him and he quickly scans through it. “We have almost all classes together, let's go.”

“No way I'm letting her go anywhere with you, Zion.” A furious red head charges between us, making me stumble backwards.

Diana.

She's livid.

Zion raises his hands in the air. “Chill, match stick. I only wanted to help.”

“Help your life, instead.” She snaps, yanking my schedule from his custody before dragging me off.

“Don't speak to Zion. He's a bad influence.”Diana grates.

I pull my hand out of her grip. “Yeah, I would have known if Xavier did not disappear with some random chick called Melissa.”

Diana relaxes. “I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have sounded too harsh but Zion has done horrible things and I got mad when I saw the two of you.”

“Horrible things like what?”

“Murder.”I wish I never asked because I lost my capacity to speak until my homeroom.

“I see we have a new student in our class.”The friendly looking male teacher said, but I didn't hear him the first time until a girl tapped me on the shoulder.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you the first time.”I apologise, immediately.

All eyes are on me and I walk to the front.

“My name is Hazel Ross. I transferred from the United States.”I state.

“That's all?" Someone from the back asks.

I nod. “That's all.”

Minus the mumblings, no one had said any thing rude-

“I heard American girls are wild in bed. Want to prove that to me?” Some boy winks and everyone laughs, mostly the boys. I resist the urge to toss him out through that window he's sitting close to.

“Hayden, detention now.” The teacher barks.

Grumbling some obscenities, Hayden leaves the class.

“Don't mind Hayden, Miss Ross. You may have your seat now.”

After introducing himself as Mr Franklyn Anderson, he goes straight into our first topic for the day.

Antilogarithm.

Great.

Until the door swings open at the last moment, revealing a completely causal Zion staring at everyone who cared to look his way.

“Oh, Mr Morales, how nice of you to join us after such a long time.”Mr Franklyn says, with a slight barb in his words.

Ignoring the man who is highly offended but for some reason, unable to act, Zion claims a seat which makes me nervous because he's directly at my back.

“Relax, I'm not killing you yet, my love.”

∞∞∞

Immediately after my first class, I rush into the corridor which is quite a bad idea because I get pushed here and there by the numerous students heading to different direction.

It's just like being pulled along by a rapid current.

Someone seizes my arm and when I open my mouth to protest, I realise it's Xavier.

“You.”I growl, yanking my hand away.

He sighs, tilting his head to the side. “Diana already had my neck but I'm offering it to you again on a platter of gold.”

I grin. “Where's the knife?”

Xavier snorts. “Funny. Come on, let's show you to your other class.”

“No.” Melissa startles the both of us by showing up at Xavier's side, a protective pale hand over his shoulder.

Okay, give me a break.

“Mel, I'm obligated to show Hazel around, I thought we discussed it.”Xavier turns her.

She scoffs. “We did but you're not showing some random American drama queen around.”

I've been silent, watching everything but her statement inflames me. “Um, excuse me. I'm not the one who's acting like a drama queen here. Look, I ain't got time for this mess-”I glance at Xavier who's apologising with his eyes. “-keep your pet raccoon in check.”

A couple of snickers here and there but I spin around, leaving to couple alone.

Great, I'm officially alone. Friendless.

I just want to cry right now.

“You look like you need some help.”

My gaze sweeps up, from the pair of worn out sneakers, to the washed jeans, then black plaid shirt and an, innocent looking pair of eyes hiding behind prescription glasses.

The boy looks awkward, yet harmless enough.

“My name is Sam. And you are Hazel, I'm guessing.”

Great. It's just my first day and almost everyone knows me.

“I could show you around.”He offers.

My eyes sweep over his frame once again to ascertain if he could be trusted. “Don't try anything funny.” I warn, slapping my schedule into his outstretched tan hand.

He sends me one last causal look before checking my schedule. “Eleventh Grade. Cool. Let's go.”

Despite Sam having longer legs than me, I follow beside him.

“So, what's the caste system like, here?”I ask.

Sam shrugs. “What do you think? We have the rich kids at the top, the jocks, cheerleaders follow closely, the normal students and then the awkward ones, social outcasts like me.”He explains.

I don't even have to ask twice. The looks he's getting are enough to verify his statement.

“That's stupid.” I mumble.

“Tell me about it.”

How did you see this chapter?

The school caste system is stupid, really.

I haven't been bullied in school but it sure sucks to be bullied. I don't know what's wrong with some humans.

How are you guys doing?

PARDON ANY ERRORS