|NEW SCHOOL, OLD TROUBLE|

TWO MONTHS LATER

"I'll be fine dad, don't worry about me," I said, as he parked the car in front of my new school where many students already stood scattered around the entrance. I suppressed a sigh, reluctant about how my entire senior year would turn out to be. I smiled quickly at dad, squeezing his hand which clung to the steering wheel tightly for he was as apprehensive as I was. Or probably worse.

"Dad, trust me on it, I'll be good." He sighed, concerned but kissed the side of my head affectionately and gave me a side hug which I gladly hugged back.

"I love you, Dad," I said as I opened the seat belt, my hand resting on the door handle but my eyes fixated on him.

"Love you more honey," He promptly replied, apprehensively staring at me with his observant green eyes, which were nothing like my brown ones. He looked rather pale, almost constipated if I hadn't known better about him. I sighed, leaning towards him with my bag slinging from one of my shoulders, patting him on his back.

"Dad, it's my first day, not yours, so calm down and drive straight to your work, no lingering around here or else I would have to call Pa to drag you to work," I started with a sense of authority, trying to cut in the thick tension that had built around us.

My dad had always been very protective of me while Pa would believe that I should be given some sort of freedom to exercise and with that learn to take responsibility. Dad was always the one who would fuss over every little thing which bugs both me and Pa, but that's also the reason why we love him so it'd quite cancel out.

"I feel like you are my mom," He grumpily remarked as he shook his head in mild amusement, with a tinge of mild sadness.

His parents had always been a touchy subject for him. The Benedicts couldn't tolerate a guy who was gay, so they had kicked him out of their family which was why Pa would always make sure that Dad is loved enough to not make him think and ponder about his family anymore.

His old family.

"Technically, staying with both of you makes me feel that I've adopted you guys and not the other way around. It's not time for a teary goodbye, Dad. It'll be good, trust me," I tried to reason with him as I pushed open the car door and stepped out of it swiftly, closing the door shut and leaning towards the open window.

"Okay, sassy girl. Enjoy your day, drink enough water and eat properly, you have your wallet so be sure to buy something and eat or just walk to the nearby cafe─"

"Hold up right there. Dad, drive straight to your work. Now," I growled at him in a dangerously low tone and he knew completely well that I didn't mean it. He leaned towards me, pulling the door shut, smiling up at me.

"You can't expect me to go straight now, do you?" I loudly groaned at his lame analogy while he laughed back at me, having the car on ignition.

An expression of concern passed over his face again before he grinned for the last time, waving me bye as he drove away, soon out of my sight as I turned around, now facing my upcoming fate.

I found myself standing in front of huge red metallic gates, with intricate patterns carved on them, which looked like crooked rainbows and I knew how my life would be a roller coaster ride once I'm inside those gates. It would be my one step and a whole lot of shit coming my way, maybe good shit or maybe bad shit. But it's the best I can do as there is no turning back─

I suddenly collided with someone who came from behind me, making me tumble towards the front when two strong arms held me from behind and pulled me towards a rather hard chest. The arms were strong but not muscular but felt hard around my plain shirt.

I shuffled and the arms let go of me as I swiftly turned around only to be in front of a boy–almost my height, just a few inches taller–whose honey-blond hair was tied messily in a cruel ponytail, and I struggled hard to control my feeling for just making a tidy one for him.

"It's seriously not advisable to contemplate your daydreams at the entrance when the first day hasn't even started. Now, move," he snubbed rudely.

It was then when I realized that there was something very feminine about the voice, and I was left confused by the person in a plain white sleeveless tee and blue ripped jeans with a blue jacket tied around his–or her–waist.

Breathing out the immediate irritation I had from the encounter, I walked toward the main building. It was an off-white huge building, with a huge rainbow flag being hosted from the top of it. The glass doors were open with the blue lockers visible within. I stood at the top of the stairs, still contemplating my choices until someone patted my shoulder.

I almost crashed into a guy yet again who was very tall from me; almost six feet or taller with messy brown hair and light green eyes which resembled that of a snake. I looked up at him while he just grinned down at me.

"Kirlia Hemmings?" He asked wistfully. I sighed and raised a hand in front of me.

"It's Kar-Leah. Not Keer-Leah. And yes, that's me," I explained as I tried to keep my cool. It was nothing new for anyone to pronounce my name wrong on the first try. They always made it sound wrong, and that's the only reason it's better if I go with Kaia.

Easy, small and convenient.

"Noted, Kirlia. I'm Jason Cartwright. You can call me Jace. I'm the school body president and I'm supposed to show you around for the day, " he gave me one of those smiles which could make you blind with the way his teeth shined with the reflection of the bright white light from the corridor ceiling.

"Nice to meet you, Jace. Just call me Kaia," I extended an arm for him to shake which he did as he squeezed it lightly which put my nerves at considerable ease.

Maybe, it won't be too bad over here.

"Okay Kaia, let's move to the reception to get your timetable and locker number. Then I could show you your classes before the school starts, we have less than half an hour with us," I nodded, trusting him with the grin which assured me that this year won't be as bad as all the other years in my previous school.

I followed him as he led me through a maze of corridors while my mind was somewhere away. My old school was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. Left within the sea of homophobes who thought that I was a weirdo just because my parents were gay wasn't justified. At all.

Among all of those assholes was Claire Smith, the only girl who would be kind to me and my best friend, none like all the other students and I'm glad that I met her for she made that hellhole a bit more bearable.

"Kaia?"

Jace moved his front of my face, making me realize how I had abruptly stopped walking in the middle of the corridor. While many stared at me weirdly, a couple were busy making out. And by a couple, I mean a gay couple, who were unbothered by the number of people surrounding them but were busy trying to kiss each other's face off.

"Isn't it too early for making out in the corridor?"

Jace looked at the couple I was eyeing and smiled slightly.

"That's Jake Tapper. He lives in Canada but each year for the past two years, he'd fly here and live with his grandmother. He hadn't met his boyfriend for the past three months and they met just now after three months," he shyly trailed off as he resumed walking.

"So, do people come here from all over the world?"

"Correct. People from all the countries come here and live in the vicinity to attend school. We also have the online class facility, so that people can connect easily."

Jace proudly explained while I shook my head lightly. The diversity of the students indeed become more prominent as I noticed how people from all over the world were surrounding me. Despite the skin colour or race, the people co-existed under the same roof without conflict.

I motioned for Jace to move ahead and lead the way. The couple highly reminded me of my parents who always make out in the kitchen and always manage to knock out some utensils because they are quite wild.

Correction- very wild.

I coughed, trying to erase the image of my parents making out madly early in the morning as I bumped into Jace, who had just stopped walking. Muttering an apology, we moved towards the desk, which was right in front of us.

"Rebecca, we have a new student," Jace casually said as if he has done it a lot of times. The girl at the desk, with her blond hair, tied neatly behind her in a bun and her white shirt with a plain blue skirt felt intense and professional.

Her blue eyes scanned me from my plain white shirt and plaid skirt to the peach–coloured leggings I wore beneath them before she nodded curtly, before checking her computer and passing a few papers in our direction.

Jace was quick to pick them up before me as she passed a slip for me to check. It was a slip that was to be filled before the locker was assigned. I kept it on the side of the receptionist's desk and started filing the desk.

When I saw the only column left to be filled was my mother's name, I crossed that swiftly, writing both the names "Noah Stanley Benedict" and "Peter Thomas Hemmings" in the father's column. Something which I've been doing ever since I've learned to read and write and passed the slip back to Jace.

Besides Jace, now stood a girl with dirty blonde hair and a tight pink dress which left me wondering how she fits into that. Her hazel eyes widened as she read the slip too. Jace raised an eyebrow at me, pointing to where I had written my father's name.

"Two fathers?" Jace queried as the girl beside him nodded in apprehension.

"Yeah, they are gay," Both of them stared at me till what felt like an eternity before the girl beside him came forward and tightly hugged my petite self.

"This is so good in that case. Finally, we have someone whose parents are gay. I'm so glad to meet you, I'm Olivia and I'll introduce you to my girlfriend Teresa too," she squealed loudly at the end, holding me by my shoulders which were now aching hard as she swiftly turned to Jace, who was smiling at me vividly.

"Imagine, we do have a lesbian whose parents are gay. This is gonna be so good for us–"

Holy shit. Wait–

"Olivia, I guess you got this wrong–" I started, as her baby blue eyes widened a bit, as she nodded furiously.

"Shoot sorry, you are a bisexual then. It works too, don't worry–"

"Holy heck, I'm straight, okay?" I screamed out of frustration at the pink barbie. Her shocked face and Jace's surprised expression were evident that I had messed up. Big time.

And then, the whole corridor went silent.

Well, fuck.

I made it till the end, so proud of myself smh.

But here ya go with the first official chapter of this book and I'm pretty proud and simultaneously sleepy so yes–

Plus, I was supposed to publish it earlier, but something came up*youtube recommendations*

So, Kaia has started her journey and it's pretty interesting I hope you enjoy it too.

I can't think of anything else to write over here so yes–

Vote and comment and lemme know what you think about it. Period.

Peace,
Shreya♡