Chapter I

Another ing monday

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~♦♠♣♥

At eight o’clock, my eyes open slowly. I stretch in my bed, feeling my cat at my feet. I pass a hand through my messy black hair, but honestly, I don’t care. All I think of is: Breakfast. I’m a fatty and it’s for a simple reason: Food. I always loved food. Who doesn’t? It seems like a joke to me, all those anorexic girls eating only salad. Fo Christ’s sake gurl, get hamburger or something! Whatever. Wearing boyish boxers and only a t-shirt, I get up of bed and walk down the stairs. While in the staircase, I can already smell the odour of good old pancakes mom always makes on Monday mornings. She knows how hard it is for me to start off another (ing) week of this .

-‘’Good morning sweet love’’, my mother exclaims, hearing my heavy feet hitting the stairs’ steps.

-‘’Good morning mom’’, I answer, with the keenness of a drunk forty-five years old camp counselor who hates his job.

Yeah, another week of ing and backstabbing. I don’t know what I’ll do when I’ll go to uni, like, seriously. I will miss it SO MUCH! (Feel the strenght of the sarcasm here.)

-‘’So, ready for another week of fun learning in your favorite school?’’, she asks cheerfully. I know she’s trying so hard right now. And that’s exactly what desesperates me so much.

-‘’Yeah. Can’t you see the excitement on my face?’’, I say back, my sleepy eyes darted on her.

She turns to me with a plate, a sad expression on her face. I know she tries hard to make it better for me. But ! She shouldn’t be trying to fix up someone else’s mess! Annie drops the plate in front of me, giving me a banana and some maple syrup.

-‘’Here you go sweetie. Now I need to go. You know, my boss is getting demanding towards me, I can’t afford to be two minutes late now…’’ My mom kisses my temple, heading out for the closet to put on her winter jacket. After all, spring is near, but the weather’s still too unpredictable to leave our jackets home.

-‘’Where’s Arnold?’’, I ask, sitting straight in my seat as I pronounce the name.

-‘’Oh, he’s getting prepared in our room. I suggest you get dressed before he decides to come downstairs. Have a good day Honey Loo!’’, my mom yells from the entrace of our house. I hear a door shutting, and I immediately start to eat my delicious breakfast.

Taking my mother’s advice seriously, I gulp my pancakes rapidly and go back in my room. I get dressed, put on some heavy black makeup and put on a faux stretch. I’d like to have one, but gosh, with my father? It would be as surprising as snow in South Africa. Racing downstairs after realising it’s already 8:40, I stop in the living room when I see my father raising his severe, strong and blue eyes towards me.

-‘’Dress code check, young lady’’, he spits, almost like I’m a pity to him. I turn on myself, showing him how I’m dressed.

-‘’There’s a hole in your fishnet tights. That’s unbearable.’’

-‘’But  sir, I just-‘’

-‘’No «but» here. Or you change or I’ll choose what you’ll be wearing.’’

Walking back upstairs, cursing under my breath, I grab another pair of similar tights. I rapidly put them on, then walk back in front of my dad.

-‘’Mh. It’s better now I guess. Even tough I don’t like this leather jacket. It’ll be okay for today. Don’t put it again’’, he says in a harsh way.

Walking out of the living room and heading to the entrace, I wipe my brow. , it was close. Freaking close. I grab my coat, put it on my shoulders over my leather jacket. Leaning down, I put my black Dock Martins on. I take a last look in the mirror, and then nod. Yeah, it’s not that bad.

I put my earbuds in my ears, pression the ‘Play’ button on my cellphone. Instantly, Rage Against The Machine starts blaring ‘’Killing In The Name Of’’, giving me goosebumps all over my arms and neck. I always loved hard rock. I leave the house, only turning to my father to tell him to have a good day. I said that more by habit than for politness.

As I started to walk, clouds were forming over my head. Yay. Another grayish, ugly day. It’s like a routine, here. Except that today, it’s probably gonna rain.

After fifteen minutes of fast walking, I reach the school entrance. I get in before the rain starts pouring. The place is filled with teenagers; all clicks and groups. The es, the jocks, the nerds and the goths… and then there’s me. Damn, I feel like I’m in a cliché american movie. The strange facts are that 1. I’m not american 2. I’m hopefully not in a movie and 3. I’m forever alone because I hate everybody. People who don’t know me assumes I’m a reject, but the thing is, the actual world is reject. I’m the one rejecting the world.

Compared to all those goths and ty es tryin’ to have style, I’m really into the punk movement and I do believe I’m better than everybody. It’s a simple fact. If I’m the only one who can assume it, then I shall live with myself alone. Isn’t this a good idea.

In fact, someone once thought like me. His name was Sacha, but I don’t talk to him anymore. Weither you believe it or not, I had a group of friends. Sacha, Andrew, Benjamin, Diana, John… They were my friends. They also thought they were better than everybody, and they knew me and understood how my mind functions.

And then everything ed up.

It’s a story I usually take alot of time to explain. Actually, it’s pretty ty to hear (I don’t want to imagine if you have to read it…) so… Long story short. Sacha became my boyfriend. Our relationship worked great… For like a month. And then, seeing he was distant with me I asked him, and he told me he was acting weird because he saw me more as a friend than a girlfriend. So we stopped that there.

Actually, I haven’t talked to him (or anyone in the crew) since. It’s been more than a year now. I miss my friends so much… And I wish I had the courage to go and talk to them again, particularly to him. But nevermind, I’ve gotta keep my poker face. What would be a punk with emotions? Pfff.

~♦♠♣♥

As I enter my math calss, I see a couple kissing on a locker. I show a disgusted face. Those couples always disgusted me. I’ve never been THAT expressive in a relationship (mainly because I’ve never had a [serious] relationship before), and I’ll never be, believe me!

I sit at the back of the class, near the widest window, looking at everybody. Our class is filled with 30 desks and a blackboard. Addictioning the teacher’s desks, it’s 31. I watch every student choose a desk, but as always, the desk beside me is empty. We’re 29 in our class, so the lonely desk is always near/right beside me. I let my gaze flow over my agenda’s cover, looking at the cursive letters on it. Suddenly, I see movement on my left. I turn my head to see a guy, next to me. He must be new, because everybody is staring at him. He smiles, his dark eyes hidden behind his round-shaped glasses.

The teacher comes in and drops his messenger bag on his desk, visibly late.

-‘’Sorry everybody for the delay. I had a reunion this morning. Today, we’re going to continue our lessons on vectors. Oh, and we have a new student with us’’, he says, pointing the guy at my left. ‘’Can you please tell us your name, your age and where you’re from?’’

The little guy (because he’s not taller than 5’6’’, but he still manages to be taller than me) nodds and waves to the class. He doesn’t seem shy or intimidated.

-‘’Hi guys, hi ladies. My name is Taeil, I’m 17 and I’m from Seoul in Korea. You’ll see me writing my name as Lee Taeil, but in Asia we put what you call here the ‘last name’ in front of the ‘first name’’’, he says, implifying his words with some hand gesturing. ‘’So don’t call me Lee, for God’s sake!’’

He’s not saying that in an offensive way, he’s just trying to make people laugh a little bit on this rainy, gray day. The teacher starts his lessons and I almost give a about what he says. I’m worth in maths, but this teacher is doing his job sooooooo bad that I can’t help but stare out the window.

Suddenly, a little paper ball hits my arm. I turn around to look at who threw it, and I see a chubby girl. She’s wearing a spike orned snapback, waving in my direction to get my attention. She muttes: ‘’Do you thinks he’s cute?’’ At first sight, I don’t get what she’s trying to say. Then I just assume she’s talking about the chinese dude. I actually worked with her a couple of times. She’s nice. I raise my shoulders, turning my head to look at the asian guy.

He’s not bad looking. He has perfect, white skin, and a lollypop in his mouth. I look back to her. I don’t quite remember her name, but I know everybody calls her Ez. I show an expression meaning ‘’Meuh, not bad.’’

[Taeil’s POV]

My eyes are on my notebook. I barely listen to what this teacher is saying, ‘cause honestly, I don’t really care. I learned vectors like a year ago. I’m scribbling some random words down, drawing a couples of cats and stickmen. I look up, seeing a brunette gazing towards me. When she realized I was looking at her, she quickly turned her head towards the black haired girl next to me. Looking at everybody in this class, I rapidly get that nobody’s listening to the teacher at the front. He’s boring.

~♦♠♣♥

After what seems to be four hours, the bell rings. The girl who was sitting in front of me gets up and walks towards me. She smiles, showing me her hand so I can shake it.

-‘’Hi there, Taeil! That’s your name, right? Well, my name’s Mary-Elizabeth, but you can simply call me Ez. I know everybody here and I know everything you need to know to survive in the wildness of this school. So if you need me, I’m here!’’

I lightly shake her hand. She seems overexcited, over… Reacting? Can I say that? She seems very happy to see me here. I guess she just likes asian guys. Too bad she’s not my style. I like girls who are a little bit more introverted, less eccentric… And she’s definetly not someone I’d date. But I smile, shaking my head. She can be a friend.

-‘’Yeah,  that’s nice! It’s cool to have someone to refer on, even more on a first day. I went to a few schools in different countries, and it’s the first time I actually have someone to guide me in here. So yeah, thanks alot.’’

I get up, and grab my books and my pencil case. I start walking out of the class, but Ez joins me.

-‘’I thought it could be cool to have someone new to talk to. Did you know that there’s gonna be a student exchange? I know two boys are coming from Korea next week. We’re sending off two random girls there, so at least you’ll have someone from your country here! It’ll be cool, I’m sure you’re gonna love this school.’’

How can she say that? She doesn’t even know me. Even if I finished my lollypop like twenty minutes ago, I’m still chewing on the plastic stick. I look at the hallway, then asks:

-‘’Could you help me find my locker? I’m really lost in here. This school is really different from the ones in Korea.’’

She nodds and smiles. After asking me a few questions about the location of my locker, she leads me to the big locker room where I put my stuff beforehand. I thank her, than open my padlock. I put my notepad on a metal shelf, seeing Ez walking to her locker, with the corner of my eye.

Rapidly, my almond-shaped eyes are attracted to something much more interesting; it’s a girl, a random girl who’s in my math class. It’s the black haired one who seemed to talk with Ez. She looks really introverted, she doesn’t look like she’s going to go talk to you, unless you do so. She looks nice, though.

[Bonnie’s POV]

As I'm almost throwing my bender in my locker, I hear someone pression his back against the locker next to mine. I could bid 100 boxes that it's Sacha, my ex. I'd recognize the sound of his back against the green metal whenever you'd want.

- ''Hi Sacha. What are you doing here? Have you finally decided to see me as a friend again?'', I ask sarcastically. I close my locker and turn my brown eyes towards him. He's smiling confidently, even if he know that I'm still mad at him for ignoring me for more than a year. He just raises his shoulders.

- ''You weren't talking to me... So I thought «Why would I talk to her?», y'know'', he says, still feeling confident even if my eyes are darting him with a red and angry gaze.

- ''That's not a ing reason. I wasn't talking to you either because you weren't talking to me!'', I say, harsh. I didn't say the truth behind my attitude, actually. He told me he wanted me as a 'friend' but never talked to me again. One week after we broke up, he was already dating another . That's what makes me angry and kinda forces me in some way to keep my distance.

- ''Yeah... Sorry for that. I've got something to ask you...'', he says, starring at his feet.

Oh , that's enough.

- ''Oh, excuse me? Are you really saying that you need me for some reason? I'm not sure if you're kidding right now or if you're trying to get me mad, but what ever you're trying to do, it ing works! You're coming out of nowhere, you didn't talk to me in ages and now you want me to do something for you? Pff, you can go yourself Blurr! I won't do for you! You would give me a million dollar that I'd refuse. Now get your lame back with your loser friends and don't ing dare to talk to me again'', I spit, walking off. I'm going to slap someone! I walk towards the exit, and push the door really hard. I get out, sitting in the stairs leading to the parking.

I swear, running my fingers through my short, black hair. Moment's later, I hear the door opening behind me. I turn around.

- ''Sacha I already told you to go yourself, if you don't understand this than I'll have to beat your lame -'' I stop instantly when I recognize that asian kid. I bite my bottom lip, turning my head back in front of me.

- ''Sorry. Thought you were someone else.''

[Taeil's POV]

I scratch my neck, looking at her. Without a word, I just sit next to her. I ask:

- ''Is this guy bothering you?''

She turns her head to me. With the expression on her face, I can swear this conversation is not going to be the easiest one I had.

- ''No, he's offering me to have ice cream with him, dumb '', she says without even looking at me. Well, that was rough.

- ''Well, you're rude!'', I say, frowning. I cross my arms over my chest. After a couple of seconds passed in silence, she turns her head to me.

-''Sorry. It's just that tards like him makes me so angry I could punch everybody!'' She sighs, then turns to me. ''I can't help when those situations are happening. My name is Bonnie. You're the chinese kid, that's right?''

I grit my teeth. Did she just called me chinese?