Chapter One

Leah's P.O.V

High school had always been a fantasy for me. I always dreamt about sneaking out to parties, going out and staying out late, being on the cheer team, and having the popular kids as my friends. My greatest delusion was meeting my high school sweetheart, going to prom with him, and falling in love afterwards.

How wrong I had been.

Up until senior year which just happened last week, I was living the opposite of the life I wanted to live in High school. Instead of going out and partying, assignments and essays were my hobby every Friday night. I preferred sweatpants and baggy shirts to a cute dress any day. Not meeting the beauty standards of my school, where everyone looked like a character from Legally Blonde, I, on the other hand, was the total opposite with my brunette hair and my fat, thick body—the things I loathe the most about myself. Inheriting the eye defect from my dad, my big, rimmed glasses were the only accompaniment on my face, and lastly, instead of being popular for being in the school cheerleading team or anything socially worthy, I was known for being Bayter's High best tutor.

You could say I was the school nerd.

Now, its not like I was being bullied or anything like that. People in this school were too posh for bullying. Built in the 1960s in honor of William Bayter, the best mayor of the town, it was the elite school where I lived. The parents of the kids in this school were either big-shot lawyers and doctors or other big professions like that, so the kids can't stoop so low to bully. Instead, their superpower was intimidation, and they were so subtle about it, you wouldn't be able to tell when you're being made fun of, but I haven't experienced any of this firsthand since I started here. It wasn't like it was a smooth ride either, but if I were being honest, it wasn't that bad.

And that is what I didn't want. I didn't want to leave High school with just 'not bad'. I wanted to leave with the 'best time of my life' and I was going to make sure that this year, being my last, I would achieve that.

"Miss Baker?" Mrs. Plankton calls out, standing by the board. I'm finally brought back to reality, and I feel everyone staring at me, making me more clueless.

"I didn't hear the question, ma'am. I'm sorry." I apologize in a small voice, and she smiles at me.

"That's not a problem. I wanted you to come up and solve this question for the class." She holds out the chalk. I pushed my chair backward and walked to the front of the class.

I take the chalk from her hand and solve the problem on the board, wondering why I didn't notice when she had called me the first time.

I hand her back the chalk and shift away from the board so the class can see it. I feel the proud smile targeted at me, and I smile back.

"Give Miss Baker here a round of applause for saving your butts." The applause starts, and when I look up, I can see the haters at the back rolling their eyes at me, the bored and semi-serious ones clapping for me lazily. I didn't mind it, though.

I go back to my seat, and Mrs. Plankton continues with the class. I also go back to my daydreaming.

I don't know how long I had zoned out, but when I finally once again came back to reality, the lecture had ended, and half of the class was already out of the class.

I quickly pack my things and start heading out too when Mrs. Plankton calls me back.

"Is everything okay, Leah? You seem out of it today.." She asks in a concerned tone. This was why she was my favorite teacher.

"Just typical teenager stuff. Its nothing major, and I'm going to be fine." She smiles at me encourangily.

"Okay then... I also hope you're going to be fine."

"Thank you, Mrs. Plankton."

"Don't mention" I leave the class and head to my locker to keep my books before going to the cafeteria.

I roll in the pin to open my locker when I hear a distinct voice.

"Hey! Watch out!!" The person yells, and when I look to see who was yelling, a brown, hard oval-shaped thing hits me in the head. A football hits me in the head, and then I find myself hitting my buttocks hard on the floor.

These happened in just a minute. Someone was running towards me but I can't really focus because I was already feeling light-headed. The person finally reaches me and bends down to my level.

"Are you okay?" They ask again but my mouth felt tired to speak so I don't reply and just close my eyes, hoping for the pain to go away soon.

"I'm going to take her to the nurse." I hear the person say something to someone.

Still in my conscious state, hands wrap around my waist, and I'm resting on a broad chest the next second.

"Wait! Don't carry me! Your arms could break!!" is what I wanted to yell at the person, but-

Their chest.

It felt nice to rest on. If only I were fully conscious, I would've explored it as much as how I'd have liked to.

My little cozy trip was short-lived as I was laid on a bed. I squeak my eye open but close it immediately. The light was blinding, and my head was banging.

Ha! That rhymed!

"What happened to her?" I hear someone ask my culprit.

"I- I don't know. I just saw her in the hallway like that."

"Of course. You just saw her with a red bruise in the middle of her head, half-conscious, with you being a careless football player. Of course, you just saw her lying in the hallway." There was so much sarcasm in those words that I started feeling bad for my culprit.

Don't feel bad! You're in pain right now because of them.

Right.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Eve. You know I'm never this careless. Is she going to be fine? I didn't mean for it to hit her. I feel terrible. Do you need my help with anything? I can- "

"Just go eat you, silly boy. Stop worrying. She's going to be fine. She has a mild concussion, but she won't die. She just needs to rest."

"Are you sure, aunt Eve-"

"I think with how many years I spent studying nursing, I can tell when someone's not going to die from being hit by a football."

"Okay... okay. I'm leaving. Thank you."

"Whatever... go have lunch."

"I owe you one." The familiar male voice says, and then I hear the shutting of a door. With what I heard, I was able to decipher that there was a male and female here- the male being the culprit and the female being a nurse to help me but also being an accomplice to the culprit.

How sick and twisted the world had become.

Drama queen.

"You can open your eyes now, sweetie. I've dimmed the lights." I shake my head, my eyes still closed.

"My head aches. It's going to hurt if I open them." I tell her in a small voice.

"I know that, sweetie, but that's why I need you to open them so you can take some painkillers to reduce the ache." Having no other choice, I slowly opened them, and thankfully, the light wasn't as blinding as earlier, which made my head feel a bit better. My eyes adjust to the now dimly lit nurse's office and finally look at who had aided my offender.

The woman looked to be in herearly thirties, if I wasn't mistaken. Her hair was all slicked in a neat bun with a nurse's hat on her head. She had a very welcoming and homely aura, and when she smiled at me, I felt better.

"Here you go sweetie" she hands me the pills and I take them diligently, ignoring the weird aftertaste in my mouth.

"How do you feel?"

"I don't think I'm going to die. You can tell right, considering you studied nursing over the years." Those are my first words to her with my eyes open. Rude and flat. She looked taken back at first but smiles almost immediately.

"You heard everything we spoke about."

"I sure did. Its disappointing to know that you are an accomplice to my almost death event." Apparently, I had become a joker without my knowledge because she laughs at what I had said.

I frown deeply to show I wasn't finding anything funny, and she quickly plays off the laughter with a cough.

"Considering you heard everything Masy and I spoke about, you know that he didn't want to 'kill' you and it had been an accident which he felt terrible about and had been worried about you."

"And like you said, you're not going to die and I second that because as you said again, I studied nursing over the years."

"His name is Masy?" Is all I ask with a laugh bubbling in me.

"That's what I call him- which reminds me." She brings out her phone from her pocket and dials a number before putting it to her ear.

"Come over right now." With that, she ends the call and smiles at me.

"What's your name sweetie?" She asks me in a gentle tone.

"Leah..." I say in an unsure manner.

"Well Leah, I'm Mrs. Kings. Evelyn Kings" She stretches out her hand for me to shake and I do that... unsurely of course. 'Kings'... I've heard that name before.

"Are you being nice because you don't want me to report your son to the principal?"

"Now why would I do that? That silly boy deserves whatever comes for him-" I hear the door open.

"And he's here. Come quickly Masy." Masy.. that sounded a lot like-

He comes into my view, and I feel my heart stop beating.

"Hey... I'm Mason- I am so sorry about what happened earlier." I'm not sure what to reply because I was still trying to recover from the shock and surprise- humiliation and anger I was felt towards him.

Bayter's High popular boy and best quarterback was apologizing to me.