Chapter Two: Beauty

I grimaced as soon as I heard that bell ring. For some reason, it sounded louder than all the other bells. Maybe because it was broken. Or maybe because it was the bell that meant third period was coming. Also meaning I had to be in the same room as the jackass who had ruined my social life. Either way, I took my time packing my stuff up despite Haylie tapping her foot in mock patience.

"You know," Haylie started. "You can't avoid third period. So why bother making yourself late?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. But I can avoid him as much as possible this way."

She rolled her eyes but still smiled. "Yeah, whatever. Just don't make me late, too."

"Fine, let's go," I said as I reluctantly finished packing my things and swung my backpack on my shoulders.

As we walked, Haylie was telling me about an awful cheese danish she had baked the other night. She was an awful baker.

Just as she was telling me how bad the danish had been, my eyes drifted, and a smile spread across my face once I saw Jacob walking down the hall, smiling in my direction. I immediately ran up to him at full speed, and he wrapped me in a tight embrace, spinning me around and planting a kiss on my lips. "Hey, pretty girl." He smiled as he set me back down but kept his hands on my hips.

I smiled back up at him and gazed into his hazel eyes. "Hey, pretty boy."

He leaned down and kissed me again. "You still good for me to pick you up at seven?"

I nodded, still grinning like an idiot. "Absolutely. I can't wait."

He looked up and smiled at Haylie. "Hey, Haylie."

She sent a tight, closed-mouthed smile and nodded. For some reason, she wasn't the biggest fan of Jake. It had been a mystery ever since he had asked me out. Jake looked back at me, clearly oblivious to Haylie's attitude, shown by his wide grin. "So, you ready for the trip tomorrow?"

"Absolutely!" I grinned, ecstatic about the upcoming trip. "I'm so excited. We're gonna see the Lincoln Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian, the-"

Jake put two hands on my shoulders and laughed. "Leia! Calm down. Save it for the trip."

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm just so excited!"

He laughed again and hugged me, resting his chin on my head. "This is why I love you."

I flushed and smiled. As I was looking up at Jake, I saw something move out of my peripheral. I looked over, but all I saw was something dark as it walked around a corner into another hallway.

Jake pulled away. "You okay?" He asked, looking at me with curious eyes that hid a small hint of concern.

"Yeah, I just thought I saw something." I gave a reassuring smile.

Jake smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm gonna go to class. I'll see you later, yeah?"

I nodded and smiled. He smiled back and gave me another kiss, and walked off to his next class.

I smiled as I watched him leave, and Haylie rolled her eyes. "Alright, let's get you to class. We're gonna be late."

I woke from my dreamstate, and we started walking side-by-side towards class, around the same corner that I had looked at before, and down the same hallway. Obviously, it had just been another student going to class.

Haylie and I walked to her class first since it left more time until I had to go to my next class, which gave me an extra two minutes. Two minutes meant a lot when it came to me not having to see that jerk. And I took anything I could get. I walked inside the room with Haylie and followed her to her desk, and looked around. "This is a nice view!"

Haylie raised her eyebrows and knew full well that the view of the wall was shitty. "Oh really?"

I blew my lips, the sound mimicking a horse. "No..."

Haylie rolled her eyes and smiled. "You think maybe we should get you to your class?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe I could just hide in the closet in here this period...?" I pushed my bottom lip out, mock begging.

"Love you, I really do, but no," she laughed. "You know, you're only giving Zach power over you when you avoid him, right?"

I sighed. "I guess. Doesn't make being around him any more pleasant."

I picked at a stray cuticle; a bad habit that I had picked up. Painful, too.

Haylie offered a sympathetic smile. "Yeah. Oh! You know how much it pisses you off when he doesn't acknowledge you when you try to retort his insults?"

I nodded. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Well, maybe if you did the same thing, ignoring his remarks and insults, you'd probably make him feel the same way." She shrugged.

"Believe me, I've tried it too many times to count." I picked at my cuticle and winced slightly as it peeled up toward the top of my nail. Leia, that had been a stupid move. Now your finger stung. Idiot.

"When I try to do that," I continued. "He just always finds a new thing to get under my skin. It pisses me the fuck off."

Haylie chewed her cheek in thought. "Well, clearly he feeds off of your irks..."

I nodded.

She stayed in thought for a little longer. "Yeah, sorry, girl. I got nothing. Just keep trying to ignore it, I guess."

I blew my lips again. "Yeah, alright."

A couple more students walked in, including two of Zach's friends, Owen and Marcus. Out of my peripheral, I noticed Haylie stiffen up slightly. I looked back over to her, and I furrowed my brows as I scanned her face. "You okay?"

Haylie flinched slightly, clearly jumped by the sudden sound of my voice. "Huh? What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

I quirked a suspicious brow. "You sure? Because you went all tense when -" I stopped, suddenly understanding, and my jaw dropped.

Haylie looked at me through the corner of her eye. "What...?"

I put my hands on my hips. "What do you mean, 'what'? You know what!"

She flushed and looked away. "No, I don't..."

I looked between her and the two boys. I saw Owen glance over, but he looked back at Marcus as soon as he saw me look. "Who!?"

Haylie glared at me. "Shush!"

I gestured, urging her to spill and whisper-shouted. "Who!?"

She chewed her cheek, hesitant to tell me before she whispered. "Marcus..." She looked away.

My eyes widened. "Really?" I whispered, in utter disbelief. My best friend liked the best friend of the worst person to have ever existed. Crazy.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

I looked at her and a frown clouded over my face. "Why are you sorry?"

She looked down and fiddled with her fingers. "Because I like Zach's best friend," she said quietly.

I gave her a soft smile and hugged her tightly. "Hey, I could care less about who you like. As long as it's not Jake or Zach," I finished with a wink.

She smiled. "So you're not mad?"

"No! Of course not!"

She took an obvious breath of relief.

"So," I asked. "How long have you liked him for?"

She flushed slightly. "Since the end of last year."

My eyes widened. "Wow, really?"

She nodded.

"And you didn't tell me because you thought I would be mad," I said softly.

"Yeah, pretty much."

I smiled. "Well, we're best friends. I thought we already established we could tell each other anything and everything." I nudged her playfully.

"Yeah, you're right," she giggles and nudged me back.

Just then, the warning bell rang. "Shit!" I muttered.

I gave Haylie another quick hug before I dashed off and rushed to my class. I darted down the hall, and accidently bumped into another student, knocking them back slightly. "Sorry!" I called over my shoulder as I kept running.

I made it in and sat down seconds before the bell rang and took a breath of relief as the teacher stood up to take attendance. She cocked a brow in my direction and faced forward, cleared her throat, and started to take attendance. "I'm going to call your name. When your name is called, say 'here.' Ryan?"

"Here."

"Lucy?"

"Here."

"Alex?"

"Here."

"Leia?"

I perked up once I heard my name. "Here."

Ms. Sconley continued to call out names.

As I doodled across my notebook, I suddenly felt hot breath spread across the back of my neck and shiver, the chill shooting all the way down my spine.

"Guess who else is here." A low, drawled voice whispered into my ear.

Mother. Fucker.