1. THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

|Annabel|

“AXL has uploaded a new chapter of their story! Catch up!” The notification dropped on my phone a few minutes before the end of the fifth period. 

My legs began to shake with tension over what my favorite author could have uploaded. She had left us all hanging for the past week, and I almost went crazy trying to figure out what would happen next.

Yes! I am a sucker for werewolf stories.

They revolve around my entire life. I would rather not read anything if it's not about werewolves. I have been called a crazy person, an obsessed, hopeless girl by several people, but do I care?

Not a tiny bit!

Whatever Mr. Andy was saying in front of the class, was not my cup of tea at that moment. I needed to check the newly updated chapter, but I just had to wait for the break time’s siren because if he took away my cell phone, I would collapse from anxiety. 

“Ding dong,"  the break time bell rang through the entire building, and I jumped to my feet.

I couldn't wait for him to step out of the class before I flew out and rushed to the library. I needed to get myself into the new chapter and enjoy my journey through the land of the unknown. 

“Will he choose her as his Luna today?”, I mumbled to myself, fiddling with my fingerprint to open my phone. 

The silent library was helping my concentration. It was what I wanted, and that was the reason I chose the spot. 

Other students would have made their way to the cafeteria for lunch, but I didn't care much about that. Our house help already packed my lunch, and I just have to take a stroll to my car whenever I feel like eating.

I am the only daughter of the almighty Harvey Group. My father controls all the business in the Southeast Region of America with his popular nickname, “The Business Tiger.”. 

I grew up to know him as someone who would choose his business over anything else unapologetically, and the past seventeen years of my life have given me little or no relationship with him.

He was never interested in whatever I did. As long as I don't soil his name or bring a shitty result home, then I can have all I want.

Yes, call me spoiled but I am the only daughter they spend whatever they earn on and I don't care about the rules of being a good person, I mean, I was raised by terrible people.

The head maid at home would hit the junior maids for their mistakes, my mother would have any maid that trespassed or angered her walk through fire, and my father simply doesn't care about how the house is run as long as his food is ready before he sets his feet in the house. 

On my sixteenth birthday, I got betrothed to Bernard, the only son of Apex Constructions. My father claimed that our marriage would be an avenue to strengthen the bond between the two families but that was a total trash because I knew the only reason I was being sold in a deal disguised as marriage was because my father was dreaming of building a multi-billion-dollar royal apartment project and he needed Apex Construction to be in charge. The adults might be shitty, but they are aces in their games. Only my father was capable of such a project and only Apex Construction is efficient enough to make it a reality. 

“Arrrggghhhh”, I can't believe I waited for nothing!

She didn't show us if he accepted her as his Luna, I had to wait another twenty-four hours for the second upload of the week.

“What a way to get my mood shitty”, I cursed, and threw my phone on the library's table in annoyance before one of the students rushed in.

“Bernard is at it again”, he panted, looking at me like I was some sort of savior.

“Talk about the devil”, I rolled my eyes in disgust, and pushed the table for easier passage. 

“I wonder who is getting assaulted today”, I whistled as I walked through the long hallway made of shiny marbles. 

The creaking noise of the students’ shoes as they ran to the dining hall disturbed my hearing to the point where I had to pick up the pace to escape the torture.

I entered the cafeteria to see a boy being slammed into the wall, the crashing noise of spoons and trays filling everywhere.

The unfortunate victim of the day was a small boy with average height, blonde hair with a buzz cut and a transparent eyeglass sitting on his face. 

His small body whimpered in pain as he tried to pack himself up, but Bernard wouldn't give him that luxury. Before he could hold onto the rails along the wall, he got kicked hard in his stomach, and that sent him sprawling on the floor once more, blood dripping from his mouth.

Yuck!

“What is it this time around?”, I asked someone close to me 

“He rejected the extra serving that he was offered by Bernard”, the girl beside me answered and I scoffed in disbelief. 

It was Bernard's turn to dish out food to the students, and he decided to bring down hell on earth just because someone wouldn't take his extra serving? 

Talk about a dramatic psychopath! The fact that I was to be married to such a bully irked the life out of me. Well, I never said I would, I just didn't have the strength to argue with my father for now.

He was about to kick him again when I stepped in, “How about you channel your anger elsewhere, Mr. Bully?” 

My voice stopped his raised leg in the air and he turned to look at me before rolling his eyes.

“You poke your nose in everything “, he mumbled, loud enough for me to hear but I didn't care

I was tired of his childish tantrums. 

“Do you think I listen to you because…” 

Ding dong! 

The bell for the next lesson rang and I shrugged. 

“Get your ass back to the class”, I hissed, and turned to take my leave.

***** 

We all settled for the next period that I was already not interested in when the homeroom teacher walked in with a stranger trailing behind.

“Hello Class, welcome your new colleague”, he announced, giving the floor to the new puppy looking student

“Hello everyone, I am Oliver Scott”, he introduced as his shiny eyes scanned everywhere till it got to me and he locked eyes with me.

Nothing about him was my cup of tea but I could swear that his eyes kept drawing me in. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“Who is this mysterious stranger?”, I thought to myself as I folded my hands across my chest.