Chapter 1

Chapter One: Irah King

ANABETH COLLINS

I literally crawled down the bed like what you see in horror movies when my alarm clock rang. I lazily dragged myself to the bathroom to take a bath. I roughly have half an hour before school starts. Eh, I may or may not have pressed the snooze button but sue me, I slept late last night!

Curse Vampire Diaries and Damon. God, I can stare at that piece of art all day long. 

"Anabeth! Move faster or you'll be late! Stop dragging yourself to the bathroom! You are a human and not a snake for God's sake!" 

I rolled my eyes when I heard my Mom's voice from outside. I stood up with a grunt and leaned against the door for support before yawning wide while stretching my arms. Not really a pretty sight to see but who cares? I'm alone anyway. It's the only time I can be myself without worrying about what other people think about me. 

I stared at myself in the mirror like what I always do before taking a bath. You see, I have never been confident with my looks. My curly waist length brown hair, my eyebrows are a bit thick but I trim it by myself,  from a youtube tutorial I watched. My eyes are a boring set of blue eyes. My nose is a cute button nose. My lips are pouty and full that I got from Mom. My body is slim. My mother once forced me to see a Doctor if I was anorexic but thank God I wasn't. I am just really slim and don't eat much because I don't have a big appetite. 

My bully back when I was still a kid often teased me that I was like a kite that might get blown away by the wind. Now that I'm twenty, things haven't changed much. I'm still as skinny as heck that P.E teachers are just making me sit down to avoid possible injuries. 

After scanning myself from head to toe and sighing to myself, I finally hopped in the shower to wake myself up. I took a quick cold shower before drying my little body using my fluffy pink towel. I'm girly, but so what? My favorite color is pink, but what of it? 

I quickly dried my hair using another towel before wrestling with it using my brush. Having curly long hair is hard but Mom doesn't want me to cut it and I kind of loved my hair like that anyway. It hides my face well. When I was done dressing myself with a pair of sweaters and jeans, I just threw my things on top of the bed to clean them later at once. I picked up my bag and opened the door. 

"Oh, joy. You have ten minutes more to go to the university. Pray to God you'll get there on time or you are grounded from using your phone." Mom scolded me, making me pout. 

My Mom is already dressed for work. She is a nurse who works for our town's hospital. For five years now, it has always been me and Mom when Dad chose to leave us for a much younger woman. I hated him then. I witnessed how Mom's world crumbled down, heard her muffled cries and sobs when she thought I was sleeping. I can only watch helplessly how Mom will stare into nothing in particular with tears in her eyes. 

It took a year before she got better and we moved far away from the town. From Dad's territory. It's a good thing, too. Mom and I moved on and we are now healed. Mom even started dating again and his name is Frank. Frank is a nice man and I can see how much he cares for her. 

"I do this every time, trust me, I know what I'm doing." I retorted and got a slap on the back of my head for that. "Mom." I groaned before snatching two pieces of bread and putting my favorite eggs, biting into it and chewing.

"You will not be able to be a graduate like this, Anabeth. I know we failed a grade because of what happened but please focus, okay? You have two more years before you graduate from college, but if you're that lazy, then you can kiss it goodbye."

I whined. "Don't you trust me, Mom? I'm smart and I can pull it off. I will be a nurse like you in just a few years." Mom only shook her head in defeat. 

When I was done with my two-minute breakfast, I stood up and kissed Mom's cheek. "Gotta go now, Mom. Oh my, Granola. I actually forgot my first subject for today is Science with Mrs. Hendricks." I remembered and grimaced. 

"You ate so little, why don't you take some more with you?" Mom suggested, her voice laced with worry. 

"Nope! I'll just buy bread or something. Bye, Mom! I love you!" I shouted as I ran outside and waved my hand. 

Thankfully, I saw a bus and quickly got in. The School is just five minutes away from our home by bus and twenty minutes on foot. Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I will walk. Keyword; Sometimes. I put in my earphones and set the volume to the highest to block the chit-chats around me. I hated taking the bus with passion but Mom refused when I told her I'll just ride a bike or something. She said it's too dangerous and risky so even if I hate the bus where strangers are, I just swallowed my protests and obeyed. 

When the bus stopped, I practically flew out the door and ran fast to my locker. I took my Science book out and put everything else inside. I glanced down at my watch and gasped softly when I saw that I only have five minutes before the class starts. I rounded the corner and because I was in a hurry, I failed to see a person walking in front of me until my head bumped into their hard chest. 

"Oww!" I exclaimed when I fell on my ass. Geez, what a stupid tree! 

I rub my hurt forehead before looking up and my mouth fell open when I recognized the person in front of me. 

Oh, God. It's Irah King.