CHAPTER THREE

Liam stared at the unfamiliar image in the mirror that seemed to be his. It was a Monday morning and instead of a white shirt, striped trousers, red blazer and a matching red tie, he was putting on a navy blue shirt and black jeans.

"How's this?"

"You look like you're going for a job interview," Jasmine replied, from the laptop's screen earning a groan from Liam. Brian had dropped her at her place as early as 6am and got back to patiently wait for Liam to finish getting ready.

He was in for a very long wait.

"What am I supposed to wear then?" Liam whined.  "Something's always wrong with everything I pick."

"You're going to school, Liam. Not a job interview or a seminar or a freaking burial."

"Then what I supposed to wear? A tank top and beach shorts?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't disapprove," Jasmine flashed him a smile. "First impressions go a long way."

Liam rolled his eyes as he opened his closet for the hundredth time. His eyes his clothes trying to look for the perfect pair that’d make him look as natural as possible.

 “This is it. No matter what you say, I’m not changing it,” Liam said to Jas. He was putting on a grey sweatshirt with imprints and black jeans and a regular white sneakers. “I look..natural.”

  “Yeah, you do.”

 “Thanks,” he grabbed his backpack. “Wish me luck.”

 “Good luckkkk! Have fun at your new school!”

--

 Maybe it wasn’t going to be so bad afterall. The school was huge and had lots of students. It felt weird seeing so many people roam around in so many colors. So many hairstyles too. Some even had extensions and dyed hair!

 Liam assured Brian he’ll be fine though he doubted it himself and made him just drop him off at the school. He wanted to go all the way to the teacher’s office with him, have a few words with the principal, give the school his own personal tour and so many unnecessary things but knowing fully well that that would only be calling more attention towards him, Liam refused.  

  “Good morning ma’am,” he called the attention of the woman who was supposed to be his homeroom teacher. It had to be her. Average height, black shoulder length hair, thick framed glasses and a round face. “Are you Miss Keates?”

 “Yes, I am,” Miss Keates turned to reply. “Oh, hello there. Who might you be?”

 “Um, Liam. Liam Wyatt,” Liam replied, taking out his transfer papers from his backpack. “I’m a new transfer student.”

 “Oh, it’s you!” she clapped her hands excitedly. “Welcome! Oh, my. You’re quite handsome.”

 “Thank you,” being complimented about his looks wasn’t something he rarely heard.

 “Very well then. Come with me.”

 He followed Miss Keates to her desk where she gave him a map and documented his information. She complimented his grades hoping he performed just as well at Crawstar. When she was done with all her desk stuff, she gave him a pat on the shoulder, a reassuring smile and said, “Liam, you can always come to me if you want to talk or is need of anything.”

 Liam was already sure Brian had said and done things he shouldn’t have.

 And if that wasn’t a cue to never talk to Miss Keates about anything personal, he didn’t know what it was.

 They walked to his homeroom, Miss Keates assuring him all the students would be present so he would be able to introduce himself and though he wasn’t, he responded, “Delightful. Thanks.”

 The class was fairly wide and had more students than at his old school. They were just 24 in his old class block and not by choice, he knew everyone’s name. The walls were painted a fresh shade of blue with less charts and posters hanging on the wall. Students were scattered everywhere-some seated, some  chattering,  some staring out of their windows, some on their phones and the rest were asleep.

 “Ah-hem,” she faked a cough to get their attention. It worked as they responded positively, immediately heading to their respective seats one after the other.

 Polite?

 “Good morning guys,” she greeted with a smile on her face. “How was your weekends?”

 They seemed to like her. Their reply was uneven and Liam could already to a student that replied “Terrifying.”

 “Remember my office is always open if you ever need a listening ear.”

 No. he still wasn’t going to talk to her about personal matters.

 “Well,” Miss Keates continued. “ As you can see, there’s an unfamiliar face with me.”

 “He fine!”

 “Yes, he is fine, Maddison,” she laughed. “Meet Liam. The new transfer student and your classmate. Liam, would you like to introduce yourself.”

 No. “I am Liam Wyatt.”

 Hummed responses. It was a good start.

 “I hope you will all be nice to him.”

 Liam shook his head. That was where teachers got it wrong. The moment they ask students to be nice, they turn the exact opposite. He had witnessed it happen at his old school so many times. It was like a given rule.

 And he knew wishing it wouldn’t happen to him was like wishing birthday wishes came true.

 “You can sit over there. Steve, the guy that used to sit next to you transferred, right?”

 “Yup,” the ‘steve’ dude replied.

 The third row. It was going to be fine as long as he could hear the teachers well enough and didn’t have to fight the urge to murder whoever sat next to him.

 Eyes fixed on his shoelaces and hands holding on to the strap of his backpack, he made his way to his new seat. He couldn’t tell if people were staring but he hoped they weren’t.

 “Hi!” that familiar squeal. It came from girls. The kind he tried to not mingle with. “I’m Summer!”

 ‘And I’m winter! Naturally, we don’t go well so stop talking to me!’

 He had promised Jasmine he’d be nice.

  “Oh, hi, i’m,” he paused wondering if he needed to repeat his name since he already announced it less than five minutes ago. “Liam.”

 “Yeah, hi. You’re new, obviously, I mean why did I even bother to ask,” she talked non-stop. Liam raised his eyebrows. She was a blabbermouth, he could tell. People like her talked too much and unknowingly tended to say a lot of rubbish. “What school did you transfer from?”

 “Dawson College.”

 “Wait- do you mean-?” her wide eyes said it all.

 “Yup,” Liam replied, turning to go through the map Miss Keates gave him earlier.

 “Dawson? Then what are you doing here?”

 Listening to you. Obviously? “Well, I transferred.”

 “You guys! Liam’s from Dawson!”

 He knew he was right when he said people like her talk too much.

 Their reactions were mixed. Some seemed totally uninterested while some seemed excited.

 “Dawson? Ah, do we have another rich spoilt brat in our class.”

 It was too early to have a conversation that would most likely end in an argument so Liam just stayed silent.

 “There are only three reasons kids like you transfer,” the boy he previously ignored continued. “One, your family’s broke. Two, you’re getting punished. Three, you’re bored.”

 “Or, are you here for the girls?” the high pitched voice girl chipped in. “For me?”

 He sighed, doing the best thing he could think of. He pulled out his earphones and plugged them into his ears.

 It was quite a dramatic way to start.

---

 Lunch time came rather slowly. Classes went fairly well and Liam had already picked a favorite subject-English. The teacher taught well and knew how to keep her attention on him. His usage of grammar was excellent and every word that came out of his word marveled Liam.

 But of course, there was chemistry which he feared was going to be his worst subject. It seemed like the teacher only had a talent in teaching himself.

 Other than that, he believed he could survive quite alright. The guy who was curious on his reason for transferring hadn’t spoken to him since and so did Summer.

 He inputted his locker combination revealing an empty locker. It was bare and needed company and he was going to do just fine. He opened his backpack, hurriedly transferring most of the contents into it.

 “Is that your mum? Or just a relative?”

 He jumped at the unexpected observer. Uselessly, he covered the picture of him and his mum with his hands. “What?”

 “The picture,” the guy responsible for his fright said. “Is that your mum?”

 “What? Do I know you or something?” he was taken aback and didn’t have enough time to process what was going on. “Why were you snooping around me?”

 He smiled and reached his hands forward. “Nice meeting you again, Liam.”

 Be nice, Liam.

 He stared at his stretched hand for a while. “Again?”

 His arm remained stretched. “Yeah, we-”   

 “Oh, I remember. You are the guy I sat next to class,” he finally recalled after deciding to be nice. With a plain look on his face, he shook his hands. “Nice meeting you too, you.”

 He laughed. “It’s Steve. Steve  Reeds.”

 “Oh.”

 “Yeah. And I wasn’t talking about earlier in class,” Steve continued, Liam raising an eyebrow. “At the party. We met. Yesterday at the party. Do you not remember?”

 The dude from the previous day. The freaking weirdo from the party.

 “Oh,” he wasn’t pleased that they were having another encounter. “It was you. You look…different though.”

 Not that he was bothered but he did look different. He couldn’t place a finger on what exactly looked different and knowing how much it was going to bother him if he didn’t figure it out, he couldn’t afford to not.

 That was just the way he was wired. He paid attention to the littlest of things and his mind would remain unstable when something was on it.

 “Yeaah,” Steve replied, Liam still trying to figure out what was different. It wasn’t just his outfit and he wondered why he even still remembered the exact clothes he wore. “It’s my hair. It was dyed as at yesterday but I’m back to my natural color.”

 Oh, that was it. He now had black hair. Which color suited him better, Liam couldn’t tell.

 He was handsome. Actually, very handsome. He was in a dark blue hoodie, grey jeans and white sneakers. His dark hair was styled in a way that made strands fall to his face. Now that it was brighter, Liam noticed he had two piercings and Liam couldn’t help but wonder how they’d look with little stones in them.

 People like him were probably the reason the school had their so-called reputation.

 “Oh, okay.” His reply was unenthusiastic. He had no intention on getting involved with him.

  He slammed his locker shut and turned to face him. “I shall be leaving now.”

 “Wait,” he said as he immediately grabbed him by the arm as he tried to leave.

 Any normal person would have apologized for grabbing him like that and so suddenly at that but instead he said, “So why did you transfer? Is your family really broke?”

 “What?”

 “You look a little too prim and proper to be here because of a punishment so what is it?” he asked, his curiosity irritating Liam.

 Liam was surprised by his sudden burst of questions. “We’re not having this conversation.”

 As he turned to leave, he held him, again. “Come on, just answer. Or, wait. Is it- Ah, this one’s not really popular but it happens  too. Did your parents get a divorce and you ended up on the wrong branch of the family tree?”

 “Excuse me?” Liam could feel his blood getting ready to boil. “You know what, I’m not going to be answering any of your questions.”

 “Why?”

  Liam yanked his arm away from his grip since he wasn’t letting go. “Why are you even talking to me?”

 “I don’t know.”

 “You do not know.”

 “I don’t know,” he shrugged then laughed. “I just feel like teasing you. You seem like the type to get angry easily. I want to see you angry.”

 “Oh, thrilling,” Liam couldn’t think of a suitable reply. It was crazy. He was crazy. “Well, I’ll be leaving now. Have fun then.”

 Steve smirked and Liam rolled his eyes. Their eyes met and Steve was enjoying the contact.

 “One more thing,” Liam said after breaking the eye contact and turning to leave. “Don’t you ever touch me.”