Chapter 37

Three years ago.

A pair of green eyes were set on a beautiful girl with brown hair, who stopped before a locker to put her things away. She was gorgeous, he realized.

“Who's that?” The black-haired, fair-skinned boy asked his friend.

The other guy looked at the pretty girl in the floral print dress. She had her hair in a high pony-tail and she was almost angelic beauty. He turned towards his classmate and looked at him from head to toes. The exact opposite of what he had just seen. His friend was wearing black trousers, ripped at the knees with thick chains coming out of his pocket, a pair of black converse and a T-shirt with the Guns N’ Roses logo he seemed to not have washed in weeks. The only thing he had going for him was his good looks. Girls would turn around to look at him walk by, dazzled by his long dark hair, contrasting his bright green eyes. He had worked hard for his bad boy image. Never taking any reprimands from a teacher, the detention room was home away from home to him.

“Forget it, Alan. Not your type” his friend answered.

Alan O’Conell was trouble, but girls, away from disliking that fact, seemed to love it. They especially loved the fact that he played guitar and lead vocals on a rock band. He was every sophomore and freshman girl's dream. He even allowed himself the luxury of picking a different girl every week, but he was tired of those girls. The easy ones who jumped right into his arms, he didn't even have to do any kind of effort. He wanted something real, to fall in love for the first time, and he felt a little something when he noticed this girl, he had never felt something like that for anybody else before.

“What are you talking about? Every babe is my type” answered Alan with the typical cockiness. Something else that made girls go crazy for him.

Both friends smiled in complicity and headed for their respective classrooms, but O’Conell would not stop there. He had just acquired a new target and he would not rest until he had her.

On the other hand, Samanta Andrade ignored that her crush since last year was watching her from afar. She learnt to hide her feelings for him, she did not want to be made fun of for being one of those girls who sighed for Alan O’Conell. The one who knew her true feelings was Carlos Johnson, her best friend, who she had threatened to kill in his sleep if he ever told anyone. Obviously, she was joking, but Carlos knew his friend got very upset if she forgot her phone at home, he did not even dare imagine what would happen if her secret was let out.

Sam, as her friends called her, was a dream. Straight A student, member of the History club, a very obedient young lady, dedicated to her studies and always willing to help those in need. She was almost every teacher's pet, which made her class mates, especially female, not like her very much. Although she had indifferent to boys her age, she had eyes for a boy who didn't even know she existed. Until that day.

“Have you thought what are we doing for the Literature project?” Carlos asked Samanta, while he bit his sandwich.

It was lunch time. They were both sitting on a table at the cafeteria, when she noticed someone staring at her. She turned around to find out who that was, and getting pleasantly surprised to find out it was none other than Alan O’Conell looking back at her with a devilish smile.

“Is it just me or is Alan checking me out?” She whispered to her friend. Carlos turned around suddenly. “Be careful!” Samanta said under her breath, pinching his arm.

As soon as Carlos set eyes on Alan, he looked away, pretending he was looking the other way.

“Really, Sam? Are you still with that? The guy is a jerk!”

“He's gorgeous.”

“Ok. A handsome jerk” he agreed, laughing.

“Don't be rude. He's a tormented artist” Samanta sighed softly.

“He's a punk with a bad attitude, and serious self-esteem issues that lead him to think he can cheat on every girl to fill the void his father left when he left him and his mother when he was a child.”

“Hey! I didn't tell you that so you could use it against him.”

“Whatever” Carlos rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Can we change the subject? We should focus on the fact that we need to hand over the first part of our project in one week and we have no idea what we're doing yet…”

“It could be an essay on poetry” she looked at Alan again and sighed once more.

“If you keep staring at him like a retard, I'll punch you” he sentenced.

Samanta laughed. She shook her head and forced herself to focus on the literature project they had to do in pairs. They discussed several ideas until, finally, they settled on one. Just when they were about to get up and go back to class, a voice made her stop.

“Samanta?”

Her heart stopped at the sight of the green eyes looking at her.

“Alan!” She said his name in a subtle whisper.

“'sup?” He smiled and his friend frowned, this was very unlike him. “I was wondering if you'd like to hang out at my place after school. We're watching movies with some friends” he looked at Carlos. “You can come, too.”

Carlos rose an eyebrow. He had no interest whatsoever at mingling with Alan.

Samanta was about to pass out. She had dreamed of this day so many times. She was floating on cloud nine. Her friend clearing his throat made her come back on earth.

“Alright” she smiled like a fool. She had faked temperance for so long, it took two seconds for her to throw it all out the window.

“See you then” Alan gave her his address and left.

Carlos and Samanta stayed in complete silence as Alan walked away.

“Oh my God!” Exploded Sam after a couple seconds. “Did that just happen? Alan O’Conell spoke to me.”

“Yeah. Never had he ever talked to you and suddenly he wants to have you over to his house?” Carlos did not trust the guy.

“I gotta figure out what to wear…”

“Wow! Hold that thought. Am I the only abnormal who thinks there is something very fishy about all this?”

“Maybe he just realized he likes me.”

“Samanta! Alan ditches girl like chewed bubblegum. Why would you be any different?”

“I won't let him.”

And she did not allow him, alright. Samanta did not let him.

She used her brains to seep so deep into Alan to the point he was attracted to her. That afternoon, she decided not to go to his house, she was proving to him he did not have the same effect on her as in every other girl in Belmont High.

She was dying to go, but she pulled it together.

What surprised her the most was Alan texting her to ask why she didn't go. She thought it was so sweet of him to take the time to get her number, she was sure she had not shared that with him. Like that, that one chance, Samanta declined many an invitation from him. She came up with a strategy that managed to get Alan's interest in her to grow little by little.

O’Conell was so mixed up about this girl. She seemed interested, but she also seemed cold and distant. That made him more attracted to her, borderline obsessed. No other girl had ever rejected him, that, to him, was a challenge.

 In time, Samanta's strategy evolved seeing Alan showed great interest in her, since he had not been since with any other girl in the past two months, only with her. To those who knew Alan, this was an inexplicable event. Many could not even believe the most coveted guy in school fell in love for real.

Sam started warming up to Alan once she was sure this was more to him than a summer fling.

Samanta played her cards well, in just one month Alan asked her to be his girlfriend. She said yes, delighted to live the illusion of her first love with the boy of her dreams.

Teresa, Samanta's older sister, could not explain why she did not like this kid. Something in him was not to be trusted, she felt like she had to be alert around him, all the time, but she tried to keep it together, seeing her sister was so excited about this boy. Samanta was very much in love, and she could not deny Alan seemed to be in love as well.

Samanta's best friend faded into the background. Carlos was left behind, unknowingly. Samanta spent most of her time with her boyfriend. The time he had with her was during class or if they ever had an assignment together.

As days went by, Samanta started acting very strange. She changed the way she dressed, how she walked, how she talked, her whole self. Her grades started getting bad, and to top it all off, Samanta had started to be forfeited into the detention room for incurring in inappropriate conducts with Alan, in the school grounds.

Samanta's need to fit in with Alan's friends started upsetting Teresa, with who she would often argue. Her little sister had stopped listening to One Direction and changed them for some nasty music that, she thought sounded more like people burping as they sacrificed kittens to drink their blood. Besides, her floral dresses were replace by ripped jeans, black T-shirts with skull prints, crucifixes and spiky bracelets. She went from angel to demon. Cusswords were the first thing to come to her mouth all the time, Teresa was overwhelmed, as a social worker, she knew her little sister was going through a serious identity and self-esteem issue.

Teresa, along with Carlos, came up with a plan to separate Samanta from Alan. Carlos did not miss the chance to tell Samanta the bad influence Alan was and her sister lost count of how many times she had forbidden her seeing that boy. But Samanta thought of every sort of way to skip class or leave home just to hang with him.

The straw that broke the glass was when Teresa got a call from the police department. She had to leave work to get Samanta from the police station. She had been detained for possession. Alan was using her to get the drugs he loved doing before his gigs. That fact made her realize something she had been missing. Samanta had bruises on her arms and body, that made it clear to her that her sister was being victim of a potential felon.

Teresa pulled every string and called every contact to get her sister in treatment with the best psychologists in town. She knew Samanta needed urgent help. She moved the heavens and the earth to make sure Samanta had everything necessary for her improvement. But her attempts to keep her from seeing Alan were all in vain. The degree of dependency Samanta had for him was unbelievable. She does as he pleases. She did whatever he wanted.

What may have started as something innocent and sweet became a complete nightmare.