2. No apologies needed

I was not the prettiest girl in my town or some skinny model, but I understood art when I saw it. I knew how to click my own pictures, so I posed in front of the mirror. My full lips stretched in a bright, charming smile. I maintained that pose and clicked a picture with my phone. I loved the blue in my eyes. But still, I loved it more when I make photos and paintings with no colors. Just black and white, which was strange considering the fact I usually worked with colors. Maybe, I had to just admit that I looked nice when I smiled.

Satisfied with my look, I considered myself ready for the new day and went downstairs to wait in the living room for my siblings to come. I had my hair in a ponytail and light makeup. I was in a mood to wear my loose, black "Disturbed" T-shirt and gray tight jeans, so that's what I had gone with.

"Good morning, Alice," the sleepy, muffled voice reached my ears as my step-brother rubbed his eyes while descending the stairs.

"Good morning to you too, Steven," I greeted back, as I plopped myself down on the couch. I tossed my backpack behind me as a makeshift pillow and lifted my legs up.

As I scrolled through my phone and checked what's not really important on social media. Steven did the same, as he took his usual spot on the lounging chair. This was pretty much the amount of talking we did. We weren’t close and did not like to stay together for long. If we did, we would start yelling and pushing each other. At least this is what we did when we were kids. Now, as  teenagers, we just learned to keep our distance.

He sure looked like a star athlete, and kind of was, taking into consideration his many medals from swimming competitions. He was a typical jock. Perfect body, stylish messy blond hair, and shallow thinking.

Our father divorced his first wife and robbed her of her two twin children. He then married my mother, but she had left him. I guess he had no luck with women. And yeah, you got that right! Twin children. Steven was my step-brother, but I had a step-sister too. She didn’t like me and the feeling was mutual. Let's just say that we stayed away from each other's way, so we could coexist without giving our father a heart attack. It was pretty lonely for me in our big house.

"Are you two ready?" father asked, announcing his presence.

I didn't have to look up to know that he was wearing a suit, fitting perfectly on his tall stature, and his black shoes were polished until they started functioning as a mirror. His hair was always cut so short, which made him look like he was bald. I didn’t know why he did that. It somehow seemed like a strange way to show up in the courtroom, looking like a mafia's boss with wide shoulders and a confident expression. He was a lawyer and an amazing one at that.

My father got to keep all of his children because of the connections he had and the law… you see, he was a very rich lawyer for a reason. We lived in a giant house, and we had our own well-polished brand-new cars, since the day we turned 16. All three of us. I was not a girl who was into sharing with her father, but we got along just fine, I guess. He did his thing. I did mine. Besides, he was equally fair to us.

Mother was not involved much in my existence. She lived in a completely different continent altogether, so I didn't get to see her much. It was not from a lack of ways to contact me, though. I just tried not to think about it too much.

"We sure are, but Princess Tina is late like always," Steven complained. Then he cuddled in his leather jacket, using it as a blanket, and started to fake snore.

"Tina!" Father yelled towards the stairs, and let out a sigh. "Very funny, Steven."

"Coming, dad." Her childish, high-pitched voice yelled back, and the sound of thin heels clicking against the marbled floor announced her presence in the corridor upstairs.

"I am going to wait in the car," I said as I stood up and picked up my backpack.

Accidentally, a sleepy me dropped it on my snickers, and a few papers with sketched ideas for painting the walls spilled near my father’s feet. I had to learn to zip up that thing.

"What is that?" He asked and bent down to help me pick them up.

"It's for a school project I am participating in." I simply explained.

"Okay, that's my cue," Steven said and walked to the door. "I am driving us, Dad."

"What project?" Father asked, ignoring my brother's statement.

He could say whatever he liked, but dad wouldn’t let him drive his car. Today, we were carpooling with dad instead of using our own cars.  He wanted to drive us to school like a normal family, and take us back home later. He said that we were too separated all the time, and we had to start acting like a family.

Yeah, good luck with that.

"They are repainting the walls of the gym building, and I am going to be a part of it. Some kids, hopefully, the ones who can paint, and I will be responsible for what will be on those walls for years." I explained and stretched my hand, waiting for him to give me the papers he was looking at.

"That's nice. Teaching you all to do some real labor, huh?" He teased, and then laughed when he saw the look on my face.

"For a minute there, I thought you were serious, Dad," I nervously laughed, "Painting can never be a work for me. It's expressing myself using art as a tool."

"I know, I know. I am proud of you, no matter what you decide to place on those old walls." He said, and for a moment, I thought that he might actually hug me. It would be awkward. We never did such things. We weren’t that close.

"Thanks," I said, not knowing what else was there to say. We both stared at the staircase, until Tina finally used them, making a clicking noise with her heels, as she walked down.

"About time!" Dad and I both spoke simultaneously.

"Oh, shut it!" She hissed through her teeth and walked outside.

Do you know that walk, when a barbie clone is in a hurry with high-heeled shoes? Yeah, that one - the one like a duck.

I laughed behind her and followed her to the car.

I had no spare understanding for her. She was mostly mean, like I-will-make-you-pay-by-really-embarrassing-you-in-front-of-everyone-if-you-touch-my-things kind of mean. She cared about her looks and fashion too much; she was practically obsessed. Hers and Steven's hair were naturally so blonde, it sometimes seemed almost white.

Her perfect makeup and cute face were very popular at school. The kind of popularity that made students ask themselves "How the Hell is Alice part of this family?" when they saw us together in the hall. Yeah, I wasn’t popular and my style was alike the rock fan I was.

***

Finally, we arrived at the school parking lot, and I jumped out of the car like it was on fire. Twins did the same, and we all went our own ways. Tina, towards her pack of hyenas and Steven with his horny jock group.

"Bye, Dad." I was the only one to say something to our father.

"Bye, Alice," he spoke, as he smiled at me and added in a louder tone, so I could hear him, "You should use that… the one with the crows and the girl." A small smile blossomed on my lips, as I waved to him. I hurried inside to avoid people from watching me, as my dad yelled after me. It was a compliment, but it drew attention and I wasn’t a fan of it.

He was talking about the sketch he had helped me pick up at home. I smiled to myself and being too deep in thoughts, I went for my first class. As I remembered the fact that I would start my work on the project after school, I dropped my Dad a text, to let him know he can't pick me up with the twins.

The teacher was rambling about some history lesson when the door opened and Dean Webster walked in with him... Alex Band version 2.0. Of course, he would be in some of my classes. No biggie, I would just ignore him, as I did with most people.

He was introduced to the starstruck students and a starstruck history teacher Mr. Rogers, may I add. And, of course, asked to sit across from me on the last desk, near the window. When the lesson resumed, I mentally pictured the gym building and planned what I could paint. I was making a few sketches on the last page of my notebook, ignoring Mr. Rogers, when a ball of paper hit me on the hand.

I let out an annoyed huff of breath, and turned to the source, only to find the new popular boy in school, grinning at me.

What? A smile? That was totally different from what I saw yesterday.

I blinked at his sudden change in attitude and mouthed "What?" with raised eyebrows and shrugged my shoulders for emphasis.

"Sorry," he said with a charming smile, and I was obviously taken aback. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if I heard him right, and I had to suppress the urge to pinch myself in front of him. His attitude wasn't like that at all! Maybe he had a twin brother or really was some clone of Alex Band, instead of the grumpy person I met yesterday.

I lifted my shoulders again, with a slight shaking of the head, not sure if I get him right, and even if I did, it didn’t really matter. He was on my to ignore list, with every living person, until he became someone in my life, as Linda did. It’s what I am used to doing.

I turned around to get back to what I was painting, and a minute later another paper ball hit me; this time on my head.

What was his problem?!

"What?" I whisper-yelled at him angrily.

His lips turned down and a sad look washed over his face. He glanced at me with his icy blue orbs, and an apologetic glint evident in them. My heart thawed at the sight of him and I chewed the inside of my cheek, all the while contemplating whether I should forgive him or not. With a final sigh to myself, I faced him.

"Okay," I quietly, almost awkwardly spoke to him.

What did he want me to say back to his apology? To get up and hug in front of everyone?

 He shook his head, and pointed to the paper ball, gestured for me to open it, and let me know what he wanted me to do. I raised my eyebrows in question, but did what he said and unfolded the wrinkled paper. Inside with the most illegible handwriting, I saw the words and squinted my eyes to make out what was written.

"I am sorry for how we met. I am not like that, I promise. Let me make it up to you."

I blinked a few times and turned to look at him with a surprised face, not really knowing what to say.

"Please." He whispered with a pleading look, which made me purse my lips in thought.

With a sigh, I picked up a red coloring pen and wrote him a reply.

"How? And why do you want to make it up to me at all?"

I carefully folded the paper and tossed it back to him. He easily caught it and a smile grew on his lips as he read, and he wrote something again. It was fun, I had to admit. I wished Linda was here too.

Once I had the paper back, I opened it to see his reply.

"Let's meet properly. You know, start from the beginning. And I want to show you that I am not mean ass."

A quiet, breathless laugh escaped me involuntarily and a smile blossomed on my lips. I turned to him and nodded. I could give him a chance. It was nothing more; just a chance, right?

He seemed very cheerful today, as he grinned again at my response. I resumed my painting, and that’s when a third ball hit my pen. I turned to him almost instinctively, with my hands up in question “What now?”

He pointed at the crumpled paper ball and I quickly opened it to read it.

"You have the most charming smile, you know."

On instinct, my hand moved over my lips to cover them, as I felt the heat creep up on my cheeks.

A quiet giggle escaped me, which made him laugh too. Unfortunately, we were not quiet enough, because Mr. Rogers spotted us.

"I see you two are getting to know each other. Making new friends, Mr. Black?" the teacher asked, as he approached us.

When he was close enough, he saw the wrinkled papers around me and his eyes narrowed in on them and his eyebrows furrowed. It was too late to hide them now. He turned his back to me to look at Thomas.

"Don't think that I don't know your story, boy. I might be seeing you for the first time, but I know why you are here." He scolded and the room immediately became silent. I could hear myself blink, it was that quiet.

"Detention is what will show you, this is not a place where you will have special treatment, Mr. Black… you too Miss Stevens." With that, he turned around and walked away. I guess, he wasn’t starstruck after all.

And that was how I got my first detention ever! But, Mr. Rogers didn't know that I was voluntarily going to that detention anyways because you see... the project was starting after school today and the punished kids were going straight to the gym halls with me.