Xanthe Rivera. A troubled senior at his high school. When Xanthe gets himself in trouble after a stunt pulled with his friends, the principal gives him an ultimatum.
Ainsley Evans. A thirteen year old orphan who is badly bullied at school. Ainsley's...
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a. evans
I have decided to try out the program. I wasn't going to, I really wasn't, but my decision was eating away at me. As anxious as I was just thinking about hanging out with a stranger, I couldn't help but think about how I could be missing out on an opportunity to possibly make a friend. I don't have any of those.
Mrs. Montgomery was the only person who has ever shown any compassion towards me and I trust that if she thinks this program will benefit me, it will.
I stayed after school on Tuesday to tell Mrs. Montgomery that I would take her up on her offer. She was ecstatic.
Now it is Wednesday and I was nervously sitting in the corner of the loud gym at our school, awaiting the introduction speech from our principal. My hands shook and I pulled at the sleeves of my favourite hoodie. It was light pink and had a small tear on the shoulder of the left arm, which it had acquired when I was body slammed into a set of lockers by Sage.
I tried to calm my breathing but it was no use. I wouldn't be comfortable until this day was over.
I willingly put myself into this situation but that doesn't make it any less nerve racking. The only thing keeping me from running out of the crowded gym was the voice in the back of my head telling me it would all be worth it in the end.
The sound of a microphone being plugged in rang through the large room and everyone's attention was brought to the stage where principal Erikson stood with a large smile on his face.
"Hello everyone! I'd just like to say a few things before we start pairing up." He started, looking over at the large crowd of students who, much like me, were terrified.
"I'd like to thank all of our teachers for helping organize this project, you've all outdone yourselves. And to the student volunteers, our school is so grateful to have such caring and compassionate young people who are willing to help!"
"We have a great turnout this year and I'm so excited to see the growth and bonding of our students. I wish the best to all of you and I hope that you can all reach your goals!" He finishes. I clap for him along with the other students because I didn't want to seem rude. I just don't know why we are acting like he's just announced that he found the cure to cancer.
Everybody quickly starts moving around and standing in lines to be partnered up. My breath hitches and I almost pass out from the dizziness I feel as I move along in the line.
When I reach the front of the line I'm greeted with the smiling face of a student volunteer. She looks up at me from the sheet of paper in front of her.
"Hi sweetie! What's your name?" She asks cheerfully. I appreciate her trying to be comforting but her chirpy attitude is not something I'm used to. I shrug off the urge to run away, and tell her my name.
"Ainsley Evans." I say shortly. She nods and looks down at her list.
"Alright it looks like you've been paired with Skyler Princeton-" she starts, but is quickly cut off by another student volunteer beside her who pulls her to the side and they speak in hushed voices. My anxiety skyrockets.
What happened? Am I in trouble? Is something wrong?
"Oh dear. So it looks like Skyler withdrew her name from the list for personal reasons. Um. Ok , why don't we have you sit off to the side and once we've finished with everybody else we will talk with Mr. Erikson?" She says, now a little less bubbly than before. She chews on her bottom lip nervously and I honestly felt bad for her.
"Sure." I smile up at her to ease her nerves.
She nods gratefully and ushers me over to a seat behind the row of tables where people were being assigned their partners.
Twenty minutes had passed and nobody had come to talk to me yet. I started to grow more and more uneasy as I sat watching boys and girls my age and younger with smiles on their faces as they talked away with their mentor. When I noticed that there were no more student volunteers left, my cheeks flushed a deep shade of red and I hung my head in embarrassment as Mr. Erikson walked up to me.
I wished the ground would cave in and swallow me whole as I wallowed in self pity. Why does this stuff always happen to me?
"Ainsley?" Mr. Erikson questioned as he approached me with a cautious look on his face. I want to leave.
Instead of bolting for the doors I simply nodded my head at him and he sighed and gripped my shoulder causing me to flinch.
"We seem to have miscalculated the amount of volun-"
The doors to the gymnasium slam open and in comes two tall men. One of them was dressed in a very fancy business suit and looked pretty annoyed. The other one was dressed in a black hoodie and had a nasty glare on his face, which he aimed to not only the man beside him, but everyone else in the room.
I locked eyes with him and he seemed to glare harder, causing my overly anxious roaming eyes to dart away, head turning down as I suddenly took a great interest in the pair of sneakers I've had since I was 10. My beautiful yellow converse.
I swung my legs back and forth on my chair, attempting to entertain myself as I listen to the hushed argument amongst the two new men and our principal.
"Ainsley, come join us here please." Mr. Erikson calls. My heart skips a beat in my chest as my head shoots up as I see that he is gesturing towards himself and the brooding man who had stormed into the gym. The other guy that was with him appears to have left which brings me no comfort. He looked like he would be good at keeping this guy in check.
Nevertheless, I face my fears and slowly make my way towards my future murderer.
"This is Xanthe Rivera. He will be your mentor!" Mr. Erikson says once I reach them. I don't really listen to what he says, only now realizing just how tall the boy next to me was. He stood at least a full foot over me, and my head barely reached his shoulder.
I only realized I was staring when Mr. Erikson waved his hands in front of my face and shook me out of my trance.
"Ainsley?" He asks.
I nod my head and smile at him.
"Sorry I got distracted by my thoughts." I forced a small laugh and reassured him I was okay.
"Alright. Well I'll leave you two to get to know each other." He says, patting Xanthe's shoulder to which the older teenager jolted away from his touch.
"Don't fucking touch me." He seethes.
Shocked at the sudden outburst my jaw dropped open a little bit. I haven't heard anybody ever swear at a teacher like that let alone the principal! This guy, whoever he is, is clearly fearless.
When Mr. Erikson just shrugged off the comment and walked away I stood awkwardly with my hands pulling at my sleeves again. Why couldn't I have been paired with another girl? At least then we'd probably have something in common.
This guy looks like he would put you in a chokehold for looking at him wrong. Keeping this in mind, instead of looking up at him again, I kept my head to the ground and held out my hand for an introduction, hoping my nerves wouldn't get the best of me and I'd embarrass myself.
"Hi, I'm Ainsley!"
______________________________ Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Ainsley and Xanthe have officially met each other! Well, sort of. Please let me know what you're thinking of the book so far!
