What If He Didn't Die?

Chapter 4: Dan's First Day

It was still early into junior high school, it had been just a few weeks since school resumed. I was excited to be very honest, you would be too if you were me.

I had everything and much more, that a high schooler would need for a good start to her junior year. A rich and powerful dad who would literally kill for his kids, the most handsome twin brother with fists stronger than rock, a huge house to host the best parties in the entirety of Drakedon, the coolest bunch of friends who would fight the world if someone was to point a finger on me and the best grades that opened doors to any college I would want to go to.

And still, something was not there. Something always felt missing and that lack of the unknown always came in the way of my smiles. It is fortunate that I was beautiful, so much that no one ever looked past my looks and my richness. The only girl who beat me to my prettiness was my best friend and my brother Eric's sweetheart, Bella Evans. She had milky fine skin that glowed, unlike mine that was sprinkled with freckles.

But that didn't mean she or even I, ever had men lined up at our disposal. Eric would never allow it. We were both doomed by his existence, not that I was dying to flirt with random guys. Not one guy in Drakedon ever excited much, they were all pussies, scared of my brother and father. I couldn't figure out if it was me they wanted to date or them, so I just stirred clear instead.

But it was all bound to change that morning.

That morning when I walked into my homeroom class with Jacob on my side, Bella and Eric hand in hand behind me, followed by Jack and Hannah, for some funny reason, my eyes stumbled upon the seat at the end of the classroom. It was supposed to be empty, most of the classes at Drakedon high were underpopulated with multiple chairs vacant. It was a common sight for a small town like ours. No one sat in the last chairs, even the jocks were in the first few rows because the teachers had given up on disciplining them by junior year. Everyone in Drakedon high was so close to each other that it would be right to say that the last row chairs were the only lonely beings.

But that morning, they were not.

I didn't know why I looked over at that corner but there on that chair was he. He, in his dark hoods, headphones on his ears, like a quiet loner or an extreme introvert. However, the visible skin on the back of his palm inked with tattoos formed a sharp contrast to that assumption. They made him look dangerous, like someone who shouldn't be kept around.

But that was only a fleeting thought which expired even before I could grasp it. My head was frozen and I don't remember thinking anything after seeing him, it was just him on my mind.

He sat on the last chair with my eyes stuck on him without him knowing.

Maybe it was because I finally found the light I'd been looking for everywhere. Although, to anyone else, he only seemed dark.

"I'm Daniel Smith. A transfer student from... a transfer student." He said when he was asked to introduce himself in front of the class. His voice was mature and interestingly attractive. The kind of mature that seemed to be hiding its true cheerfulness.

"Right, thank you, Daniel. I'm sure we'll get along very well." Said Ms Bliss.

"Yeah, looks like it," Jack said in a hushed voice, Hannah and Jacob laughed with him. Daniel noticed them but instead of lunging at Jack and placing a few well-deserved punches on his face, he just sighed as if he was already tired of the Drakedon drama.

I passed Jack a look and lipped 'shut up'.

"Easter, Laurent, I expect you both as the best-performing students to help him catch up with the studies." Instructed Ms Bliss and I nodded with a beam.