𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔 | 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆

The New one | Chapter 1

THE DAY DID NOT START REALLY WELL. The alarm clock had not rung and Roselyn looked at the clock, startled.

8 o'clock in the morning! Class was just about to start!

"Shit!" she cursed loudly, quickly got up and dressed at the speed of light. Her parents couldn't wake her up, they already left the house around 6am with Ebony, Roselyn's little sister. Normally, though, she never overslept either.

After getting dressed, she checked her appearance again very briefly in the mirror. Fortunately, her dark blond, slightly wavy hair hardly needed any attention, it was almost always in place. So now it went quickly.

She stormed out of the room through the house, quickly exiting it and getting into her car, a Subaru GL-10 Coupe parked in front of the house.
Thank goodness she had it, or she would be even later. She didn't have time to pay much attention to her surroundings, so she didn't notice that she drove right past a car two houses away, which was also about to pull out of the driveway. She didn't even realize the aggressive honking she got in response to the passing.

Although she was late, she still obeyed the speed limit. She was simply too well behaved for that.
After a few seconds, she heard an engine roar loudly behind her. A glance in the rearview mirror told her that a car was approaching quickly. And in the next moment this car started to overtake. Rose risked a glance to the side. In the car, a blue Camaro, sat two people. In the driver's seat was a young, blond man who looked at her belligerently.

Next to him was a red-haired girl, looking bored and aimless out the window. The girl seemed somehow familiar to her...

The car now passed completely, arranged itself in front of Rose and continued at a mad speed. It wasn't her car and it wasn't
not her problem, but nevertheless she was annoyed by such speeders.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the Hawkin High School parking lot. And - she had almost feared it - the blue Camaro was also in the parking lot. However, there was already no sign of the driver or the red-haired girl.

Rose parked neatly next to the Camaro, got out, locked the car and hurried to class.

☔︎ ☔︎ ☔︎

Arriving in front of the classroom, she knocked once, waited for the teacher to "come in" and then entered the room. All heads turned to her, a terribly awkward moment. But she was immediately distracted by another fact. Her seat was taken. There was the blond young man with the blue Camaro sitting in her seat.

"Ah Roselyn! Unusual that you are late. I meanwhile put our new classmate Billy Hargrove in your seat.
I hope that's okay, feel free to sit right next to him." the teacher explained kindly, gesturing with his hand to the empty seat next to the one she occupied. Rose said nothing, slowly walked towards the vacant seat and sat down.

Billy, the new classmate, was sitting, or rather half lying, on the school bench. He seemed to have little interest in the lessons. He chewed a piece of gum and looked boredly over at Rose.
But when he realized that just a few minutes ago he had passed her on the street, his expression changed.
More awake, more alert, more interested, he looked at her, but said nothing.

The bell rang. The first lesson was over.
Rose had taken no further interest in Billy during the hour. But just as she was about to get up, a hand suddenly grabbed her arm and held her tight. She looked to her left, startled. Billy had grabbed her, and not gently.

"Hey," he said. "You cut me off in the right of way." Rose was irritated.
What was she supposed to have done? Cut him off in the right of way?

"As I recall, YOU sped past me," she said, adding, "Let go of me." She tried to break free of his grip, but he wouldn't let go.