The Octagon

Chapter 7-Ace

~Ace

God, I'm starving.

That damn math test just had to go and ruin my day, not that I was having a particularly good one. 

As I was walking down the hallway to my locker, I saw a kid with an orange backpack. It was ugly. Like I wanted to tear my eyes out and shove them down his throat ugly. 

"So fucking ugly." I said under my breath. I don't know if he heard me. 

As I reached my locker, I saw a girl running frantically. I laughed at her, but she was so focused on getting her combination right that she didn't notice me. Or she ignored me.

Ha! A girl actually ignoring me. I guess there's a first for everything.

After she finished switching out some of her binders she quickly slammed her locker and turned to me. She stared at me for a couple of seconds with her mouth slightly open.

Guess I spoke too soon.

I thought she was going to start drooling. But instead her eyes widened in what I thought was fear. She quickly composed herself.

"Hi. I'm Misa Devons. I'm new here and I don't believe we've met. You are?" She smiled genuinely as she spoke. If she was afraid before, she definitely wasn't now.

I was so shocked that she was actually speaking to me I forgot I had to respond.

"Hello?" She waved her hands in front of my face and then poked the tip of my nose. I couldn't tell if this girl was incredibly brave or just plain idiotic.

"Uh. Yeah. Sorry. I'm Ace Derickson." I didn't know why I was apologizing to her. I didn't ever apologize to people.

"Ace. Cool name."

"Thanks. It's actually a nickname." 

Why am I still talking to this girl?

"Mine too." Whatever she was in such a rush for earlier, obviously wasn't that important anymore.

"What's your real name?" I wasn't sure if I was actually interested.

"Artemisa."

"Oh. You're the genius."

"The what?" She tilted her head in confusion and furrowed her brows together while still keeping that goofy smile on her face.

"Oh. Haven't you heard? You're famous."

"Come again."

"Yeah. You're the school's new super nerd. Congrats." And I was back.

"I'm famous." She paused and then smiled. "Finally. Hey thanks for telling me." 

That's all she heard?

"Um yeah. No problem nerd." She just kept smiling. "Are you okay? You're smiling like an idiot. It's kind of creepy looking." 

Most girls would have been mortified or at least looked a bit insulted at me calling them creepy looking, but not Misa. She just kept smiling.

"Yep. I'm great."

I didn't respond for a few seconds. I had expected her to leave, but instead she just stood in front of me, still smiling.

"Alright. Well shouldn't you get back to whatever you were running around for earlier, nerd?" I was getting annoyed.

She stopped smiling and her eyes widened in what I knew was fear.

"Oh my god. I have to go. Sorry. It was nice meeting you, Ace. Let's talk again soon." She smiled again and then mumbled something as she turned around. I didn't know what made her think I wanted to talk to her again.

That was a big reason I ignored people. They were extremely annoying and usually a complete waste of my time.

It was kind of refreshing though. It had been a while since I'd had a real conversation with anyone.

She had really surprised me, just approaching me like that. Girls hadn't done that to me in a while. They were always too scared that I would reject them and I usually did.

Of course it would never work with Miss All-Smiles. She wasn't my type.

I walked to the parking lot. I was still a bit heated from that test and I needed some food to cool me down. As I reached my car, I saw Misa sitting in a car that had Kurt's Driving School written on the side.

So that was what was so important. 

I got in my car and started toward downtown.