Bones and Stones

Chapter Two

Yasmine walks to her locker, gripping on her books tight as she glances around nervously. She's more anxious than usual, and it shows on her face. Yasmine has never been good at hiding her emotions; her expressions always give them away.

With every step, she takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Keep it together, Yasmine. Everything will be okay. Before you know it, the day will be over, and you can finally go home." It's only third period, and she's already fed up with school. But who could blame her? She doesn't fit in here, and in her mind, she never will. Especially after what happened this summer, people will have another reason to call her "weird".

Finally, she reaches her locker. After entering the code and putting her books inside, a loud bang on her locker startles her. She lets out a shy shriek, closing her eyes in fear. Taking a deep breath, she opens them, only to see the perpetrator standing in front of her with a huge grin on his face.

"Thomas! You scared me!" Yasmine exclaims.

"Feeling a bit jumpy today; is it the first-day jitters I see?" Thomas pokes her stomach to make her smile, but she swats his hand away. His smile disappears, replaced by a confused look. "Or is it something else?"

"I'm so tired. I barely slept last night," Yasmine says with a weary voice and half-asleep eyes. "Oh yeah? Why?" Thomas asks, not paying close attention, assuming it's just another late night of binge-watching Zac Efron movies.

"I keep thinking about... my holidays at my grandparents'," Yasmine says, carefully choosing her words so as not to reveal too much.

Thomas slams his locker shut and leans against it, facing her. This time, Yasmine has his full attention. "And why?" he asks, looking confused as to why her vacation in a remote village would keep her up at night.

Before Yasmine can answer, someone hugs her from behind. She turns around to see Heidi, her long-time best friend, with her raven locks bouncing and a jasmine scent trailing behind her. Heidi's ocean blue eyes and rosy pink Cupid's bow lips make her a sight to behold. She's dressed simply today, wearing high-waisted black jeans cut at the knee and an orange tank top with the word "cool" written in white letters. Yasmine finds it funny, considering that Heidi is indeed one of the coolest girls in their school, loved by all, even the teachers. She's been on the school council for as long as Yasmine can remember, second only to Alexa Chambers. Yasmine doesn't understand why Heidi still wants to be friends with her. They're not cut from the same cloth, and they have different hobbies and interests. They even tease each other about it sometimes. But that has never stopped them from supporting and admiring each other. Yasmine can't imagine her life without Heidi.

Heidi looks at Yasmine with a genuine smile, showing her love for her best friend to everyone around them. She hugs her again, almost making her topple over with excitement. "I'm so glad to see you, Yas! I have so much to tell you!" she says with an overly excited voice, smiling from ear to ear. "Where should I start? Well, first of all, when we got there, we stayed at this place..."

As Heidi starts telling Yasmine about her summer vacation trip, Yasmine's attention is drawn to the far end of the hallway, where three familiar figures were making their way through the crowded hallway with ease, parting the sea of students as if they were royalty. It was the first day of school after summer break, and tensions were high as students rushed to their lockers during lunchtime, causing chaos in the hallways.

These three young men were none other than the Iloud cousins, known as the dream team or the A-listers of the school. They were star athletes, excelling in both football and MMA, as well as star students with impressive grades. But what made them even more captivating to everyone was the fact that they were from the prestigious Iloud family, one of the richest and oldest families in town. They had a large trust fund to fall back on, and their charm and charisma made them popular among their peers.