One Way To Find Out

Chapter One: New day

THE SOUNDS ARE distant, the sirens. Broken glass is scattered throughout the black road, red liquid is oozing as it colors the ground, the smell of petroleum fills my nostrils adding to the already fuzzy state I'm in.
My heart pounds louder, deafening the sounds of my surrounding accompanied by my rapid breathing for air.

"Miss. Grace?" A voice pulls me back to reality, my heavy eyes set on the old man in front of the classroom. Everyone is looking at me including him and that contributes to my fidgetiness. Crap.

"Pardon Mr. Archer?" I cringe inwardly at my hoarse voice as it fills the history class, my nervousness increase with every second that passes and with every pair of eyes that continue to glance at me

I hate being the center of attention.

"Who was the first black–American president of the United States?" I pick up a morsel of impatience in his audible voice, with everyone staring my brain stops functioning as my eyes set on him.

I can't embarrass myself, come on brain.

To my luck, the school bell buzz in the hallways saving me from the uneasy situation. Pupils start gathering all their possessions briskly, eager to see themselves out of this boring class.

I pack my belongings as people pass jolting my head on the way, not even bothering to say sorry, Great. That's how it has always been, my presence is never noticed. I'm invisible, how awesome is that?

I wait till the hallways are less occupied, Zayden must be waiting for me.

Before I can excuse myself, I'm called by Mr. Archer, who is obviously going to scold me for not participating in class. I turn to face him, today he decided to wear a formal shirt designed with wrinkles and brown old pants that slightly matches with his hair that has a touch of grey from aging.

His hands are crossed, his face intimidating as ever which makes it difficult for me to assume what the conversation will be about. It has been said that he falls under the department of The sweet educators of the school, I don't believe that as he has never been nice to me.

"Can I have a quick word with you?" He requests with a neutral tone, his face baring no expression. My nod gives him the permission to start scolding, of course, but what he says leaves me in shock.

"You've been spacing out lately and your grades are starting to drop horribly, is everything alright at home?" Nobody—excluding Zayden—has questioned about my wellbeing after the incident.

I manage to suppress the disbelief that is radiating inside me from showing on my face, my brain goes blank for a second as I stare at his granola-like-face, a hint of worry floating in his eyes creates a warm feeling to settle on my chest for his concern for me, but just for a short duration.

"Everything is fine sir, it's just that I've been distracted lately, but I'll be fine." I finally reply, one of my best fake smile plastered on my face to convince him everything is all fine — which is a lie.

Believing the lie, he smiles sadly making my stomach churn. Now he is being sympathetic, gross.

"I was just concerned, but I guess everything is well, take care." And that was my queue to exclude my presence from the room.

My hands robotically find the straps of my bag pack as I stride through the the bare hallway. It's lunchtime, Zayden must be in the cafeteria already since I don't spot his curly mob of hair anywhere.

He is the only friend I have in school, apart from his boring talks of the latest video game and the newest anime episodes, he's a cool person.

We've been friends since freshman year, he's not exactly the most well-known individual in the walls of Melville Academy and our first encounter wasn't the best memory for the both of us. He used to wear over baggy garments and his black rimmed eyeglasses. I tried convincing him on getting eye contact lenses and it pretty much didn't go as planned.

Puberty has done him good though since late sophomore year, from acne and blistered face to clean smooth skin, he's beginning to listen to his mother's advice about wearing proper fit clothes because I haven't spotted any oversized pants and shirts the start of this year.

I finally reach the cafeteria after all the walking, instantly I see him, sitting at our usual table located in a less crowded section of the cafeteria hall that is close to the wide window displaying the perfect view of the school parking lot.

Something is different though, we have some company.
I'm not really good with people, being shy on top of that doesn't make it any less better.

I haul my brain to think of something to say the moment I get there, for normality I opted to greet.

"Hello?" It comes out more of a question rather than a statement.

Two pairs of eyes stare at me, one unfamiliar. Zayden smiles warmly making the hair at the back of my neck stand slightly, he has this effect on me. Okay it might seem weird, but I've always had a crush on him, don't blame me he is very kind and cute.

"Hey, what took you so long?" I just gaze at him and shrug my shoulders indicating it's no big deal.

"Mr. Archer just wanted to have a quick word with me, that's all." He stares at me for a little longer before nodding his head. I look at the new dude sitting in our table.

I've never seen him before, he's probably new.

Seeming to notice me glancing at the intruder, Zayden clears his throat, grabbing my attention in the process.

"Ohh yeah, I forget to tell you about Taylor, he's new here and he'll be hanging out with us for a couple of weeks, hope you don't mind." He smiles sheepishly, making my lips form a small smile.

"Sure." My voice thick with affection as my tummy wobbles, we stare at each other longer than needed. Our stare session was cut by the intruder's voice, my cheeks flash. I need to get over this silly crush.

"Sorry to disturb, but can one of you assist me on finding the bathroom?" Taylor's voice is deep and very low, it's one of those that you may not catch if you're not listening attentively.

I glance at him. His eyes are a mixture of sapphire blue and forest green, they're dull and seem lifeless. His stunning marble of eyes are contradicting to the cream skin color and his black hoodie imprinted with a skeleton image in white font.

"Sure, man. Let's go, see you at the locker Lia."