Describing Happiness

Chapter One: How to Ruin Your High-School Reputation

"Ahh..." I pursed my lips, feeling my own eyebrows knit as I dashed through the hallways of the school. "No... Oh, shit, no..."

Hello. I'm Sophia Marie Grant, and at this moment in my life, I'm trying to get to my class on time. This honestly wouldn't have happened if my brat of a brother didn't leave me at home on the first day for our new school... Man, I want to punch him.

Where is my class, anyway? It has to do with AP English, which is basically all I remem--

And suddenly I was on the ground, with my back stinging with pain. One of my hands flew to my head as I groaned. "O-Ow..." I slowly blinked and looked up to see a person towering over me, the lights behind them shining so brightly I couldn't see their face. "... God, is that you?" I began to feel upset as I remembered every single stupid thing I had ever done--and boy, there were a lot. "I'm so sorry about the time I shoved my cousin's ice cream into her face, and about how I cut all of my brother's guitar strings so he would stop playing it so much, and the time I lied to a teacher about falling off a toilet to explain why I was late for class--"

The figure snickered, light and mocking. "You lied to a teacher about falling off a toilet?" Okay, now, let me tell you something: I have never heard God's voice before, but I'm pretty freaking sure he didn't sound like a teenage boy. This person's voice was deep and silky, and it may be god-like but it wasn't God.

"You're an impostor." I immediately said, my tone undeniably making it sound like he was a disease, instead. He scoffed. This just added to the sudden dread that I was beginning to feel as I realized he now knew about the toilet incident. Carefully, I stood up and brushed myself off, lifting my head afterwards to finally look at him.

"I'm not an impostor." said the teenage male with an air of arrogance. And oh my holy... I really wished that this was a dream, because I just embarrassed myself in front of someone who seemed to practically own the place. Cocky smirk, shockingly blue eyes, blond hair, perfect complexion... He may not be the God of our world, but he was definitely the God of Cliches. "The name's Dallin Blake." This 'Dallin' character had one hand in his leather jacket's pocket, while the other ran through his hair.

"Well, Blallin Dake--" I stopped myself, feeling my cheeks heat up at accidentally messing up his name that badly. I looked away so quickly I think I nearly received whiplash. "I-I meant Dallin Blake."

Dallin no longer seemed amused. "Alright, and that's how I know that you're new here."

My gaze flicked back to him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Come on," He rolled his eyes, "No one at this school would ever mess up my name. Never. You doing that seems that not only you're unfamiliar with my name, but you don't even seem to know who I am."

At this, I had to cross my arms in that sassy way people do when they're beginning to feel annoyed. Who did this guy think he was, exactly? "And what makes you so important, Mr. Big-Shot?"

"I own this place." replied Dallin flatly. I guess my earlier thoughts were right... Great job on embarrassing yourself, again, Sophia. "I run this school and I can run your reputation right into the ground on the first day--which, if you didn't notice, is actually today." His perfect smirk returned. How the flip did he do that? Was he born with a perfect smirk, or did he, like, practice for hours on end-?

"Are you even listening?" One of Dallin's eyebrows twitched, his smirk probably ready to fade by now. I'm starting to think that I get distracted easily.

"Of course I'm listening." I waved a hand while speaking in a hurried manner, scoffing. "Pfffft, what did you think I was doing? Thinking about your lips? I think not!"

Okay, now that I see his newest expression, I realized that wasn't actually the best way to phrase it. I only met this guy like five minutes ago and I was already feeding him embarrassing things for him to remember about me. Damn it.

His newest expression was that of surprise mixed with, 'Oh-really-now?', which is an actual thing. I kid you not. "You've been thinking about my lips?" Dallin stepped closer to me and threw an arm around my shoulders. I could feel the leather through the holes of my knitted sweater, and I had expected it to rub against my skin and feel uncomfortable, but it seemed to be soft as if he used the jacket often. Suddenly, his cologne hit me, and it was pretty flipping strong.

My nose wrinkled. "No. But can you... Not touch me? You're being kind of uncomfortable and your cologne is giving me a headache."

He deadpanned. "... You are definitely new."

"We established this, already."

"But what you just said clarified it."

"You know what? J... Just let go of me already." I gently pushed him away with a sigh. What was I even doing before meeting him...? Oh, yeah. I'm late for class. "Oh, flip."

"Flip?" Dallin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Flip what?"

"I'm going to flip if I don't get to my class." I tensed up at the thought of my parents receiving an e-mail on the fact that I was late on the first day of school; this was a problem. I placed my hands on my cheeks before harshly smacking them. The sting woke me up enough to finally form a plan. "Yo. Dallin Blake. I need you to take me to my class and show me how you 'own the school.'"

He arched an eyebrow. "You just don't want to be late, I'm guessing."

"So what if I'm using you?! Get to work already, buddy. I need to head to my AP English class!" I stepped behind him and placed my hands on his back, beginning to usher him. "Sniff out the class... Please."

Dallin was silent before beginning to walk faster than I was pushing him. I mean, this caused me to stumble, but I followed after anyway.

Now, everyone. Listen to me very carefully: don't force anyone you hardly know to do things abruptly, even for minor things like asking them to take you to your class. Especially Dallin Blake. This is where everything went wrong and I probably just screwed up the rest of my high school years, here.

He led me to my class and even opened the door for me, gesturing inside. "Ms. Lyra, I'm here. Sorry I'm late. I actually had to deal with something."

Wait, Dallin was in the same class as me? I stepped inside, beginning to have a terrible feeling about this.

The teacher--a woman who seemed to be in her late thirties and wore an excessive amount of make-up--looked up from reading a binder that rested on her wooden podium. She seemed to have been in the middle of a lecture to surprisingly quiet students. Then again, this was an AP class.

"... Mr. Blake." She said it slowly, as if saying it for the first time. "Student council matters, I presume?" Was he seriously a part of the student council? More surprises kept popping up.

Dallin nodded once. "I had to deal with this delinquent." He jabbed a thumb in my direction... Wait, what? "She was caught half-dressed in the bathroom with some guy." I felt like the world just stopped moving. I was caught doing what now? He practically deemed me to be so low as to have sex in a school bathroom.

I tried to interject, feeling horrified. "B-But I didn't-"

"Save it." He glanced over his shoulder at me, sneering as if he were disgusted. "I don't want to hear any more." That was when I began to feel as if I could cry. I wasn't even going to be allowed to get a word in, now was I?

The teacher didn't say anything, merely staring at me as if I were some sort of anomaly, even though I wasn't. "What's your name?"

In a hushed tone as I looked away, I replied, "... Sophia Grant." I could feel eyes burning holes into me and hear whispers beginning. God, please no... I bit my lip, blinking away the tears. Couldn't everyone see Dallin was telling lies?

"Sit down, Ms. Grant," said Ms. Lyra quietly. "I'd prefer it if you sit up front." 

I nodded slowly, and as I turned my stiff body to sit in an empty seat right in front of the podium, my teary eyes scanned over the class and landed on Dallin again.

He was smirking.