Frigid Flora

one - define fun

Chapter One

As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, the all too familiar feeling of dread sat like a heavy brick in the pit of my stomach. Everything was ready. I had cut off the engine, unbuckled my seatbelt and I held my rucksack tightly in my grasp with all of my necessary books. However, mentally, I was far from prepared. My eyes swept over the tall, cream-coloured building, watching as students strolled toward the double doors with ease, disappearing inside with laughter and stories of how their summers had gone.

It was the same after every summer break. The first day back was always the worst. I would become too accustomed, too comfortable with my routine back home of being alone and keeping to myself that when I was eventually forced back into the confinements of school it felt as though I was being thrown into the middle the ocean without anything to help me stay afloat. Instead of waves, the crashing waters that tried to drown me were the bustling crowds of people - pushing, shoving, touching.

I took a shaky breath, willing myself to keep calm.

Deep breaths.

Commanding myself to do things didn't always work, but I really had no other choice in the matter. It was that or sit in the car all day feeling sorry for myself.

You can do this, just like you have done every other year up until now.

I nodded to myself, wiping my clammy hands on my jeans. It was never a case of can you do it, it was always a case of you have to do it. Unless I didn't want a good education, I had to attend the place I despised. Heaving a sigh, I swung my bag onto my back, pushed open the car door and clambered outside.

I manoeuvred my way through the groups of students being careful not to accidentally touch any of them. I bit the inside of my cheek and hoped that my face was devoid of any emotion. School was never the place to show your weaknesses or trust anyone. In the end, trust was only ever used against you.

So I kept my weakness a secret.

***

"Hey, Frigid Flo! You got any answers?" Axel Cambridge asked from the desk adjacent to my own, leaning over to have a look at my paper. I scooted away from his close proximity, giving him a look of disdain.

"If I did, do you honestly think I'd give them to an asshole like you?"

Axel raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender and got back to his own work, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.

Axel wasn't the only one that called me Frigid Flo, in fact, the vast majority of the student body did thanks to his cute (do take note of my sarcasm) little friendship group. They were the closest thing Oakton High had to a popular clique. Our school did have its separate friendship groups, but with everyone growing up together in the small town of Oakton, the lines blurred between being popular and being a 'nobody' of sorts. I guess the only thing that separated them was how confident they were; that they held their heads up slightly higher than the rest of us did and the fact that everybody knew who they were. It wasn't like in the movies though, where if you ran into one of them in the grocery store you'd keep your gaze fixated on your feet. Having known them all since kindergarten, you still nodded your head in recognition- well, unless you had a grudge against some of them like I did.

It had been half way through freshman year when Jason Ashford had taken notice of me. Well known and undeniably attractive with his sharp features, olive toned skin and dark hair, I doubt he expected me to reject him.

"You're really pretty," Jason had said, leaning against the door of the locker next to my own. I felt my face flush, embarrassed at the sudden attention. "We should hang out some time. There's this party-"