Forever (Book 1 of the FOREVER trilogy)

Chapter 3

The next day, after unpacking every last box, my dad signed me up for school. I started tomorrow. I was exhausted from unpacking, rearranging, and just moving about in general, so I went to bed early. I had a big day tomorrow anyway.

*** 

"Get up! Rise and shine! First day of school!" My dad ripped open my curtains and screamed at me. I groaned and sat up, groggily lifting myself of the ground and into my bathroom. I combed my long wavy light brown hair and put mascara on my freakishly long eyelashes that rimmed my hazel eyes.  

I shuffled my way to my dresser and pulled out a random sweater and some leggings. I swapped clothes and slipped on my Keds. Walking down the long hallway, I closely examined the floral wallpaper.  

After I ate my breakfast, I shrugged on my backpack and walked out the door. I hopped on my bike, the school only being a couple of blocks away, and rode off. As I chained my bike to the bike rack, I pulled out my crisp new schedule. And then I dropped it in a rain puddle. The words and numbers smeared across the page, almost to the point were I couldn't read it. I cursed silently to myself and squinted at the page. Wandering aimlessly around the hallways, I searched for my first period. In my search, I found my locker. I shoved in my books I collected from the office an slipped on my black combination lock. 

"Hi. You must be the new girl." I turned around to see a very tall, very handsome boy. He was roughly 6'2 and he had shaggy dark brown hair and deep green eyes with gold flecks around the iris. 

"Yep, that's me," I said. 

"Well I'm Damien Cross. I'll be your oh so very charming guide this fine evening! So what's your first period?" He said. 

"Well that's just the problem. I dropped it in a puddle. I can't read it." 

"Let me see." He grabbed my damp schedule and squinted.  

"It seems we have every class together," he said smiling, "so this will be pretty easy!" He exclaimed. This was one strange boy. There was something about him.as we walked down the hallway, I replayed all that he had said and tried to determine his personality. He was funny, sarcastic, outgoing, fearless, strong, and a player. I could tell by his tone when he talked to me; sweet, gentle, charming. He's totally a player. I looked up at him. 

"How did you know I was at my locker?" I asked. 

"I didn't," he smirked, " your locker is right next to mine." 

I sighed as Damien opened the door to Mr. Drake's English class for me. All of the girls jumped up and greeted him as he walked in the room. Ignoring me, they rambled about how amazing it was that he found me so fast. 

"I was nothing. Really!" He said with a big grin on his face. I rolled my eyes and picked a desk. With incredible speed, Damien dashed over and pulled out my seat for me. 

"After you, Ms.?" He said. 

"Radke. Ever Radke," I said in a dull, not amused voice. He picked up my hand from the the desk and kissed my knuckles. 

"Ms. Ever, it was a delight serving you today!" He winked at my and smiles. 

"Charmed. Really," I rolled my eyes at him. He frowned, seeing that his little trick didn't work on me. All the girls whispered and stared at Damien, who made his way back to his desk with a beaten puppy expression on his face. I didn't understand why they made such a big deal out of him. Sure, he was charming, handsome, strong, tall, buff, etc. but so were a lot of other guys. So why him? 

When the shrill bell rang, I got up and walked out while the others took their time chatting or fawning over Damien. Dear God, I don't know if I will be able to handle this Damien character, I thought to myself as I opened my locker. 

"Sure you can. You look pretty tough to me," said Damien as he walked up to his locker, which truly was next to mine. 

"Sorry! I guess I was thinking out loud!" I blustered and slammed my locker door shut on my finger. 

"Ow!" I screamed, examining the blood running down my freshly cut finger. Damien grabbed my finger and looked at it. 

"That looks pretty nasty. I'll take you to the nurse to get a band aid," he said. I yanked my hand out if his grasp. 

"I think I can handle it," I said coldly, annoyed by the fact that he thought he had to take care of me. 

"I more of an independent person, you know?" I added to take some bite of my last comment.  

"I get it," he said, " but the price is that you have to sit be me in every class, including lunch." 

"Fine but I'll never make any friends like that," I said glumly. 

"Well, I'm your friend and I can introduce you to my other friends, sound good?" 

"Fantastic..." 

"Great!" 

In no time at all lunch had arrived. I sat next to Damien as I did in every single one of my classes up until now and let him guide me through the lunch line. 

"Ok," he said as we sat down, "The blonde twins are Quinn and Cent, the brunet chick right there is Roxanne, the red head is Natily, and her boyfriend/ my best friend, Brian. Guys, Ever. Ever, the Guys!" 

"And gals!" added Natily. 

"Hey," I mumbled. 

"She cute!" shouted Quinn and Cent in unison. Damien made a growling type noise to warn them to back off. Quinn and Cent stuck there tongues out at him and continues arguing with Roxanne and Natily about who would win in a fight; Godzilla or King Kong. 

Brian took a nap so all there was left to talk to was either Damien or my tray. I chose Damien to avoid embarrassment. 

"So tell me about yourself," I asked. 

"Okay, well I'm 18 and I work at Burger Queen. I'm not really your average guy..." 

"Oh really? And what is it the makes you so not average?" 

"I can't tell you." 

"Seriously? If your just now hitting puberty it's ok." 

"That's not quite it," he laughed. The weird thing is, I liked his laugh. The rest of the day went on as I expected, I sat with Damien, dad picked me up, I listened to music, I read, I slept. I couldn't stop thinking about Damien's deep green and gold eyes. I ever had the strangest dream. I dreamt of a dark brown wolf with his exact same eyes...