Stumbling Over Love | ✓

Chapter 1

_Chapter 1 ~ Mistakes_

Today wasn't my day.

"Excuse me! Please let me through!"

Jostling my way through suffocating throngs of people whilst whispering polite apologies, I successfully manoeuvred my way into the clustered afternoon bus. My short frame didn't prove an easy fit but I did manage to squeeze between the compacted mess of citizens in time for the doors to reel shut. I would have liked to exhale a breath of relief for having managed to make it but my nostrils were instead intoxicated by the pungent smell of BO, leaving me to cough hysterically for a good while.

I tilted my head to locate the source only to find the said armpit centimetres from my face. The man continued to hold one of the handrails from above, sweating profusely from the heat. My discomfort and proximity didn't bother him at all. Fuming, I twisted my head in the other direction to inhale that way.

Why oh why did I have to go and be late today? I'd made it an iron clad rule of mine to never linger after class, and make a mad dash to my typical bus following the final bell to beat the crowd. And yet today of all days I just so happened to be stopped by my homeroom teacher to discuss my shall-not-be-mentioned-grades. Much less a spot to sit, even standing in this bus was a nightmare of its own. Even if it was a twenty minute ride...

A shove from behind sent me lurching into the back of the person ahead of me. I quickly retreated, mustering a weak apology when they craned their neck. A heavy sigh slipped past my mouth as I clasped my bag even tighter in my arms.

Well, even if it was gruelling, it was definitely a better alternative than where I'd come from. And no, not because I was a high school student and high school was nowhere close to the flowery institutions most animes depicted, but because my academy was a little worse than most. Mainly because every student attending Akelius Academy with the exception of me were—bluntly put—crazy.

Or the term society liked to call it, "troubled."

Akelius Academy was an institution for delinquents.

Being stomped to death by brawls taking place in the hallways, or getting smacked by countless bodies soaring through the air like bean bags were generous days, as hard to believe as that sounded. People had literally died in the school because students weren't afraid to bring knives or nailed bats to school.

Of course I hadn't seen people die, and the principal tried to cover up the rumours but hey, I had seen body outlines interspersed around the back of the school mixed in with the vandalized walls.

So happily speaking, this situation said to be the deathly 'rush hour' was child's play in comparison to the hell I'd just departed. Reluctantly speaking, this bus in itself was my saving grace out of the burning pits of Tartarus and into heaven.

The amount of times I'd stared death in the face was too great to count, and no, as much as I wish to say I was exaggerating, I wasn't. I could only be grateful to have lived through today without sustaining further injuries or trauma beyond what I'd gained amidst my two years already.

The ram of another person's body into my shoulder launched me face-first into the back of the individual before me—again.

I reeled back just as the middle-aged man jerked his head, exasperation apparent his features.

"S-sorry," I whispered, rubbing my throbbing nose.