Stumbling Over Love | ✓

Chapter 4

_Chapter 4~ I'll Do It_

"I can do this," I muttered, peering up at the tall, albeit rundown, school building.

Tucked deep behind the numerous spray painted and vandalized walls were beady eyes—delinquents surveying the entrance, ready to ambush any and every enemy that came into sight.

Swallowing hard to settle my rapidly beating heart, I used the hand which hadn't been hurt on the train this morning to tighten my bag straps over my shoulder. Casting my head low, I hastened into the school grounds and toward the front doors.

I ignored making eye contact as I entered the building. It was always the best course of action, considering Akelius Academy was renowned for possessing a staggering seventy-one percent delinquent population. The only way I was able to survive the two years I'd been enrolled was because I made sure to keep out of everyone's way. By constantly looking down, zigzagging around all students, normal or not, and keeping my mouth shut, I could keep my sanity here.

Fights, vandalism, theft, drugs... The list was endless. For someone like me—a completely normal girl whose only reason for attending was because of my dad's job—my death was practically assured.

To my unfortunate luck, the morning bell had rung around five minutes ago, signalling the start of class, meaning all normal students were stowed in their rooms by now. Only few remained wandering, and they weren't exactly the most comforting presences.

Scarred faces, battered knuckles and nailed bats—boys of all kind were huddled smack dab in the middle of the hall, tensions high.

There were loud popping noises, crunches of broken bones. Yelps and groans. Bodies dropping like flies. A sea of blood pooling onto the linoleum.

Things had escalated quickly. And even for me, shielded by the nearby wall, I grew nauseous simply by hearing the sounds.

It was brutal. And illegal, most definitely.

I could barely stop the buckling of my knees. I shouldn't have come. Again. Even if Mom and Dad would've grounded me for "overreacting," anything was better than coming to this school.

Without waiting to listen to further pummelling and yells, I dashed through the opposing hall. Fortunately for me, the pathway was empty, and I arrived at my shoe locker in seconds.

I spun my combo, threw in my outdoor shoes and squeezed into my indoor ones. I made sure to tune out any and all the atrocities going on around me. Truthfully, I was grateful that my locker was on the least attended part of school. Last year, I was in the middle of these notorious brawls, and with me terrified of ever getting involved in the fray, avoided it like the plague. I kept my shoes in my bag and exchanged them accordingly.

I admit, this school had me too scared for my own good. The only thing credible about it was the teachers, but since the majority of the students barely showed up for class, they served no real purpose. 

Akelius was a joke here in Japan, and for regular students like me, it was the definition of hell.

Why oh why did I let Dad drag me to such a rotten place?

Slamming my locker closed, I whipped my head left and right. After ensuring no delinquent was in the vicinity, I sprinted to my homeroom class located on the second floor.

"Simple sentence structures require the proper use of quotations as well as comas and periods. Today we will explore the importance of dialogue in fiction..."

Peeking my head through the window of the classroom, I scanned the seats. The few students I acknowledged to be fairly well-behaved were jotting down notes to what Ms. Osaka was teaching.