The Wild Ones(Blame it on Brandy and a bottle of perfume....)

Chapter 1

5 years ago...

A smaller, younger, less confident version of myself walked in through the huge double doors of Burnsville high all big blue eyes with the lecture from my father about how not to 'disgrace the family name' still ringing in my ears since he'd been yelling.
We'd just moved in from another district due to the sudden increase in the number of zeros in my father's paycheck and if I were to be honest, I was wholeheartedly happy with the change. The events of the summer with Jake Hale was a disaster and moving to another district was a sign from God that he loved me.
Since then I've sworn off boys.
But right now, lost in the sea of students with no protection whatsoever except my messenger bag and the school map, I was beginning to think that maybe another year of breathing the same air as Jake Hale wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Homeroom was English and I was already running late and helpless about it but I couldn't seem to understand the map.
"You seem lost".
I nearly dropped my books as the friendly northern lilt was never expected.
I turned around-and had to step back and look up at the giant whirlwind of seemingly endless blonde hair and glowing green eyes.
Your basic cosmopolitan model.
"Is it that obvious?", I laughed nervously as I tucked one stray lock of blue-black hair behind my ear, suddenly extremely intimidated but trying my best not to show it.
I smiled.
"Yeah, very".
"It's just that I've got English for Homeroom and this map isn't helping any, who knew a single high school could be so huge?".
She laughed at that.
"Welcome to Burnsville then, I'm Chloe", she said in this sing-song voice that I was beginning to like with each passing second.
"Hi...i'm Mirah".
Turns out Homeroom English was exactly where Chloe(even her name was modelly) was headed so she had no problem leading me through.
As we passed, the Titanic sea of students seemed to part and the noise that came with their endless chattering died down so much so that I could hear my own heart beat coming off frantically in my ears.
My stomach did a double flip before it climbed all the way up to my throat when I looked round and found out that they were staring at us.
Correction-they were staring at her. Chloe seemed indifferent and totally oblivious to their stares, she continued talking in that carefree sing-song voice of hers like we were the only ones in school, green eyes twinkling all the way.
".......and here we are...Homeroom English".
The words hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to blink a few times to take it all in.
The green door of the classroom stared back at me like the eye of some evil monster waiting to devour me.
"Ummm..Mirah?".
"Y-yeah?",Chloe's voice came as the ice-cold bucket filled with reality.
"You're shivering".
"I don't do well in new places".
She put a hand on my shoulder and smiled although I could clearly see she didn't understand why I was so nervous.
I couldn't blame her.
She probably never had a single insecurity in her life.
"Stick with me Mirah and you'll be fine".
She put a hand on the doorknob and turned it.
The moment was like a scene in the movie.
Suddenly it seemed as if the whole universe narrowed down to Chloe's tanned and perfectly french manicured fingers. And I found myself looking for a good place to hide.
She pushed in suddenly, dragging me effortlessly along with her like a five year old would do to a stuffed toy.
The sudden noise that filled my ears to the point that I couldn't hear myself think was a sharp contrast to the deathly silence of the hall.
The minute we stepped in there was silence as before as every head turned to see who just walked in.
Once their eyes found Chloe, it never strayed and I found myself half hidden behind her 6"1 frame.
She stepped away from the door and I followed in a hurry, not willing to attract unnecessary attention to myself.
I was practically invisible as I mirrored Chloe's movements to the back of class as everyone else was watching her.
We got to the only two desks that were vacant beside a huge floor to ceiling Window that had a lovely view of the woodlands beyond the school grounds.
I plopped down on the seat that was directly beside the window and Chloe sat beside me.
As soon as we sat, a small crowd of potential models flocked round Chloe like moths to a flame and since I was directly beside her I was sacked in too.
A buzz of 'how have you beens' and 'What were you up to during summmers' kept floating around and I was so suffocated by their false warmth I thought I'd die. I turned slowly to face the window and people rushed in to fill in what little space my body had left behind to further increase the chances of being noticed by her.
I turned ask once or twice from the vacant stares I was giving the school grounds and each time I turned I was a little surprised to see that Chloe wasn't even a little bit irritated by the attention and replied every comment thrown her way with a little enthusiasm and warmth.
They soaked up the attention she gave like a flower before the sun and when she turned to speak to a person, he or she seemed more alive like someone had just lit a bulb somewhere inside them. It was wonderful to watch.
Who was she?
She looked so perfect that it hurt to eve look at her-not a single hair out of place,a crease to her clothes( that was probably worth the moon but was made to look like it wasn't) or even the tiniest smudge to her eyeliner.
Almost as I was about thinking that she had already forgotten about me, I felt the warmth of a human hand on my shoulder and I turned to see her smiling at me and the rest of her fans were staring at me like they were just seeing me for the first time-and weren't really impressed by what they saw. I could practically hear what was going through their minds almost as clearly as if someone screamed it through a microphone with a thousand speakers backing it up. 'why is she here with Chloe?', 'What makes her so special? '.
"I've got someone I'd like you y meet, her name is Mirah. Please be nice to her because she's new and a little bit shy". I kept staring at my pale fingers as they made reluctant grunts before quickly turning back to Chloe to resume whatever they were talking about before she introduced me. I kept checking my watch to see how many minutes was left before I left this classroom and the cloying scent of a cocktail of designer perfumes that was currently suffocating me. I was clear the teacher wasn't coming anytime soon and so I continued looking out at freedom which was currently within reach but unattainable at the moment.
The whooshing sound the door made as it was opened brought me out of my reverie.
All of a sudden there was a loud silence that surpassed the one that greeted me when I walked into class. The silence was absolute save for the sound of footsteps as the person walked into class.
I was still looking around for the source of all the theatrics when I spotted him.
The first thing I noticed about him were his eyes, a deep Persian blue with golden flakes around the irises were framed by thick long jet-black lashes that girls would sell their souls for and the type that boys could care less about.
His face was angular, all sharp lines and stabbing angles complete with high check bones-something an artist would love to depict.
He was somewhere between Theo James and James Dean but with a wild dark cloud of ink black hair that framed his face. He had a full lower lip and a thin upper one which were coloured a light pink and looked so good they had to be edible.
He wore a black t-shirt that highlighted the deep gold tan he had which further emphasized his bright blue eyes.
He was thin without being too lanky and was noticeably muscular even beneath his free fitting t-shirt, his ash-gray joggers hung low on his hips and a hint of his calvin-klein boxers could be seen when he stretched to greet his friends, all the while looking round as if he was looking for someone.
A few minutes afterwards, he detached himself from the small crowd of girls that flocked around him and came to stand at the front of the class.
"Now who here is Mirah McGregor?".
His voice was heavenly, deep and soothing, it had the kind of effect silk has on human skin, free and deliciously sensual. It took me five minutes to realise that he'd just called my name, five minutes because I wasn't dwelling on what he said but how he said it.
And immediately my heart was going a zillion miles per hour and I started feeling kind of dizzy with all the blood that was rushing to my cheeks already.
I looked up.
Only to realise that a couple of girls were already around him claiming to be me.
"Hi, I'm Mirah?".
"Yes?".
"You called".
"Mirah here".
"I'm Mirah".
He stood there looking so confused and dazed that I wanted to laugh.
"He's looking for you Mirah-go to him, silly" Chloe smiled at me, then poked me playfully.
I got up slowly, ignoring the commotion inside me while telling my heart to get its shit together since I felt it would combust and since my legs suddenly turned to jelly I held on to the edges of my table for support.
"I'm Mirah", I managed to squeak out and the class was quiet enough that my voice seemed to have been carried along by speakers.
Immediately the words left my mouth he looked up.
Locked eyes with me.
And smiled.
I kept repeating 'I've sworn off boys, I've resolved to keep off boys, I've sworn off boys, I've resolved to keep off boys' in my head like a crazy mantra as he glided with ease over to the back where Chloe and I were seated.
I'm sure I looked exactly like a deer caught in the headlights when he came to stand in front of me.
I'veswornoffboysI'veresolvedtokeepoffboysI'veswornoffboysI'veresolvedtokeepoff....he smiled again and stretched out his hand in the universal sign of greeting.............

Iveswornoffboysiveresolvedtokeepoffboysiveswornoffboysiveresolvedtokeepoffboysiveswornoffboysiveresolvedto-
"Hey, i'm Brian".
And my 'resolve' fell like a bloody pack of cards.