Proceed With Caution

Chapter 2

"Riiiiiiiiing!"

Goddamn it.

"Riiiiiiiiing!"

"Shut up!" I screamed and whacked my alarm clock with all my strength. It was 6 a.m. I know I got around ten hours of sleep, but I was exhausted. Probably because I dreamt about the apocalypse, or maybe I was secretly a koala and required twenty-two hours of sleep for proper functioning.

I got up and went to the bathroom to scrutinise my face. It looked better than it had yesterday. My zits has gone down, so now they were just little red dots that could be hidden with concealer. I brushed my teeth, then hopped into the shower.

I began singing in the shower. Everyone does that, so if you deny it you lie. I belted out "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston with so much gusto, as if the spirit of Whitney herself had possessed me. I was really getting into the song, using my shampoo bottle as a microphone.

"So don't make me close one mo-"

"SHUT THE HELL DAMN UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP YOU CRAZY BITCH!" someone yelled furiously. It was my neighbour, Mr Iserlis. He was balding and had a rather intense case of irritable bowel syndrome. Trust me, I knew.

I giggled and stopped singing, stepping out of the shower. I dried my body and then wrapped a towel around hair. I decided to wear some promiscuous undergarments to make myself feel more confident. So I wore a thong, which was very uncomfortable, and a push-up bra. I wore my uniform like I had planned yesterday; the miniskirt and unbuttoned blouse. In the mirror was a stranger. A sexy, awesome stranger. I loved her.

I wiggled a mascara wand through my eyelashes and tight-lined my eyes with black eyeliner, openly defying my school's "No Makeup" policy. I also concealed my pimples, and swiped some lip balm over my lips. After spraying some perfume on myself, I grabbed my bag, a pair of ankle socks, and went outside to the kitchen.

My dad was in the kitchen making coffee for me and him.

"Hola papa." I said.

"Hola mija," he replied.

I made a Nutella sandwich with extra Nutella because why not, besides family history of diabetes? Papa placed the mug of coffee in front of me.

"Angel, you forgot to button your shirt," he said with a hint of amusement. I blushed and buttoned it, but I got a bit of Nutella on my blouse in the process. I blushed harder and tried to scrape it off with my nails. Papa shook his head and walked into his room to change for work.

I picked up my coffee and went back into my room to see the stain on my blouse. It was an inconspicuous dot of brown. I sighed in defeat and unbuttoned it again. I guess maintaining an 'attractive' appearance was more of a struggle than it seemed, especially if you loved chocolate. I checked my phone. It was 6.41 and I still had about fifteen minutes so I lay on my bed and scrolled through Instagram.

As I double-tapped a hilarious text post, I noticed the time. 7.00. I jumped out of bed, shoved my phone in my pocket and downed my coffee. I ran out of my room, pulled on my socks and shoes and grabbed my bag rushed out of the house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Angie!!" Carrie squealed. I turned around and saw my perky friend skip towards me, her blonde hair bouncing with her. She engulfed me in a big hug. I patted her head awkwardly.

"What's up, chica?" I said. Carrie's eyes shone with excitement.

"It's a new day, life is beautiful!" she sang, linking her arm with mine and dancing across the school yard. I smiled weakly and tried to keep up with her. Carrie was bubbly and overly optimistic. I loved her, but sometimes I felt like punching her in the face. We reached the corridor and made our way to the hall.

"Yo, Velazquez!" someone hollered. I spun around to see Justin Bale, the school's jock and major douchebag, leaning against the lockers and smirking at me.

"What do you want, Bale?" I yelled back.

"Your goods are on display!" he shouted, then high-fived his army of sycophantic followers. Some people turned to look at me, raised their eyebrows, and carried on with their life. I rolled my eyes at them and pulled Carrie with me to the hall.

"Justin is such a hottie!" Carrie whisper-giggled. I gave her my classic "what the hell" look and she giggled harder and twirled a strand of hair.

"If 'hottie' meant 'Neanderthal', you're spot on." I said. Carrie hit me lightly on the shoulder.

As we reached the hall, deafening chatter assaulted our senses. We spotted a few awkward freshmen standing around, looking like deer caught in headlights. There were the sophomores who gathered in a group and were talking excitedly about their endeavours during the summer vacation. Carrie and I walked into the hall, where bored senior student councillors were holding up placards to indicate the classes' respective seating areas.

We sat down at our class. Someone sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulder. It was Connor, my boyfriend.

"Hello my sweetie honeypie-"

"Shhhhh!" I laughed, cupping my hand over his mouth and giving him a hug. Connor was the sweetest most gentlemanly boyfriend that anyone could ever ask for, but I wondered if I could get him to stop giving me those nauseating nicknames. I leaned my head against his shoulder and waited for assembly to start.

The bell rang after five minutes. Most of the classes had settled down, and a few latecomers ran in to take their seats. The principal, Mrs Isaacs, stepped onto the stage to address us.

"Welcome to Bromeliad High School, freshmen, and welcome back to the rest of you. I hope you all had a good break. Before I give you the usual lecture about attire, behaviour et cetera, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, there are ten new recycling bins placed around the school so I hope you will all make good use of them."

There was a collective groan from everyone. Only Carrie looked excited, the crazy girl.

"And second of all," Mrs Isaacs continued, "our beloved Mrs Latham will not be with us this term. She teaches most of you English. But she's on maternity leave this term, so we have a temporary substitute. Please put your hands together to welcome a new member of our staff, Mr Richard Harrison."

The whole school applauded hesitantly as the new teacher walked onto the stage to be introduced by Mrs Isaacs.

A/N: I'm going to end this right here. It's a cliffhanger >:) How do you think Mr Harrison would be like? Stay tuned for more ;)