Wild

Chapter 22

Xander's POV

Being out of the hospital feels so good. The white rooms and the stench of medicine were enough to suffocate me to death compared to me not remembering anything. Cameron, as he introduced himself as my brother, said we were moving to somewhere more quiescent than his own apartment, something about helping me regain my consciousness. For days and nights, he stayed up making phone calls and meeting with estate agents just to find the absolute place for us. And when he did, he cut off the rent and made me pack everything in the house. Nothing looked familiar, and I couldn't tell which things were mine. I managed to swiftly fit everything in my room into two boxes without hesitation. There were my pictures, clothes, and books. The odd thing was, there was even a necklace. It was a clockwork style necklace, with a rabbit delicately carved onto it. I tried to recall where this came from but the only thing that popped into my head was the pain.

Painkillers were no use these days; whenever I try to think of something and my head starts to hurt, there's nothing I could do but to let the pain fade away. I laid the necklace among my other things and left the room.

In a blink of an eye, the moving van carried our belongings as Cameron's car led the way to the new house. It was spacious and peaceful, certainly better than the apartment we were previously living in. After unpacking and making my room feel like 'me', Cameron decided to enrol me into a local high school. He was acting like a parent, always bossing me around. I try not to ask him about my parents just yet, afraid that it will tick off my brain or maybe him. I know that he'll tell me when he feels like I should know. Lower East High was one of the best high schools around and so there I was. The gates of Lower East High were as welcoming as ever as my backpack slung across my shoulder, but something felt terribly wrong. The moment I was surrounded by people pointing at me and probably instantly stereotyping me, a pot of anxiousness began boiling inside of me. My teeth chattered in my mouth, fingers fisted, and walked along the hallways attempting to find the principal's office. How fast does news spread when there's a new kid in school? Wildfire speed, I suppose.

I tried to avoid eye contact with anyone and finally came to a door that has 'Principal George' labelled on it. Knocking softly I entered, coming face to face with this great old man who has less amount of hair than his teeth. We sorted things out, checked my records and put me into classes. Every period was the same. I'm being introduced to a bunch of students as if an alien captured to be experimented on. The teacher will be so warm welcoming and everything in the package, but I was stone cold. I have no idea why I'm being so depressed- I was fine just a couple days ago. Maybe it's because of the new environment, I have to adapt to it. I've been sticking with the 'aroma' of hospital scrubs and medicine way too much.

I made myself subtle, trying to not draw any attention to myself throughout every single period. English was rather peculiar. Instead of me being the only new kid, there was another boy. He was tall and lean, a sense of cocky arrogance was all around him. I ruffled my hair and played with the ring that was clasped onto my index finger, waiting for the teacher to come get us. When she finally did, I was nervous. Way more nervous than I'll ever be in my entire life, and I had no clue as to why.

We introduced ourselves to the class, the kid, Caleb, did his introduction as his head was on cloud nine, having all the girls fawn over him. First day of school and I hate someone, well that's a starter. I sat in front of a girl who actually looked a bit familiar, but I'm sure I don't know her. If I did, I'd being having flashbacks and headache. Caleb, who's apparently her cousin, was teasing her, unaware of her eye-rolls. I thought they were funny.

"I'm Xander Griffin, and I just moved to this area," I said before taking the seat right in front of the girl.

"I'm Astrid." She replied with a wide grin, then instantly glared over at Caleb.