Heavy Breathing | Vic Fuentes

O N E

I stood frozen at the stop sign between York drive and Helm street. Being bundled in three jackets and two shirts is normal here.

You see, I live in a very unheard of town. It goes by the name of Locks Harbor, population 313. Here in LH, it never gets warm. Maybe every now and again, we can tone down to maybe one jacket and no scarf, but most of the time, we look like frozen death.

I attend the only school we have; LH High. Our town is so under populated, that we have a community program for children thirteen and under, and a very small high school for the rest of us. All the adults work outside of town, about an hour away from this wicked little place.

The bus came to a stop in front of me and the doors creaked open. "So nice to see you, Annabelle. Cherry is waiting for you in the back. Says she has something important to tell you." Mrs. Kerri smiled and shut the doors behind me. "Nice to see you too, Mrs. K!" I returned a warm, genuine smile and traced the seats until I discovered a freezing Cherry Willis. "Are they ever going to give us individual heaters?" I joked as I approached her.

"Ann!" She squealed, moving her bag so I could sit with her. "Guess what I heard." She pulled her scarf down from over her mouth so I could clearly see her smirking. "We finally get a Victorias Secret here?!" I screeched. "You know, your sarcasm gets old." She narrowed her eyes and continued, "anyways, I heard from Sophie's mom, that there's a new family coming here. A mom and her son." She said. Cherry can get so easily excited over new people.

The last family we had here almost froze to death and hated everyone. They were rude and inconsiderate. "Cherry, honey, don't get excited yet. They may turn out even worse than the Riley's." I laughed, pulling some Skittles out of my backpack. "Want some?" I asked, handing her the bag.

She took the bag from my hands and started to protest, "no, I doubt it. These people are from up north so they may not be as bitter." I didn't say anything, I just nodded in agreement. I never know how Cherry finds out this information, but she's never been wrong before.

We came to another stop that I wasn't familiar with. Just down the road from me, but we've never stopped here. "That's Vic, the new kid." Cherry said, placing the Skittles back in my hands. He walked onto the bus, bundled like the rest of us. He was clearly nervous. "Hey Ann!" Mrs. K yelled from the front. "Come here darlin'!" I laid my bag in Cherry's lap and walked towards her.

"Yeah?" I asked, I bright smile on my face. "This here is Vic. He's new, and since you know this itty bitty town the best, I thought you could show him around a bit."

"Of course!" I said, turning to him. His smile was bright, and he seemed.. decent. "I'm Annabelle, but I vote against people calling me that. Anna will get my attention." I said, holding out my hand for him to shake. He laughed and took my hand. "Vic. I learned that you can't make a nickname out of that, but you can call me by my last name if I give you the privilege."

"Well, let me know when that'll be because I'd be honored." I joked, motioning him to the back with me. "Cherry, this is Vic. Vic meet Cherry." She looked star struck.. typical from her, though. "Cherry.. I like it. Haven't ever heard that one before. Nice to meet you." He smiled, taking the empty seat across from us. "What brings you here, Vic? Everybody dreads the ongoing winter and odd clothing taste." I giggled, offering him Skittles. He took a few and answered my question, "I'm not sure. My mom wanted a new start. I knew coming somewhere like this would make her happy, so I agreed."

"And, the clothing taste could be better." He laughed. Cherry couldn't take her eyes off of him. His hair was just above his shoulders, a shade lighter than mine. Long hair on a guy is weird to me, but he makes it work. I'm guessing his smile had Cherry hooked.

As we talked, the bus ride seemed shorter than it usually is. "Do you have your schedule Vic?" I asked, grabbing my bag and setting it over my shoulder. "Yep!" He said, handing my a small slip of paper. "We have all but P.E together. I can show you around today." I smiled, handing it back to him. "Looking forward to it." He winked, and stood up to walk off of the bus, followed by Cherry and I.

I parted ways with Cherry before first period, knowing I wouldn't see her until lunch. "C'mon, class doesn't start for another 15 minutes or so."

"What do we do while we wait?" He asked, following me inside. "I have to check in with my counselor, then we'll head to class." He followed me into the office and into a small quiet room. "Anna-baby!" Jenna said, launching herself on me. I laughed and hugged her back. "Who's this? Boyfriend I should've known about before now, I'm guessing." She propped her hips and crossed her arms. I giggled a bit, "no, no, Jenna. This is Vic. I'm showing him around. He just moved into town."

"How's the weather? Odd choice of clothing getting to you yet?" She asked, shuffling through a pile of papers. He just laughed, I could tell he was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Alright Jenna, I was just checking in. We've gotta get going! See you after lunch!" I said, taking Vic's hand and pulling him out of the offices. "Why do you go to counseling?" He asked as we found our way to home room. "Uh, my dad thought it'd be a cool thing for me to do. I hated the idea at first, but I started becoming close with Jenna and the ladies upfront so I sort of stuck with it." I told him, clearly lying, but I wasn't about to tell him how messed up I was.

I walked into my normal home room class, and took a random seat in the back. Vic stood talking to Mr. Reed for a minute or two before sitting behind

me. I turned around to face him, "okay, so for this class, we don't do much. Just pull out your phone or something. Reed doesn't care much." I smiled, returning to my game of Candy Crush.

"Here." Vic said, handing me his phone. "I might need to text you if I ever get lost.." He smirked. I laughed and typed in my number. I closed out of Candy Crush and clicked on Instagram. It only took a few seconds before getting a text from an unknown number.

Your hair looks pretty.

I looked back at Vic and he laughed. I saved his number and texted back.

To think this is one of my bad hair days. Haha.

"I don't think you could have a bad day, Anna." He whispered as I heard his phone shut off. My face only showed sort of a slight shock emotion. I gulped and turned my head to face the front. No, no, no, no. NO.