Mixing Paints

T W O

The photo is the oh so beautiful, Aiyana A. Lewis and this is how I picture Luna.

L U N A

"These are the best four years of your life," All the middle aged grownups tell me.

I can assure you that they aren't. The day I graduate I'll walk out these doors shamelessly showing the finger on each hand.

My life isn't some cliché high school story where I'm the nerd who's bullied and eats lunch in the bathroom. I was just average. I preferred to have a small group of friends but sometimes I enjoyed being alone. I wasn't particularly bullied, except for the couple of snappy remarks from Brooklyn Tate (but she just hates everyone that isn't her or her boyfriend).

I just hate school because everyone is just the same. They care more about the latest gossip than food crises around the world. They'd rather learn sex tips before college instead of actual things that would help them. There are probably only a handful of people that differed from the rest, those are the people I preferred to associate myself with.

Danielle was half in the mix. She wasn't entirely book smart but she had knowledge about important things and strong opinions. She loved gossip and drama but at the same time she didn't lose sight of important things.

"I hope we have a really cute new guy,' Dani said with her cheeks blushing at the thought. I playfully rolled my eyes at my boy-crazy friend.

"What happened to the college guy," I asked as I took another bite out of my apple. I always missed breakfast because I just love my sleep way too much. Cress would wake me up in the morning 3 times and I'd always reply with "Just 5 more minutes" which would eventually turn to more minutes and I'd leave the house with my curls a mess and stomach empty.

"It turned out he had a girlfriend," she sighed and I could sense a hint of sadness in her voice.

"That's such a shame Danielle. You'd think that with all the guys you've been with you'd know better," An unmistakable high-pitched voice joined in before I could say anything. I made eye contact with the devil's spawn herself, Brooklyn Tate. Her manicured nails clung on to her trophy boyfriend, Dylan Coleman, who was 6 feet of good looks. He remained expressionless most of the time. They complimented each other in the way every other couple did. It's like they say, 'pretty people go for pretty people' that's just how it is.

Shades of pink fled into Dani's face but somehow she still pulled off a smile. "If you constantly go on about how much better you are than us then why is your nose always in our business?"

Brooklyn's nostrils flared. She hated Dani more than anyone because of the fear that she might even be more popular than her, and gets bonus points for always being nice.

"Don't flatter yourself,' she replied with the fakest laugh. "I'm here for Luna. You can't get such an absurd haircut and not expect me to say something about it. So tell me what was your inspiration? A middle aged dad from the 90s? You should stop hanging out with your dad so much, it's the 21st century."

I self-consciously fiddled with the ringlets of my hair. I hated feeling like this, I thought it looked nice and I knew it did but somehow she gave me a sense of self-doubt.

Before I could answer, our little face off was interrupted by someone clearing his throat. The group turned around to see Mick Alvarez standing there in his leather jacket, black jeans and that lop sided smile still on his face.

"Speaking of hair, I love what you've done with yours. How did you get it to grow so evenly above your lips?" His smooth lips curled into a smirk. I nearly choked on my apple at that and Dani was shamelessly snorting at his remark.

"I don't ha- That's so gross. I-," Brooklyn tried to defend herself but the words wouldn't come out.

Dylan leaned down to examine her face and let out a low whistle. 'Yikes... when was the last time you got your face threaded?"

Imagine your boyfriend told you he was into necrophilia. That's just how mortified she looked. "I'm kidding babe, relax."

With a sigh of annoyance, Brooke broke away from him and pushed past us (as in really pushed, I'm tiny and the girl nearly made me fall over). We all started laughing at Dylan's little joke. Dylan rolled his eyes and ran after his girlfriend.

"You're welcome," Mick, who I nearly forgot about, said as he pulled off his backpack that was far too light for a senior.

"For what?" I asked as my eyebrows furrowed quizzically.

"For defending you of course. I mean your hair looks really pretty so I just had to do it justice." I felt warmth involuntarily rise to my cheeks but shrugged it off. This was just Mick 'Says Whatever Is On His Mind For That Moment' Alvarez. He pulled out a few vinyl records and handed them to me. "And for these."

My brown eyes stared at the vinyl in wonder. They were in their cases but they were just so beautiful. I sighed as I flipped through: The Smiths, Queen, Prince and Michael Jackson. The love for music ran in our family, it's not as strong in me but it was definitely there.

I felt Dani nudge me on my shoulder and realised that I must have zoned out into my little bubble. "Thank you so much but I don't have the kind of money to buy all these records today."

"No charge," He shakes his head. "Your dad has a real passion for music. I'm happy to pass them on to someone who will cherish them." With that, he spun on his heels and walked away. That's Mick Alvarez for you. He comes and causes chaos and then he goes.

"Thanks again, for the vinyl records," I called back.

He walks backwards for a bit, "and for defending you."

"I could've done that myself."

"Sure you could have, Luna," He shot me another one of his dorky lop sided grins before crashing into a teacher who was carrying books from his car.

"Shi- I mean f-..." he rambled. "I'm so sorry Mr. Daniels." He hurriedly scooped up the books and bolted away.

Mr. Daniels shook his head and muttered, "That darn Micah Alvarez, such a strange boy."

He was right 100%, Mick was definitely a strange boy.

. . .

Brooklyn might seem like a total pain now but as the story goes along you'll see that... she gets worse yikes.

Chapter Question: Since this chapter talks a lot about music, What are your top 5 favourite bands?

My answer: Twenty One Pilots (they're a duo but whatever), The Neighbourhood, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975 and BMTH.

I also love One Direction but they're on a hiatus so let's not speak of them but now that I've brought it up lemme just cry for a few days :(

Thank you for reading

-Monique xx