{5}
The moment I stepped out of my car and walked up the sidewalk towards the main doors to the school the next morning, it seemed everyone’s conversations lowered to a whisper as I stepped onto the first stair. With my hand gripping my brown leather book bag, I walked with my head held high as I passed Stephanie and her small posy of minions.
Something was up, I could already tell.
And just as I stepped through the main doors, Bay fell into step with me as she exited one of the halls that led towards the east wing.
“So have you heard?” Bay asked proving my suspicions, “Apparently, you’ve gone off the rails and turned your back on your old crowd to be a part of mine.”
“You have a crowd?” I asked as I glanced over at her. Her black hair with pink highlights was pulled up into a ponytail which showed more of her face.
Bay rolled her eyes, “Stephanie Grove label’s everything and everyone.”
“So, what did she label you as?”
“Well according to Stephanie, we’re the “Out Crowd”.”
I snorted out a laugh, “Really, the Out Crowd? That’s so cliché! She does know that she labeled her group the “In Crowd” right?”
Bay shrugged, “Stephanie isn’t really original.”
“Oh trust me, I know she isn’t. Everything about this town is cliché, including her.”
Beside me, Mark and Carrie fell into step with Bay and I. “Welcome to the dark side.” Mark smiled down at me.
“We have cookies,” Carrie added with a laugh as she wrapped her arm around her boyfriend’s waist.
“Not really,” Bay rolled her eyes as she looped her arm through mine. It threw me off a bit. I was never one for physical contact. Even when I was dating David, holding his hand, hugging him, kissing him and everything else felt weird.
“But we have hash brownies,” Mark added as he draped his arm around my shoulders. “Those are even better.”
And just like that, Stephanie’s rumors turned out to be right. I did turn my back on her and her friends, and I found some of my own.
++
As the bell for lunch rang throughout the school, I slipped out of my seat, shouldered my bag and stepped out into the crowded halls. During lunch hour, the halls were a lot more hectic. With everyone either starving or just plain glad that they didn’t have to sit through another lecture, the halls were a lot more chaotic.
Instead of following the herd leading towards the cafeteria, I elbowed my way through the four way intersection and pushed myself into the gym. I had one destination in mind- the basement.
I wasn’t entirely sure if Bay or the others would be in there but I was willing to take the risk. Even though I had only gone down to the basement once before my feet carried me in the direction of the staircase just outside the gym as if I had been going down there my entire high school career.
Once I got past the creepy scene at the beginning of the long tunnel, I hitched my bag over my head and held onto the strap that crossed over my chest; between my breasts.
As I neared the back room, music caught my attention, the sound of Machine Gun Kelly rapping in the background reached my ears. Stepping into the room, I squinted my eyes, and coughed a few times. Heavy smoke filled the room, the smell a mixture between cigarette and weed.
“They’re not here,” a voice so deep, that God instantly came to mind. Had you ever heard a voice so deep that when you heard it you just didn’t know where the hell it was coming from? Well, that was exactly what happened to me in that moment. Snapping my head to all sides of the room, my eyes finally landed on a looming figure lounging on the couch where I had first seen Mark and Carrie.
“Sorry,” I said clearing my throat after my voice cracked a bit at the end, “What?”
“They’re not here,” he repeated as he leaned forward and rested his elbows onto his knees. With the slight movement, I caught sight of his face and nearly stopped breathing.
Viktor.
Chills ran down my spine- and not the good kind.
It didn’t matter that he was just as good looking at his cousin, Conrad, his dark gaze was enough to have Michael Myers running for the hills.
I watched in silence as he lifted his hand to his mouth and inhaled from the small stick placed between his thick fingers. I wasn’t sure whether he was smoking a cigarette or a joint.
Unlike his cousin, Viktor had a full head of dark hair with eyes to match. They looked nothing alike, but they were both very attractive.
I stood at the entrance of the room for awhile before Viktor finished off his smoke and dropped it onto the floor before stubbing it out with the tip of his boot. He leaned back on the sofa and placed his arm on the back of the couch.
“Malia, right?” he asked.
Slowly moving further into the room, I nodded and sat on the loveseat next to the three seated couch against the wall with colorful tagging. “The one and only,” I replied as I opened my bag and pulled my bottled water out.
He watched me as I unscrewed the cap and took a long sip. His dark eyes were calculating my every move as if by watching me drink bottled water would tell him everything he needed to know about me.
“Well now you are,” he said as he bent down to grab his beverage off the floor.
I furrowed my brows together, “Excuse me?”
“The one and only,” Viktor said quoting my words from earlier. “You know because before there were two of you and now there’s only one.”
Another set of chills ran down my spine as those last words left his lips. Who the hell said things like that?
