Gasoline.

Chapter 3: A Room Of Flames

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Chapter 3- a room of flames

I woke up the next morning with a massive headache, not surprised. I could hear Grayson moving around in his room but I didn't care, I was going to avoid him as much as possible.

I have a shower, get dressed, do some light makeup, brush my hair and walk out the front door. Grayson quickly runs out of the house as I hear the door slam behind me, but I quicken my pace.

"Katie, wait!" He calls out, but I just roll my eyes and walk faster. He runs.

"Katie, are you annoyed?" I don't respond, instead, I put my apple headphones in and press 'shuffle', turning the volume up so loud that all I hear is my breathing.

We get to school about five minutes later and I just walk to my first lesson, ignoring his questions about where we're going, who is in our class and if I'll talk to him. Nope, nope and definitely no.

"Miss Matthews, is this your lovely exchange student?" My teacher Miss Smith asks. I nod in response. "What's your name sweety?"

"Grayson. Grayson Thomas."

"Let's introduce you to the class shall we?" Grayson walks into the room and stands awkwardly in front of all the desks. I hear a couple of girls whisper things about how 'good he looks'. I can't blame them, although I'm pissed, he is good looking.

During the lesson, I hear Grayson whispering my name, and crunching numerous pieces of paper. I received at least four notes asking if I would talk to him. He's hilarious, quite a funny guy if you ask me. I can't pay attention to my teacher though as all I can hear are the tapping of thumbs and fingers on mobile phones. Tap, tap, tap. Screen shot noise, paper rustle, laughing emoji...it had to stop.

I turn around to face the annoying girls in the back of the classroom.

"Oh my goodness, can you actually stop 'lol-ing' and 'hash tagging' for one damn minute? You have been placed in a first world country for a reason, stop wasting it." I say and turn to face the front.

"At least I'm not banging the exchange student."

This time, I fully stand up, out of my chair and march over to Kelsey Withers' desk.

"I'm sorry what was that?"

"You heard me, you hoe." She states, with a sly grin forming on her face. I clench my fists and slowly start to raise my hand but I hear a chair scrape on the floor and someone's hand cover mine.

"It's not worth it Miss Katherin." The voice whispers in my ear.

My fist relaxes but of course my teacher has something to say. I'm guessing a detention.

"Miss Matthews, sit yourself down now!" She glares. "And Miss Withers, shut your mouth or give me your phone and an hour of your time after school."

Kelsey's little face drops and she stares at me, knowing I've won this round. I walk to my seat, sit down and Miss Smith carries on teaching the lesson.

***

"Hey Katie, wait a second." Grayson says, matching the speed of my walk. He knows I still don't want to talk to him, even though he did save me a suspension earlier on in English.

"Not now Thomas." And with that, I double the speed so I'm on the verge of jogging and make my way to the cafeteria.

I sit down on a table furthest to the back of the dining room and eat my home-made food in peace. Well, it started off in one piece... it was perfectly fine until I heard light heels making their way over to my peace and comfort.

"Aww hello Katie, may we sit?"

She doesn't even wait for my response, Kelsey and her supposed friends sit opposite me on the round table. "Fun English lesson wasn't it?"

"You could say that." I look into her eyes. "If I was able to concentrate, it would have been an actual lesson, but we can't all get what we want. Oh wait, you always do."

Kelsey obviously doesn't like my response, I can tell because all of a sudden, my head is cold and dripping with strawberry milkshake. Great.

"Yeah that was fun to watch. Maybe you learnt something just now." She leans into my ear. "Don't bitch about me again."

With that, she walks off but someone else replaces her.

"Go away Grayson." I say, trying to wipe my sticky hair with my hands.

"Just thought you may want these." He smiles, obviously hurt from rejection but still passes me the white paper towels.

"Thanks."

"That was pretty rough, are you okay?"

I look at him and clearly roll my eyes, and then look away and eat my food.

"Well I guess I'll see you later at home." He shrugs with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

After he leaves the table, I wait a second before getting up and walking to the girl's bathroom, ignoring the comments and giggles from other people on the way there.

I dip some toilet roll into the cool water and place it on my head. Looking back up at the mirror, I see myself, my average looking self. A teenage girl with slight dark circles under her green eyes. Her brown hair covering just below her shoulder with a slight wave. My outfit was pretty average to, even with strawberry milkshake on it. A black, shoulder less turtle-neck with a sky blue skirt, black tights and black Nike shoes. My backpack was average, and so were my minimal accessories. Everything on my outside was basic, but when you took a look inside, it was different. Very, very un-average.

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