voodoo doll // c.hood

prologue

The new school year had just begun. Not so eager students were filing into their seats into a small classroom at Parkwood High School, in the far western end of Sydney. Known for it's towering bridge and it's perfectly architectured harbour, the city was romanticized by foreigners of the world. But for many, Sydney was not a place for love; more of a place to escape from.

As copious amounts of students piled in, meaningless chatter filled the room as the students began to contemplate their final year of absolute bullshit. Year 12 was just another year for parents to have high expectations for the kids, and just another year for them to be sadly let down.

In entered an old man, reeking of annoyance and the last bottle of gin he had sadly gone through last night; in an attempt to regather his reasoning for becoming a history teacher in the first place. His eyes scattered the room, taking in what hopeless teenagers he'd have to teach this year. 

He placed his briefcase on the desk in front of him and attempted to fix the few grey hairs he had left on his head, pushing them over to one side. He took a step out from behind the desk and greeted the students in his typical harsh and booming voice.

"Good morning students." Silence fell across the room almost immediately.

"Ah silence, my favourite. It's nice to have a little silence on the first day... even though knowing your track record Hood, this day will be my only lucky day!"

The tanned boy with the dark hair, sporting the typical navy blue school polo and a pair of matching blue sport shorts, let out a soft chuckle and looked to his friends sitting beside him for support. The typical jock, the one who got all the girls and was the captain of the soccer team, and seemed like he had it all. But only the few intellectual ones would really see that he was empty. 

"So, you students are all seniors now. You are in your last year of high school... if you don't have to end up repeating, which is a high possibility given the work ethic of most of you. You are the leaders, and you must do well and set an example." 

The air was filled with huffs of annoyance and loud groans as the rambling teacher continued on.

"Look, I don't want to be here, and I'm sure you don't want to be here learning about dead people who did stuff hundreds of years ago. But we both have to suck it up and deal with it, and that's all I can say for now. So if we can just get started on..."

The sound of the door swinging open interrupted him, revealing a petite girl with black shoulder length hair and bangs. She wore fishnet tights, that had rips and holes in them, paired with her skirt which may have been up a little too high, and worn out high tops. Her bag was graffitied with doodles of various band logos. A ring hung off her lip and piercings ran up and down her ears. Smudged eyeliner bordered her eyes, going along with her pale complexion.

"Uh, Miss Green. I see I have the pleasure of teaching you, again." He spoke sarcastically. The girl simply rolled her eyes.

"Hello to you too, Mr Reading. I'm just simply trying to keep my impeccable record of most days late to school!"

"Amity, your large vocabulary won't get you out of this one. You're already late on your first day back. Take a seat please, over there by Mr Hood."

The dark brooding eyes of the boy known as Calum Hood darted towards the rude but unique girl who was now trailing over towards him. He stared at her in disbelief, wondering how he had never really noticed her before, and how she wasn't blushing at the thought of even sitting remotely near him. A smooth and sharp voice interrupted him from his fountain of thoughts;

"Stop staring at me, pretty boy!"