Chapter 1--- Haunted
When things get a little bit rough, you can do some summersaults for you to appreciate life in its different angles. Life has been throwing asshole-y things at Jean. She’s having a hard time making the universe nicer to her. She’s just an average girl. Weirdo is the word written all over her skin. She wants to speed things up. She wants to get out of the hellish place she is in. Well, who would like to get labeled a sore loser? Her awkwardness exudes from every pore of her being. She believes that she was fated to suffer the pangs of having a trivial existence. She just wants to live like a normal girl does. But unlike the damsels in distress found inhabiting in a pathetic, hackneyed fairy tales who are bound to get rescued by some blue-eyed, muscle man sporting a gallant masculinity and conceited virility, she is beyond redemption. Well, she’s not even in a pastel colored gown. Her pale skin is so cold. The sun doesn’t even touch her because she is some kind a creature, who takes refuge in the bottommost cave of her secluded existence. The aforementioned descriptions are overwrought. You may think that she is some kind of a grotesque creature, stricken with an incurable monstrosity. The fact is that she has big, beautiful orbs. Her blues can be likened to the deepest part of the ocean. One can swim in them all day long. Her skin is pale but as soft. Her lips are drawn almost perfectly. If she smiles, they stretch gracefully from one side to the other. Well, she smiles rarely so it’s often unappreciated. Her nose can be likened to the works of the greatest sculptors of the ancient times. She has a silky black hair that falls perfectly at her back. She has a fragile physique, devoid of any anatomical extravagance unlike the typical cheer leader. She wears terrible clothes with dark hues. She’s not an emo. She resents that brand. She hates being called a wrist-slitting, i-hate-the-world kid. For the benefit of the doubt, she is into rehabilitating children with terrible experiences. In fact, she engages in activities conducted to help kids with suicidal tendency. She just doesn’t want people to know about it. She cares deeply for these kids. Her kindness extends to the animals. If she is free, she whiles away her time by feeding abandoned animals in a shelter. She also finds time in helping sick animals recuperate. People don’t know these things. They keep on eyeing her as a miserable girl who needs some serious help.
6:45 am, Monday
While floating down the lobby to her next class, a thought suddenly hit her. “Shit.” She cursed inaudibly. She almost bit her tongue. She was requested by her teacher to drop by Mr. Lang’s office to get the book for the day’s lecture. She’s late and Mr. Lang’s office is in the adjacent building. She rerouted and doubled her pace. She’s actually sweating now. She doesn’t want to get some angry eyes darting on her first thing in the morning. While on the way, people threw daggers at her. They gossiped like there’s no tomorrow. It’s not like she cares about it anymore. She is used to being talked about. She gets lot of it at classroom so it doesn’t really bother her anymore. What sucks is the fact that these people don’t even know her. “Like hell I care,” she said to herself. She passed by the basketball club. Same as usual, she saw 6-foot tall jocks playing the famous sport. Screeching of their shoes annoys her though. She saw Nathan looking back at her with a smirk on his face. Nathan is a bastard. He is 6 feet2 inches bloke who beams a gorgeous yet devilish grin everytime he sees Jean. It sickens her so she tries to avoid him. He’s a drop dead gorgeous douchebag who is infamous because of his reputation of being a “player”. “Jerk,” she hissed with fury. She continued her journey with her head bowed down. She finally reached Mr. Lang’s office. She is kinda apprehended because it is her first time to meet the teacher. She knocked on the door thrice. No answer. She repeated the act but to her dismay, no one answered. The door was left ajar so she decided to make a move. It’s now or never. If she doesn’t hurry, she’s so screwed. The bell will soon be tolling. She wandered around the office, hoping to see even the faintest sign of life. “Hello?” she said, half whispering, half yelling. She looked around, pissed as every second slipped away. She needed to get the book from this who-knows-where teacher. Finally, she reached the table. It is located near the window facing the trees that towered over the lush bushes behind the building. The sunlight passed through the window pane. She finally conjured all the necessary courage to move a bit closer to the table. She was about to grab the picture on the table when a voice broke the silence. “Hey!” the voice startled her. She swore she could have fallen off if it were not because of the chair at her right side. She stuttered, “Ahm…hey, I’m J-Jean and I am h-here to get the book. Are you Mr. Lang? Our t-teacher told me to get it from you but no one’s a-around so I decided to…” she was interrupted by a loud laughter from the person standing before him. She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the strange man in front of her. “Well you see. I’m not old enough to be a teacher, silly.” The guy started to have some hilarity tears. What’s up with this dork? Jean said to herself while watching the guy with and amalgamation of bewilderment and irritation. “Can you please give me the book? I’m about to get late so if you don’t mind…” again, she was cut in the middle of saying something. “You’re cute…” the statement caused Jean to zone out. “Hey, missy…what’s up?” he held her cheeks. It burnt like hell. It was like she’s being submerged in a boiling water enough to scald a pig. She snapped out of the trance she was in and gave a horrified look to the guy. She wanted to sucker punch him and pummel him to pulp but she was too weak to put up a fight. “Stop it…” she broke into tears. Her throat hurt so much. She needed to get out of the room. The guy looked worried. “I’m sorry missy, I’m just being straightforward. But I guess it staggered you.” He moved closer to her but she ran away with tears rolling down her eyes. “Hey! I’m so sorry!!!” the guy screamed but it didn’t prevent her from getting away. She bolted out of the room. She finally reached her classroom. All eyes were on her. Hers were blood-shot. “What’s up with that guy?” she kept on asking this while ignoring the sermons coming from her raging teacher. She was reminded of that incident-that incident that sucked the life out of her.
“Hey Jean! Wait up!” a bright voice brought Jean to a halt. It was Max. He inched her way to Jean in the middle of a sea of people. He smiled. She smiled back at him. She always loved how Max calls her by her name. She basically was the silent-type but when she’s with him, she can talk non-stop and laugh her heart out. She was comfortable with him. She loved how he would childishly pinch her cheeks and make face while doing some funny dance. He was fond of lip syncing Jean’s favorite songs which amused her to no end. He was like the sunshine in her life.
“jean?” Max asked timidly.
“Yeah?”, Jean casually answered the nervous lad.
“Are you free tonight? I am thinking if we could, you know, hang out…well if you want to,” Max laughed tensely. He was squeezing his hands to relieve the tension.
Jean was caught off guard. She suddenly stopped. Her heart was beating fast and her mind was going haywire.
“Hey, Jean. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to surprise you. It’s just that I think I like you and I want to know you better,” he carefully approached Jean, still frozen.
“I…I don’t know what to say. No one ever asked me to go out,” she stammered and words almost choked her. She always wanted him but she just kept it to herself, afraid of the rejection she might get from him.
“I’m so sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you that. I feel terrible. I hope we could still be friends and…” Max said. Disappointment was evident in his voice.
“No…I-I want to go out with you…” Jean said softly. Her cheeks are now burning.
“Really? Wow! Yes! I mean…Thanks…” Max excitement escalated by the mere thought of having a date with Jean. He suddenly pecked her left cheek. This made the butterfly in Jean’s stomach flutter…in a good way.
She felt light-headed. She didn’t know what to say.
“well then…I’m gonna fetch you at 7:00. Is that ok?” he excitedly held her hand. His eyes sparkled like the stars in the clear sky.
She nodded, still speechless.
Max ran with a smile still etched on his face. He was over the moon. He just can’t believe that she said yes.
hey loves! i know this is kinda lame but hey this is my first time so just bear with me... while reading this, you can play taylor swift's haunted... i got the chapter's title from it...just let me know about your thoughts...my fb account: jang_kirby@yahoo.com thenks!!!
