Braxten High

Chapter 18

Scarlett's POV:

Zara and I were headed towards our lockers, laughing and complaining like normal. What wasn't normal was the pamphlet or a booklet kind of thing that fell from my locker.

Upon looking around, I discovered it wasn't just me who received an odd little booklet. In fact, everyone seemed to have one. "What the fuck is this?" I asked, turning to Zara at the same time she turned to me and said, "What the hell is this?"

We both sighed, looking down at the booklet. "All I want is a normal senior year, is that too much to ask for?" Zara muttered. "Apparently, in Braxten High it is," I said sourly.

"Wait, is this a rulebook?" Zara asked rhetorically after a few minutes of inspection.

"No skirts allowed. Boys and girls must stay 3 feet away from each other at all times. All groups are henceforth banned. More than three children are not to be seen together. Wrong topics shall not be taught... why yes Zara, it is a rulebook," I said, reading out the rules and getting angrier by the second.

"Do I have to stay three feet away from Azriel?" Zara asked meekly. I looked at her and raised my brows as to say, 'Are you serious?'

"You do not," Azriel mumbled while hugging Zara from behind. She blushed.

"Nice timing" I commented and threw the stupid rulebook at the locker, stamping it with my shoes. I grabbed Zara's copy and ripped out pages, tearing them apart. "The fuck do they mean, rules? I didn't leave my mother to be followed by more stupid rules," I muttered, raged.

"What did I miss?" Ayden asked, panting as if he just ran a mile.

"We have a rulebook to follow that requires us to stay away from our friends and girlfriends, I just found out we have meatloaf for lunch, oh and Scarlett is officially proclaimed insane by me," Azriel said, earning a glare from me.

Ayden scoffed and turned towards me, "Calm down honey, you look like you're gonna kill someone," he said and kissed me good morning.

I finished shredding the last of Zara's copy and scowled, smiling immediately after at Ayden. I blushed as he whispered things to me, my mood doing an impressive turnover.

Zara cleared her throat and smirked, "Y'all are supposed to stay three feet away." I pointed at Azriel's hand that was around her waist and smiled sweetly. She just rolled her eyes in response and I slammed my locker shut. "I hate rules," I stated.

"You've made that pretty clear with your insane little show of hostility earlier, don't you think?" Azriel said mockingly. I clenched my fists and narrowed my eyes at him. "Asshole."

"Bullying is forbidden according to the rulebook, guess someone's gonna have problems dealing with that," Ayden scowled.

"If the rulebook doesn't give him problems, I will," I added.

"Stop arguing like preschool kids, we have a class to get to and we're late already," Zara said. The three of us mumbled a 'yeah' and headed to class.

____________________

It was the last hour, and I could not wait to get home. As I dreamt on about my comfortable bed and the joys and comforts of being home, Mr. Murray droned about a subject I couldn't be bothered about at this point in the school day.

I love being in his English lit. class, don't get me wrong. I was just really bored and absolutely zoned out. What did catch my attention though, was a student raising his hand.

No one ever raises their hand in the classroom, and soon he had the attention of everyone. Upon being prompted by Mr. Murray, he asked if we had to take the rulebook seriously or not, because the principal or any of the staff hadn't acknowledged it yet.

Mr. Murray waved his hand dismissively. "The rules in the book have been put together by some lunatic. It is a stupid prank and none of you have to worry about it or take it seriously. Apart from that, I'll be expecting your monthly assignment this Thursday," he answered and went back to constructing his character chart on the whiteboard.

After class, I played around with my pen as I waited for Ayden, and Zara went to where she saw Azriel and Isa discussing something. Having nothing better to do, I watched their little exchange and they looked like their discussion was rather sketchy.

Zara seemed to notice too, which led to Azriel shooing Isa and trying to distract Zara with a kiss. I looked away at the exact moment my pen flew from my hand and to the other end of the class.

I blew out a frustrated breath and made my way to where I thought I saw my pen fall, and upon bending down I noticed a tiny black thing behind the dustbin. It could've been an eraser or something, but a faint red blinking light made me pick it up.

Zara, Ayden, and Azriel were right behind me when I stood up. "What's that?" Ayden asked curiously.

"Hell if I know, it's got this weird red light," I said, holding it up. Azriel grabbed it and crushed it under his foot when he saw it. "It's a mic, a bug of sorts. Someone must have planted it there," he said in reply to our confusion.

"Whoever planted it here must've heard Scar and Ayden," Zara said worriedly.

Ayden picked up the crushed bug and inspected it before shoving it into his pocket, "I'm pretty sure I can try to track the location using the chip if it's not damaged."

"Enough mindless chatter, let's go home," I said, yawning and resting my head on Ayden's shoulder for a tiny nap.

-zoie and dawn