Look At Me Now

Chapter One

I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and sighed tapping my pencil on the dark wood of my desk. I had no clue how to solve this. I sucked at math, therefore I hated it. I'm an English girl, a History girl even. Not a math girl. I've never made better than a C in math before and I knew it could only get worse.

"Avia, it's your turn to clean the kitchen," my mom said from my doorway.

"I'll be there in a minute," I replied. I had very little patience for my mother, mostly due to the fact that she never left me alone. I loved her...from a distance. It could be that teenager thing that everyone talks about but I couldn't be sure. All I ever know is that I'm happier when I'm alone. I'm able to be whoever I want when I'm alone. I feel better when I'm alone.

"Now, Avia," she said. Her voice left no room for argument.

I sighed and let my pencil fall from my hand. I followed her to the kitchen and she leaned against the counter as I started on the dishes.

"How's your homework going?" she asked.

"Well it isn't going at all at the moment," I said.

She rolled her eyes at me and muttered something under her breath before leaving the kitchen. We lived in a small one story house. It wasn't all that nice but it was a house. It was just her, my twelve year old brother, and me. My dad was off living somewhere else with his new family. We were just his accidental test drive that wasn't up to his standards. He now lives in California with a trophy wife, a great job, and twin daughters.

My brother Kyle came strolling into the kitchen. "Is there any ice cream left?" he asked.

"I don't know," I told him as I rinsed the last dish. I passed him as he reached his hand into the freezer and pulled out a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Back in my room I looked at myself in front of my floor length mirror. I let my eyes trail over my face. Crystal blue eyes that contrasted sharply with my dark hair. The freckles that were powdered over my nose and full cheeks. My lips were full and chapped from the recently cold weather. This was the part of myself that I loved. And then I ran my hands over my pudgy stomach and wide hips with a frown on my face. I was a larger girl. I dieted, but I couldn't shake the extra weight. It wasn't something I was too happy about. I bit my lip as I turned away from the stupid thing and went back to my math work.

"I'm just saying that he's hot and I wouldn't say no to going on a date with him. As long as I was single, of course," my friend Heather said to her boyfriend Ron as we were walking to our last class of the day.

I rolled my eyes and shifted my books. "Yeah, but you're not single," Ron said for the third time since we'd gotten on this ridiculous subject.

Heather was talking about John Baylor. He was the new student from Miami, Florida. He had blonde wavy hair and golden skin. He was basically that "surfer guy" you'd see in any cheesy beach-themed romance movie. He was hot, of course, but I didn't find him interesting. He was an open book with an overdose of Axe body spray. Not someone I want to hang out with, let alone date.

Although it didn't particularly matter anyway. It wasn't like I was on the list of "Red Walker High School's Most Attractive Girls". Okay so I made that one up but still. I wouldn't be on it if it did exist.

Heather on the other hand probably would be. She had super long brown curls and big green eyes. She was a dancer with a great body and she wasn't afraid to flaunt it. Her bubbly, however, personality wasn't a ruse. She was aware of people and how they needed to be treated for her to get her way. She met Ron a year ago during a lab partner assignment in Biology. They hated each other at first-or so I thought. Then one day I walked into her room to see them eating each other's faces-that was something I unfortunately couldn't erase from my brain, as much as I tried.

"What do you think, Avia?" Heather asked me. Her eyes told me exactly what she wanted me to say

Too bad I was her best friend who didn't fear her enough to lie. "I think he's alright."

"Alright? You think he's alright?" she asked sharply. "Just alright? That's ridiculous." We'd walked into the classroom and gotten our seats as she ranted about my ignorance and inability to notice John's "sexiness".

"Excuse me," a voice said next to me, shutting Heather up almost instantly. I looked up. Speak of the Devil and he shall appear. "Is this seat taken?" he asked pointing to the desk next to mine.

"Not at all," Heather, who sat on my other side, rushed to say. Ron, sitting in front of Heather, gave her an annoyed look over his shoulder. I almost rolled my eyes.

"Thank you," John smiled taking the seat. He slid his hand towards me. "I'm John."

I shook his hand lightly. "I'm Avia. This is Heather and Ron."

"Nice to meet you," he said regarding us all.

"So, John, how is your first day going?" Heather asked, leaning her head in her hand.

"It's alright. I've been bombarded with so many questions it is quite hard to keep track of everything, but that's fine."

"Yeah that happens around here," I nodded. We didn't get many new students so it was like moths to a flame.

He seemed like he was going to speak again but the teacher decided it was time to reign the class in and get started.

After that class and an intense three hour study session it was time for me to go home. There were a few problems with this "easy-enough" situation. One, my car wasn't working. Two, it was already dark out. Three, my house was seven miles from school. Four, my phone was completely dead. And five, I had no money. Great. Fabulous. This is all I've ever wanted.

I sighed loudly and began my three hour trek home. About thirty minutes into my walk I could hear small beats behind me. Footsteps. Someone was following me. I spared a glance over my shoulder and sure enough there was someone there wearing nothing but black. I couldn't see his face and that made me more nervous.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and goose bumps erupted over my skin. The chilly November air was biting at my cheeks as I broke out into a run. Even going in full sprint there was no way in hell I could out run this person. He was only five feet behind me now and he wasn't even sprinting. I looked forwards again just in time to ram my face into a hard chest. I fell back stunned and the original person caught me under my arms. The new person leaned close to my face and ran a gloved finger over my cold cheek. "Please, please, d-don't-"

"Shh," he shushed his finger resting over my lips. "You'll be fine, Angel. Just fine." Tears ran down my cheeks as the other person's hand covered my mouth with a cloth, before I could scream, and I instantly knew what was on it. I felt my body grow heavier and heavier with each second. I tried with every fiber of my being to fight it but I couldn't. As my eyelids grew heavy I began to feel as though I was falling down, down, down...