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IF THERE WAS ONE THING REINA thought of as stupid, it was the concept of lockers. Would it not be easier to just carry your stuff around in a bag, rather than make twenty extra, unnecessary trips to a metal cupboard you can barely open to pretend you are putting away books, when in reality you just stare at the back wall for thirty seconds before realizing you didn't need to even open it in the first place?
Long story short, they have never been her favorite.
So when she arrived at the locker labeled 259 with a few too many half-peeled stickers on the door, and a lock that would barely budge without her using every ounce of arm strength in her, Reina could do nothing but let out a quiet "fuck" and continue putting her books inside in a somewhat orderly way.
While shoving her Charcoal: An Artistic Concept notebook that the second block art teacher had given her into the back of the locker, she glanced around in search of Huey.
Her brother had been adopted into the Marshall family at age six years old when Reina herself was just verging on seven. While she did appreciate her brother above all others, he had always appeared to be more welcomed into her family than she was.
He was the type of teenager who seemed idiotic when having a conversation, because of his playful and spaced-out personality, but in reality he was top of his class. It didn't pose as a wonder when he skipped a grade and landed himself in the same class as Reina. Always the first to raise his hand, always the first to answer a question, always first in basically everything.
Huey Marshall was probably the best thing to happen to Reina's life, though, and she was grateful for him being there when her parents were too absent to do so themselves.
Finally giving up on catching a glimpse of her Korean brother, she resorted to finding her next class on her own. There wasn't any reason to go with her brother, anyway.
Looking down for a moment to pull her phone out of the back pocket of her boyfriend jeans, Reina was surprised to see a second pair of shoes standing beside hers.
Whipping her head up and to the right of her open locker, there stood an unfamiliar face.
Like her adopted brother, this guy was also of Korean decent, standing at about six-foot-one, maybe two, forcing Reina to crane her neck in order to meet his eyes.
His face was soft but angular face, with defined eyes which she swore she could stare into all day, and soft, full lips which were formed into a slight smirk. He adorned a gray jacket and casual jeans, both hands tucked into his front pockets.
Knowing that she had been staring for perhaps a moment too long, Reina cleared her throat and turned back to her locker, putting back on her bored face. It was the face she wore best.
Finally taking out her last book, she removed her hand just in time, before the unknown boy closed the locker door himself with a little too much force for her liking, probably annoyed by the lack of attention she was giving him.
"May I help you?" she lazily glanced back over to him.
Satisfied with a response from her, his smirk–which was already getting on Reina's nerves–returned to his annoyingly good-looking face.
"Jaden Shin," he leaned against the lockers to his side.
Reina internally rolled her eyes, "And I'm unimpressed," she spoke before starting to walk away.
"Wait-" the guy, Jaden, starting walking beside her, "You're one of the new kids."
"No, really? I thought I'd gone here my whole life," she said sarcastically, picking up her pace a little.
He chuckled, "You're cute. Just thought you'd wanna know someone else at this school, you probably don't have many friends yet. We could get to know each other."
She cringed at his language. Reina doubted he'd want to 'get to know her'.
"Nope, thanks," she spoke fast while looking straight ahead, "I don't need any friends right now."
"Ah, so you're one of those girls," Jaden inquired.
Suddenly, he picked up his pace and planted himself in front of Reina, cutting her off from continuing to the classroom.
"Do you mind?" she asked. He didn't appear to plan on moving any time soon.
"I never got your name," he stated.
"I know, I never gave it."
"C'mon now," he almost pleaded, "Okay, maybe I came off in the wrong way."
"Hmm, just a little," Reina tried side stepping around him, only for Jaden to cut her off once again, preventing her from ever making it to class on time.
And it's my first day, too.
"I really do just want to get to know you, you seem pretty chill."
Reina paused, thinking about it.
"And cute," and there we go, "Okay, okay, sorry didn't mean to say that," he saved himself after seeing the look on her face.
"But seriously," he stepped a bit closer to her, ridding themselves of the large amount of space between them, "can I at least know your name?"
Reina looked up at Jaden, making contact with his dark, alluring eyes. He appeared almost, desperate, she would say. It confused her as to why he came off as so hell-bent on knowing her name.
"Reina."
Jaden broke the contact for a moment, smiling slightly to himself. He looked back up, only to realize Reina had already moved past him, taking advantage of his moment of distraction.
"Hey!" she didn't turn around as he shouted towards her, attracting the attention of only a few others around him, "I'll see you around, yeah?"
Reina simply flipped him off without a glance in his direction. Jaden took it as a good sign, at least she was acknowledging him... in a sort of way.
She just couldn't fight the incredibly small smile from creeping its way onto her face.
sorry for the SUPER slow updates.
i haven't been in the best mindset lately, therefore affecting my writing.
