Rebel The Odds

Chapter 4 - Stalker

Chapter 4

Ethan took out a cigarette and placed it in between his lips, his left hand digs the pocket of his black trousers for a lighter.

He had waited at the same place and same time for the past two hours and there was still no sign of the girl.

His feet tapped against the concrete ground impatiently, he lighted the cigarette, his previous resolutions of quitting flew from the window. He blew out a puff of smoke, his blue eyes glinting from the light of the broken lamppost as he stared ahead.

Ethan was waiting, waiting for the girl to show up.

'Did she go back home early? Was yesterday a onetime thing?' he laughed to himself as he tried to justify a reason for his pitiful state. 

What was he expecting? For her to wait for him? Who would wait for him, anyway? The girl had probably forgotten him by now.

Ethan sighed heavily. He wished his mind would come to a conclusion once he accepted the cold truth and moved on. But he couldn't, he simply couldn't get her outside of his mind no matter how much he tried. 

He couldn't even sleep a wink last night because he kept repeating their first meeting, and her eyes, he wanted to see them. He wanted to hear her voice some more, and her touch too.

'Maybe if he saw her again, he would be able to move', he convinced himself. 

Once, just once. 

He blew another puff of smoke before throwing the cigarette at the cigarette box inside the dustbin and went back to his new bought bike. He leaned against it and took out his phone.

He remembered the uniform she was wearing.

What school was it?

Ethan opened the web and searched for a private school nearby, there were a few couple of schools and he check their school uniform. His eyes stopped as he scrolled into a female school that was located a few minutes away from him.

His eyebrows lifted in surprise when he saw the uniform she wore on the school's website. She attended an All-girls school?

A thought hit his head, 'Was that why she was so awkward with him? Because she wasn't used to it?'

Hopefully that was it.

He went through the school's website, noting the school's high status reputation and expensive fee. 'She must come from a rich family'. 

Insecurities suddenly washed over his profound confidence, he didn't come from a rich family at all, they barely made it if not for his aunt's bought shop and his part time jobs to pay the bills.

Ethan clicked on the school's social media, hoping to see a glimpse of her or if lucky, he'd found her social media account. He stopped at a picture that the school's social media posted, it was a year ago during a visit talk; there she was- her hair shorter and smiling widely on the picture with a hand over a mixed looking girl that had short brown hair dyed with blonde at the edges. 

Without thinking it over, Ethan screenshot it and searched the comments in hopes for her account. Unfortunately, he didn't see any tag on it so he continued searching for other pictures of her.

He screenshot any picture he could find that she was in, finding her face in the midst of class pictures and school photos, it wasn't hard really. Her beauty was simply eye catching and it was as if his eyes could immediately identity which one was her.

He founded a picture of her during her school sports event, where she was wearing a simple white wind breaker over a blue T-shirt indicating her team color. Another was shot at her side when she was sticking something on the school board. 

He'd give a pat for the photographer because it was simply photogenic, with the sun shining from her other side at the end of the window.

If it wasn't for the sudden phone call covering his screen, he'd doubt he would have settled for 13.

"What?" Ethan spat as he bought the phone to his right ear, looking around for any signs of her just in case he missed it due to being so absorbed stalking her online earlier.

"Whoa man, where's all this salt coming from?" A familiar voice said from the other side. Ethan rolled his eyes at his friend.

"What do you want, Zach?" he asked in monotone, clearly unaffected by the person's casualty towards talking to him.

"Where are you, man?" Zach asked, "Your aunt just came over to return something and asked me. She said you got into another fight yesterday..." Zach trailed off as a knock could be heard in the background followed by chattering from whom Ethan assume his older sister.

Ethan hummed in reply, glancing at the time from his watch. He didn't realize it was already late at 9.

"I am just hanging out in the convenience store" he lied. There was no way Ethan was ever going to tell his loud friend what was truthfully going on inside his mind.

"Yeah?" his friend said back, Ethan could hear the faint sound of furious typing in the background. "Ok, tell your aunt. She seemed worried" Ethan rolled his eyes at that. What was there to be worried about? It's not like he never came back home that late before...

"Are you going to school tomorrow?"

"No"

The typing stopped. "Dude, it's been weeks since you last came to school. They're going to kick you out if you continue"

"I don't care"

"Well your aunt does. And I do, because the teachers keep looking for me to give you your homework. Their heavy!"

Ethan shrugged his shoulders, "Then just ignore them" he said in boredom.

"I am not like you man. I don't get no muscles and height. Besides, if the teacher contacts my parents for it, you know I am going to get my ass beaten up really bad"

"I don't care" Ethan replied back, ending the call afterwards.

No one in school would have guessed that the school's big nerd and ace Student-Isaac Quint, or what he would call 'Zach', would be acquainted with the school's delinquent.

They were polar opposites in every sense. They knew each other only because they lived right next to each other and Zach's mother would constantly send food for his aunt.

They never really hang out at school or ever be seen together but they talked casually to each other.

Ethan sighed as he saw the empty streets, and still no sign of her. He turned on the engine of his motorbike to life and headed back home.

Once he was In front of his house, he parked the bike on the driveway and entered the house.

"Ethan! Where have you been?! Just yesterday you got into a fight and now-what on earth is on your cheek?!" His loud aunt shrieked wide eyed while pointing the end of the spatula she was holding towards his cheek.

"Where did you get that Band-Aid?"

Ethan turned his head away from her shock eyes as if she's seen a ghost and headed up the staircase with his hands in his pocket.

"I cooked dinner" He heard his aunt shouting downstairs.

"Later" Ethan replied back before entering his room and locking the door behind him. He walked to his bed and laid his back on the bed with a sigh.

His hand dug his phone and he clicked the gallery.

At least he now had her pictures.