Antisocial at Its Finest

Beginnings & Books

Chapter One

Harley's P.O.V.

I take in deep breaths. I try not to cry. Reading certain books makes me cry. But I can't cry right now. Not in the middle of my new school. I'm reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in my new English class. The ending always makes me cry.

I breathe in, and breathe out. No one has noticed anything, luckily.

I put my bookmark in and close it. I lay it on my desk. Names were etched into the wood. Sara+Zander Forever, it says. I roll my eyes. Ugh.

"Hey," I hear someone whisper to me. I look to my right to see a girl.

She has short hair that was dyed red and eyes the color of dark chocolate. She's very tall, and she's quite pretty. Her desk is covered with paraphernalia of varying items. Pencils, pens, erasers, papers, books, a binder.

"Hello," I whisper in return. She giggles. "Hello," she says, mimicking my voice. She smiles and jokes, "So formal."

Her voice sounds different. It's a British accent. I nod. "Well, I don't know you very well," I reason with her.

She holds out a hand. "The name's Grey. Like the Earl tea." I get her joke, but I don't acknowledge it. I shake her hand. "Hello, Grey. My name's Harley."

"Oh, cool name," she says friendly. I smile awkwardly and reply, "Thank you. You have a unique name as well." Grey flashes a grin. I observe as she struggles to find topics of small talk.

Then the last bell of the school day rings. Our English teacher, Mrs. Howard, dismisses us. I pick up my binder and my book and head out the door, forgetting to say goodbye to Grey.

*~*~*

I am at my locker when I sense someone standing next to me. I look over my shoulder. It's Grey.

"Hey, Harley," she says casually as she leans against my neighboring locker. I reply simply, "Hello, Grey."

She smiles again. She smiles a lot.

She peered into my locker as she asked, "Hey, so, do you want me to, like, show you around school tomorrow? Like, give you a proper welcome?"

I slip a book bag strap over my shoulder and close my locker. "I'm fine."

She furrows her brows and follows me as I head toward the front door of Melody Beach High, my new school. The name sounds so fake, I find it funny.

She tags along, occasionally poking my shoulder from behind and saying "Hey".

I walk home. Or, at least, I try walking home. She's still following me, so I take a detour.

About halfway, I turn around and confront her face to face. "Why are you following me?" I ask hurriedly. She says, "Because I wanna hang out with you! So, where do you live?"

I frown and reply hastily. "I live in the the street of none of your business."

She seems taken aback by my sudden outburst. Her eyebrows are raised in shock. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be snoopy," she says.

"It's not you. It's just none of your business," I say, keeping my tone calm and smooth. She looks at the ground and nods in understanding.

Over the years, I have accustomed myself to not giving any personal information away.

She solemnly begins to walk away. I roll my eyes and call out, "Wait." She whips around. "What?" she asks excitedly. I sigh. "You can come to my house," I say flatly.

She lets out a little squeal of excitement and runs to my side. She was like a child after its mother told her she could pick out one thing from the toy store.

"So, where are we going?" she asks in a jumpy tone. "To my house," I stated.

She scoffed, "Well, no dip, Sherlock."

I smile to myself. I'm beginning to actually think she's nice. She's smart, so that's good.