CRACKS IN THE MOLD

Chapter 1

First day of senior year in a new school. Yay!!!
  If you couldn't tell, I was  being sarcastic, which is funny because switching schools was my idea. I had no idea it was going to be this.......inconveniencing. Standing in front the mirror looking at the eighth outfit that won't work. I have to look stunning but not threatening, high school girls are very territorial. I settle for a pair a black ripped jeans that end just above my ankle. I wear red fishnet stockings beneath jeans so that they are visible through the rips. Good thing I already had my bath. In my bra and jeans I get my bag ready, check the back door and find my keys.
I'm good at stalling...I know. I can't choose between the two red tops on the bed, one is prettier and the other matches my shoes. Like I do with all important choices I have to make, I grab a coin and toss. Heads, prettier top, tails,less pretty top. It ends in tails. I wear the prettier top...I know what you're thinking... You really thought I'll let a coin decide the fate of my look??? Ha!!
At my new school classes resume at 8:00am. I live an hour away so I figured I'll be leaving home everyday at 7:00am, not today though. I'll be half an hour early, just to get the lay of the grounds. The fact that I get to leave without my mum awake to fuss over me is a bonus. I don't want to make the choice of what to eat for breakfast so I'll just skip. I turn the key in ignition at exactly 6:30am and I simultaneously turn on the timer. NF's song "Green Lights" starts playing as I turn on the music player. I take this as a good sign and it was. Right before I turned off my ignition in the school's parking lot, the timer read 00:48:05. I was eleven minutes fifty five seconds ahead of time.
In the past two weeks I've studied the school grounds through the map I found online and I've outlined shortest roads between points, places to avoid; like the pool and refectory, places to frequent; like the library and rooftop. The rooftop may be tricky because it has been a restricted area since a student fell off it. The article I read said the nature of the fall was inconclusive, meaning they didn't know if it was an accident or a suicide. I quickly navigate the campus, acquainting myself with the hallways and then I set out to find an alternative access point to the roof top besides the obvious, closed one. I found two more closed entrances, one of them only had a simple padlock. Bingo...I picked the lock and the door opened into a staircase, leading to the rooftop.
7:55am, I'm left with five minutes to get my timetable and find my class.
For a "first day in a new school", its going too well.

The first two periods were boring and uneventful. The third was........well the third was interesting. Normally there is very little I find interesting about the kingdom Protoctista which the biology instructor is going on and on about but I was barely listening to her. I was watching the other students. I always like to sit at the back of the class, it gives me a clear view of almost everyone in class. I like to watch people because body language doesn't lie, except mine and that took years of practice. When people think no one is watching, they let their guards down and I see right through them. Looking at the students I can see that one of the barbie dolls sitting in the front desk, Ashley I think her name is, is close to tears. She and the alpha of the barbie squad have been exchanging notes almost throughout the class. Not the cute type of notes, more like a silent quarrel type and judging from facial expressions, the score is at 1-0 in favor of the barbie alpha. She has a smug look that is begging to be knocked off and I'm just the person for the job. The only other person who seems odd is the guy on my far left. He looks like he doesn't even know why he is here. No books on his desk and there's a wireless earphone discretely placed in his ear, probably blasting loud music. Before I can look more closely at the guy in front me who keeps scratching a spot on his head with a pen, the bell rings.

I rush to the bathroom, knowing that's where the barbies will verbalize their argument. They walk in soon after and I shamelessly eavesdrop. Turns out barbie alpha, Ashley called her Della, is threatening to release Ashley's nudes if she doesn't breakup with her current boyfriend, Perez. Perez is liked by a member of the barbie squad higher on the food chain than Ashley and they think she should have him. I exit the stall wash my hands and leave. It's really sad that at this point of their lives where they are supposed to be planning their future, highschool girls are more concerned about boys who will probably dump them after graduation.

The rest of the day unfolds quickly and without drama. The closing bell rings and I'm in the parking lot looking for my car. I can't see it and for a second I think of the worst case scenario and I panic, then I remember that I bought a cheaper car to better fit in here. My car would have been like a marching band announcing that I come from money and I'd like to avoid that. I find my new car and I head home, tired. School is exhausting.

Axel POV

School is a very efficient form of torture. Just the thought of having to keep this up for a whole academic year has me reaching for a smoke but there's none in my car. A few minutes later I'm in my drive way punching in the security code to open the garage. Once I'm in the house, I strip down, get in the shower and turn it on. The world goes quiet,No noise in my head, No thoughts about my shitty day or my fucked-up life. I feel the cold water in my hair, then on my skin, everywhere that matters. This is the best part of my day. Ten minutes later I'm out of the the bath,feeling refreshed. I find my lunch on the kitchen counter,as it should be. One of the perks of having lots of money is that I can hire a live in maid. Katrina is an excellent maid for me. She ran away from he husband because he was abusive and she's worked here for about four years. When my mom moved out, I made Katrina an offer and she picked mine over my mother's. Leaving me with a great maid and a pissed off mom, just how I like it. She doesn't live-in in the traditional sense. She has an apartment a block away. She comes in every morning five minutes after I leave for school and leaves five minutes before I'm scheduled to return. We only meet on the weekends. She and I have this in common, we don't like people. She gets paid weekly. Her rents,medical bills and her daughter's fees are paid by me. She cleans, cooks, gardens and keeps the house homey. This house has most of my memories of my father and I plan to hold on to them. He was the only person who truly understood me, my mom never did.

After my meal,I grab a pen and paper to make a shopping list. I need new clothes, the fashion sense has changed from the last time I was in highschool and I'll like to blend in. After some thought I add a padlock to the list. Someone picked the one I put at the entrance to my favorite spot on the school's rooftop. I wonder who.