Chapter 5

Anna's POV

I walked up to the school's entrance. Students were in front of the school as usual. Some were sitting in their cars, some on the grass and all of them were just doing their own things. 

It was my second day at Regis and it was Tuesday. 

Dex had dropped me off again. He tried striking a conversation but I shunned him since I wasn't in a good mood. I am never in a good mood on Tuesdays. Even my parents and friends have learnt to stay out of my way from me on those days. 

You may wonder why I am always unhappy on this one day. Well, for starters, my one time nanny died on a Tuesday. Her name was Arya. It may not seem relevant but she was precious to me. Arya was like a second mother to me and losing her was more than just painful. 

The other reason I hate the day is because on that day of every week, a certain someone whose name I have forbidden myself from mentioning would come to our home in Pakistan and cause trouble. A scar is always there to remind me of her weekly visits. That's one of the reasons I felt my parents didn't get it right by running. This scar and indeed the others she left would always remind us of her. We left her in Pakistan, but she would always be with us. 

Basha's POV

It was Tuesday. I had a very important meeting with my staff today so I left home very early. Okay, in all honesty, that wasn't my reason for leaving the house by 6am. I left to avoid Ameera's tantrums. I knew she missed Arya a lot but that was not a reason to tear the world apart. 

Ameera was always in a sour mood on Tuesdays. When we were still in Pakistan, my wife and I could never come home on a Tuesday to a nice setting since Arya's death. It was so bad that we started avoiding our own home at a point.

If I believed in diviners, I would have sent her to one. 

Ameera would tear the pillows, slash the pictures with a knife and generally destroy anything that came her way. This has happened since the day Arya died.

Two months after Arya's death, it became obvious that Ameera wasn't going to stop anytime soon. We started locking her in the attic every Tuesday before she woke up. We would put her breakfast, lunch and even dinner in there and only bring her out on Wednesday morning. Sometimes it felt like there was a spell cast on her whenever she woke up on a Tuesday morning.

This was going to be our first Tuesday in America and I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt but didn't stay to watch how things would play out. 

Anna's POV

I went to my locker and thankfully, no one was around the area. I didn't want to snap at anyone that morning. I opened my locker and kept the books I wouldn't be needing till lunch break and went to my homeroom. There was nobody there, not even the teacher. 

Thank goodness. Luck seemed to be on my side that morning. 

I sat in the same position of yesterday and brought out my Math notebook to study. I did my best to study but couldn't concentrate so I abandoned the idea and decided to sleep. 

I didn't sleep much last night since my best friend chose to visit. Yes, I'm best friends with insomnia and may I state that it's a very demanding friend?

I was sleeping when the class began to fill up and our teacher came in but I didn't raise my head from the desk. Then Mr. Edwards started the roll call. 

Why me? 

Just when I was getting to the best part of my sleep he had to start the damn roll call? 

Annabelle Siromani,″ Mr. Edwards called when he had obviously gotten to my name. 

″Yes sir,″ I groggily answered. 

Then he continued. I tried sleeping again but the class was too noisy. 

Great. 

Immediately after homeroom was Languages. This was the only thing I liked about this school. They believed students should be able to speak another language apart from English. We had French, Spanish, Norwegian, Latin, Czech, German and Danish to choose from. 

I chose French. I had already been learning it in Pakistan. 

I took my stuff and went to my French class. It was already half full. I quickly took a seat in the middle row and wore my glasses. 

After sometime a lady who looked to be in her late twenties came in. 

She was of average height and had a very pretty hour glass figure. She was dressed in a white long sleeved shirt tucked in a black skirt and wore black flats. Her black hair was put in a ponytail. There was one thing about her that surprised me though. It was her face. Never have I seen a face this ugly. I'm serious. I guess what she lacked in facial beauty, she made up in body shape.

Anyway, that's none of my business.

″Bonjour classe,″ she greeted.

(Good morning class). 

″Bonjour mademoiselle,″ my classmates replied while I kept quiet. 

(Good morning miss). 

Then she switched to English. 

″I hear we have someone new among us,″ she said. ″Could you identify yourself please?″

I hated teachers like this. Why couldn't she just look into her book and call my name or something? 

I grudgingly raised my hand as I cursed silently.

We settled down for the lesson. I just was not in the mood to learn anything but had to come to school today. I needed to prove to my parents that I could get over Arya's death. I needed to prove it to myself too.

French class was very interesting and I was surprisingly not pissed throughout. The lady, whose name was Miss Cherry, was a very lively person and made her class fun. 

I went to my locker and exchanged my books again. I was damn hungry. On my way to the cafeteria, some dude stopped me. 

″Yo nerd,″ he said as he grabbed my shoulder harshly.

I would've punched his face but my fist could not be wasted on some idiot straight from Mars. 

I ignored him and continued on my not so merry way when the idiot grabbed my shoulder again. 

″The fuck?!″ I screamed in his face. 

″I was calling you,″ he said calmly. 

I raised my left eyebrow. ″Your definition of 'calling' was to grab my damn shoulder the way a pimp would do a prostitute?″

″First, you're a nerd, you are not recognised so nothing is going to happen. In fact, you don't have a place here. Secondly, Colton sent me to get you so let's go,″ he said.

The nerve of this boy.

I removed my glasses and made sure they were in the pocket of my skirt so that they wouldn't break. I then brought my face close to his until our noses were an inch apart. 

″I'll start with your second statement. I don't care who the fuck Colton is. Then for the first, if there's anyone who doesn't have a place here, it's you,″ I said before giving him a lovely slap. The slap was so beautiful that it resounded in the hall. Wish I could beat him up but I didn't want to get into trouble with the school.

He was shocked. 

Scratch that. 

The look on his face was priceless. I would have laughed if it was another day. 

That wasn't my problem though. What was my problem was that what seemed like the whole school had gathered to watch us and I hadn't noticed. So much for me laying low and not getting attention. 

Then the kids started whispering as usual. Idiots. 

"Did she just slap Kayden?" someone asked.

No, I just professed my undying love for him. 

"Who is this girl? Who does she think she is?" another one asked. 

I don't have to be a model or queen Elizabeth's daughter to be able to stand my ground dude. This statement grabbed my interest though. So they didn't know my name yet. That was a relief. 

"Kayden Rogers isn't one to be messed with. This girl doesn't know what she's gotten herself into," some other girl said. 

The guy, Kayden, smiled at me. It was a crooked smile. "Watch your back sweetheart. I'll be coming for you," he said.

Some boys cheered him while the others looked at me with pity.

I gave him an equally crooked smile and wore my glasses back. "And I'll be ready for you," I said, walking away.

Some girls gasped at my response. Idiots.

I finally got to the cafeteria and had a peaceful lunch. Thank goodness for that. Anyone who dared to interrupt me while I was eating would have had it worse than Kayden. 

Hours later, school was finally over. I could have danced for joy. Coupled with the normal stress of school, I really had a hard time controlling my temper. 

I quickly packed my stuff and went to the parking lot. I just wanted to go home. 

Guess what people. Dex was late. Dex was freaking late on a day that I could murder someone for just talking to me. 

I sighed and sat on the steps in front of the entrance. Then another unfortunate person came to disturb me. Why was today being unfair to me? Under normal circumstances, I didn't mind people talking to me but why did it have to be today? 

"What?" I angrily asked the boy.

It happened to be Mr. Rude from the day before.

Great.

He sighed. "I asked someone to get you today," he said. 

"And I should care because?" I asked with a bored tone.

"I'm really sorry for yesterday. I just wasn't myself then. That's what I've been trying to explain to you," he said.

I was touched, somewhat. I perfectly understood him, plus it ain't easy to apologize to somebody. 

"Okay, I accept your apology," I said. "Can you leave now?" He smirked. That certainly was not a good sign. Where the hell was Dex?

"Actually no," he said as he sat beside me. "I was wondering who you are. You just got here and you're already the talk of the school."

"How?" I asked. My interest was piqued.

"No one messes with Kayden and gets away with it," he explained. "At least not without attention."

"I don't care," I said. "He can go fuck himself."

"Aren't you a senior or something?" I asked after a pause. 

"Yeah. And I'm the captain of the football team", he said, looking very proud of himself. 

"Okay," I said simply.

"I'm Colton," he went on. 

I couldn't for the life of me get why he was introducing himself to me. I didn't care who he was. At least not at the moment.

"Well, I'm a lovely butterfly," I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "This is the part where you say your name," he said.

That was the moment Dex chose to appear. 

I threw my bag over my shoulder. 

"The name's Annabelle," I said as I walked to the car.

"Where have you been?" I asked Dex once I got in the car. 

"Well good afternoon to you too," he said with sarcasm. 

"Save me that nonsense. I'm not joking Dexter," I said with all seriousness. "Why did you keep me waiting?" I had never been this bossy but that day was different. 

"Okay, okay. Your dad sent me on an errand," he explained. "Are you happy now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"What makes you think I'd purposely keep you waiting unless I have a reason?" he asked with a hiss. "You could have at least let me apologize first," he finished.

The rest of the drive home was silent, awkward silent. I low-key felt bad for being rude to him but I didn't apologize. I was afraid I might say something terrible again if I opened my mouth.

We finally got home and I left the car as soon as I could. I didn't go to see Kathy because I couldn't afford to hurt her too. I went straight to my room and flopped down on my bed.