Chapter:-2

The man continues sarcastically:

“Could anyone here hear what he just said?”

Some guy from the front row raises his hand and I’m relieved that someone decides to save my soul. That is until the guy actually opens his stupid looking mouth and answers:

“Something with…” he says and imitates my incomprehensible mumble and people start laughing. I wish he never opened his goddamn mouth.

“Shut up Aldertree!”

What the hell? This teacher is something else. Then he turns to me

”And you. Mind telling me who you are because I have never seen you before?” Then he eyes me from top to toe.”Are you someone’s little brother?” A lot of people tried to stop themselves from laughing again .

It’s not that I’m super short I’m actually average in height but the thing is I’m really skinny because I stopped eating as much as I used to after the thing that happened a few months back. It’s not that I’m starving myself it’s just that I have no appetite because all I can see is..blood. Also, the family table is not that welcoming anymore. My mother never looks at me and my siblings sneak glances at me all the time. I always end up eating a little and then excuse myself and bury myself in my room.

So, I’m in general tiny and I have what my brother calls a baby face plus I’m fifteen. But really..thanks a lot teacher. I mean is he really a teacher or a substitute?

I didn’t realise that I’ve been silent for a long time until the “teacher?” clicks his fingers in front of my face and snaps me out of my thoughts.

“Are you present?” he says and earns snorts from the entire class.

I swallow and answer more clearly than the last time.

”My name is Braze”

I can’t bring myself to say more without running out of there like ten hellhounds is chasing me but thankfully I didn’t have to.

“Ah you’re the newbie. I was told you were suppose to come Wednesday?”

Thankfully, again, I didn’t have to open my mouth.

“It is Wednesday...” I seriously want to thank the girl who said that because I don’t want to answer and maybe make the teacher I’ve only now met to look stupid. I’ve already ruined my first impression and I seriously don’t want to dig an even deeper hole and fall in it myself.

“Right.. I always mix Wednesdays and Tuesdays. Well my name is Hodge so only refer to me as Hodge and don’t you dare pull that “Sir” bullshit on me. Now moving on why the hell are you twenty minutes late on your first day?” He talks seriously fasts. I was actually only ten minutes late but you didn’t hear me knock. Of course I won’t say that and decide to tell the truth:

“W-well I-I didn’t know we start 7.30”

He looks at me like my hair has gone pink and I start blushing even more.

“So..you don’t have a puncture?” I shake my head. “And you didn’t forget some keys at home?” I shake my head again. “And your alarm clock rang? And your dog didn’t die right before you were about to go to school? And you didn’t twist your ankle?” I nod on the first question and then keep on shaking my head.

“Kid...you seriously need to work on your excuses. I have an entire list on my desk of the top ten excuses that I’ve ever heard. If you want you can take a look because you seriously need it when it comes to the other teachers. Except for me I always know, but honestly: ''I didn’t know we started 7.30´´ is just lame. I think the number one excuse I have is ''well..3 days ago I was with my obsessed dad in a casino and I played out all of my money so I couldn’t afford taking the bus yesterday..or the day before that and I probably won’t tomorrow´´ and that came from a senior of mine”.

Wait so this so-called teacher wants me to lie so he can write it down on a stupid list for future students? Um..not doing that. In normal situations this kind of humiliation would have made my face glow like a christmas tree but I’m too busy staring dumbstruck at the teacher. Hodge opens his mouth again:

“Well we shouldn’t let you stand there like a statue for long we have to get you a seat. When are you born?"

I just keep staring at him like an idiot because what use will that information do?

Noticing my expression he starts explaining:

“Here in Thailand highschool our seating order is arranged depending on when you were born. January is in the back and December in the front. Why? Because people born in January are older, have grown more and are therefore longer so they would just block people from seeing if they sit in front of someone. Those who are born in december are the opposite because they are younger and therefore shorter than everyone which means they have to sit in the front to be able to see.  Those who are born during the other months sit in the middle. So, when is your birthday?”

What. The. Hell. Kind of logic. Is this…? I’m serious this blondie is nuts. Great. January in the back right?

“December 31th” I answer nervously. I always sit in the back and sometimes in the middle but never in the front row.

“Oh New Years Eve? Wow then you’re sitting in the front row. Move over Sammy!” So that’s the girl that saved me before. Sammy.

I’ve been too focused on Hodge idiocy to be able to take in the fact that everybody has been staring at me while silently laughing. So with a flushed face I sit down on my new place with everyone’s eyes still on me and plug in one of my earbuds. What a horrible day.

“Hi there” I look to my right and find the Sammy girl staring at me so I take off the earbud. Don’t screw this up Braze.

“Hi” I say and she smiles.

“Did you move here or…?

“Y-yeah I moved here just recently”

“Cool, well welcome to TH  . I’m Sammy , president for this year.” This year has a what?

“I’m Braze” I repeat for the third time and the next question I have to ask because there is always those people in a school that you wanna avoid like the popular kids or the big bully. Basically the social groups. So I blurt out:

“I-Is there s-something I should know about this school? Something important about the people here?”

“Well there is no one in particular...except for Brandon of course but surely you already know about…” Sammy stops herself when she sees my confused look. “ WHAT THE FUCK!?” she practically screams and I look around panicked but thankfully everybody was too focused on their own loud conversations to notice Sammy outburst. And Hodge..isn’t even here. Sammy taking my expression into consideration lowers her voice:

“How. Can you. Breath in this school without knowing who Brandon is??? He is the king in this freaking school. Everybody wants to be close to him and everybody wants to date him. Guys and girls. Brandon himself doesn’t even care. He is a freewheeling bisexual who can be with any creature on this earth without a care and he rarely does dates. He picks and tosses. The ultimate bad boy.”

“So he is some kind of High Bad Boy of Thiland highschool?” I say attempting some kind of humor but all I get is a serious stone looking face.

“Actually he is and you’re lucky if you manage to talk to him. I’m serious, the day you get him to speak to you is the day you should buy a lottery ticket. Maybe even two. Or ten.”

She’s funny and I think I’m slowly warming up to her.

“Well, where is His Majesty?”

“Right behind you” And I spin around so fast I start to feel nauseous but I don’t care because the thought of Branon? Brainon? Brandon? having heard their conversation was much worse.

“It’s the guy in the middle”

And thank god because the guy has his head turned in the other direction talking with someone from the row behind him and how the hell didn’t I notice him before?

He basically stands out even from behind and he is sooo tall. He has designer clothes that’s tight in all the right places and I can see that he has styled his hair for what seems like hours and put some..gel?, on it and it looks so spiky but yet so soft. I can also see that he is seriously muscular. If this is him from behind then what is he like from the front? How couldn’t I have noticed him before? But Sammy is right. Just from his clothes he glows the words Bad and Boy .

"Braze stop staring and concentrate on the text I’ve given you!”

Hodge’s voice echoes throughout the classroom and my cheeks turn crimson red as I jump out of my seat and quickly turn to my assignment while the entire class tries to stifle their laughter. And they don’t succeed.

Oh, NOW he is back after being absent almost the entire lesson AND he calls out my name! My  name in front of everyone and not only that but also the entire class caught me looking at someone behind me. If..Branon? Brandon?, is as famous as Sammy says he is then everyone knows who I had been obviously staring at.

I look to my left and see that Aldertree guy glaring at me together with another dude sitting beside him. Now I know what writers mean when they write “If looks can kill I would be so dead by now” because they’re looking at me like I’ve just insulted their mother. I start to feel really nervous and I have a bad feeling about this. This is not how I imagined things would go.

All the while Sammy has been silently laughing with an amused expression. What’s even worse is that Hodge is doing the same but is making it more obvious. Way. More. Obvious .

I hate this fucking teacher.