It is a new day and the beginning of the new term for our senior year. After a long break, none of us felt like going to school and start with the monotonous routine. I watch my two best friends and flatmates walk from one room to other, half asleep.
“What exactly are you two doing?”, I finally ask.
“Looking for school goodies!”, Anna replies.
“Why are you packing so many band-aids and ointments?”, I ask watching her keep a whole packet of band-aids in her bag.
“It is the beginning of the school year! Corridors will be empty. And you my friend are going to hurt yourself banging into lockers and falling off the stairs.”, Anna mocks.
“Hey! I won’t.”, I defend my past record of being clumsy.
“Well! You didn’t win the tag of ‘The School’s Queen of Clumsiness’ for nothing.”, Arya intervenes pointing at the sash hanging proudly on my almirah.
I roll my eyes at their childish act but keep a few band-aids in my bag as well. Well, it is true that I am known for being clumsy. Like my year starts with banging my head in a locker and ends with going down the stairs on my bum! But the first day of a new year is different. My school is always crowded and when you fall with people around, they manage to try and save you, making the fall hurt a little less. (Hello Newton!)
But on the first day, the population is less than half making the falls hurt a lot more. There are two reasons for this weird trend of low attendance-
First, there is no compulsory attendance for the first day, so students take this day as the last day to enjoy their freedom.
And second and the more important reason is, this day our school’s student body president- Caleb Adolf was born. So, he holds a grand celebration every year with free food and alcohol.
What else do the teenagers want? An excuse to leave home and no record of attendance combined with the most awaited birthday bash of the year.
“Haley are you sure you don’t want to attend Caleb’s party?”, Arya asks me again.
“No! I would rather attend Professor Johansson’s palaeontology class.”, I reply and leave the room.
“This year it will be huge! You know that right?”, She asks following me.
“Yes! It is the school’s prince’s 20th birthday! So what?”, I snap.
“Okay! Okay! Calm down, girl. I will bring back loads and loads of gossips.”, Arya says giving me a hug.
The last time I attended his party I ended up going viral on social media. Well, anyone will go viral if you fall off a roof and dive straight into a three-tier birthday cake! In my defence, I was pushed off the roof by a crowd of too enthusiastic dancers. But it didn’t matter as the video was made from an angle that showed me as tripping on nothing. Since then, I avoid his parties.
“Anna is also not coming!”, Arya complains.
“You know she won’t be going. Her ex is organising the party!”, I defend our heartbroken princess.
Caleb’s best friends, Arnold and Anna dated for three years. But due to some family issues (as told by him), Arnold had to take this step. Such a douche bag I tell you!
“Shall we leave?”, a smiling Anna comes and asks. Arya and I nod and pick our bags.
“Are you sure about going to school?”, Arya asks one last time while we lock the door. We both give her a glare and she smiles meekly at us before leaving for helping with setting up for the party.
“She sometimes does get on my nerves,” Anna says with a laugh to cover up her annoyance. I give her a side hug and walk towards the car with my hands around her shoulders.
“You don’t have to coax me like this. I will drive! I also don’t wish to die on the first day!”, she mocks. I push her away lightly slapping her shoulder. We both laughed giving our day a beautiful start.
Soon we took a turn towards the lane of our school and the scene in front of us took us both by surprise. We left our home expecting loads and loads of empty parking spots, but there was no space to even drive our car towards the school.
“What is happening here?”, Anna asked. I shrugged my shoulder. We were both equally clueless. Anna parked the car two lanes away from our school.
“What is Arya doing here?”, I asked pointing towards a black BMW which belongs to our friend.
“Let us go and check!”, Anna said and stepped out of the car.
I opened the door as Anna yelled- “Watch out!”.
Well, it was too late. There was a guy lying on the floor groaning in pain. I banged my door into someone. This is new! I rushed towards the person apologising.
“I am so sorry!”, I said and bend down to help him. Anna also ran towards us.
“It’s fine!”, the stranger said and finally looked up at me.
“Are you sure?”, I asked as he stood up and nodded.
“Are you new here?”, Anna asked.
“Yes! I just moved here from California last month.”, he replied, and we both hummed awkwardly waiting for him to introduce himself. He finally caught on.
“Uhm! By the way, I am Ethan!”, he said.
“Hey! I am Haley and she is Anna.”, I introduced myself with a smile.
“It is nice to meet you! Are you guys not late for class?”, he asked.
“Yes, we are but we have an urgent matter to deal with. We will see you in class Ethan.”, Anna replied and pulled me along towards Arya’s car. Ethan smiled at us and left rubbing his back again. I feel guilty for banging my door into him!
“Why are you here?”, Anna asked as we reached Arya.
“Well! Hello to you too my girls.”, Arya replied.
“What is happening here? Why are so many students at school today?”, I asked.
“Caleb decided to celebrate his birthday at school and hold an after-party in the evening.”, she told us.
“Still, you guys don’t have to do the preparations?”, Anna asked.
“20th birthday is some secret event in Adolf family. So, the after-party is only for close friends and relatives.”, she sighed.
Adolf family is one of the most powerful families in our town. But they have their own little community, and their houses are built inside the woods making them the mysterious ones in our town. I was thinking about the family secret that Arya mentioned when my eyes met those familiar brown eyes of- Caleb Adolf!
I watch Caleb as he parked his car next to Anna’s. There is a different aura around him. His right-hand man Arnold steps out of the car and screens the crowd. Yes, he screens the crowd! You must do this when you leave a trail of lovesick exes behind you, who put on a very dramatic show every year to wish you a happy birthday! Once Arnold is done checking he asks Caleb to step out. And the school’s prince finally puts his feet on the school ground for the first time on his birthday.“Here comes the birthday boy!”, I announce and turn around to leave for class.“Why do you hate him so much?”, Anna asks following me.“I don’t have one, but three reasons to hate him.”, I roll my eyes annoyed.“We would love to know!”, Arya says and wraps her hand around mine.“First, he is arrogant and doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Second, he is nothing but good looks which mak
I walked inside the classroom to attend the last period and I heard the same annoying snickers and met a few shocked faces as well. Since the time I was pushed into the locker by Caleb, people were coming to my classes to just look at me. I felt like a showpiece kept on a show window for viewers to enjoy the sight of. One thing that surprisingly Arya noticed was that all these people were from the area where the Adolf family lives.“Is there something on my face?”, I asked for the hundredth time.“No! you need to just stay a little calm. People will forget what happened very soon.”, Anna said. I nodded and ignoring the distracting stares I focused on the laws of motion.“Are you sure you wish to go there alone?”, Arya asked as I walked out of the school gates.“He doesn’t live in a shady place. It is just the woods, and don’t you remember when mom and dad were alive, I used to go to their house every d
Memories are the most beautiful and the scariest things we hold onto in life. I watched her walk down the stairs with the same evil smirk and tons of flashbacks started playing like a movie in front of my eyes. Her red dress and face caked with make-up, perfectly showed her dominance. Scarlett Adolf’s life was nothing but a huge lie. A lie only a few people were aware of and unfortunately, I am one of those few people.“I never thought I’ll ever get to see you again!”, her voice laced with disgust made me shiver. I could feel all the scars burn again. The scars my clothes were hiding for years!“Have you gone mute?”, she asked now standing right in front of me.“I am not here to see you!”, I said in a brave voice.“But you are standing in front of me right now. It will be great to have a little chat, wouldn’t it?”, she said faking a smile.“A chat with you? What about a no for
After an hour and a half of running from one room to another and creating complete chaos, we were finally walking out of our apartment. Anna was a little nervous about seeing Arnold there, but she agreed to come with us to give me company.Arya was jumping with excitement, and we just let her have her moment. I was the least dressed person out of the three of us. I chose to wear a simple black dress and paired it with my denim jacket and white shoes. Anna was wearing her sea-green gown with her blonde hair complementing the look perfectly. Arya was excited about wearing her new dress. She wore a red and black jumpsuit with black heels and made a high pony to complete the look. We finally sat in the car and Arya decided to be our driver.After a long drive to the other side of the city, we were finally standing outside the woods. I picked up my phone and asked Ethan to come and pick us up. The radio in our car was still on with Sia’s Cheap Thrills playing at full
The stranger was still looking at us. I caught him staring at Caleb a few times too. Everything about him yelled danger. Whenever our eyes met I had this unsettling feeling in my gut.“Are you okay?”, Ethan asked giving me another glass of this amazing juice I had been hooked onto.“Who is that?”, I asked pointing at the guy with my eyes.“The guy in the black suit and weird grey tie?”, he asked, and I noticed his tie was indeed very weird. I nodded.“Why did he do something?”, he asked.“No, he was talking to Caleb earlier and I just don’t feel comfortable around him. Maybe I am being paranoid, but he seems scary.”, I told him honestly.“I don’t think you are being paranoid. He is scary. We all feel that way.”, he answered.“But who is he? I have never seen him in town.”, I asked again.“Remember Caleb stayed at a boarding sch
Caleb was holding my wrist tightly and he pulled me inside the house. I frantically looked towards the lawn to spot my friends, but I couldn’t find them.“Where did my friends go?”, I asked myself.“I don’t know. They must be out there somewhere.”, Caleb answered without looking at me.“How could you know!”, I was again not supposed to say that out loud.“Then why did you ask me?”, he asked and kept his focus on the stair we were climbing now.“I am talking to myself.”, I replied, and he just shrugged his shoulders.Once we reached upstairs, he opened the first door and asked me to wait outside. I looked around and I remember how the third floor of the Adolf mansion was always off-limits to us. My brother was the curious one and once he tried to enter this floor. He came back with a broken arm and to date, I have no idea what exactly happened here. I peeked inside the ro
The party was in full swing, and I could see people were enjoying it to the fullest. The party was divided into two zones. On one side of the lawn, all the youngsters were dancing and drinking and then again dancing. And on the other side of the lawn, there were all these serious-looking people, having sophisticated chats with a glass of champagne in one hand and the other hand in their pant’s pocket. Caleb was the one I was pitying. The poor birthday boy was juggling between the two sides. “Hayley come on!”, Anna came and pulled me into the crowd of a bunch of drunk teenagers moving their bodies to the beats. “I told you I don’t feel like dancing!”, I screamed, so that she could hear my voice over the loud music. “I don’t care. You are dancing!”, she screamed back and then started to sway her hips and hands. I laughed and soon we were both jumping to the beats. Fifteen minutes into dancing and I look behind to see Ethan also joined us. We were all en
Life is full of confusing mazes which surprise you and test you. I had my first encounter with a maze when I met Scarlett for the first time, and I was bullied for something I had no idea about. Maybe I still don’t know. But I do remember her calling me the odd one out, the kid who didn’t deserve to be a Robinson just like my dad.The second maze occurred when I lost my parents but all those times, I had my brother protecting me, guiding me. Today I felt lost. My soul was desperate for help, but I just kept running from the people who might have helped me- my best friends. For a while, I heard them shouting my name, but I just hid behind a tree. I wanted to be alone.This morning all I did was hate, Caleb. And I was right. I need to hate him. he deserves it. But his every touch, every move made this weird sensation. It was like someone sent electric shocks down my spine- in a good way. And all these confusing emotions combined with all the secrets his famil