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 makes him equivalent to a zero. And third, he snatched the position of the president of the student body right off my hands using his dad’s name.”, I explain.
“Okay! So basically, you are just jealous and want to crib and cry over a powerful position like a baby.”, Arya says making Anna laugh. I stop and glare at both my friends making them freeze.
“Okay! We get it that you hate him. And you can win the elections this year. We will help you and support you! Now, let’s go!”, Anna says pulling me along.
I walk towards my locker which is right next to Caleb’s. The student body elects a new president every year from the senior batches. Last year I was the winning candidate until Caleb Adolf woke up one morning and decided to run as a candidate in the elections. His dad visited the school one day, and the next day Caleb was elected as the student body president. What fair play! As challenging candidates, our lockers were also placed next to each other. Even though the teachers called it a strategy to keep harmony, it felt more like mocking the loser trick to me.
I opened my locker after what seemed like a lifetime. Keeping my bag inside I took out the books for my first class- Calculus. What a great start to our last year at school! I closed my locker shut and turned around to leave. Well, turning around never felt like such a wrong decision.
"Mine", he growled.
Caleb pushed me to the locker and made my trip and fall and land straight on my bum.
“Ouch!”, I yelled out of pain.
My angry eyes looked straight into his dark brown orbs. I could hear people snicker and laugh. All this embarrassment for what? For him to growl like a dog!
“What is wrong with you?”, I whisper yelled as he inched closer to me.
I could still see people laughing, especially my best friends who could pass out any moment now because of laughing too hard. I was about to snap at this idiot again, but then his actions took everyone by surprise, including my reflex system. I swear it was a reflex!
His face seemed a little too close suddenly. People were watching us with great anticipation now. He closed his eyes and started to bring his face closer to mine. But before our lips could meet my legs moved on their own accord and met his abs with quite a boom! In a second the anticipation in the crowd’s eyes was changed to shock as they saw their student body president lying on the ground, groaning in pain. Well! I swear it was a reflex and at least I didn’t hit where it hurts more!
“I am so sorry!”, I finally spoke up and crawled a little closer to him.
“I-it is okay!”, he murmured in pain still moving from one side to the other clutching his abdomen tightly.
“Do-do you need some water? Wait! I’ll get you some.”, I stood up and ran to my locker and took out my bottle from my bag.
I ran towards him, but it slipped my mind, how my books were scattered on the floor. I stepped on my book and very smoothly went downpouring all the water on my poor victim. Now Caleb was not only groaning in pain but was also drenched in ice-cold water from head to toe.
People around us were now not able to control their laughter. I could see a dozen of phones recording another embarrassing moment of mine. Well, welcome back to becoming the queen of memes Haley! My eyes landed back on Caleb who was now giving me a look of disbelief combined with anger.
“I-I am sorry?”, it came out more of a question than an apology.
“Are you okay?”, Anna came to my rescue and helped Caleb get up.
“Well, thanks to your best friend I took another bath on my birthday!”, he mocked but ended up smiling at me.
“Oh yes! Happy birthday!”, I spoke up earning a very amused expression and tons of glares from the audience. Caleb laughed shaking his head.
“You should consider getting yourself treated. Psychotherapy might help.”, he said. I glared at him clutching my bottle tightly.
“Okay! Okay! The show is over!”, Arya sensed the tension and decided to make the crowd go away before any more drama unfolded.
“Well, maybe you should consider winning without your dad’s abuse of power sometimes. Standing up on your feet might help.”, I spoke with a smug smile.
“Sassy huh! I like that.”, Caleb smirked making my blood boil a lot more.
“Caleb, we need to leave.”, a very tensed Arnold came and intervened before the school corridor changed into a wrestling wing. Caleb pulled out an envelope from his pocket and walked towards me making me take a step back.
“Here, it is a special invite to my birthday party! You and your two friends have to come.”, he said keeping that envelope in my jacket’s pocket.
“Is this how you invite people?”, I asked.
“It is not an invite Haley, it is an order!”, he whispered in my ear and left without another word. I could feel a shiver run down my spine as I heard my name roll out of his mouth this smoothly. I was still in shock contemplating what exactly happened when I heard a very excited squeal.
“WE ARE INVITED TO HIS PARTY!”, Arya started to jump in excitement.
“You can go! I am not going.”, I gave her the envelope and started to pick my books from the floor.
“Wait!”, Anna called out before I could leave.
“What?”, I turned around on the verge of snapping.
“This invitation has someone else’s name on it!”, she said showing me the envelope.
“Someone’s name?”, I asked walking back to my two friends.
“Yes, it says- ‘Official Invite for our Luna’.”, Arya read it out loud.
I took the envelope from her and read it myself.
“It looks important.”, Anna said.
“Maybe he gave you the wrong invite.”, Arya continued.
“If this is important, he might need it back. I will go and return it after school.”, I said and kept the envelope in my locker. Well looks like Adolf family is having a visitor today!
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
We were walking back to the Adolf mansion and Caleb was still holding my hand. I was tired, thirsty, sleepy, and really hungry. I held onto his hands tighter as I felt a little dizzy.“Are you okay?”, he asked turning around after I squeezed his hand a little too tightly.“Yes! I am fine.”, I answered smiling a little. He nodded and focused his gaze back on the uneven land.“How far did I even come?”, I asked astonished at my own running skills.“Well, you literally ran into the middle of the forest. Our house is in the very beginning of this place. So, you did travel a nice long way.”, he chuckled.“Woah! I didn’t even realise.”, I murmured.“I am just glad we found you while you were still breathing.”, he said without looking back. How can someone say such a mean thing? I planned on ignoring his comment, he is the one who saved my life after all.“Ca