Chapter 5

Anna was beyond relieved to have survived throughout all her classes and was now heading to the cafeteria. The problem was she had no idea where she should go.

"Are you lost?" a deep voice asked behind her.

She turned around, seeing a tall man with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his black hoodie.

Anna took two seconds taking in his words and then shook her head. "Well, yes, I don't have quite the slightest idea where I'm going." She laughed quietly noticing she was alone with the man in the middle of the hallway.

"I'm actually going to the cafeteria," he said. "Where are you going?"

"Cafeteria."

The man grinned. "Follow me."

He began walking away slowly intending for her to follow him. She looked at his back as if stunned for a moment but shook her head, starting to follow him. She might be still lost but she was good at asking directions and was pretty much sure she could memorize the ways in short time.

"I'm Andrew, by the way."

"Anna."

"So I guess you're new around here. Freshman?"

She laughed. Did she look that young? "Sorry, no. I'm a transferee and I'm Junior. You?"

"Senior. I'm not surprised. You have no idea who I am."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Are you some famous actor from a movie?"

He grinned. "Well, not exactly but somewhat treated like that. I'm a member of the football team."

"Oh," was all she said.

Few students had come in sight and she focused her eyes around her, trying to recognize the surroundings so she wouldn't get lost anymore.

"You wanna spend lunch at the table with us?" he asked when they entered the cafeteria.

"Well, uhm," she stuttered, "I don't know."

"Come on."

"Red!"

The familiar voice called to her senses. She turned her head to see Jake, rushing towards her.

"Hey." She smiled. "Wait, did you just call me Red?"

Jake smirked, wrapping an arm around her. "You're my Little Red Riding Hood, aren't you?"

Anna frowned, pushing him away. "What? I did not say that. Nor did I agree."

Jake laughed. "Let's go get your lunch," he said, not taking any response from her and dragging her away quickly.

"Wait," she said, stopping him, remembering that she forgot to thank Andrew.

Jake turned around, seeing Andrew standing there looking so out of place and confused. "Oh, hey, Andrew!" he greeted, "What's up?"

"Doing fine," Andrew replied, grimly. He just turned to Anna and winked before turning around and making his way somewhere.

Anna felt completely ashamed of herself. She didn't even thank him. Mentally, she told herself she would thank him if by chance they bump into each other.

After getting their lunch, Jake pulled her to a table where there were people talking to each other. As they walked, she heard girls laughing from her right. She turned her head to see a group of girls looking her way with looks of disgust and hatred on their faces. She instantly felt self-conscious, feeling the flow of prejudice drawn among their stares.

She decided to ignore them. She was used to it. She had come to learn from the past that people judge for no reason. People didn't care who she was or what she does. It was just as simple as that. She was just a girl. Someone they meet and forget. People come and go. People leave scars and bruises on her heart. She just had to live through it. She just had to move on.

When they reached the table, she immediately noticed Ben and some strangers. Jake ushered her to sit on an empty seat and he himself sat beside her.

"Hello!" exclaimed the girl who sat opposite Anna. Anna looked up to see a very friendly face, hair tied in a ponytail and with bangs.

Anna smiled. "Hi."

"I'm Beatrice. Bea for short."

"I'm--"

"Anna," Bea interrupted. "Yes, I know!" she gushed. "I'm your cousin! I'm Ben's twin! Oh, God, you look so beautiful!"

Anna flushed. "Well, thank you." She had quickly solved out the pieces together, seeing that Ben sat beside Bea and they looked definitely like the opposite version of each other. Ben looked cute and Bea looked so adorable.

"This is Victoria," Bea introduced a very decent-looking girl who had her blonde hair properly braided down her back and was properly dressed.

"And this is Keira." This time, it was a girl with a violet pixie cut hair.

"And these are the boys," Bea ended, seemingly on purpose because she didn't introduce the names.

The guy beside Keira groaned. "Girls," he grumbled before reaching up to shake hands with Anna. "I'm Liam. This is Vincent, Mark, James, and Harry."

"Hi."

After lunch, she learned that all the boys were part of the football team. Thus, she, along with Bea and her friends, were forced to wait until after their football practice before going home.

She eagerly watched their game practice with enthusiasm. Even she was fond of football. How could she not? She was a football player in her last School. It was only that it seemed girls were not that very much appreciated by everyone.

Once the game began as other people also watched the game, she had put two and two together after an hour. Bea had began filling her in with details regarding the football's team members. Anna learned then that the Coach divided the players in half: all Junior players in one team and all Senior players in another team. She noticed Jake and John, and even Andrew, the guy she met earlier, were included in Senior team while Ben with his friends earlier from the cafeteria were in the Junior team.

"Oh, who is that?" Anna asked, discovering the best player in the team. The man's hair was tousled wet, skin deliciously tanned and jaw so perfectly structured. She couldn't take her eyes off him.

"Oh, that's Zachary Harrison!" Bea gushed in her ear. "Isn't he perfect?" Bea asked dreamily.