B e l l a ♣ A l b y
I said goodbye to Xanthos and made my way to my locker. Once I reached, I put on the password. I looked at my timetable which was sitting on top of the piles of my books. I let out a sigh. Today, the first course I had was French and second I had English. I memorized my today's timetable. At my last school, we had to follow one day's timetable for a whole year while here each day we had a different schedule to be followed.
As I was putting my French books in my backpack, I heard the clicking of heels. My heart started to pick up. Heels...I began getting flashbacks of my last school's Queenbee and her minions. I got reminded of my first encounter with her, I was pushed down the stairs. For two months, I was getting treatment from the school's dispensary as my right arm was fractured. My father refused to allow me to go to the hospital to get treated. He didn't care, he didn't want to spend money on a 'burden'.
I crouched down, holding my head in my two hands. In my sight, I saw a pair of heels. Red heels to be more exact. Tears blurred my vision. I felt someone shaking my shoulder and heard them call my name. I looked up at the person, It was Natasha. I started hyperventilating. "Breath Ella, breath in and out. In and out..." she continued telling in and out. However, I struggled to breathe. Natasha moved out of my sight and a pair of black shoes came in the line with my vision. I tried distracting my mind by focusing on the Adidas brand sign.
1...2...3...4
I began counting. The person crouched down and wrapped their arms around me. My cheek rested on their chest. I felt sparks travelling through my body. I knew Xanthos was holding me by the sparks that erupted through my body. I concentrated on the rhythm of his heartbeat. After some time, my breathing became laboured, I looked up to only find him staring down at me.
"What happened? Why were you having a panic attack all of a sudden?"
"I-I go-got reminded of something bad. Th-that's all." He looked ahead and made a confused face.
"Like what?"
"Red heels...old school-" I stopped myself. He turned towards Natasha who was now standing, looking at me worried.
"Remove your heels," He commanded. She nodded her head and took out her heels.
I shook my head. "It's fine, wear them. What will you wear otherwise?" I noticed that I was still in Xanthos arms. I pulled away and got up from my crouched position.
"I have my gym shoes, I will wear them." She shrugged her shoulders and walked towards me. "Before that, are you okay? I am really sorry I wouldn't have worn if I knew this would happen." Her eyes held regret in them.
"You didn't know so, stop apologizing. Let's get to our class. Which period do you have?"
"I am having French." She continued."I have to go to my locker to wear my shoes. You keep going, I will come after some time." I nodded my head and turned to face Xanthos. He looked lost in his thoughts.
"Xanthos, thank you for aiding me." He snapped out of his trance and looked at me. He smiled but I knew this time it was fake. Something was disturbing him. I did want to help him but I didn't want to force him to tell me his personal problems.
"I have got to go! Take care." He walked in the opposite direction.
I started walking to my French class by following the signboard. Once I entered the class, I made my way to the seat which was at the top of the last corner. As I sat, the door opened and in walked Natasha now wearing a pair of white sports shoes. She looked around and when her eyes landed on me, she made her way towards my direction.
"I noticed yesterday also, you always sit at the last seat. Why is that?" She asked as she sat down.
"I like sitting here." I shrugged my shoulders. I heard the bell ring, signalling the starting of the period. A man who looked in his late twenties walked in the class making the entire class grow silent.
"He seems to be our new teacher now," Natasha whispered.
"He is new? What happened to the old professeur?"
"He was a 70-year-old man. He passed away a week before."
"Oh.."
"Bonjour tout la classe je m'appelle Zanon Alonzo. je remplacerai votre ancien Professeur de français." (good morning everyone my name is Zanon Alonzo.I will be replacing your old french teacher)
I understood what he said as I learned French at my old school.
"Bonjour Professeur Alonzo," I shouted from my place. I looked around and noticed all we're looking at me weirdly. What? I just greeted the teacher. Maybe we were not supposed? Feeling embarrassed, my cheeks burned.
"Quelqu'un d'autre qui a remarqué ma présence?" He asked sarcastically.
(Anyone else who has noticed my presence?)
All nodded their head and greeted him. "Bonjour Professeur Alonzo."
"Je compte sur vous tous pour me saluer quand j'entre dans ma classe. Maintenant, asseyez-vous." We all nodded our head again and sat down.
(I expect you all to greet me when I enter my class, now sit down.)
"Girl, you made a first good impression." I heard Natasha whisper.
"I just greeted him, you see we should have common sense."
"Which ain't common." I heard her mutter.
"Aujourd' hui, nous allons commencer par la conjugaison de verbes..." He commenced teaching. I heard Natasha snoring beside me. I controlled the chuckle that was going to escape from my mouth.
▪▪▪
I heard the high pitched school bell ring. I tried to wake Natasha up. "Natasha, wake up," I whispered to her. She even slept during calculus. We both shared the majority of the class. None of the teachers even scolded her, it was as if they were used to it.
"Five more minutes..." she grumbled.
"Nat! You are at school not at home," I screamed in her ear, getting frustrated. She jumped awake.
"Who is having puberphonia?" She shouted; gaining the majority of class attention. She turned around and looked at me. "Did you complete your puberty today?"
"What?" I asked her confused.
"Why was your voice squeaky?"
"Oh god! My voice is the same. I screamed in your ears because I was really getting annoyed."
"Can you two little annoying girls stop talking. I am trying to concentrate on what that rubber mouthed man teaching." A guy sitting in front of us whispered. He had brown eyes and black hair. His eyes were not sparkling like Xanthos, however, he was in total nothing like Xanthos. Why was I comparing him with him?
"Mason, The bald-headed man is nearly a deaf person. He didn't even hear the bell go. On top of that, he is speaking nonsense. When did you start caring about your studies?" Natasha asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"Since my life is at stake," The guy which now I knew his name to be Mason whispered back.
"You mean your football?" Nat asked to him whilst chuckling.
"You can-"
"Class you're all dismissed," Mr Collis announced. I looked around. We were the only people sitting in the class. We packed our backpacks and left the class but before we left I saw Mason saluting to Mr Collis.
"So..what was I saying, yeah if I don't pass in my upcoming tests then Xanthos warned me that he will take me out of the football team." He sighed dramatically. I continued walking with Natasha awkwardly.
"Aww! My poor boy...Wait I forgot to introduce you to Bella. Bella this is Mason Harris Worth, my best guy friend and Mason she is Bella Alby, my good friend."
"Hello!" We both said together, all of us chuckled.
"It's the first time I see Natasha is actually friends with a girl," Mason said surprised.
"She's not like other girls. When I first saw her, I could feel she was purely innocent. She didn't look like a girl who would always want to be the centre of attention. Have you seen the other girls in our school how bitchy they can be?" I blushed. No one had ever spoken about me like this. However, the way she spoke about the girls in the school didn't sound good.
"If Natasha likes someone it means they truly are good. Well then hello my dear friend. Even I can feel the innocence and purity radiating from you."
"Thank you for accepting me as your friend!" I squealed. "I am glad to be your friend, too."
"Ok! Come on let's eat food. My stomach is growling. My poor stomach." Natasha interrupted my happy dance. I stopped dancing and blushed. When did I start dancing? Mason and Natasha chuckled looking at me, I blushed even more.
"Awe! You're so cute." Mason pinched my red cheeks.
"Ok bye! I'll meet you all in the next class," I said before turning around and walking towards the library. I didn't stutter majority of time today, I feel so-
I felt someone pull me back gently. "Nuh-uh, hun! You're coming with us. From today onwards you'll sit with us in the cafeteria, not in the library," Natasha demanded.
I got dragged towards the school's cafeteria. Mason and Natasha came to either side of me and held my hand in theirs. Suddenly a loud growl was heard from the crowded hall. It was powerful that I almost shrunk small. I looked around startled, Was there any animal here?
"Hey, sis, it's fine. There's nothing." I nodded my head. Yeah! There's nothing. I tried to reassure myself. I heard another growl while Mason was rubbing soothing circles at my back. Again, this time it was more powerful. The growl made me cry out in pain. My ears started paining. I noticed around to find other people doing the same as me. Mason shouted something but I could hear it faintly. "Xanthos! Stop!-" He stopped shouting when he saw something ahead of him. All of them shrunk back to a corner of the room. Natasha tried to pull me but got unsuccessful. I fell, hitting my head very hard against the floor.
When I looked up, I saw a blurry image. It was none other than Xanthos. He was standing there with his eyes were closed. "Xant-Xanthos wh-what is the so-sound. Ma-Make-it s-stop." I pleaded to him. Maybe he may know from where the growling was coming from. I heard a few surprised gasps. My eyesight became completely blurry.
"Get up Bella! Come back here," Natasha shouted at me. I rose up from the ground but was suddenly pulled back.
"No! She won't come back there." I heard someone tell, their voice was deep.
"Bella, wrap your arms around him." I heard a voice shout. I could recognise it was Mason's.
I wrapped my arms around the person holding me. My eyes were still blurry. I began to shut my eyes as I couldn't take them headache anymore. I felt someone sniff me where my neck and shoulder meet. "Mine"
I gradually felt myself slipping into darkness. "Bella...?"
Before I lost my conscious I heard someone mutter; by the voice and sparks, I knew it was Xanthos. "Bella!"
"We are so sorry Bella." I got embraced by darkness.