Liam
(Flashback)
I jerk awake to a very distorted sound. I frown, rubbing my eyes harshly. All the doors in my house are soundproof. And there's no light switched on in the hallway. Then where-
The sound comes again, slightly clear now. It sounds like someone... choking?
My feet set into motion immediately, my brain still processing what I just heard.
Damn my dumb and slowpoke brain.
Wait, did I just admit that my brain was dum-
I open the door and a clear sound of retching rings through the hallway. It seems to come from... Dad's room?
I begin feeling anxious. What is happening? Mom said she was going on a business trip, so there's like no one in our house except me, Dad and Mrs Hudspith, whose bedroom is downstairs.
*Insert strangulated noises*
I suck in a breath and run down the hallway to Dad's bedroom and bang on the door, trying the knob. It's locked. Now I'm actually panicking. "Dad, open the door!" I yell. It is useless.
This feels like a horror movie. A very scary horror movie, unfortunately, and inevitably, ending with death.
I try the door a few more times, then give up. I pace the floor to calm my panic. Maybe he's just hurling or something, I reason with myself. But the choking...?
All at once, the bulb in my brain lights up with a fresh charge of electricity. I swiftly go into the drawing-room and catch hold of the box that held the keys to every room. We rarely use it, so it's going to take me a hell lot of time to figure which key opens which door since our house is hella big.
But I try. I put every key into the keyhole and twist it, hoping it would open up. Fast! My brain screams at me. But finally, when it does open, the sight I behold scars me for life.
A grotesque body is hanging from the ceiling fan, ropes hold it up from its neck. It has its back towards me, sparing me the horror of looking at the face. But not for long. The hanging body slowly moves around. My breath hitches. I can feel a panic attack coming. I start panting for breath. Even in this intensely serious situation, my horror movie fanatic brain plays the soundtrack to this terrifying moment, provided if this was a movie.
I stand there staring, petrified, as Dad's face came into view. The ropes were slipping and the lines on his neck were eerily visible. His eyes bulging out, the veins in his-
(Flashback abruptly ends)
I jerk violently out of the Zone with a numbing shock in my brain. It is a freezing liquid which tries to get into my eyes and makes me shake. My blood rings in my eyes. I slowly turn my head about, my face set in a death glare. Nobody interrupts me when a Zone was in control of my senses.
But just as I turned, I felt the slightest instance of a hard object about to hit my cranium before it is flicked out of the way, followed by a shattering noise. My eyes fall on the person who had the guts and stupidity to bother me and start a never-ending war.
It's the attractive girl I met in the morning.
My keen eyes take in every detail about her that I had not before. She is the most beautiful girl I've ever met, which is saying a lot since I've met and hooked up with a lot of beautiful chicks. With perfect curves in all the right places, she could make any guy fall for her, hard. She has long wavy blonde hair and an arrogantly set face which visibly shows signs of staying solemn all the time. She is wearing a low-cut backless crop top with leather jeans, both of them black. It brings out the colours in her eyes.
Wait, what? Colours?
The sudden revelation tugs my gaze to her eyes. She has heterochromia. One is silver and one is blood red. Her eyes shock me out of reality with their acute tint and colour. The emotions held in them are intense and unreadable, all the more alluring.
Suddenly, a melodic voice snaps me out of my trance, saying, "Imagine if that was your... head."
Then the rage returns.
Pure humiliation fills me as she skips out of the classroom after shooting me a cocky smile. I glower at anyone staring at me - basically everyone - and stare angrily at the door she passed out of. "Whoa," says Kieran, "That is one feisty bitch."
"She's a pain in the ass." I deadpan. I dislike her from the first sight. Partially because she is the female equivalent of me and I hate myself and partially because she interrupted me in the middle of one of the worst flashbacks I get.
My fury renews, freshened as I watch her re-enter the mess. She buys her lunch, looks around, shoots me a smug look and finds an empty table to sit. I make my decision in a split second and stride to where she is sitting, my hair dripping. This is more than just humiliation. The way she interrupted me in the middle of the Zone, I could've passed out. I need revenge.
She says, without turning around, "Are you that desperate for hot chicks like me?"
I splutter with rage at that. I see red everywhere. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"
She stood up to face me, radiating confidence and surety. "The youngest billionaire in the world and the soon-to-be bad girl in this school."
I gape at her. I catch the first part about 'the youngest billionaire' but the 'soon-to-be bad girl'? "You want to be the bad girl in this school and so, soda-spray me out of nowhere in the middle of-" I stop. "Soda-spray me out of nowhere?" I say vaguely.
She narrows her eyes. She knows that I'm hiding something and I avoid looking at them. "I think we both know that's not true." She leans in.
My breath hitches. "How is it not true?"
"Well because," she hisses against my ear, "You ruined my shirt in the morning."
Surprisingly, I burst out guffawing. It is the only sound in the hall. Little Miss Bad Girl looks at me sourly, like I'm the dirt stuck on the back of her sock. "Oh," I say after my laughter dies down, "So you're the girl in the hallway!"
It was fun watching her face go red. "It's Hailey, dickbag."
I smirk. "Good to know that." I look around and notice smugly, for the first time, where we are right now. "Oooooooo," I coo. "So you're pregnant?"
"What?" She looks flabbergasted.
"Hmm. I knew you were new. Well, Miss Bad Girl, the table you are eating your lunch at right now is called the Pregnant Hobo table." A few snickers follow this.
An amused glint enters her eyes. I give them a second look, confused. Yes, they are definitely amused. What the hell? "Why are you looking so happy?"
She rolls her eyes. "Well, because," she climbs up the table to have a good view, "I get to change the stupid rules made by you."
She looks at all the students solemnly. She already has everyone's attention. Standing on the ground beside the table, I see perfect curves and a sexy curved back completely on show. Her rack is so voluptuous, it makes Kim Kardashian West's curvaceous ass look like a sore loser. I know what you are thinking. It might have been plastic surgery, but she did not look like someone who would get one done to look like this. She looked naturally perfect.
Humiliated Me: Wait, what? Why would I call someone I dislike from the first sight 'perfect'?
Logical Me: That is so fucking exaggerated.
Hailey narrows her eyes at her audience. Most of them are transfixed at her eyes or intimidated by her demeanour. "From today onwards," she says dramatically, "This table will no longer be labelled as the so-called 'Pregnant Hobo' table. Whichever nut job told you this is a fucking bully 'cuz there's nothing wrong with being pregnant. From this day onwards, this table will be known as the 'No-Pussy Zone' and it is my table. Got it, suckers?" Most of them nod earnestly but I raise an eyebrow and glare at them douches gave up so easily to a new kid.
"And who's going to listen to you?"
She gives me a sinister smile. "Everyone. Whether you like it or not, Mr Asswipe." Some laugh.
My rage multiplies ten-fold.
***********