She's so weird.
Was what Aiden Lee thought as he witnessed from afar the two girls across the school gardens. His mind was exceptionally fixated on the brunette in particular who was marching on the path and had her arms above her head as if she had won a racing championship and she was apparently proudly screaming the words "I will never stumble again,"
Ironically, she did the exact opposite as she failed to see a traffic cone in front of her and sent both herself and it toppling to the ground with a metallic clang.
Her dark haired friend came closer to her collapsed pile on the floor, and was apparently grabbing her by the arms and trying to hoist her up.
Aiden couldn't resist rolling his eyes in annoyance at the pathetic impression of the girl. "Unbelievable," he muttered to himself as she shifted his weight from his left foot to his right and leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, still staring at the chaotic scene.
The world must know as a fact that Aiden Lee was the topper of Northwest High and if that's not impressive enough for you, he was also amongst 1% of the brainiest kids who represented the entire district.
He was also the president of the student council, Model United Nations, and the Sciences and Tinkering Club.
And let me tell you that all of his assignments and reports were flawless. You might think that a brainy student like him might be having all the perks academically but in his social life, he definitely has to be in the dumps.
Well, you're mistaken.
He didn't even come close to representing that classic nerd we all have seen in high school movies.
The kind of nerd that wears oversized glasses, with a weird haircut, often doesn't appear to have a good fashion sense and let's not forget that he always has his nose stuck in a book while walking down the hallways and then ends up clashing on to a wall, smashing the said oversized glasses into millions of fragments.
No, he wasn't that!
He was obviously part of the popular gang in Northwest and he was extremely good-looking with a well-built figure.
His chestnut hair was smooth and luxuriant to the touch, and his delicate narrow face consisted of the sharpest features completed with two sets of rich eyebrows arched over his glittering almond eyes.
His voice was velvety and honey dripping to the ears and it was more than safe to say that he had a flock of ladies waiting for him outside his bedroom door wondering who would be the lucky one to be ushered inside.
For Aiden, perfection was his lifeblood. He relied heavily upon it and considered it to be one of the greatest treasures he had ever been gifted with and he extremely loathed whoever hadn't received it.
Therefore, you don't need to think twice to figure out how innerving Lindsay's character must have been to him.
"How do people like her even survive in this world?" he pondered to himself as the girls continued on their path.
"Hey, Aiden!" He flinched at the voice as he was dragged away from his musings. He found his energetic friend Ethan standing by his side with a huge grin on his face.
Ethan rested his elbow on Aiden's shoulder as he gazed in the same direction he was looking at.
"What you so absorbed with, bro," he asked with a smile. "Saw any hot chicks or something?" he finished with a chuckle.
Aiden smirked as his eyes followed the two girls.
He saw the brunette and the dark-haired girl separate paths and go inside the school through different gates. They probably are in different buildings. He thought.
Nevertheless, his eyes followed Lindsay inside the school and Ethan noticed it.
A teasing smirk made its way on to Ethan's face. "Oh, I see what's happening here," he grinned playfully at his companion.
"What?" Aiden asked, nonchalantly.
"You did find a hot chick in Lindsay, huh?" Ethan teased him while jabbing Aiden's side playfully with his elbow.
Aiden snorted while shaking his head in incredulousness at his friend's statement.
"Come on, Ethan, seriously?" Aiden guffawed with an arched brow.
"Her? Out of all the girls in the school? Do you think I'd ever find love in Miss Walking Disaster? On the other hand, I'd be luckier in achieving a giant headache spending at least 2 minutes in her presence"
Ethan scoffed in annoyance at his friend's closemindedness. "Come on, Aiden, she can't possibly be all that bad. If you spend some quality time with her. I'm sure you'd warm up to her."
Aiden rolled his eyes and blew at his bangs. "Whatever. She is also the most pampered girl I've ever seen as well. Remember the swimming pool incident?" he decided he needed a change of subject.
All this talk about spending time with Lindsay was starting to give him the heebie-jeebies. "Come along," he said while dropping down to pick up his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "We got to get to class. Got to hand over that major assignment today."
"Argh, I'm sure mine is trash," Ethan sighed with his hands on his hips. "But I'm sure that yours would even the World Prize, Aiden"
It better.
Aiden thought as he and Ethan started on their path to cross the school grounds and get to the buildings to be in time for the Chemistry Class.
***
"Alright, class. Please take your seats and settle down. We have a lot to do today," the chemistry professor, Miss. Melody announced to the sea of children who had just flooded into the laboratory, laughing and chatting and deciding who was going to sit next to whom.
Miss Melody stood over her desk, gripping its edges with her hands while leaning over it observing the distorted class before her.
Summer was over and it's another day and another year of course. Another tiring year for a professor trying to handle a bunch of unsystematic teenagers.
It was not a surprise that Lindsay was the only student who had already taken her seat with her books arranged into a neat pile on her desk, patiently waiting for the class to commence.
She sat there lonely and isolated as Laila was practically the only friend she had from the entire campus and Lindsay was not the most sociable girl in the area to interact and make friends with many people. The reason, of course, must be pretty obvious.
Plus, it was not like many people even wanted to be friends with her while acknowledging her clumsiness. Lindsay had found out quite long ago that friends like Laila are limited in supply and are an exclusive edition.
"Class please, settle down and take your seats," Miss Melody hollered desperately trying to silence the class. She banged her palm hard on the desk repetitively to get their attention but they only ignored her harder. She couldn't help but clutch the sides of her temple and groan in extreme frustration.
Lindsay saw her mess of a teacher and felt extremely sorry for her. She wished she could help in some way but her trying to silence the class would have been an absolute comedy.
Just then, the door swung open, and in stepped the God of perfection- I mean Aiden Lee.
Lindsay let her eyes glaze over his supernaturally flawless nature and how he glided inside the classroom.
Yeah, you heard that right.
Aiden Lee never walked; he was so graceful in his gait that he looked as if he was gliding on the floor like how an ice skater does at an ice rink or how a swan skims through the ripples in a lake under a midnight sky which carried a pure white full moon.
"Oh Aiden," the professor exclaimed in ecstasy at his arrival and Lindsay could have sworn that she had the dreamiest expression ever so much that her eyes were almost turned into two hearts.
Of course, what did you expect?
A student like Aiden was definitely each and every teacher's dream child. Aiden Lee was the kind of student that a teacher would love a little more than she loves her biological child.
Aiden stood in front of her, turned the corners of his mouth upwards, and gave her a lovely smile. "Don't worry, Miss Melody. Let me take care of it," he softly said.
Then he turned towards the class where most of the students hadn't taken their seats.
"GUYS!"
That one word was all that it took for the entire class to be covered in a thick blanket of silence within mere seconds. All ongoing activities were halted as everyone directed their gaze towards Aiden, waiting for his next word in anticipation. Like a group of peasants waiting for the King's command.
"Y'all, we have a lesson to start, so if you don't mind taking your seats now, we will be more than ready to commence," he barked in an icy tone.
His voice was stern and authoritative, quite nothing like the honey-coated tone he had used earlier with Miss Melody.
Lindsay, together with her professor, gazed around in astonishment as everyone instantly clambered to their seats and started to take their books out of their bags.
"Everything alright now, miss?" Aiden pleasantly asked the teacher, his charming smile resuming itself on his face.
"Yes, thank you very much, Aiden," Miss. Melody sighed in contentment while placing a hand on Aiden's shoulder gratefully.
Aiden gave her one last dashing smile before shuffling away to his seat at the front desk.
Ethan who was sitting next to him gave him a wink followed by a thumbs up and Jason seated on his other side squeezed his shoulder.
Yeah, everyone paid the utmost respect to Aiden as the entire school idolized him. Almost everyone liked him.
Everyone except Lindsay Lacy.
A couple of months ago, Lindsay too had liked him like the rest, sure, she had thought that he was a bit too perfect in nature which made him appear as a robot or something, but at the same time she had also grown quite envious of his spirit and personality.
She used to think that he was actually a pretty nice guy all in all, and was not some sort of big jerk.
Until that view completely changed one day.
I shouldn't be thinking about that! I shouldn't!
Lindsay furiously berated herself mentally as she struggled to shut off her hyperactive mind which was unmercifully trying to remind her of that incident. Anything but that!
Alas, the dreadful restrained memories came flooding into her memory in waves. They reminded Lindsay that, under that chiseled face of perfection, rests the horrifying and sadistic villain Aiden can be.