2,696Chapter One
I nervously glanced up at the old and tall redbrick building that stood in front of me. A large number of students were milling around on the front lawn, some cast glances my way while others chose to simply ignore me. I was standing just on the edge of the school car park and more than once did I notice suspicious glimpses thrown my way as students exited their own cars, no doubt eager to meet up with their friends to discuss the trivial events of their summer break. I sighed loudly and tucked my hands into my back pockets; I hated always being the new kid. Actually in truth this was the first time I was 'the new kid' and as I had seen other new kids do I stood alone and refused to meet any lingering glances. I had no wish to intrude upon someone's boyfriend, someone's space or, God forbid, someone's conscience. I cleared my throat softly and turned to my brother, only to find him still hunched over in his car.
"Toby," I whined. "Can you please hurry up?"
He waved a hand at me and continued searching for whatever it was he was searching for. It was fine for him; it wasn't like he was the new girl … standing on her own while people looked at her strangely … while her self-obsessed brother took his sweet ass time in the backseat of his car - and there wasn't even a girl in it - will wonders never cease. It was hard enough having to trust Toby to not abandon me on my first day here and so far he wasn't giving me much hope. I barely knew the guy anyway so I guess even if he weren't here I'd be basically in the same position, maybe just a little worse off.
I'd only moved here two weeks ago, I had been previously living with my dad on the East coast. He and mom got divorced when I was like three or something and he got custody of me while mom got custody of Toby and my other brother Rhys. Recently dad fell in love with some bitch who's basically the same age as me – ok, she's actually eleven years older but that's not the point – and she had a huge plan to start a new life with my dad, apparently I wasn't included in it. So dad sent me off to the West coast to live with my mom. Luckily they did it all through break or else I could have been starting school halfway through junior.
"Ok, we all ready?"
I looked up at Toby – which sucks because he's a year younger than I am – and then down into his hands.
"Your cell phone?" I asked, my eyebrow raising itself to a dramatic height.
That's what he was looking for. That's what was so important. So important mind you that he had to leave his sister alone in a mass of strange and seemingly unfriendly people.
"Yeah, do you expect me to go through the day without it on me? I mean, look, I've already got two missed calls. Two! They probably think I'm in mortal danger or something." Toby shook his head to himself and ran his gaze over the people outside. When nothing important grabbed his eye he beckoned for me to follow him.
"Why would they think you'd be in mortal danger?" I asked, attempting to gain his pace and being slightly slow on the uptake.
"Umm hello, I didn't answer my phone when it was ringing! I always answer my phone."
"You're like a freaking girl," I told him. "And do you actually take calls during class?"
Toby looked at me over his shoulder with a look that said 'are you crazy, of course I do'. "Yeah …"
"Oh, it's just that at my old school we weren't allowed to do that … in fact if we had pagers or cell's at school they'd get taken off us."
"What a screwy school," Toby laughed.
"Are public schools a lot different to private ones?" I asked genuinely curious, I side skipped a bunch of girls who walked right through me. Each waved invitingly at my brother.
My question went unanswered however when Toby's phone rung and he held up a finger to silence me. Obviously it was a call he needed to take, though I was beginning to learn that with my brother, he needed to take every call. We stopped right near the main doors, right when I was in even plainer view of being the new kid. Yes, more glances my way and more than a few scowls as well. What was this? But sigh; yes, I was a private school brat. Dad thought it would be best for me to go to a private school, in the end I guess it only worked out for him seeing as Melanie was my old school's principles secretary. Oh, if I didn't mention 'its' name before, Melanie is my dad's new fiancée. So not only was I transferred from one side of the United States to another, I was living with three people I barely knew or remembered and I was coming from a private school environment to a public school one. Life sucked.
Until I saw him.
He was tall and very lean, he seemed to be supporting the figure that would suggest he needed to be feed straight away. He wore the coolest black pants I'd ever seen that rested on his hips oh so nicely. They had a couple of chains sewn from one side to another and black straps stuck out on all different angles. He had two shirts on, the top being an average short sleeved black tee. A 'converse' star was emblazoned on the front in red, while underneath was a plain grey, long sleeved affair that look much to big for him, this shown by the way it gathered at his wrists. What was best about him however – could he get any better with fashion sense like that? – was his face. His skin was tinged with a slight tan and his face was the perfect length, not to oval but not too round. He had styled his hair in a way that made the back and side spiked out while his eyes were obscured by a thick layer of black fringe. I was thrown by how good looking this guy was … and of how no one could pull off eye liner like he was right now.
My jaw dropped as I watched him walk towards me so, naturally I followed him with my eyes. I was thankful that Toby was so wrapped up in his own conversation, I'd hate to think what he thought about the way this – this … I guess Goth would be the only thing to call him, dressed. The object of my immediate affection kept walking past with no glances either way; he waltzed past us and pushed open the large glass doors. It only took a few seconds before he disappeared into the crowd of loitering students. I looked over at Toby again before trying once more – in vain – to find the Goth. I'd never seen a Goth so closely before. Sure I'd see them when I was hanging out with friends, well actually come to think of it, no I didn't. The places I went with my old friends weren't really Goth welcoming type ones. But I had seen them before. I didn't realise how hot they could be.
"All right, I'll take you to the office so you can get your timetable," Toby told me, snapping close his phone.
He shoved it in his pocket and we made our way towards the main building. It was surreal the way Toby pushed open the glass doors then was literally bombarded with people. All seemed to be screaming his name, God what was my brother? A rock star or something? The onslaught didn't stop even when we eventually came into the main corridor. I could understand how Toby was likable, not only was he really authentic but he was funny, witty, smart, a bit of a daredevil and an all round great person to be with. He wasn't bad off in the looks department either, like both Rhys and I he had blonde hair, a sleepy look – in a good way, not sleazy like –, thick eyelashes and dark brown eyes. I could admit – grudgingly – that my brother was good looking. And apparently so could everyone else.
"Hi Toby," a girl said breathlessly, she looked like a freshman.
"Katie, how are you?" Toby asked genuinely.
Katie didn't reply, instead she went bright red and turned away. I looked over my shoulder to see her giggling like a schoolgirl. Wait … she was a schoolgirl … crap. Not only did I notice how almost all the people in the hallway seemed to pine for Toby to acknowledge them but the girls seemed to be giving me rather dirty looks. Come on! I look like the guy for heavens sake! Are they stupid enough to think that he's my boyfriend? Eww.
"Toby," the speaker was a very tall and very beautiful brunette. "Other girl," she said, glancing at me and curling her lip slightly.
Hey, at least she acknowledged me.
"Hey Isabelle," came his reply. "This is my older sister Sienna, she transferred in from New York."
"So you're the sister! Wow! It's so nice to meet you!" Isabelle said warmly and extended her hand. Talk about a mood swing.
I accepted it and smiled back. "You too."
"Isabelle is Josh's girlfriend," Toby told me in a voice that sounded like 'oh my gosh! Josh is like so cool'
"Who?" I asked.
"Umm, Josh. Our cousin! Shit, Sienna, he's in your grade!" Toby replied, sounding shocked.
"Josh goes here?" I asked in disbelief. "He didn't tell me that when he was over the other day." I looked back at Isabelle and smiled warily. Her dark eyes were firmly trained on Toby; it made me wonder if she even liked my cousin at all.
"He has always came here, he probably didn't tell you because it's not really important information," Toby told me waving a hand; he looked over his shoulder and waved at some passing guy.
"Oh, well yeah, I guess you're right," I said glancing down at my feet. I felt awfully uncomfortable standing here, right in the middle of the corridor. And I was still getting dirty looks!
Toby opened his mouth to say something but instead was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He flipped it open and said hello into the receiver. "Uh huh … can you hold on a sec," he placed the phone on his chest. "Iz can you take Sienna up to the office? I have to take this call."
"Sure thing," Isabelle told him.
"Meet me by my car this afternoon after school," Toby told me, shifting the phone to the other side of his chest. "Thanks Iz," he added before rushing off into the crowds of people, his cell phone attached firmly to his ear.
I looked up at Isabelle to see her smiling widely, her gaze locked firmly on my brothers retreating figure. "So … Toby seems to be … popular," I commented in a lame attempt to make conversation.
"Hmm, you're very lucky you know," Isabelle told me; this said she linked her arm with mine and led me towards the office … I hoped.
"I am?" I asked, my question came out in a puzzled tone.
"Defiantly, I mean, look at Toby. He is honestly the coolest guy in school," Isabelle informed me.
"I noticed he had a lot of … friends," I told her dryly.
"Well duh, haven't you seen how much his phone rings? He may be in junior but I swear every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. Just like Rhys when he went through. All the girls had crushes on him."
"Did you?" I asked without thinking. She shot me a look and I continued, "I mean like, he graduated two years back so you would have been in 10th … right?"
"Well, we did go out for a month."
"What! A month? Why did you two break up?"
"I liked Toby and went out with him," came the simple reply.
"What!" I almost screamed in disbelief. "So you've been out with both my brothers and my cousin! Crap, who will you hit on next in my family? Me!"
I automatically bit my lip. I couldn't do that here, shutting down people I barely knew. I had already offended Rhys more than once; I didn't want to start off on a bad note with everyone here.
Luckily she laughed. "Oh sweetie, you are so cute!" she told me. "Anyway as I was saying Josh is the coolest guy in our grade and you and I are going to be best friends so you're all set."
"All set?"
"Duh! You've got everything made for you. Friends, social events, a great rep, great contacts, guys to date and lay you – "
"Lay me!" I repeated in disbelief, before slapping her lightly on the arm.
If I had been looking at where we were going and not so involved in the conversation I would have realised that not only were we at the office but also there was another person standing about an inch in front of me. If I didn't stop I was going to run into him. A curse brought to my attention that yes, I'd just ran into someone. I looked up to apologize but my breath got caught in my throat. It was him. Oh wait … no it wasn't. It was another Goth. Except this one had a vivid red streak running down his fringe and was wearing a tight black wife-beater. He also had an assortment of very interesting jewellery running up his forearms.
"I'm game," he told me smirking.
"Oh piss off, Ryder," Isabelle snarled. She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of his way.
He snarled at Isabelle before turning his head to me. His gaze softened and a small smirk crawled onto his lips. "Catch you round."
As he brushed past I felt his hand gently squeeze my backside. I spun in indignation prepared to give him a piece of my mind but he had already merged with the other kids dominating the hallways.
"Asshole," I spat.
"Excuse me?" Isabelle asked.
"That dick just felt me up!" I told her.
"What? Not Ryder?" Isabelle asked, her eyes ablaze.
"Yeah, the punk kid."
"Don't fret hun. I'll deal with it."
"What do you mean, 'I'll deal with it'?" I asked, trying not to sound too concerned.
"I mean I'll let it slip to the football team and they'll go talk to him."
"Oh … they won't hurt him will they?" I asked in a small voice.
Well sorry for being naïve. From what I'd gathered so far public schools were highly different to private ones. In private schools all this sort of stuff wasn't noticed because, a – we wore uniforms so peoples personalities didn't shine through and b – most news was kept, well, private. Besides, I hadn't been in the cool group at my old school so I was usually shunted aside by most people. Excluding my friends of course. I guess the idea of having a wide range of friends at this school made me eager to convince Isabelle or whoever was considered cool around here that I was able to fit right in.
Isabelle chose to ignore my question. "Well here we are, just go on in and the secretary will tell you what to do."
"Alright," I said nodding. "Isabelle," I called after her as she started walking away. "Thanks heaps for showing me where to go."
"Oh sweetie, it's fine. At break I want you to come to the cafeteria and find us in the corner beside the window ok? We'll show you around the school some more."
"Oh that'd be wicked," I said smiling.
She smiled back and waved. As she strode down the hallway I noticed how, like Toby, people seemed to flock to her side. I couldn't help but hope that that would be happening to me within the next few weeks. Taking in a deep breath I entered the office and approached the secretary.
Without looking up she said, "sit in the chair. Mrs. Matthews will be out shortly.
I followed orders and sat in a chair closest to the principles door.
" – and if it happens again you'll be suspended Mr. Evans." I heard a shrill voice saying. "You couldn't wait til mid term either could you? First day? Tsk tsk."
"Yep," a low voice replied huskily. I let my thoughts wonder to the Goth I'd seen this morning, if he had a voice like that I wouldn't complain.
"What was in it this time?"
"It was straight."
"Well, at least you're getting smarter … slightly. All right, you can go Mr. Evans. There should be a girl outside, send her in for me please."
I glanced up in curiosity when I heard the door open. I didn't tear my glance away though because it was him. Yes, him. No mistakes this time. We caught eyes and I noticed his were a unique shade of grey … of maybe a very icy coloured blue. I smiled faintly at him. In return he jerked his head towards the door.
"Oh, does she want me to go in?" I asked hoping to hear his voice again. Oh my gosh! He sounded so hot before!
He looked down on me with a look of disdain. He quickly nodded before turning on his heel and disappearing out the doorway. And as he did so, so did any hope of mine of him ever noticing me again.
Ok, so I have totally edited this entire chapter.
My inspiration for "Addicted to You" comes from Jaskey's "A Dark Obsession". I strongly suggest checking it out. While I used the story for inspiration, I didn't steal any ideas and all included in this chapter and all others are my own original work. Thanks for reading.