2Harlan fidgeted in her bulky, chest-hiding sweater. Her long, thick mane of ink-black hair was tied in a messily made ponytail as it usually always was. Somehow she managed to find a mid-thigh black skirt and long, starched white tube socks to wear. The expensive black clogs she owned went with it rather tastefully as well, albeit they were slightly uncomfortable.
'Oh mann,' She thought bitterly, gripping at her sweater 'It's so not fucking time for this...'
It was too warm for this, it always was because she was forever feeling cold and over dressed. Everything was too much of something to do this.
Her makeup-less pale face scrunched, stark like a piece of paper and tense. Her lips, slathered in much heavily induced cherry flavored chapstick, pursed and un-pursed rapidly.
This sucked. She was going to die, and dignity could only become so short.
This sucked.
This sucked.
This su-
"Harlan Beth Lokseri, you go outside and get on that bus right now or I swear to the Gods..." Her mothers voice droned from upstairs.
Harlan winced. Wasn't it obvious enough how much she disliked riding that horrible contraption of gaudy yellow metal?
The whole full name thing was getting hard to tolerate after six or seven years of hearing it, as well.
"But mooooom," The girl moaned, pushing a dainty black headband up with short, unkept fingernails raked with sloppy glitter polish "I hate the buuus. No one likes me!"
"And no one gives a shit, so get your ass in gear!" Her stepfather announced sharply. A beer gut exposed itself from past the half-open door of her parents room. Harlan made a disdained face.
So did not want to see that.
"Micheal! Don't you dare get cross like that with my child." Her mother hissed from who knows where. Harlan only sighed, grabbing a plump piece of last night's angel food cake as her on the go breakfast. Friday night was a riot, she hoped to see that Zane again next week. It was on her mind constantly though, as to where she had seen this boy before. He was so familiar looking.
'Whatever,' The girl thought lazily. 'I have other shit to deal with. Like buses. And fatass old guys.'
Bitterly grabbing her backpack, Harlan slung it on, and over it, she had thrown a tasteless duffel bag on her shoulders for cross country. Yes, she had decided to join the often dreaded club. It was a good way to meet up with Raphael, and to get her unhealthy ass in gear at the same time. However, this did not mean that she was giving up Haagen Dazs. No way.
"HARLAN BETH!" The girl winced again at her mothers call. She shouted back "I know I know! Shut up, mom!"
A few moments passed, and heavy footsteps formed. They were descending from the stairs, and fast.
'Shit. Moby Dickface is coming.' Quickly shuffling from the hallway to the back door in the kitchen, Harlan's dad had barely begun to reach out for her ponytail before she was outside and bolting away from him to her bus stop. That was another thing. Retarded, new stepfather plus disturbing beer gut. Mother sure did have bad taste.
"Don't let me catch you foul mouthing again you useless girl!" His screech echoed against the pavement.
"Unless you drop around eighty six pounds, you won't be catching anything!" Harlan gave a small victory smile as she slowed down her sprint to a casual stride.
Micheal scared the shit out of her. From the first day they had met up to now, she never liked him one bit. That scrubby excuse for hair, the disgusting look in his eyes, his thick, sludgy voice.
They definitely did not 'click'. The fine line that kept Harlan from chopping him up with a butcher knife was her mother, blonde and beautiful and smart. She knew how to keep things in order, even if her daughter liked it or not. She was tall and proud, tanned to a rich cinnamon color in the California sun, with bright hazel eyes. Harlan looked up to her mother, Rebbecca Lokseri. It was as if she was everything Harlan was not. To herself, the sixteen year old was boyish and awkward, with boring, pasty skin and stormy hazel eyes. On the self conscious side, Harlan always fidgeted around, barely speaking outside of home and lacking in the social food chain.
Almost a few meters away from the bus stop she flinched, feeling something that she knew would end up to be something messy sooner or later.
'Ah crap... I knew I shouldn't have ran that fast...'
Harlan held back her ponytail quietly, making her way through her neighbors rose bushes. Once there, she did what she had to do-
Empty the crap out of her stomach.
'Oh that is so gross. Whoever said breakfast is the most important meal of the day didn't mention the part where you're still digesting.'
After her post-shock throw up session, the girl sighed and wiped her mouth with a napkin. It was always good to carry a few breath mints around like her mother did, she just thought it would be for a much...different situation though. Like eating onions or sour milk.
Harlan strolled to the curb of the sidewalk, thin but long fingers gripping tightly at the straps of her backpack. No one else on her block was in high school; they were either too young, or they already had graduated. That really didn't matter to the girl either way though, she liked being alone sometimes and this situation was nothing different.
Speaking of which, the school she attended was none other than Four Pride High. Sure the place was known for some of the damn smartest kids in town, but in all honesty it was just a school for wealthy spoiled kids to attend to. Of course Harlan was no excuse-she lived in a mansion for crying out loud.
Hell was drawing near, thick and bulky like a fat caterpillar crawling up some poor delicate leaf. Harlan swallowed painfully, nervous and sweaty already. The bus was her worst enemy, full of friends and loud, normal people with their Beverly Hills accent. No one really did notice the awkward girl, sitting by herself with her head down; one time someone even actually sat on her, with no intention of her being there at all.
'Oh fuck it,' She thought bitterly, popping another mint into her mouth as the doors opened. Crawling up quietly, Harlan gripped the strap of her messenger bag and braced herself. The bus had fewer kids than usual today, and only meant that there was a possibility of her sitting by herself.
A wave of relief washed over her, and quickly she had scurried off into a seat, happy where she was.
Now if no one sat with her, life would be fucking perfect.
"And now... Please open your textbooks to page three hundred. While I go to the main office, you and a partner will complete the whole page."
Third period slugged lazily on, and to most kids, this was the opportunity to fool around. Possibly talk a bit and if the teacher was gone long enough steal some answers for the test quiz. Typical school life, honestly.
Raphael on the other hand, was already on number four. His mechanical pencil moved quickly on the paper, gliding smoothly and efficiently at the tip of his fingers. Ahh, he loved the sound of writing. It was a sign of good effort, a sign of-OOMPH!
"O-ow..." The boy held his head tenderly as his forehead and someone's backside jammed into each other. He looked up swiftly at the person in front of him, thoroughly pissed. It was a girl, someone from the female race that Raphael could not stand (minus the select few in his life), sitting on the front of his desk. Her rolled up sport skirt was on the brink of a school violation. To think about it only made the boy slightly nauseas.
"Excuse me," Raphael mumbled. There was no reply from the girl which only added to the boy's small patience.
After a few moments of being ignored, he began to put away his pencils and his notebooks, and soon enough he had shut the textbook and gathered up his belongings to move.
'The nerve of some people...' He thought with a venomous glare in his eyes. Quietly he stood up from his seat, tucking a dusty brown lock behind his ear before placing his books down on one of the desks in the back.
'Honestly, does she thinks she runs the place because her daddy gets her everything her little plastic ass wants, while her mom is probably outside of the house whoring it off and cheating? Females are so disgusti-'
"Hey hey... What's with that look on your face? It's scary." A voice cut deep into his conscience; forcing the boy himself to whip his head around to the other beside him.
A guy, no less than Raphael's age himself. His milky brown eyes were filled with curiosity and interest; being dulled out by the choppy and long blindingly platinum blonde bangs that rested upon this mystery's forehead.
"S..S-sorry." The darker haired male stuttered, pushing his silver frames up more on the bridge of his nose (which was dusted with a cherry red blush).
"Nothing much to take you to get creeped out, huh? It's weird." Raphael bit his lip. Who was this stranger to talk to him like that? Just because this blond kid was cute, it didn't mean he would get away with being a prick.
A long pause followed after that, but once more the mystery boy spoke up and broke the ice.
"Don't take what I said all that seriously, sheesh. It's all good, dude." He snaked his arm around Raph's neck, taking in the scent of some childish kiddie perfume that honestly did suit the geek- uh, er, the glasses boy.
The darker haired boy retaliated though, inching away his new acquaintance while writing down more answers in his notebook.
"I think offending someone is serious, so I'm sorry my thoughts bounce right off your society, uh... you."
"Couture."
"Excuse me?"
The blonde chuckled lightly, which seemed almost musical if Raphael wasn't so hateful towards him.
"My name is Couture Lester. I'm new, 'obvi."
"Oh, sorry, erm, Couture. I'm R-"
"Raphael Summers? Yeah, I know. You're in Cross Country." Couture grinned, and continued happily that the brunette was talking to him.
"Y-yeah.. I seem to be... Are you going to join?" Raphael was much more interested now, and wasn't aware of his body turning to the new kid; legs delicately crossed; eyes staring into the others.
The blonde smiled, "Of course, running is like an automatic high for me. And just my luck I happen to find a gorgeous running p-"
"Shit it's the teacher!" A faroff somebody screeched
"What is going on!? Everyone to your regular seats, NOW." Students rushed to their desks quickly, and even when Raphael had sat back in his seat, he turned around and mouthed an apology.
The last sentence Couture had spoken ran a shiver in his spine. Pretty? He wasn't pretty. He a scrawny little cinnamon stick compared to all the sugary, white marshmallows in the room. So when it rang through his head again, Raphael shook his head bitterly.
Lies.
"Kenton?"
"Here."
"Lok..Loks-ee-ri?"
"Lokseri, um... Sir."
Harlan bit her lip. She fucking hated substitutes who got her last name wrong. Especially gym substitutes. Quietly, she adjusted her guy shorts to fit on her frame. It was a little awkward; every other girl who was wearing shorts had ones that were rolled up so high you could see the outline of their asses. With this thought, Harlan shuttered and tugged at her shirt.
'I want to go home' She thought quietly. 'And eat some Haagen Dazs.. Yum. Strawberry.'
Quietly the girl began to nibble at her lip. The thought of her guilty pleasure oozed with flavors of ice cream. Quite the habit, if you must.
"Alright girls and boys," The sub began hastily. He was sweaty looking and grimy, with layers of fat rippling from his bald head to a stubby little neck.
Harlan winced. Gross.
"According to your teachers notes, today you will be starting the Track and Field unit." Groans and whines poured around the gym. Some others, fellow runners of Harlan herself, said nothing but smiled contently to themselves. Honestly running wasn't so bad, often times she would even be praised here and there for being able to withstand the two mile exercise Coach Winters gave out. She was devastated by everything else in Track and Field, and basically every other thing that includes a ball, stick, or athletic ability for that matter. Sports-retarded, if you must.
"This is so gay." One girl claimed quietly to her friend, making Harlan flinch. The other smacked her gum loudly, agreeing.
"Oh my god, I know. I hate running so fucking much" Both girls made faces as Harlan walked passed them silently, hands stuffed in her-actually flattering- red Abercrombie&Fitch hoodie.
Apparently that store "was so commoner middle school" by the look on their faces. They whispered quietly to themselves once more.
'I just want to run and get it over with...' She though bitterly as her class headed outside. It seemed as if all the other gym classes were out as well. It was rather nice today. The sun wasn't too high up in the sky, and the glare wasn't very harsh. Maybe if it was nice enough they could run with other gym classes and Harlan could find Raphael or Snow. Yes, that would be fun.
"Alright class. Sucks to be you, because the first unit of Track and Field you are doing is running. You will start..."
Harlan refused to listen to the rest of her substitute's absolutely stupid droning. In running, you get from point A to point B. No bitching, possibly no breathing, and of course no reason to look back. It didn't mean this bloke had to tell them how to move their legs like they haven't exercised in years (from which he looked like he was on the brink of that).
"Everyone get that? From here, around the school- twice, then one walking lap, then you come back." Most of the class simply nodded and a few obnoxious ones complained about running so much. If she wasn't so introverted, Harlan probably would have yelled at them to get their ass in gear.
'That's right,' She thought quietly to herself as she made her ponytail a little tighter 'Only Lox could do something like that...'
She digested this thought slowly and carefully before snapping back into attention that her gym class had decided to fight a bit with the teacher. Maybe she had time to stretch now...
Taking the chances, Harlan brought her arm to her chest and held it there for a little bit, repeating the same on her other arm. Shifting a bit to the side, she stretched out one long leg and then the other. It must have looked silly she thought, judging by the amount of looks people from other classes had been giving her. Honestly the Lokseri girl didn't seem to give a shit right now. Turning back to her class, it seems that the substitute has just finished lecturing a couple of rude classmates, and now it was finally time to run.
"On the count of three, people."
"One..." Harlan adjusted her skinny headband on her head, so it wouldn't fall off.
"Two..." A few more groans were made from a couple of girls, and she barely had the patience to keep playing the shy girl. Letting out a "Shut the fuck up" two tones lower than her real voice made her feel better.
"Who the hell just told me to shut the fuck up!?" One girl exclaimed coldly.
"Three!"
BAM. Just like that, Harlan bolted away as fast as she could from her class. Obviously it left some people dazed to see that she was actually in their class, often forgetting. But honestly Harlan could not take shit from any of the other rich fucks with her.
She gained some ground far away soon enough, and slowed her pace down to a normal jog to conserve energy. At least now she would had a few minutes to herself.
'Maybe I should loosen up a bit, no one's here and I know for a fact there is no lunch period that could look out at me... Just for a little bit.'
So with that in her mind, the girl stopped her jog for a moment. The change of how she acted was almost comical, seeing how the usual shaky fingers were now calm and collected as she rolled up her shorts high enough to show some thigh, seeing the look of total relaxation and a little bit of attitude in her liquid hazel eyes. It even changed the way she walked, the way her voice flowed. Less shaky, more attractive. Much more.
Lox smiled seductively to herself as she began walking, admiring the reflection against the gleaming walls of her school. Vain indeed, but in the escapism-esique female's thoughts, a body not flaunted is a body wasted.
Upon seeing her class catching up, she began to jog once more. A little faster though as to keep distance away.
Trained professionals like her knew when to show your real personality, and when to hide it. Okay not really, but it made her seem kind of cool in the least.
Lox sighed, taking some time to tie her shoelaces before checking up on the location of her class. A single figure who had been catching up to her rather quickly caught her eye.
She knew this boy. What was his name? Zeik? Zane?
'Zane. Yes it was that! Zane Koope...'
In an instant, Harlan broke into a light sweat. What would she do, he was running too fast for her to have time to fix herself, and letting Lox out in public didn't seem like too much of a good idea.
But she had to work with what she had, right? With only one option she bit her lip lightly, shaking her head to let the confident juices flow.
'You can do this, you can do this. And you will, because without it you're fucking screwed.'
She licked her lips in a way that could turn gay men straight. Which of course, she knew this was possible as she had tested Raphael once. He now remains as bisexual.
Lovely, what such an androgynous girl could do.
"Hey dude, wait up!"
Lox swiveled around. The sun was bright, and even despite the bangs in her face did she have to squint. Pretend to have just noticed he was there.
In all fairness, she waited patiently for Zane to come a little closer.
'Lox... don't do anything to make him suspect anything. I'm trusting you this once.'
The first rule had been broken.
"Never, let your real personality show."
Zane wiped the sweat from his brow as he reared the corner of the side of his school. This was crazy, even for the soccer star himself. Four Pride was freaking huge, was Mister Orion fucking crazy?
Zane paused for a second, almost slowing down his pace.
'Huh...?' The boy squinted to see a figure form past the corner. At first he thought the sinewy figure was a boy by the clothes they wore (even though the shorts had exposed quite the amount of thigh). Yet he didn't see any guy go passed him yet... He did see one girl pass him, but he thought she slowed down by now with the way she sprinted like that before. Still, like any other person he was curious to find out just who passed him.
"Hey dude, wait up!"
When the figure stopped, he thought that maybe it was just a visitor and now he was interupting them. Zane increased his pace as he sprinted, thinking up an apology along the way.
'God dammit,' He thought sarcastically 'Running all this way just to see one person, I must be fucking crazy.'
"Hey," The boy exclaimed softly as soon as he was close enough. The girl (he soon found out as he had gotten closer) simply waved. Zane blushed feverently, clearly being put off.
"Th-thanks for waiting."
She only shrugged a little, before turning around and beginning to jog. At first Zane thought she was ditching him until she turned around and stopped, waiting for him.
"Oh, sorry!" He called out. If only the sun wasn't so damn bright, he would know who she was.
There was a moment of silence between them, both running side-by-side. It had lasted quite a bit of time as well, seeing how they were almost done with their second lap. The boy didn't dare glance upon his companion in fear she would disappear. The other though, decided to play a little game with her new toy.
'Nothing over the edge, right? A little encouragement ain't hurting Harlan.'
Zane bit his lip. How long would they stay in silence?
'Just a few more minutes... maybe then she'd speak... Then I could figure it out who she is."
But the first time she spoke, despite himself, the voice had made him falter.
"I'll see you two minutes after the finish line, punk."
Stunned a little by the sudden talk, Zane stumbled-
Just as she bolted away in a cloud of dust.
'It can't be... C-club goddess?! No, no it can't... Who is this girl?'
"Oh hell no!" The blonde yelled. He sprinted as fast, if not faster than this now opponent. At one point he had passed her by a couple of feet, but then as quickly as he had, she was back on his tail with that devilish little grin on her face.
"You're not easy to beat. Who are you?" He said sarcastically.
"Well you are, apparently." Once again, said speaker sprinted away from Zane. Plauged with fatigue, the boy simply could not catch up. How could a girl that small, that petite, run faster than him?
"Wait!" He yelled despite the lack of sight he had of the girl. She replied anyway.
"What do you want?"
"Your name would be nice! You sound familiar!" He shouted back. There was a pause before the girl could be heard laughing.
"I'll catch you later, love!" With that, Zane mussed up his energy to sprint. Was it really her? It had to be tested.
"Lox!? Wait, wait up!" He belted out, despite his current state.
"Who's Lox?" The reply came quickly, although cushioned by the echo. As Zane reached the finish line, he looked around in all directions.
Left, Right, Up, Down even.
Almost in a whisper, a voice grazed his ear.
"My name starts with an H!"
Raphael sighed, stretching out his long, rather slender sun-kissed legs. Lacrosse was terrible, and his clothes had gotten sweaty.
He hated to admit it, but damn he loved his cross country uniform. It meant that he didn't have to worry about buying gym clothes. It also meant flaunting his rather vivacious body with a pair of red and white running shorts(it was amazing how he could pull those off) and a long, white and red trimmed tank top.
And despite this, the boy still wore a shapeless, worn down black hoodie to cover himself up. Coach even allowed him to wear non visible spandex under his shorts just in case he sat a wrong way, not that anyone was complaining. Ever the conservative little boy.
"Alright class, you've worked enough for today. You have around... ten minutes before you go back. I head Coach Orion's class is running. If there is any survivors you may socialize."
The brunette perked up, instantly starting up a jog from the lacrosse field to the side of the school where the finish line usually was. He saw one or two people pass it, even Zane Koope who looked rather shot down. But where was...?
Hic, hic, hic.
Raphael jumped, almost screaming if he hadn't recognized that voice.
"Harlan...?" There was a pause, and the boy walked a little further up, finding his friend hiding behind the barrel of baseball bats. Cautiously he walked towards Harlan, who sponged at her tears with a sleeve.
"Poor babydoll," He whispered softly as he sat next to her, engulfing his female friend with two skinny arms. He felt her own arms wrap around him tightly, and slowly the hiccups began to fade. The boy chuckled softly; she really couldn't live without him, huh.
"What's making you cry so hard...?" Raphael asked a few moments later as he stroked her hair softly. Harlan responded by sniffling a little.
"I-I let L-Lox out and and.. I didn't mean to l-let her roam around- Honest I-I didn't!" Her head shot up when she felt her friend pull away from the hug, eyes wide and scared to see if Raphael was mad. Harlan hiccuped again.
The boy only held her face gently, wiping solo tears with a soft thumb. With a soft smile and even softer whisper, he spoke.
"You're just rebelling against the the rules, Harlan. We all tend to do that once in a while, it's not something you need to sob over, okay? Everything will be fine."
Their foreheads touched lightly.
The boy smiled softly to see Harlan's faced light up like a Christmas decoration when he pulled away from her face. Harlan was just as pretty as everyone else, if not more if you asked him. A pale, almost translucent shade of skin; those long, thick lashes. She almost looked exactly like Snow if she hadn't been screwing around with the hair dye.
"I'll say it once again, it's fine... Don't cry over it, because Harlan one of these days if you keep on crying it's all you're gonna do for the rest of your life. Cheer up, you girl scout you. I'm sure one of these days you're going to be smoking a joint, laughing at this little problem like it is; nothing at all."
"R-really?" She looked up innocently, rubbing her eye once more.
"Hell yeah. So can you stop sniffling now, hey? You're getting my uniform all soggy.
"Oh fuck you, Raphael." Harlan exclaimed, chuckling lightly.
"Not if I don't fuck a raunchy male model first, you won't." He stuck up his tongue before standing up, helping Harlan as well.
"If you excuse me now, Miss Priss, I have to get changed now, and be all... unpopular again." Raphael shrugged cutely before turning around and walking away. Before he was too far, said boy called out:
"You better be eating some fucking Haagen Dazs when I see you after school, hoe!"
"That, you and me both can count on!"
LOL AT ME. OuO;
Aha, I finally finished the second chapter though. Thanks HGiel for being my first reviewer C:
I took SO LONG THOUGH D: I thought I was going to explode.
How do you think of Couture? I'm not sure if he should be a keeper, but he seems interesting enough.
I know I didn't include Steven or Snow very much in this chapter, but for sure they will be in the next one xD;
Hope you enjoyed this chapter C:
-Blank Sky