Chapter 3

By the time Adrianna walked into her English class, all the seats were taken except for one at the back of the classroom. Needless to say, a certain boy with black hair and blue eyes occupied the desk next to it. As she made her way to the vacant table, she could feel his searing gaze on her. The intensity of it made her heart thunder and skin prickle with goose bumps. She tried to wipe her clammy hands onto her jeans in an attempt to get rid of the sudden chill she experienced.

When Adrianna took her seat, the teacher—Miss. Charmane— began the class by talking about the novel they had recently finished reading and the essay they were going to do on it. Lucky for her, she already read the book in her last school which meant she had less catching up to do. As the teacher started to quiz the students on the novel, curiosity over took her and she took at quick peek at the boy next to her.

For once he wasn’t looking at her, but rather at Miss. Charmane. While his body was seated in a laidback manner, he had a pensive expression on his face that revealed little to no emotion. Yet despite his casual body language, she found his presence to be overwhelming and impossible to ignore.

Adrianna bit the bottom of her lips while she continued to study him. She loved a good challenge when it came to reading peoples’ emotions and finding out what made them tick, but truth be told, the mysterious boy had her stumped. No matter how hard she tried to analyze him based on the methods her mom taught her, she just couldn’t figure him out. It was almost as if he had built a wall around himself that allowed no one to see past his cool exterior. There were very few people she had seen or met that showed these specific characteristics. They were either smart psychopaths or extremely damaged and tortured individuals.  And from what she had noticed about him so far, he was probably both.

“Like what you see Spencer?”

Adrianna nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of the low quiet voice. She closed her eyes firmly and tried to catch her breath before glancing back to the boy next to her. Although he was still watching the teacher at the front of the classroom, it was clear that he had caught her staring at him. The edge of his lips was tilted slightly upwards into a smirk, but when he turned to look at her, his eyes held no warmth in them.

She shivered when her eyes met the endless sea of blue that threatened to drown her in its wake. It was intrusive, brash and unrelenting. She struggled to break away from his gaze, but it was almost painful to look away. And in those few seconds were she tried to resurface from the tides, she became hopelessly lost in the depths of his dark mesmerizing eyes.

When he finally turned his attention back to the lesson, the trance broke and she was able to catch her breath. After she was able to calm down, a thought came to her mind that made her immediately frown. “Wait how do you know my last name?” she demanded accusingly.

“I have my resources,” he replied without turning to look at her.

Her eyebrows pulled together in frustration and she scowled at his vague answer. She was right about him. Not only was he a tortured psychopath, but he was also a stalker. Those were the worst kinds of people out there. As a daughter of a district attorney, she experienced firsthand on what it’s like to be stalked by one of them. She should start talking to her mom about getting a restraining order for him. The last thing she needs right now is to stress out about some crazy guy like him.

With that thought in mind, Adrianna turned her attention back to the exasperated teacher who was trying to get students to answer with critical thought to the novel they read.

“Can anyone tell me some better themes for Lord of the Flies?”

When none of the students put their hands up, Adrianna decided to go for a shot. “Well I think the novel focuses a lot on the theme of human nature, innocence and the dehumanization of relationships. It showed that when the moral standards in society are removed from an individual’s environment, he or she will tend to revert back to a state of cruelty and primitive nature. By the end of the novel, many of the boys’ lost their innocence when they became driven by their animalistic instinct to kill and torture others,” she explained before pausing with a small frown. “Simon was one of the few characters that were very naive, and unfortunately this trait cost him his life.”

When she finished her analysis, Miss. Charmane gave her a large smile. “Well done Adrianna. This is exactly the kind of depth I’m looking for. You haven’t even been to this class for more than 20 minutes and you’re already doing better than some of the students who has been here for a couple of months,” she praised before giving a pointed look towards certain students in the class. “Alright, does anyone have anymore themes they would like to share?”

A few students raised their hands up, and they continued on with the discussion.

With the soft drumming of the rain on the window and the long dull conversation in class, it wasn’t long before Adrianna found herself slowly drifting to sleep...

Standing in the rays of the early morning sun, little Adrianna couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he was. Just looking at him made her feel like she had butterflies in her stomach. With his straight white teeth, wiry black hair and crystal blue eyes, he was what mommy would call handsome. The only thing that ruined his pretty face was the serious expression he always had on his chubby face.  He barely ever smiled, and when he did it was usually in a mocking manner. Sometime she wished she could see him smile for real. She bet it would be beautiful like the rest of him.

“So why did you take me here?” asked the boy with a frown on his face. He tilted his head to the side curiously as he surveyed the landscape before him. It had a lot of strange red metal sticking out of the ground. Some had large plastic shapes attached to it, while others had chains with seats hanging from the top.

Adrianna shrugged, feeling disappointed at the lack of interest he had at the sight of the playground. “Well we never do anything but spend time at the tree house. I thought it would be nice to come out to the park to play,” she replied with half a smile.

His eyes furrowed together at her explanation. “So this here,” he gestured towards the objects in front of him, “is a place to play?”

She nodded with a smile on her face. “Yep!”

“Okay and why would I want to play on a piece of metal?” he asked slowly with a confused look on his face.  

Adrianna’s smile evaporated from her face when she heard his second question. For a long time, she stared at the boy in horror, almost as if he had just told her that Santa Claus did not exist. “Metal? It’s not just any kind of metal! It’s a playground with slides and swings and stuff! Haven’t your mommy or daddy ever taken you to a park before? Like every kid on earth knows that the point of this is to play and have fun! Duhh!” she exclaimed.

For a split second, he cast his eyes downwards with a frown on his face before it was quickly replaced with a serious expression. Kicking at the pebble next to him, he shrugged. “I guess I’m not like every kid. I have never been to a playground before. Father will not allow me to play or have fun while I’m being tutored and trained.” 

If Adrianna’s jaw could drop any further, it would be on the ground by now. He might as well have told her that Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny did not exist. “Then you definitely have to try it out! It’s so much fun! I’ll even teach you how to go on the swings and how to climb the jungle gym. You’ll love,” she stated with glee.

Just as he was about to protest against it, Adrianna grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the sandpit. “I won’t take no for an answer,” she declared stubbornly.

“Now watch this!”

The boy crossed his arms together with a scowl on his face. “What’s so fun about climbing on a piece of metal?” he grumbled loud enough for her to hear.

Adrianna didn’t reply back. She was only focused on keeping a tight grip on the metal bars. Normally when she climbed on the jungle gym, she would do this with the help of her daddy, but it was too late for her to back down now. If she quit before she started, it would only make herself look like a baby in front of him.

The boy cracked a tiny smile at her feeble attempt to teach him how to use the bars. Addie had barely started and her arms were already shaking. He almost expected her to give up on the spot, but she surprised him by getting past three bars before she turned to look at him with big wide eyes.

 “Uh oh...” said Adrianna softly as she reached midway through the bars. Her arms were starting to hurt a lot and she knew that she couldn’t hold onto the rails for any longer. When she looked down at the ground, her heart immediately started to hammer in her chest. It was a long way down from the monkey bars, and if she let go now, that meant she might hurt herself. “Help me Nono!” she wailed loudly.

The boy shifted slightly at the sound of the awful nickname she gave him. He wasn’t sure how to help her out. Normally if he ever climbed a large structure like that, he would just jump down. Easy as that. But it was clear to him that Addie didn’t find it so easy. In fact, jumping down seemed to scare her to the point where tears were starting to form in her eyes.

He frowned. For some strange reason, he didn’t like to see her cry. It made him feel something he normally never felt. Empathy.

“Please help me Nono! Please help! Please, please, please!” cried out Adrianna as her whole body stared to shake in fear.

Without thinking, he appeared underneath her and held his arms out in front of him. “You’re going to be okay Addie. Just let go of the bars and I’ll catch you,” he said softly.

Her lips quivered at the thought of falling down. “I...I can’t! I can’t do it!”

“Be a brave girl Addie. You can do this, but I need you to trust me first,” he whispered.

When she gave him a tiny nod, he lips tilted upwards. “Good. Now I want you to close your eyes, and when I count to three, I want you to let go of the bars okay?”

Adrianna gave him another quick nod in reply.

“One...”

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Two...”

She loosed her grip on the bars.

“Three!”

She let go.

Adrianna woke up to the sound of a bell ringing. It was loud enough to effectively jolt her out of her drowsy state. As the majority of the students packed away their things and left for their next class, she was left reeling in questions that she didn’t have answers to. She never did. 

***

“So you down for Greg’s party on Friday?” asked Lily as she popped some fries into her mouth.

Adrianna wrinkled her nose at the thought of going to a party.  She wasn’t a big fan of loud music and sweaty teenagers. Plus getting hammered on a Friday night just wasn’t her idea of fun. She would much rather being doing other things like star gazing or hiking up the mountain.

“Actually no I rather not go,” she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “I don’t even know this Greg you speak of.”

Lily rolled her eyes. She always knew her friend was a prude, but she needed to loosen up once in a while. “Oh common Adri, it’d be fun. There’s going to be hot guys and alcohol. What can be better than that?”

 “Well—”

“I think you should totally go,” said an approaching auburn haired girl with a grin. “Greg hosts the best parties, especially since his parents own a freaking mansion in the Rosewater area! That and practically every senior is going to be there. You’ll be able to meet new people and possibly make some friends there too.”

Adrianna’s eyebrows rose up as she watched the girl sit down beside Lily. Her green eyes glittered with mirth while she chatted away about the upcoming party. She didn’t need to study her for too long before she concluded what kind of person she was. Beautiful, social and spontaneous. She was a Lily 2.0.

The girl turned to look at Adrianna with a large smile on her face. “Anyways, I don’t think we have met before, but I’m guessing you’re the new girl Lily has been talking about,” she said while two boys suddenly appeared and dropped their food trays next to hers.

“Hey Lily, stop hogging the new girl. We know you’re her best friend and all, but sharing is caring!” sang the tall brown haired boy. He laughed while the blonde haired boy beside him shoved him playfully.

“Oh don’t lie. You don’t even like sharing,” he retorted.

Within seconds, the two friends were jostling each other back and forth. It wasn’t until the auburn haired girl smacked them both on the head that they stopped their horseplay.

“Stop acting like kids!” she scolded with a half smile. “Be nice, you don’t want to scare her away.”

Lily grinned at her friends before turning to Adrianna. “So these are my best buds that I was talking to you about... They happen to be the craziest bunch of people you will ever meet,” she stated with a giggle before pointing to the girl beside her. “Anyways, this here is Kate. She’s an aspiring actress, but is failing miserably at it.” That earned Lily a smack in the head from Kate.

“No don’t listen to her, she’s lying. I’ve already been casted in some minor roles for a few TV shows and next year I’m hoping to get into Julliard.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah but we all know how impossible that dream is for you,” she added before glancing towards the blonde haired boy sitting next to Kate. “That over there is—”

“Simon,” stated Adrianna, “Yeah I recognize him from the park yesterday.”

Her friend grinned, “Oh that’s cool. Well since you already met him, you would probably know him as a wannabe hipster. He always such a try hard and—”

Simon flicked two of his fingers on Lily’s cheek. “Shut up, you’re only jealous of my amazing talents.”

“Yeah like picking your nose,” she laughed while pointing at the brown haired boy. “Anyhow, the knucklehead stuffing his face with food is Cameron. He happens to be the receiver on the football team, which makes him all bronze and no brains.” That earned her a kick to the shins. “Hey! Ow! Seriously! Why are you guys hurting me today!” she moaned in annoyance.

“Says the girl who’s in love with Jake,” he stated as he continued to shove handful of fries down his mouth. “And the reason why we’re hurting you is you tend to over exaggerate our bad qualities and underestimate our talents.”

Adrianna giggled at the whole scene before her. She was already starting to like all of Lily’s friends. They were easy going and fun to talk to. Each one of them was different in talent, yet similar in personality. It was the perfect combo for a perfect friendship.

“Well it’s nice to meet all of you guys. I’m Adrianna and I love everything environment related.”

Lily grinned, “She’s also a very big prude and doesn’t want to do anything—which is why you guys have to convince her to go to Friday night’s party!”

Adrianna stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Well there are so many better things to do then waste your time drinking and dancing,” she defended.

“Actually I’m with Adrianna on this one. Parties are so overrated.”

Lily, Cameron and Kate all turned to look at Simon with a glare.

Then they all started to laugh.

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Hey guys I know this chapter doesn't have too much action as of yet, but there will be some coming up. Hopefully this didn't bore you too much. Comment if there's anything I could improve on and vote if you just like it! My updates might get a little slower since I have work, school and a lot of stuff to do before exams. Thanks for reading :)