Chapter One

Flare in Avernus.

Anna

San Francisco, California
25th of November.

Highway to Hell by AC/DC playing on my phone, I watch as everyone rush into the school building like an army of ants. I look up at the cloudy grey sky through the glass lenses and sigh. Another day, another bunch of useless crappy hours in my life.

I fix the white beanie on my head and join the others. I walk straight to my first class, not bothering to stop at my locker. I just head straight to class with my earphones still on, to block all the sounds and the unnecessary comments that gets thrown at me by Jennie and her so called friends.

Jennie refers to me as the 'Asian freak'. I don't even know why she calls me that or why she hates me so much. I didn't really do anything to her.

But I overheard her talking to her friends about how she doesn't 'appreciate' people from other ethnicities being in places they don't 'belong' in, aka California. It didn't take a genius to know she was talking about me. I'm pretty sure that she knew that I was eavesdropping though.

Her words didn't really affect me because I knew she was doing that so she can get on my nerves. I was never bothered by her in any way. It's not like everybody is going to automatically love me once they meet me and that was fine by me, to be honest.

Jennie's goal has always been the same and that is to turn everyone against me, but right now, the only people who're actually against me are her and her friends.

Before people have any thoughts, she's NOT the most popular girl in the school. She's just one of the 'cool' and popular people. The most popular girl in this school is actually nice, unlike Jennie.

I make it to my class and go inside, only to be attacked by my best friend, Riley.

"Anna!" She shouts so loud, that I can hear her over the loud music, blasting in my ears.

Everyone in the classroom turns around and looks at her.

"Whoops," she laughs nervously. "Too loud."

"Just a bit," I tell her, taking off my earphones and putting them in the small pocket of my backpack.

"Sorry, guys." She apologizes and then she turns back to me. "I ate lots of sugar for breakfast," she shrugs.

"That's clear," I say.

"I told the girls that we have a performance tonight," She tells me, as we both walk to our seats.

Riley, Sophie, Colette and I (my other friends) are in a band called The Night Chicks. Sophie was the one who named us. She actually wanted to name us the Catfish Club from The Little Mermaid and that's due to her obsession with Disney movies.

I'm the lead singer. Riley is the main pianist. Sophia is the lead guitarist and Colette is the drummer. Sophie actually thinks we're the female version of 5SOS, which I guess is kind of cool, since I'm a big fan of them.

"Great," I reply, taking a seat.

"What are you doing after school?" She asks me, dropping in the seat next to me.

"Sleep. Eat. Homework," I reply.

"So, nothing?"

"It's not...nothing. It's something," I tell her logically.

"No, that's pretty much still nothing," she insists.

"Shut up," I mumble and she laughs, knowing that she is right.

The school bell rings and Mr. Miller walks in immediately.

"All right," he says. "Everyone, settle down."

Everybody scatters to their seats and Mr. Miller starts taking the attendance. He calls out a bunch of names, until he calls out 'Luke Carter', but no one replies, of course. Mr. Miller sighs out loud.

I know that my name is going to be called on next and I feel my entire body suddenly heating up as I repeatedly rehearse my 'here' in my head. "Anna Falls?" Mr. Miller finally calls my name. I yell out a quick "Here." And the temperature of my body starts to cool down once again.

"Maya Flores?"

"Here."

After Mr. Miller reads all the names off of the list, he starts the lesson, explaining the events of the French Revolution and how it started. Usually, I concentrate hard in History lessons, because I'm into that kind of stuff. I just listen to them because they sound super fun and interesting, at least to me.

And it's because History is the only subject I'm passing, besides English and Astrophysics.

The seconds drag on and soon the seconds turn into minutes and the minutes turn into hours, until I finally make it to lunch break and I find myself sitting with my friends.

"I'm so psyched for tonight's performance!" Sophie grins widely.

"Same," Colette joins in, not wavering her gaze away from the book in her hand.

"Hey, Anna. When are we performing tonight agan?" Riley asks.

"Same time. Twelve," I reply, propping my elbow on the table as I watch him laughing and talking with his friends. Yet, another day and he still looks as gorgeous as ever. I know I sound creepy watching a guy, but I can't help it. Everything about him attracts me.

"Stop goo-goo eyeing Alexander, Anna," Riley says.

"I'm not...goo-goo eyeing Alexander, Riley," I roll my eyes.

"Sure, you aren't," Sophie laughs, tucking the dreadlock that fell from the bun twisted on top of her head back.

Alexander looks away and catches my gaze on him. I quickly look down at my food-filled tray and try my hardest to act normal, like I wasn't stalking him or anything. And it's not like I was really stalking, I was watching from afar, that's all. Totally different.

"Looks like lover boy is already smitten by you," Riley says, nudging me.

"Huh?" I lift my head up and look at Alexander.

He smiles at me and waves. And me, being my stupid self, I turn my head around to check if he isn't smiling at anyone else. When I realize that he's actually waving at me, I smile and wave back.

"Midnight falls," Colette says, not looking up from the book she is reading which is Macbeth.

I knit my eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"It means 'love', but in Colette's language," Sophie reminds me.

"Oh," I reply. "You think I'm in love with Alexander?"

"Mhm," she nods, still fixing her gaze on the white pages.

"It's just a small crush," I tell her, trying to reason with her.

She looks up at me, "Mhm," she says, like she doesn't believe me, before returning her stare to the book.

"It's true!" I exclaim. "I'm not in love with him."

I've been crushing on Alexander for one year, but it has always been a small crush. Okay, so maybe it's not a small crush. It's actually a huge one, but I have never felt more than that towards him. I mean sure, he's cute and he's the kindest person I've ever met. I may have only talked to him once and I'm not exactly the kind to boldly go up to a guy and pick up a conversation with him. My confidence really seemed to go south as I grew up.

But I don't love him. Last time I fell in love with a guy, I ended up hurting myself. The next time I'm falling in love with a guy, I have to make sure I won't end up hurt, somehow.

"Hey Lottie?" Riley says, looking up from her phone.

"Yeah?" Colette answers.

"What does 'go to hell' mean in your language?" She asks.

"Flare in Avernus," Colette replies. "Why are you asking?"

"Because James wouldn't stop texting me," she says, annoyed. "So, I'm hoping he would piss off after that message."

"He won't even understand it," Sophie tells her.

"That's the point," she says. "He'll think I'm that weird, psycho ex and hopefully he'll leave me the hell alone."

"You are without using Colette's language though," Sophie smirks at her.

"Shut up, bitch," Riley scoffs, flipping Soph off and I giggle at their bantering.

I love my friends.

Suddenly, the bell's loud chimes shrill through the noisy cafeteria and the four of us let out a groan. Seriously, who makes lunch twenty minutes? Am I supposed to like, stuff everything in my mouth and flush it down like I'm a toilet or something? Whoever is making these schedules needs to be more considerate.

"Oh, come on! That wasn't even twenty minutes! Are you freaking kidding me?" Riley scowls, getting up to throw her trash away.

"They're really okay with making math an hour and a half and lunch twenty minutes. I swear to God, humans," Colette grumbles, following Riley and so do Sophie and I.

"I didn't even eat my cookie," I mumble, but that doesn't stop me; I just pull it out and start munching on my homemade, hand-sized, chocolate chip cookie. I should own a bakery.

"Well, Riley and I are going to head to Chemistry," Soph says. "See you!" Then she and Riley walk to the end of the hall to head to their class, sending us a wave.

"I got Drama," Lottie says, pointing to the same direction that Sophie and Riley went through.

"Biology, so five minute walk for me," I puff my cheeks with air, before I let it out in a heavy sigh. Man, do I dislike walking. Sometimes. Kind of.

"I'm gonna see you in Geography then."

"Yup."

"I'm gonna go. Bye, Anna," she sends me a two-fingered salute and I wave back at her, then she turns around and I head into the other direction, still munching on my cookie.

I continue walking through the almost-empty halls, enjoying the fact that I'm towering over a lot of people. Okay, that was mean but being tall is kind of cool sometimes.

Finally done with the cookie in my hand, I walk past the familiar group of the guy that I have a huge crush on and his friends–them in the opposite direction of mine and I bring up my hoodie on top of my head, remembering the fact that I took off my beanie.

Then almost as if it's a spur of a moment, I glance to my right and my eyes go to Alexander–because I'm a very creepy person and I'm admitting it myself–before they move to Luke Carter and his gaze locks with mine from under his own hoodie for two seconds. The corners of his lips tug up as he nods to something that Zach Thompson is saying. A smile forms on my lips as I fix my gaze forward again.

Would you look at that? Luke Carter remembers me.

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Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know it's short, but the chapters get longer.

Don't forget to comment, vote and share! (It would make me the happiest freshman on earth or in Africa)

Bye, stunning peeps!

-W.A❀