Chapter 2: I can't

I look in the mirror for the last time and see that the outfit is nice at least. I'm wearing black tights with broken blue jeans, high heeled boots, a black crop top, and a leather jacket. My hair is down, the curls falling onto my back. But as my eyes move onto my own face, I can see the sadness in my eyes. My makeup is great as usual, but no one can take that lonely feeling away. I have no friends, which is not unusual, but still… My siblings will probably find friends immediately or sit together during lunch, but that's not really something I'm worried about. I usually just listen to music and eat or sometimes read something. I hope I can see that guy, Jacob, again. He seemed interested, but well, I bet there are hundreds of other girls for that who like him and he likes them back.

I just throw my black backpack over my shoulder and go downstairs. I hear that everyone's in the kitchen, but I'm not in the mood to join them, so I just sit on the last step of the stairs and start petting my dog, who comes to sit in front of me.

“Hey bud,” I sigh. She's always there for me if I need to talk and look interested even though she probably doesn't understand anything. I’ve had her since I was 2 years old. Our old dog, a Labrador, had puppies with a Golden Retriever. So this one here is a Goldador. A black one. All the puppies were white or kind of yellow, but I chose the black one. Even though I was two, I could feel the similarity between us. Or I just liked how she was different from the others. Or she chose me, I'm not sure. Now I'm 16, she's 14. She's old, the doctor says that she has until the end of the next year. I'm depressed… “It’s my first day,” I say quietly so that my family couldn't hear. She rests her head on my knee as I ruffle her fur as always. She loves it. “I’m scared.”

…

“Bye,” we say to mom and Millie and get out of the car. I already feel all the eyes on us. Obviously, we're all new and the four of us just came out of the same car. “Well, I'm gonna go,” I tell them and start walking towards the school. My first class is Math, the other two have Science and Ava has English, but she's a year older, so...

I hear some boys blowing a whistle as I pass them, but I just roll my eyes and make my way through the front door. It's an old school as I can see. Like most things in the town, it's very retro. I know my class number was 318, so I go on the third floor and try to find it. The bell rings and I sigh, knowing I'm doomed. I just hope my siblings found theirs before that because they're all socially awkward.

The class number 318. The door is closed, meaning the teacher is inside already. I don't know if I'm supposed to knock and walk in or just walk in, but I decide that the second one is better to do. So I open the door and go in front of the class basically. People start whispering immediately, but I don't really care.

“Can I help you?” the teacher asks.

“I’m Belle Baker?” I make it a question.

“Oh, right,” she says, seeing a little doubtful about my outfit. “I’m Ms. Popper, take a seat.” I look around the class. No seats in the third row where I'd like to. Two in the first one and one in the last. I make my way to the back of the class immediately and sit down, people looking after me.

“Belle Baker,” I hear the same voice saying I heard yesterday. I look at the boy. He still looks just as good, just a little tired. He's sitting next to me, but the tables are for only one person, so we have a space between us.

I roll my eyes and ignore him. He keeps teasing me or talking to me during the entire class, so I just roll my eyes and sometimes snigger when he gets angry at me for doing that. When the class ends and the bell rings, everyone's up, including me. I take the books under my arm and walk out of the class with the mission to find my locker. But immediately I feel a finger tapping onto my shoulder. I look at him and frown. “How many times do I have to push you away before you actually leave me alone?”

“You're looking for your locker. I might know where that is,” he says.

“Oh really? Where? In the janitor's closet?” I ask and keep walking.

He chuckles. “You think so much of yourself. I'm not that into you, you know. You rejected me, I'll find someone else. Move on.”

I laugh at that. “Oh really? Then why are you stalking me?”

“You seem fascinating,” he smirks and I stop in front of the right locker I hope. I try the code and smile as it opens for me. I stuff all my books and notebooks in it and look at it with a frown. Too empty and ugly. Just as I wanna close it, Jake puts his arm in front of me, not letting me. He pulls out a black marker and writes something on the inside of my door.

“You can't get that off,” I say. He steps out of the way and just before he slams it shut, I see what he wrote.

Jacob ?

“Well, then I guess it has to stay there forever, yeah?” he asks, restraining me with his hands on the lockers around me. I'm pressed into mine.

I raise my eyebrows. “You dick, get off.” But he does exactly the opposite. He kisses me. I melt into the soft kiss, his perfect lips connected with mine. I kiss him back for a few seconds and then slide my tongue over his upper lip and push him away, my hands on his chest. “Not gonna happen, Blood,” I say and walk away, hopefully towards my next class. When I look over my shoulder back at him my mouth forms into a smirk; he's leaning against my locker, arms crossed on his chest, looking at me walking away. He winks just once and with a smile and goes in the opposite direction.

I sigh and smile, keeping walking. This kiss was the best one I've ever had. And I've had lots of them, believe me.

…

The second and third periods go past really slowly. Jake isn't in my geography, but he's in my chemistry and even though he sat in the other end of the class with other kids in leather jackets with a snake symbol and the gang name written over it, he was staring at me the whole time, which was flattering, but annoying.

I walk to my Science class and see that both of my siblings are here, sitting together. I smile a little and go and sit in front of them behind an empty table. They're both smirking and a smile creeps on my face. “What?” I ask softly.

“You totally kissed that hottie we met yesterday,” Ben beams.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” I say quietly, leaning onto their table. “I did not kiss him. He kissed me. I pushed him away after a few seconds.”

“Nuh-uh. You totally kissed me back,” I hear Jacob's voice and see him standing next to my table.

“Stop stalking me,” I say. He drops the bag down. “And do not sit down here.” He smiles big, loving it when I'm irritated at pops down on the chair next to me. I scoff madly and turn my back at all of them, resting my head on my siblings' table, on Ben's arm. “You're a jerk, stop hitting on me, it's never gonna happen,” I say to Jacob.

“You licked my lips. You were enjoying it. Stop lying, bitch.”

I scoff again and turn around, sitting up straight and look up at him angrily. “A what now? If you think that is how I'm gonna like you back, it is not, you dick.”

“I don't like you,” he says loudly.

“Is that so?” I ask.

“You're just as same as all the others I sleep with. Nothing different. You’re all sluts.” I slap him for that. He winces a little and his hand flies up onto his cheek. “Why did you do that for?”

“Never and I repeat ever call me or any other girl a slut again,” I say between my teeth.

He smirks. “Oh really? What are you gonna do then, slap me again?”

“Um, yeah,” I say, nodding.

“You wouldn't dare. Slut.” I give him an even harder slap and his face wrinkles up, looking at me madly.

“Ms. Baker! Mr. Blood! Come with me,” the teacher shouts furiously. We both get up at the same time and throw our backpacks over our shoulder, both of our fists clenched and jaw pressed together. We follow the teacher to the principal's office and he tells him the situation. The principal looks really mad as he calls our parents.

…

“Baby, it's your first day and already I'm called to the school,” mom says as she enters the room. Then she sees Steve and sighs, looking at me and Jake before sitting down. “What happened?” she asks.

I feel everyone's eyes on me. I'm not the kind of girl to lie. If I do something, I take responsibility. I raise my head up normally, looking at my mom. “I slapped him. Twice.”

“Why?” Steve sigh, resting his head on his hand.

“He called me a slut.” I look at Jacob. “Twice.”

“I can do that again if you want,” he tells me with a smirk.

I scoff and rest my right leg over my left one, crossing them. “I would punch you.”

“I'd like to see you try,” he smirks.

“Seriously, I'll punch you,” I say with a normal tone.

“I’ll-“

“Jake, stop,” Steve says. “I get it. You like her. But why do you have to call her a slut?”

“I do not like her,” Jake says. “If anything, she annoys the shit out of me for pushing me away.”

“Well, I wouldn't have to push you away if you wouldn't stalk me all the time, jerk,” I say.

“I can't call you a slut and you can call me a jerk? What if I slapped you now?” he asks.

“Jacoblee,” the principal says.

I narrow my eyes a little and a huge grin comes onto my face. “Jacoblee?” I ask Jacob.

“Annabel,” my mom says between her teeth.

“Annabel?” he mocks my tone but making it like really high. I roll my eyes and turn a little away from him, biting my nail.

“Detention for a week. For both of you,” the principal says.

“With whom?” we ask in unison. I've only been to four classes and already have a teacher who I can't tolerate.

“In the library. With Ms. Patmore.”

I smile a little. “As in just stock books away?” I ask.

“It depends what they need,” the principal says. I smile and look down at my lap.

“What? Your virgin boyfriend works there or something?” Jacob asks and just before Steve can start yelling at him, I answer him.

“Yeah. Jealous?” He clinks his teeth together and looks away, making me smile big. He's jealous.

“Do you mind getting them back to class?” the principal asks. Jake's head shoots up just as mine as we look at our parents.

“We can go ourselves,” I say.

“Yeah, no need to do anything,” Jake says and we get up.

“You’re so embarrassed by us?” Steve smirks.

“Yes, you're our parents,” I say. “Isn’t that obvious?” They both chuckle at me and get up anyways.

“We’ll make sure they get to class,” mom says, and the principal nods. We all go out of the office. “Look you two. I don't care if you like each other or not, but I do not want to be called to school again, Belle. Just two weeks, okay?”

“Two weeks?” Steve chuckles and looks at me. “You’re that bad?”

“I’m not bad, just people are annoying. And teachers hate me because of my clothes,” I say.

“Or because you don't study,” mom says.

A little smirk comes onto my face. “Yeah, no. Because of my clothes.” She rolls her eyes and pushes me a little. “Two weeks or you're grounded.”

“What?” I ask. “Mom,” I say sadly with a whiny voice, breaking her name into two halves.

“You can't pull two weeks off?” Jake smirks.

“I can't pull two weeks off even if you're not here. If you're here annoying and stalking me she'll be called here again tomorrow after I kill you,” I say and walk towards the class. I hear them laughing and hear him coming with me.

“I'm so annoying to you?” he asks me.

“You have no idea,” I say. We get behind the corner, our class two doors away. He doesn't let me keep walking. His hands are on the wall, me between them as before.

“Oh yeah? Tell me about it,” he says, breathing his hot breath and smell on my face. I cup his face and pull his lips on mine. In a couple of seconds, he tugs on my lower lip and I push him away. He seems confused, but I shake my head and take a deep breath. “Belle, what's wrong? I can feel you like it,” he says softer than I've ever heard him talking to anyone.

“I can't, Jake. I'm sorry,” I say and walk towards our class. I open the door and enter, Jake behind me, looking and feeling confused for sure.