2

Eiling

I WAS seated at the far end of the cafeteria. My arms laid on the table, spread around my lunch tray. Peace engulfed me.

Save for the chatter around the cafeteria, my table was quiet. I liked that the students respected me enough to avoid my table, but then, that could have been because they didn't notice me sitting there.

I didn't care.

I grabbed a fry from the tray and pushed it into my mouth, munching away silently, unmoving. My hooded eyes searched the room. Lunchtime was always drama time.

Here at SGH, no afternoon could pass without it erupting among the students. Popular drama; sometimes it was funny, other times it wasn't.

I stuffed another fry into my mouth.

Like I said before, I hated this school with every muscle fibre in me. The entire system made me feel suffocated, chained and controlled. Powerless to the populars.

Those guys lived better high school lives than the rest of us. Take our food for example. They always got the expensive and good stuff like fresh lasagna, burritos, meatballs made of actual meat and even pizza. They could even order takeout right at school and get it delivered to them within minutes.

The rest of us, who couldn't afford that, were stuck with oil soaked fries and plastic meatballs(I swear that's what they tasted like, plastic). I didn't have a choice though. If I didn't want to starve then I'd better enjoy the food.

If I had a choice, I would have gone in search of a cheaper-and considerably better-school. Over there, I'd probably have to pay higher for my feeding but it would be totally worth it because there would be less predators lurking in the shadows. But I didn't have a say because my father, before he died, had paid my entire tuition ahead of time. He said he didn't want anything to hold back my education. That was the reason why I was, literally, stuck here.

I shoved another fry into my mouth with more force than I had intended too, almost choking myself in the process. I let out a small cough, not wanting to draw any attention and then pushed away the tray. I'd had enough soggy fries for today.

With a sigh, I drew out my aged phone and stared at the blank screen. No messages, no calls, no one cared about me. I was alone.

I unconsciously scrolled the screen and watched it bounce back to the original state because there was absolutely nothing to scroll against.

“What do you mean?!” Came the sudden outraged scream of a female specimen in the cafeteria.

I averted my gaze from my phone that was filled with loneliness and tried to find out what caused the ruckus. My gaze darkened when it settled on the Prime Empire's table.

They hardly ever ate at the cafeteria. Most times, they went to that expensive restaurant across the street to have their lunches. On the rare occasions that they did eat at school, they made sure to be the centre of attention.

There was a girl, correction, a heartbroken girl standing at their table with fire burning in her eyes. Amusement flew in the air between the members of the Prime.

Ooh, drama!

By now, the entire cafeteria probably had that on their mind as they watched the scene unfold. My gaze flickered to the useless fries on the table. Well, better put it to good use instead of wasting the food then.

I pulled the tray back to myself and munched on a fry. From the distance, I saw Tyler's blue eyes glimmer and a smirk form on his lips. More than half the female population were already drooling over him.

Yeah, I get it. This guy was hot. Like spanish supermodel hot. His smile made all the girls around him drop their panties and his smirk made them do things that were a lot worse than that.

But the heartbroken girl wasn't falling for his charm. Infact, she was shedding tears already.

“I mean that I'm done with you.” Tyler shrugged. “But thanks though. You were a good fling.”

The entire cafeteria gasped. I found some girls even fanning themselves. Honestly the girls at this school needed rehabilitation. They thought everything these guys did was amazing. Everything including using and dumping girls. It only made them want to be around the prime the more.

Heartbroken–I'm totally calling her that now–had tears running down her cheeks freely by now.

Half of me couldn't believe her. Did she really fall for their trick? Come on! The Prime Empire used girls for a living. They found it fun. Like a sport. They loved drama and stirring it. She must have been very blind to have fallen for their twisted shenanigans.

The other half felt kind of bad for her though. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang around power. That was their technique. They would accept a girl into their group then use her to play stupid games throw her away after. Pity almost all the girls seemed to die for their drama. They were all eager to suffer the same fate. Some would even see her as lucky to be broken by the prime Empire.

Heartbroken let out sobs and shook her head, then she ran out of the cafeteria. For one second the entire place fell pin-drop-silent. That spell was broken by the Prime Empire who began laughing. Some other popular groups joined in their laughter, and soon enough, the entire cafeteria was stifling laughter.

My blood boiled. It was the minor–major–events like these that made me avoid these people.

That girl might have been wrong for falling for Tyler but she didn't deserve this treatment. None of the girls who passed through it ever did. And the way the populars controlled everything made me sick to my stomach.

Or maybe it was the soggy fries...

I decided that I'd had enough drama for today. It was time to head to the library, where I would find proper uninterrupted peace. So I grabbed my backpack and got the hell out of there.

• • •

I arrived at my class very early so as to avoid any more student stampedes or rushes. I had already arranged my notes and textbooks and every other thing I would need throughout the class right on my table and was now staring at the door waiting for the teacher to walk in.

The door cracked open and I sat up straighter, expecting a teacher. I was very serious with my education. It was the only thing about my life that was going un-lemon-y and I didn't want to screw it up.

However, I was very disappointed to find out that the person who had entered wasn't the teacher. He wasn't even a teacher at all.

He was Kayden Facro. As in Prime Empire Kayden Facro. My goodness did he look gorgeous. Oh sue me for appreciating natural beauty. His teeth were so white, when he flashed them half the class went blind.

I swallowed hard and dropped my gaze to the table, pulling my hoodie to properly cover my eyes.

What was he doing here? I thought he didn't offer Economics?

Quick lesson; never, EVER, trust rumors. They could screw you up real bad.

“Hey, is this seat taken?” I froze at his voice then shook my head swiftly, snapping out of it. Certainly he wasn't talking to...

“Hello?” I looked up. That was a mistake. The second I did, I was captivated by his eyes. They were the deepest of browns and the loveliest of lovelies...okay too much.

“Um...are you okay?” He asked, confused.

My brain did a reboot, debugging, system upgrade, clear cache.

Speak child, speak!

My mouth opened, no words came out.

System overload. Turn off all electrical appliances and stay away from the doors. Abort! Abort! Aborrrttt!!

I was overheating. Shit, was I supposed to react this way?

“Are you okay?” He looked genuinely concerned. He took a step towards me. “Should I call the nurse?”

Everyone's eyes were on us by now. My brain chose this as the perfect moment to die ...

With my jaw still on the floor and mouth ajar, I shook my head.

“Free. Is. Table. Chair.” I blurted out the words so senselessly that my subconscious slapped me.

Well, in real life I smacked myself in the face and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe I was just daydreaming again. That was what I thought until I heard Kayden chuckle.

My eyes snapped open. “You're still here?” I blurted out foolishly.

Yes my people, my mouth was bent on destroying me today.

Kayden just shook his head and settled into the seat next to mine while the teacher walked in. Awkwardly, I shifted in my seat and surveyed the room. Sure enough, the seat next to me had been the only seat left in the entire class. That was why he spoke to me.

Why? Oh why did I like sitting alone?

That class was the definition of awkwardly weird and bizzare. I kept squirming in my seat and didn't get a single thing the teacher said into my head. Though I was able to get some notes down, nothing entered my brain. That shit was gone for good.

The class ended and to say I was grateful would be an understatement. I was elated...that is, until Kayden spoke again.

“Hey, so can I borrow your note?” I turned to him with wide eyes, my mouth was at the dawn of its awakening. Silently, I prayed that it would fall asleep. Kayden laughed, flashing his dimples at me in the process. “Sorry, it's just that I didn't quite get anything the teacher said–”

It was my mouth that cut him off, I swear it wasn't me.

“No it's fine.” It blurted out. My hands went to work, frantically searching my bag for the note. I practically shoved it into his hand when I found it. “Here, you don't have to worry about returning it.” I kept talking while backing away from him slowly and as fast as I could at the same time.

My mouth didn't stop. The thing really had a death wish. Kayden just stared at me with a swirl of amusement and confusion in his eyes.

“You can keep it. I have books–I mean the bookstore has books. I could buy one and recopy it…” I smacked my forehead. “Silly me, you could have that one too. I'll just borrow a note from Rachel and copy a new one. And then I could copy her notes ten times and hand them over to you and then…”

I paused speaking when I reached the door. By now, my hoodie had moved back, putting my face on full display. My eyes danced between the classroom and the hall, then again and again until I inhaled sharply.

“Bye.” And with that, I ran out of there with everything I had.