The Alpha's Regret

Chapter 6

{Ellie's POV}

Our teacher’s attention immediately turned to the man who had just entered the classroom. I was still on my feet in front of everyone, about to introduce myself, but thankfully, this man created a distraction, making me stand up even longer. Note my sarcasm.

“Mr. Anderson, how kind of you to finally grace us with your presence.”

But instead of apologizing or saying anything, he just went to the back of the room and flopped himself on the seat right beside the window. He wasn’t paying attention to everyone, nor did he look like he give a d@mn.

The teacher just shook his head as if this was not something out of the ordinary and just gestured for me to sit down. Finally.

“You may take your seat, Ms. Turner.” And then, he began discussing our lecture for today.

I wanted to listen so badly. I wanted to pay attention more than anything in this world, but my determination to do so flew out the window because of that man’s presence. My mind was so distracted by the thought of him and why I was suddenly feeling like this—like I was falling from a high place and my stomach felt like jelly. My insides were tingling from the sensation I couldn’t quite describe.

The feeling was something I'd never felt before.

And it was driving me insane.

Maybe it was just my curiosity or something, so, I turned my head around to sneak a glance at him only to see that he was…sleeping? He came in late, interrupted, disrespected our teacher, and now, he was sleeping in class? Why did he go to school if he was going to sleep anyway?

I shook my head in disapproval before forcing myself to focus back on the teacher, because unlike him, there are some of us who actually went to school to learn, not to sleep.

***

The class ended and the majority of the students seemed very eager to leave. Some were even bumping into each other on their way to the door while I took my time putting all my things inside my backpack.

Thankfully, most of the students were already outside when it was my turn to leave. Even though I have to be quick since I still have to find my next class, which was Biology, I didn’t want to bump into several bodies just to make my way outside.

But my relief was short-lived when someone rather harshly bumped into me, almost knocking me down.

“Hey!” It was as if my mouth had a mind of its own and suddenly opened on instinct, because the moment the person who bumped into me stopped, I instantly regretted what I did. It was that guy. But since it was already said and done, all I could do was continue with what I was going to say. “Watch it. You almost knocked me down, you know?”

I scowled and looked at him but was instantly distracted by his eyes. It was the first time that our eyes met, and I felt like the circulation of the oxygen in my lungs had suddenly stopped working. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t look away either. It was like a magnetic force had ignited between our gazes.

He didn’t say anything, so to make myself clear, I opened my mouth to speak again but was interrupted when someone pushed me from behind.

“Move out of the way, losers!”

My eyes widened when I almost lost my balance, so out of instinct, I gripped the closest thing to me to keep my balance steady, and that thing happened to be that man. My right hand was gripping his shoulder for dear life while the other was clutching the collar of his black polo shirt. His body was slightly bent down because of my weight, and our faces were literally inches apart.

His irritated expression was replaced by a surprised one as he gazed down at me, specifically, right at my eyes.

A wave of electricity jolts me down when our skin collides with each other, causing me to stumble backwards in surprise. What the hell was that?

I cleared my throat and shook my head, a bit confused as to what was happening. Why does this man have that effect on me?

I opened my mouth again, but before I could even utter a word, he already turned around and began walking away, as if my presence was somewhat suffocating him. Wow, another Rhys in the making. He should meet my brother, there’s no doubt they would get along well.

I mentally shook my head and stilled when I saw someone from the corner of my eyes. It was none other than our history teacher, blinking at me with his mouth slightly parted open, and that’s when I realized that he saw the whole interaction between me and that man! I bit my lower lip and laughed awkwardly before running off as if my life depended on it.

Gosh, that was so embarrassing!

Thankfully, the man wasn’t in any of the rest of my class for this morning, so I have managed to survive in all of them. No one bothered talking to me besides the proof, and I never bothered talking to anyone either, so I guess it was fine, it was bearable. I prefer it this way than to get any attention or negative energy from people at all.

It’s safer this way.

After the bell rang, I put all my textbooks inside my locker and then went straight to that dreaded place…the cafeteria.

The moment I stepped inside through the wide-spaced room full of tables with different groups sitting on them, I instantly felt like going home. This was high school. There was laughter echoing around, two people throwing chips at each other, some were even in heated debates, while there were also those kids who just never stop studying and never keep their eyes off their books even when eating. Jocks grouped together like a gang and one of them was even sitting on the table, queen bees with their salad and lip gloss. Oh, and what is high school without those bullies? And let’s not forget about the nerds…it was just your typical high school scenery.

And this was me…the invisible girl who sits at her table alone, trying to survive high school on her own. With her name unknown to everyone, without talking to anyone at all, because she never feels like she belongs in any of those groups at all.

And that was until…

“Hey, how’s it going, mate?”

Piles of books followed by a tray full of food were harshly slammed down on the table where I was peacefully eating…but not anymore. I slowly looked up, surprised, and saw a girl.

She was wearing light blue ripped jeans and a black cropped top. A red and black stripe jacket was also wrapped around her waist and a black cap on her head.

What the actual f…

She noticed my expression and smiled.

“Ops, sorry.” Though, from the sound of her voice, she was anything but apologetic.

I put down my fork and looked around the cafeteria. There were still a lot of vacant tables, so why is she sitting here with me? Not that I didn’t want her to sit here, but…

“Uhm…” I didn’t know what to say, actually. I wanted to tell her to sit somewhere else, but I didn’t want to be rude or offend her.

I watched as she grabs her spoon and fork and began digging in like a starved animal who hadn’t eaten in months. Literally. I might even think that she would eat mine in an instant if I offered it to her, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

I tried to ignore her and just focus on my food, but she was just so noisy.

“Are you new here?” I almost didn’t understand it because of the way she was speaking…with her mouth still full of food.

Almost. So, technically, I still heard and understood what she said, but how I wish I hadn’t. It was hard pretending not to hear what she said, so I had no other choice but to answer.

“Yeah.” I barely opened my mouth, so I thought she wouldn’t hear me, but I was surprised to see her nodding her head while now munching on her sandwich.

“Any reason why you transferred from school this late?”

“Just some family matters.”

She scrunched her nose and swallowed after sipping on her orange juice.

“That’s a tough one. I once had to go through the same problem, so I feel you.”

That piqued my interest, so for the first time, I spoke or rather asked in a more interested manner.

“Really? What happened?”

She shook her head. “I could barely remember. I was still a baby when it happened, but I knew it was a tough time.” My shoulder instantly sagged and the urge to strangle this girl almost took the best of me. I mentally shook my head and just tried my best to ignore her, but shutting up was probably not in her vocabulary. “I’m Lucy Pearson, by the way. I’m in my last senior year here…hopefully.” She smiled and offered her hand for me to shake.

I tried to smile back and accepted her hand. “Ellie Turner.”

Her eyes flashed with recognition after hearing my name. “Are you perhaps related to Rhys Turner?”

I blinked, surprised. She knew my brother.

Well, what should I say?

I knew Rhys considered me less than a mere stranger, so I didn’t exactly know the right thing to say. If I said that we’re siblings and this girl turned up to be one of Rhys' close friends and asked him about it, he might deny that fact, which would eventually make me look like a liar and a story maker now.

And I was not here for any of that drama.

So, I shook my head. “Never heard of that name before.”

“Really? You don’t know Rhys Turner?” By the tone of her voice, it was like I just told her that I didn’t have any idea who Taylor Swift was. “He was like one of the most famous people here in town. Everybody knows him…no—scratch that, they literally love him, especially the girls.”

Dad did say that Rhys has a lot of friends. Maybe that’s why he’s famous? I don’t really know.

“He used to go in this same school and he and Noah were inseparable. But you know, Rhys was three years older than Noah, and he graduated first before Noah did, so it was kind of a heartbreak for everyone, but they still hang out most of the time despite that, since technically, they live in the same…”

Lucy blabbed on and on, and I could barely keep up. There were names she mentioned that I didn’t even know or heard about, and after a good two minutes of trying to listen, I eventually gave up and just turned her out. Her mouth was unstoppable. She had so much energy and things to say that she just couldn’t keep to herself, and thankfully, lunch ended when the bell rang. I planned on leaving twenty minutes early but obviously, I couldn’t stick with it because of her.

Which ended up with me being late for my P.E class since I had to change and find the gymnasium which was farther than I thought.

And to top it all, I saw Lucy in my Art class. She was excitedly waving her hands in the air the moment I walked inside. I had no other choice but to sit beside her since I already saw her, and to say that the teacher had scolded her more than three times because of her nonstop blabbering was an understatement.

I was more than thankful when school ended. I was tired as hell, so I couldn’t help but be thankful when I saw Dad’s car waiting for me in the parking lot. It felt nice being taken care of this way. I can barely remember feeling this way.

“See you tomorrow, Elle!” Lucy exclaimed happily.

I reluctantly waved at her and bit my lower lip before going straight to Dad’s car. I went straight to the passenger side and Dad’s warm and welcoming smile immediately greeted me. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt all the tension leave my body the moment I saw him. Finally, a familiar face.

“I see that you have already made a friend.” He must’ve seen Lucy with me.

I pursed my lips and nodded while buckling my seatbelt as he started to drive out of the parking lot.

“Yeah. She was…nice and very talkative.” To say the least.

“Well, I’m glad. I think you should hang out more with people like that. They would be a big help for you to step out of your comfort zone from time to time.”

“Yeah…maybe.”

Lucy reminded me of my best friend, Nicky, but ten times more energetic and brighter. I can remember that she and I had started similar to how Lucy and I talked, and I couldn’t help but think this could be the start of a new but probably a very terrible friendship duo.

We could only guess.