Lush Life

Chapter 1: How A Story Begins.

"Sleeper cell get up" a voice came through the room, it was that of Mrs Kruise "You're going to be late, but I know you already know that."

Matthew opened his eyes immediately to see the white ceiling, it was looking more luminous than usual his mum must have opened the window, he turned to face the other side of the room, affirmative, she'd opened the window positioned on the bent part of the roof, he threw his legs over and looked straight at the female lady standing hands akimbo and staring at him.

"I thought you you were up all night as well." His raspy morning voice came as he brushed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Yes I was but.."

"Mother's immunity?" He cut in, his head at a low angle as he looked at her.

"Yes, mother's immunity, now get your bottom up for school."

He smirked and got up. "You really shouldn't be in my room though mum,"

"Only when I deem it so," He heard her voice behind him as he walked to the bathroom, he let out a small laugh, he really needed to start locking his room again.

"Alexa is arriving here today!" His mother's voice came from down the hall.

"Oh that's.. great" He looked into the mirror reminiscing the details of the night before. The tall figure of a huge lightskin guy with full dark hair stared back at him with probing dark eyes below full brows sewn into the fabric of his face.

"Yeah that sounds very reassuring for anticipation," His mother replied, her head tilted to the side and hands akimbo.

"You know the truth mother, what's coming is a big responsibility on my hands." He spoke leaning over and looking into the mirror as he picked up his toothbrush.

"It won't be that hard on you, she's grown up now and it'll show in her character, " She said sympathetically, "plus King will be arriving the day after tomorrow as well to stay with us awhile, he'll help" She added.

Matthew let out a mocking laugh. "King's 15 mother, he can't handle my sister, no one can."

"C'mon, he can hold his own against her and he 'semi-handles' her pretty well." His mother stated, using her fingers to emphasize the words in quote.

He turned to look at her smirking, "The only consolation mother is that... nope none, they all have sinister tendencies so I'll try my best to keep the ships at bay and stay outta the way if it gets too heavy"

"That's my boy! " She exclaimed softly and turned into the hallway. "Oh and keep the whole 'mother' thing down okay? It's.. weird." She stated, poking half her body back through the bathroom door before leaving.

Matthew turned back to the mirror brushing his teeth silently.

"Okay mother"

* * * * * * * * * * *

Matthew walked down to school silently, the already familiar sounds around him drowned out in his thought-filled head; the little kids running around the corners and screaming due to school's early vacation, the thick cool air freezing the very hairs of his nostrils, the boys and girls chattering noisily about school carols and vacations as they walked off to school. He didn't mean to take this route to school, it wasn't his usual, normally he'd take the shorter route from the right direction of his street but it was on construction right now; a building was being erected on the main pathway, buildings actually. Probably some El'reand big-time businessman trying to up his money, he had thought.

Suddenly he jumped back from the noisy jam-packed road brewing with vehicles full of people ecstatic for the holidays, this was why he disliked this route, especially at this time of year. He walked over to the bus stop and sighted a bus almost immediately, he hopped on it and took the seat behind the driver. He leaned back into the seat, the soft foam behind the material pushing back to accommodate and surround his frame. New Oastine might have been one of the less technologically inclined towns in El'reand but it had resourceful potential and all of the big-time financial investors in the country knew that, so the town never truly lacked possession of or comfort from technology present in the country, this was to an extent however.

Time flew and before he knew it Matt was already at New Oastine High, a normal highschool full of cliques, rich kids, sport jocks, nerds, snobs and several other types of people with distinct talents, backgrounds, behaviours and tendencies, and Matt was just one of them.

He walked into the school hall and made way through the crowd to his locker. The bell went off as soon as he opened it, he'd barely made it early. Just like every other day since the years he'd moved to New Oastine with his family Matthew never really conversed with most of the students in the school and with each passing subject the time leapt forward in hours and minutes till it was his second favourite time of the day, Lunchtime. He walked to the cafeteria and got in line.

"Hey Kellayy, your hair is super adorbs!" came the voice of Catherine Muller from way behind him. She was one of the rich kids and second-in-command in the school's most revered yet non-appointed student trio group; the Posh Dolls. Her voice made Matthew's skin crawl and he wanted nothing more than to get his food and take a seat to take a fill.

"Hey, my name's Kelsi but it's... it's cool and thanks," the girl replied smiling at this strange attention.

"Grace totally said she'd like you to come to her sleepover this evening, " Another girl and third member by the name Latisha Pradd spoke touching and twisting the hair of the girl delicately. "She has some things to tell you as well, " she added looking at the attentive girl lovingly in the eye. Nothing good could come from this discussion, Matthew turned back to look at the girl, who he knew was going to be nothing more than a queen bee's victim of a show of social dominance in just afew hours, she was smiling. He turned back.

"Wow. Sure, I'll be there at.. let's say.. 4pm after school?"

"Candy!" Catherine exclaimed in agreement pushing her left shoulder up to emphasize her concurrence with the reply and walked off with the other Posh Doll.

The line moved forward a person and it was Matthew's turn, he ordered for a burger and a drink and walked over to his usual seat, far from the noisy and boisterous groups at the middle of the cafeteria and away from the averagely normal students, unfortunately the only way this was possible was to sit at the empty table two tables away from the wildly energetic and attention-craving jocks, guys and girls at the middle of the cafeteria.

He finished his food and focused on the students in the dining hall deeply watching them, most of them were intelligent but noisy as well, some were quiet, some were the powerfully "empty vessel, loudest noise" types, some took too much credit for themselves, some were innocently ignorant, some were just darn ignorant, some always taken for granted, some were always taking for granted, some lacked social intelligence, some were very socially intelligent and knew how to use it to their advantage, for instance Grace Melavrei, the leader of the Posh Dolls clique and one of the richest and socially powerful individuals at the school, who was currently throwing approving smiles to Kelsi, one of the ignorant ones. He was no judge but he had a right to mentally perceive things in his own way and he knew that. The cafeteria was where he observed the whole school yet remain unengaged in its crowd, he knew every single student by name, and to an extent by character, at the school yet none really knew him. This fact sometimes he had no idea if it to sadden or philosophically brighten his demeanor and sometimes he just felt lost in the large living crowd he was watching. His mind drifted off to his computer device which had developed a fault as a result of his ventures into the dark web the night before, he scratched his head sighing and lifted his head, his eyes moving around the room, he really hoped Old man McAvoy could fix the device, he just couldn't lose it, it was a gift from a most precious person. Suddenly he caught sight of a newcomer. She was moderately tall with olive skin, an oval face and hazel eyes over a dress that seemed to change the mood of the room. She was standing at the entrance to the cafeteria with an expression and body language that spelled a mixture of confidence and at the same time newness to the environment, almost immediately the principal appeared beside her.

"Hello everyone, students and staff alike. We have a newcomer amongst us and her name is Claire Kieran, yes Kieran of the famous Kieran Industries. She moved in to New Oastine just a week ago. She'll be studying with us from now on, and I'm counting on you all giving her a warm welcome and hospitable behavior just like the ones before her. " His voice reverberated through the cafeteria as if amplified.

It was a New Oastine High tradition for the Principal to introduce a newcomer in the cafeteria at lunchtime rather than the assembly.

Immediately, the audacious jocks started rapping loudly on the hard plastic tables with their hands, another school tradition. Matthew bent his head and snickered quietly, "...the ones before her, " the words were just too asinine to him. This was a public highschool for crying out loud and no one was ever treated like ice cream cones in a high school, there was only the social ladder. He lifted his head up the remnant of a smile still on his lips, suddenly his eyes met hers and there the optic pairs remained locked in a strange connection, despite the distance between them.

He had no idea why he couldn't remove his gaze or what he saw in the girl's eyes and neither did she. And there the duo remained lost in each other's eyes for what was a few seconds but seemed a whole lifetime for both people, amidst the loud noise being made by the wild hands of jocks "welcoming" and eyeing the new girl. The surreal course was soon cut off aided by the school's de facto social queen as she stood up from her seat and walked over to welcome the new girl to her hive.

"Hi, I'm Grace Melavrei. Leader of the school's Pages club and the soon to be established cheerleading squad," She stated extending her hand for a shake with a bright smile etched on her face, "I surely hope you enjoy our high school and it's resources -human and material."

"We haven't legally decided on the cheerleading squad creation yet Miss Melavrei," the principal spoke as a back-to-reality fact.

"Oh you will eventually Mr Swanson and I'm sure of that." Grace responded assuredly before turning back to the new female character in front of her and returning her hand from the shake.

"Oh... Nice to meet you Grace, I'm Claire, as he said and I surely hope so," Claire replied reciprocating the smile.

Something about her body language and speech ticked Matthew off, Claire was not going to be an typical social catch for the icy queen, he knew that and aware of this fact he believed the intelligent Grace should be as well.

"I'm sure you will. Oh I see you have a predeliction for Chanel too, that's a cute coincidence," Grace added giving a quick observant look at Claire's dress before returning back to looking straight in the eye all with the shadow of a smile on her lips, "I'm sure we'll get along just perfect."

Claire flashed a smile and gave a casual "Sure" as a reply. Grace smiled back and walked chin-high back to her seat while Claire left the cafeteria with the principal.

"Not an easy catch for sure." Matt turned his attention back to his table, bringing out his history notebook to scratch out the required words to the history assignment with a pen.

"YO, CATCH MATT!"

The voice was a familiar one and he knew the owner. He caught the soccer ball thrown at him immediately.

"You never get tired of this, do you Rence?" He raised an eyebrow, smiling at the figure taking a seat on the other side of the table.

"Not since I became the captain of the football team I can't, " the person replied smiling back widely "I've been in the locker room getting coached throughout the most of lunchtime."

"Leader's bridges Lawrence, leader's bridges," Matthew replied smiling.

Lawrence Hammond was his best friend, actually the only real friend he had since he was a kid. They had lived in the same neighborhood back in the city but Lawrence moved to New Oastine far before he did. Their friendship was tight and only constantly but unsuccessfully impeded by the reality that their parents especially fathers were against it, due to an event that occurred during the teenagers' childhood and the fact that Thomas Easthern was Lawrence's uncle. But one father was out of the picture now and Matthew's mother saw no reason to push off her son's friend.

"True," he laughed "so you've been here at your usual sitting spot on your solo s**t, haven't you? And I see you took Coach Baarkes' advice to start working out too. "

"I have, and I have been trying to finish Mrs Justin's history assignment. Oh so you can actually notice it through the jacket?" Matthew replied after a yawn.

"Hammond! Get your ass over here!" Coach Baarkes bellowed as he passed the corridor to the entrance of the cafeteria.

"No, Irene told me she saw you through her bedroom window and good luck with that bro! Gotta go, duty calls!" Lawrence shouted as he took off toward the door his jock jacket whipping behind him as he ran.

Matthew scoffed, Irene... she was his next-door neighbour who seemed to have an ever rumoured crush on him but he had never spoken to.

The bell went off. "Time to go" he remarked to himself, getting up then he spotted Kelsi among the leaving student crowd.

He followed her down the locker hall stalking her as she moved forward, she was about to enter the ladies room. He was about to reach her when suddenly...

"Going into the ladies room Kruise? C'mon now, that's just perverted and retarded, don't you think?"

"What's the issue Dave?" He asked the male teenager standing before him with other laughing males of his type beside him.

"Straight to the matter huh? Classic Kruise. I've been saying... you've got the body now, why don't you tryout for the soccer team? We're always on the lookout for... players." Dave responded, smirking.

"You've been asking Dave and I've been saying I'm busy. Don't ask again. " He responded putting a hand on Dave's shoulder before walking past him and his company.

"Yeah busy stealing s**t like a Kruise!" Dave hollered the insult with his hands to his mouth forming a megaphone, laughing with the other jocks beside him.

Matt continued walking off, pretending he didn't hear the deep-rooted insult.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

School closed early in preparation for the upcoming end of the year vacation, Matthew walked out feeling grateful the school was over, his bag swinging behind him as he moved down the stair leading to the big lawn. He spotted Kelsi just chatting excitedly with some friends. She just finished the discussion and made to leave when suddenly he intercepted her.

"Woah, hello?" She spoke, bewildered.

"Yes, introductions are nice but you were asked to visit the school's top queen bee this morning weren't you? Why do you think?" He replied tilting his head and raising an eyebrow with a serious look on his face.

"I don't know..."

"Don't you think it weird that someone at the top of the social ladder suddenly invites you, a highschool commoner -forgive my lack of sugarcoating- to a sleepover?"

"No." She retorted, shooting him a frown, "What's weird here, is you Kruise or whatever your name is. Just because you don't mix well with Grace doesn't make her a bad person, so you'd better mind your business, it minds you. Excuse me." She brushed past him angrily.

She actually feels honoured, He thought looking at her as she walked past him, the world is a crazy place. He shook his head and finally turned to walk home.

And so that evening as the moon raised it's head over the grey skies, a feminine hand knocked on the door of the Melavrei mansion, and the owner of the hand by the name of Kelsi was let in.

"Welcome Kels, great to see you made it, " Grace remarked, sitting on the scarlet couch while her posse took separate armchairs, "it's going to be such an unforgettable night girls."