Hit Me, Cupid!

ღ Two: A Fine Yet Thin Line between Love and Hate

As I woke up, the feeling of dread settled deeply within me. I knew I was trying to remember something else, but my mind couldn't place it quite well. Yesterday wasn't real. Cupid didn't exist. Love didn't exist. Maybe that was just how I am, but I refuse to believe in anything. I just needed to get out of this mess.

    "Ceecee!" My brother, Jake, called out.

    Ceecee was my nickname, and almost everybody called me that. Sometimes my brothers would call me by my given name just to annoy me. I hated it.

    My parents were the two weirdest people on earth. They fell in love while they were travelling from Greece, and that was how we all ended up right here. Achilles – yes, the brave warrior who fought in the Trojan war- and I were conceived in Greece, so our bizarre names made some sense.

    Jake was sixteen-years-old- and was also a total brat-, while Achilles was my fraternal twin. Achilles and I were polar opposite: he was popular, perfect, handsome, and everything a girl could want (ew?), while I was halfway between popular and total loser. I really didn't fit into either clique.

    I got out of my bed and yawned sleepily. I fixed my hair, then went downstairs to find mom preparing our all-time favorite breakfast –waffles and pancakes.

    "Morning, sweetheart!" mom called out as she settled the plates down onto the table.

    "Morning," I greeted back and sat down next to Ach- my nickname for Achilles- who was eating bacon strips. Ach gave me a knowing look as he raised an eyebrow at me. Despite our personality differences, we look a lot alike. We both had blonde hair- except mine was curlier and longer- as well as the same icy blue eyes. The only major difference between our looks was our height- Ach towered over me. People always told us we looked like we could be on the front cover of magazines, but I lacked the confidence and charisma for it unlike my brother.

    "You were noisy last night."

    "What?" I asked Ach, clearly confused.

    "Never mind." He rolled his eyes at me and speared his bacon strips.

    Mom gave me the waffles and a squirt of something maple-smelling landed on my cheeks. I turned around and saw Jake trying to squeeze the syrup out of the bottle. I gave him a glare and snatched it away from him.

    Jake widened his eyes and screamed, "Hey!"

    "You were putting it on my cheeks," I complained, squeezing it back so it could get some of the sticky brown deliciousness onto his face.

    He grumbled, trying to take back the bottle. We were tugging on the syrup bottle when I accidentally elbowed Ach's plate of bacon off the table. Great, now both of my brothers were mad at me.

    "Look, stop it! I didn't mean it," I told Ach.

    "Way to destroy my morning, Ceecee!" Ach groaned, then pushed me out of my chair. Jake landed in front of me and tried to reach for the bottle.

    "Children, please! Can we not fight during breakfasts?" Mom gave us a glare and we all quickly took our seats, eating in silence. "Act your age!"    

    Ach slyly smiled while I kept my mouth shut. Soon after that, we finished our breakfasts and took our morning showers. My phone rang as soon as I got out of the shower, so I quickly answered it.

    "Hey," I mumbled into the phone.

    "Don't 'hey' me! We're going to be late, Cee. Where are you?" Lexie, my best friend, had always been in love with school, despite constantly bitching about the cheerleaders. She had this idea that she was better than most students -- spoiler alert: no, she wasn't. None of them were. 

    "I'm changing clothes. I'll be there soon."

    "With Achilles?" she asked dreamily. I knew she always had a crush on Ach, but Ach wasn't interested in her, since he was the definition of 'popular', and already had a girlfriend.

    "You know he always gives me a ride, so basically yes," I responded back as I slipped into my black pants and sweater. "I'll be there half an hour, bye."

    Deciding not to dwell too much on my thoughts, I took my bag and went downstairs. Jake was already gone, which was typical of him since he rides his bike to school.

    Ach drove me most days, and when I got outside, he already had the car revving.

    "Ceecee, you're going to have to take the bus today."

    "What? But you're my ride!" I yelled.

    "I'm picking up Avery. It won't look good if you'll ride with me," he reasoned out then winked at me. "Take care, sis!" With that, he pulled his car out of the driveway and left me by our patio.

    "You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled under my breath.

    Seeing as I had no choice but to comply, I heaved out a sigh and slung my bad over my shoulder. I walked around the sidewalk and tried to calm myself. First day back at school, and I already felt ill. Maybe I should've stayed home one more day. Dad was still on his business trip, while mom probably was still busy thinking about clothes. She was a fashion designer, so all of us kids always wore the latest trends. That was one of the reasons why the clique stayed away from me. They also knew I was Ach's sister and someone not to be messed with.

    I pulled my headphones from my sweater pocket and forcefully jammed them into my ear canal. I tapped the first list of music and played it. As I began to hear Bohemian Rhapsody, I took in my surroundings. It was a dull, cloudy morning and the neighborhood looked like it was still sleeping. The empty, foggy street looked like the set of The Walking Dead. I trudged to my bus stop, thinking about what was to come.

    To be honest, High School was just plain hell. I shared all of my classes with horny teen boys and the other weirdoes that make up our student body. But still, I never missed a day school.

    Ach was more of a jock, so he fit in better than me. Perfectly awesome and all, but he wasn't a player. Only his friends were like that. I know, school pretty much screams 'stereotypes!' and they said it was going to be fun. Not. 

    As I walked, I couldn't help but shake this feeling that someone was following me. It felt like I was being watched. Surely, a pedophile wouldn't take an interest at me, right? I quickened my pace and pulled my hair on one side; I've had enough stalkers in this lifetime. The sound of footsteps behind me silenced, but I still couldn't shake the creepy feeling.

    Turning around, I saw a shadow at my side, and out of fear, I quickly ran. The shadows started to come closer, and I felt my heart beat faster. When I finally looked over my shoulder to face my stalker, I was greeted to the sight of a cat.

    I let out a sigh of relief, "You scared me!" Then I started laughing. "I thought someone's out to kill me."

    The cat hissed, then someone pulled me by my arm. I was suddenly pressed against something hard, as rain fell from the sky, instantaneously soaking me. As the droplets of water trickled down my skin, I felt something touch my lips and found myself mouth-to-mouth with a certain stranger. I was panicking. I struggled to get away from the guy's grip, but he only held on tighter, the rigid muscles straining on his shirt.

    He backed me against the lamp post and touched my cheeks, causing the familiar feeling of electricity to shake through my entire body. I couldn't see much of his face due to the rain, but it felt weird and disgusting to have him pressed against me. When he saw me gasping, he quickly pulled away and dropped me. He then tightened his grip on my wrists.

    Shocked, I pushed him out of the way. What was I thinking? Why was that stranger kissing me? It was so wrong.

    I ran away toward the bus. That feeling where I feel like something bad is going to happen came again. The kiss was a mistake. It wasn't even full blown. It was mostly like a simple touch of lips and it somehow felt familiar, but scary too. 

    No, it was insane. Maybe it was just an illusion.

    I was totally losing it.

                                                                                        ***

There I stood, in the hallway, paper planes zipping past each side of my head. Jocks and cheerleaders were hanging out into the center. Girls were cooing and were making a pathway for them. They were all looking at the famous three hotties, which involved my brother Ach, as well as his friends Aiden and Austin. They were the three legendary A's. They were hot and sexy. Girls fell all over them. The other guys were jealous of them. But to me, Ach was just my faithful brother. He was sweet and caring towards others, except me. Aiden was the crazy bad of the school. The Principal's office was his second home. Austin, he could be called the flirt. He had been with every girl in our year, except for me. I was off-limits to them.

    Just then, I saw a familiar red-head girl coming towards me in a sneaky way. Lexie pulled me down at the the lockers while the crowd kept on cheering for the Three A's.

    "Why are you so drenched?"

    I shook my hair. "Rain. My brother didn't give me a ride."

    "Why? I thought you're coming with him."

    "Girlfriend," I responded back, looking at the crowd.

    Lexie gripped my forearms and sent a glare towards the Three A's. "Ah! Why does it always have to be her?"

    Typical: Lexie always wanted to kill Avery. Avery was the sweet girl. She had been nice and sharing around everyone. She was perfect for my brother, and yet, Lexie still wasn't that convinced.

    "Lexie, Avery is nice."

    Lexie glared at me. "No."

    "Why are we even here? I'm going to pick up my books." I groaned at her and tried to stand up, but she caught me down again.

    "So no one can see us. I want to watch your brother."

    "Ew, please save me the details."

    A new voice called, "Oh, who do we have here?"

    It was one of the Three A's. Austin, with his blonde hair and sea-green eyes- similar to another weirdo I know- was looking at us, all bent down on knees. Totally embarrassing.

    "Yeah, right." I stood up and pushed him out of the way.

    Lexie, being the daredevil she was, poked him by his chest and scowled, "So what? God, even if you're one of the Three A's, you're still an asshole."

    Austin gave her a wink. "And you're not?"

    The students all laughed and snickered.

    Lexie was sort of intense, but that didn't give them the right to insult her.

    For the first time in my entire life, I actually stood up for someone. "Listen here, Austin, you think you can just insult anyone? You should have yourself checked. You don't want to scare the girls off."

    Austin, unfortunately, was seething. He clenched his fists and was about to punch me. Instead, it hit my locker, creating a fist-sized indentation. "You will regret that ever happened, Hastings."

    "Austin," my brother, called out and gave us a questioning look.

    "Be thankful you're Ach's sister." He left and went back to the crowd where he belonged.

    "Oh God, I'm so sorry!" Lexie quickly apologized and hugged me, "Thank you!"

    "It's okay. I know he couldn't touch me. He's afraid of my brother. I'm off-limits, remember?"

    Lexie gave me a quick smile. "Right. See? Your brother actually cares about you!"

    I laughed at her then I turned my expression into a serious one. "No."

    I opened my locker and grabbed all the things I'll be needing for the day. Lexie gave me my schedule and found out that she and I have nearly all of our classes together.

    "Alright, we're on to History!" she cried giddily.

    "Yay for learning about famous dead people!" I faked enthusiasm, but Lexie either didn't know, or didn't care. 

    We made our way towards History and she blabbered about her summer. "Hey, I heard there'll be like almost three transfer students! I wonder if they're hot! I mean, you'll never know. Maybe I could finally move on from Ach."

    "Ew."

    "Still, what if senior year brings you a hot guy?" she peered at me. "Won't you want to have one last fun before graduation?"

    I shrugged. "Nope and I highly doubt it." Though her words brought back the frightening memory of being kissed before school, I shook my head and pushed those negative thoughts away. I would be okay, hopefully. I just need to get through senior year, then I'm out of here.

    "Settle down, class," Mr. Hariet called the class out. "Now, I know you all have a 'sleep-late-hangover' because of summer, but it's about time we study."

    "I've been sleeping around the entire summer," a guy shouted and the room fell into a fit of laughter. This guy glanced at the girl who was looking at anywhere but him.

    "I'd like to see you say that again during your detention."

    The others laughed out loud this time and Lexie and I took our seats in the middle next to the window. The rule was to never ever sit in front – they'd call you a teacher's pet and a nerd. Never ever sit in the back, because you'd be picked on and you wouldn't be able to focus. All the normal people who wanted nothing to do with those two usually sat in the middle.

    "Okay, sit down," Mr. Hariet quieted us.

    We pulled out our books and pens and then the boringness came. The usual thing started. The guys in the back all laughed out loud – some of them were even making out. I, on the other hand, was staring out the window.

    "We have a certain someone to add today. He came from Athens, Greece and I'd like you all to welcome him," Mr. Hariet announced.

    I had no care though. I was too transfixed by the clouds.

    "It's a him?"

    "You think he's hot?"

    "Or maybe a nerd."

    "Another one?"

    "I wonder who."

    I heard shuffling and everyone quieted. I heard Mr. Hariet talking to the transfer student when six words snapped me out.

    "You can sit next to Hastings."

    Turning my head around, I saw Lexie already sitting on the other side. I gave her a warning alert. She shook her head and stared at me dumbly. I was gesturing her with my hands to come back, but then she shrugged.

    "I do believe I'll sit here, so if you can just keep your hands to yourself."

    A taunting voice.

    Wait, I knew that voice.

    I looked up and saw his bronze, brownish hair. His eyes were still the same electric blue. He stood taller and more intimidating than the 'Three A's'. He wore a black tee and faded jeans, though his body complimented a sight to see, what with all of those tensed muscles to stare at; he also wore a black leather jacket, fitting for his tough persona. He was scowling at me and I knew he was annoyed that he had to sit next to me.

    "Please welcome the new addition to our class, Eros."

    Eros? Wait. Eros was a Greek name. The Roman equivalent was Cupid.

    Oh hell.