In My Veins

Drake Pov

 " Rachel?!" I ask horrified, trying to keep my composure.  

 How is this happening right now?! It takes every ounce of strength that I have to not rush at this girl and hug her and kiss her and cry out in joy that she's alive and I didn't kill her. 

  " No, I'm Olivia, and You must be Drake." She says with a smile, holding out her hand for me to shake keeping direct eye contact with me.  Staring at her hand, I debate if I wanna shake it or not. I can't believe that this is even happening. Breaking the awkward silence between everyone my mom speaks.

 "Drake, I would like for you to meet Olivia. She'll be the one showing you around the school. Be nice to her, don't let your eyes fool you. She may be small but she's fierce too." 

Ugh, I knew that look, with that smile, my mother was saying. It may look like Rach, talk like Rach, but it's not Rach. Can't I get a f*****g break here? And did I really think of Olivia as an it? I really must be going insane at this moment. This is only my first day! Not wanting to be rude, just wanting to get all this over with so I can be normal and get the f**k out of here. Sticking my right hand out quickly I shake her hand. 

" I'm Drake Nor..." f**k! I Almost said Norwood! This is just going to keep getting better isn't it? It's like when the new year hits and for the first week or so you write the old year. After taking a much needed breath, opening my mouth to speak the words come out right this time." Parker, Drake Parker. It's lovely to meet you Olivia." At first she looks shocked by the quick jester, watching as her features turn from a confused child into a big bright smile, looking right up at me quietly while taking my hand. I can't help but notice how small her hand is in mine, part of me wants to crush her hand, I can't help but hate her for looking like Rachel but also want her at the same time. 

" I'm Olivia Jack, it's very nice to meet you to Drake" 

  Her voice, that smile, those beautiful brown eyes. They all remind me of Rachel. Maybe I was really thinking too much into this. Saying to myself as I let her hand go reluctantly. Olivia can't be all that similar to Rachel, or can she? It's like running into her doppelganger, like in that show Vampire Diaries. Or some long lost twin s**t. But Rachel didn't have any siblings, she was adopted, but her parents would have taken them both in if she was a twin, wouldn't they have? If Olivia really is related to Rachel I'll never be able to move on, knowing I have to look at a spitting image of my little angel every goddamn f*****g day. 

Not being able to stop myself from keeping my eyes locked on her every move. As she turns her back to me, saying some last parting words with mom, she laughs. That laugh, it's not Rachel's. Calming down running my left hand through my hair. The more she talks the more I start to realize her voice is almost like Rachel's.  Even her light brown eyes have me pinned like wallpaper. Is this even real? Am I dreaming? But she's real and in front of me. My eyes take her in watching the way her dark brown hair falls in waves to her hips. She's even Rachel's exact height at 5'0. As I finish looking over her body from head to toe, I couldn't help but start to tremble and feel dizzy from all the similarities they both have. Not meaning to I grab her arm steadying myself so I don't fall completely to the tile floor.

  " Are you okay?!" Olivia asks concerned, helping me steady myself.  

That's when I notice the bruise on the right side of her pale face. From the looks of the bruise its between 4 days to a week old not more than a week from the healing stage its in. How could I have not seen it when she looked up to talk to me earlier? She tried covering it up with makeup but failed, there's even an indent right on her jaw line. Something must have hit her hard to have caused that. God it looks painful. 

  " Um, I'm fine thanks." I say embarrassed. 

 " Okay, I am going to go grab your schedule. I'll be right back." She says with a smile walking away into the main office. 

 Taking this chance I look at mom mouthing screaming at her to help me as I point to Olivia, then make a fake gun with my hand putting it to my hand gesturing as if kill me now. 

I'm going to lose my s**t having to be around her. I just know at some point, I'll look at her and say Rach's name. She'll ask who that is, I'll try to avoid the question with another question, she'll push the issue and then I'll give in knowing that I can't avoid it forever, that's when the whole f****d up truth will come out. Playing a  scenario in my head doesn't make me want to die as much, than mom mouthing at me to suck it up. 

 " Follow me." Olivia says returning from the office then heads down the hallway expecting me to follow her. 

Giving mom an eye roll and a sigh I turn and follow Olivia. Shaking my head to clear all thoughts, turning my attention to Olivia, she leads me down a few hallways. Showing me where the library, gym and where my homeroom will be. Even though I'm supposed to be looking at the school, my eyes never cease to be looking at Olivia.  It's interesting how she looks at the ground a lot and then will turn her head to be facing the opposite direction so she won't be making eye contact with me. My guess is that she doesn't really like the attention. 

But there's something in the back of my head saying she just might like me looking at her. Every so often she looks up to meet my gaze then pulls away tucking a piece of hair behind one of her ears. As I put my books in my locker, I can feel Olivia staring at me checking me out. Taking my time placing my books in the locker giving her a chance to look me over and to let her gather her own opinion of me, she sighs. Taking that as my chance I hurry shutting my locker door quickly, catching her looking at me, a smirk appears of my face. Her eyes widen and she looks away from me quickly.

" Why are you staring at me like that?" I ask leaning back against my locker looking at her.

" I'm- I wasn't staring. I was just thinking about what to show you next. Which is the cafeteria, so right this way." She clarifies awkwardly, pointing in the direction of the cafeteria.

So far Olivia really is Rachel's opposite, Rachel would never shy away from attention or look at ground. She was very confident and out going and didn't take s**t from anyone. She is the only person who was able to break my shell.  Biting my lower lip, I walk past Olivia towards the cafeteria. 

Catching up to me she keeps in step with me, her arms crossed in front of her. There is a very awkward silence between us,  I decide to keep the conversation going because I need to find out more about her. Depending on what I find out, it will determine if I tell her about Rachel or keep a lid on it.

" You can look you know. I don't mind..."

From the look in her eyes my comment surprises her. I wasn't expecting myself to say those words, but then again I'm not going to have much control as to what comes out of my mouth when I'm around her. Olivia ignores my comment, it probably makes her uncomfortable. Never in my life have I been good with the whole flirting thing, why would I think that comment would even work? My girlfriend just died, and I'm over here like a lost puppy with Olivia. I should feel ashamed...fuck I do, but at the same time it feels so right to be here with her. Needing to find another way to keep this conversation going or else at this rate she's just going to show me around the school and then be done with me.

" How'd you get that mark on your face? If you don't mind me asking?" As soon as I asked the question she looks away in shock covering the mark with her left hand. She ignores my question and keeps walking. 

 Once we enter the cafeteria I notice how much bigger it is than the cafeteria that I have back at my old school. It's weird that Olivia and I are the only two people in here. 

"This is the lovely cafeteria, where people eat lunch but I'm sure that you knew that already." she says with a high pitched voice, why does she sound like a prissy school girl?

" I did, but thanks for reminding me." I say with a half smile, trying not to laugh over how giddy she got all of a sudden. She turns to me as a warning me that I'm going to slap that smile off your face right now. Looking away from her gaze as to try not blush from how cute she is, that's when I notice how close we are standing next to each other. Our hands almost touching. I want to reach out to hold her hand so badly. But this isn't Rachel, I have to keep reminding myself that over and over again. 

" Can I ask why you moved here to this boring old town out of all places in the world?" She asks taking a seat at empty table next to us. 

" It's a very long and complicated story. I really don't really want to bore you with the details." Explaining as I take a seat the on same side no more than a foot away from her. 

" Well, how about we have lunch together and you can bore me." She says pulling her phone out of her back pocket and checking the time.

" Lunch starts in about 10 minutes." she says looking up at me from under her eyelashes and then smiles at me. Okay, she is definitely flirting with me, it's NOT just all in my head. Which means I need to come up with a good backstory and quick.

" You don't have to tell me, I'm just curious, out of all the places to move to, you pick Cinder Falls." 

" It's really not all that interesting." assuring her. I don't know what to tell her? My whole life that she knows is a lie and she can never know that true part of me. But the fact that she keeps asking me about my life makes me think she's really interested in knowing more about me. At least that's what it seems like.

" It sounds more interesting then being here is this town. I want to know what the UK is like, what your life was like there." she says with a big smile. Oh that smile, how I want to see it on Rachel again. Instantly getting a flashback to when I saw the life drain from her eyes that look will haunt me forever. Feeling lightheaded I grab the table so I don't not fall over. Olivia places her hand on top of mine pulling me back to reality that's when I look up in shock pulling my hand away.

" No trust me you don't" I snap at her not meaning to, knowing she did nothing wrong. I'm just over reacting. Breath Drake, breath I tell myself so I don't pass out. Olivia looks at me in surprise, she has that same look on her face that Rachel always had, when I did something that was unbecoming of me. Staring at her face blood starts running down from her head all the way down her face. I freeze, this can't be happening right now. My lack of sleep is really starting to get to me. Blinking a few times and the blood is gone. There's always going to be that fear that it will be real again.

" Are you okay?" She asks me concerned.

"Yeah, sorry I spaced out for a second." I explain clenching my fists together in frustration.

Three guys enter the cafeteria behind Olivia, the guy in the middle who has blonde hair and green eyes who is dressed up more the others, comes up right behind her then hugs her taking her by complete surprise. He looks at me from her shoulder the look he gives me says it all. She's mine back the f**k off. Of course she has a boyfriend. I shouldn't be surprised by that, but yet I still am.

" You missed 1st and 2nd period. who is this asshole?" Aaron asks her, clearly annoyed with me. From the look he gave her was if he didn't like the answer he'll make a matching set of bruises for her right cheek as well. I can't help but notice how he holds her it reminds me of what lions do to their pray right before they kill them. 

Watching her eyes I can't help but notice the fear in them, my eyes travel down to his hands that are around her waist, then I spot his class ring. Looking at her jaw, I make the connection. That f*****g jackass! He has something so f*****g special with her and this is how he's treating her?

Olivia stands up giving him a hug. Before she has a chance to say anything to him, he kisses her. I roll my eyes, this asshole really has to make it known she's taken. It's fine, telling myself trying to relax as to not beat him for mistreating his so called " property " I can't give him a reaction. She will be mine soon enough anyways I remind myself. He's obviously intimidated by me, he should be, I can't help but smile about that fact.

" This is Drake, he's new. He moved here from the UK. I'm showing him around." She explains to him after they kiss. Her body language tells me how uncomfortable she is with him, which tells me this is all for show. Why has she not left him yet?

" Ahh so your British?" He asks me, finally letting her go taking a few steps towards me. He's doing the whole I'm the king of this school so bow to me routine. He's mistaken if he thinks it's going to work on me. 

" Yes." I say in a flat tone crossing my arms staring at him. 

I used to be in his spot, I know the power he holds, but unlike him I didn't abuse it. 

" I'm sorry that you lived in the UK, that must have really sucked for you. All it ever does is rain over there right? " He says in a serious tone. Trying to make his dominance clear. His two friends standing behind him roar with laughter. I stare at him confused. Is that seriously the best that he can come up with as an insult? I plan on making him pay for that comment later. He waits for me to make a comment back at him but I just continue to stare at him with my arms crossed. I'm not going to play his games. 

He acts like such a child, if I say out loud what I'm really thinking, I'll start something that will be too much of a headache to end. My dad has shown me all the pressure points on the human body when I was training with him. I could easily pin him, pinch one of his nerves and make him pass out. But if I did that it would cause a scene and I wouldn't be "blending in" and my mom and I would be sent somewhere else. I can't go anywhere else. I need to be here I have to protect Olivia from this guy. 

" Aaron stop! It's his first day, back off." Olivia snaps at him. He glares at her, his eyes warning her to shut up, before he makes her.

" Sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes. I have always wanted to make fun of a Britain." He says looking from her to me in a British accent. From the way he looks around, it seems as if he was making sure no one notices his tone with Olivia. Rolling my eyes at him again, I keep my mouth shut. He's obviously the rich kid of this school who thinks since his daddy paid for it that he owns it. I learned how to deal with people like him, but right now is not the time or place for that. Even if it was I'm too drained to deal with him.

" I'll come find you after I finish showing him around okay?" Liv says pushing him away gently with her right hand on his chest clearly wanting him to leave her alone at least for a little while.

" Fine, but hurry." He tells her in a firm tone.  Aaron looks at me and kisses her cheek then pulls her to him giving her a hug sealing another kiss from her. His hands travel to her butt and linger there for a few seconds. He turns back giving me a warning glare. I really wanted to flip him off in that moment. 

" Sorry, he can be really overprotective sometimes. He's nice once you get to know him." she explains. 

I can't help but raise one of my eyebrows at her.

" I'm sure." I statistically say, giving her my best comforting smile. 

I expect Olivia to ditch me for Aaron but she doesn't, we get lunch and go outside, sitting under a tree. As people walk by they can't help but stare at me since I'm the new kid. A group of girls stop to stare at me without saying a word then walk away laughing.

" Are you going to tell me why you moved here? Or do I have to force it out of you?" She asks with a smile after taking a bite of her turkey sandwich.

" Are you going to tell me why you are dating Aaron? " I ask avoiding her question with another question. I still have yet to come up with a really good lie about why I moved here . She rolls her eyes at me. I knew she wouldn't answer my question, something is clearly going on between them. I intend to find out. No one hurts my Rachel and gets away with it.  There I go again calling her my Rachel! It's so hard being this close to her and not being able to touch her soft hair, her ivory skin. Its killing me. 

" There you are little Liv!" A big guy yells as he comes over to sit down next to us under the tree. He's clearly Olivia's brother, they look so much alike it's insane.

" I'm Nick." He says looking at me holding his hand out. Waiting for me to take it like a peace offering.

" Drake" I say taking his hand, shaking it firmly. He studies me, looking me up and down. It freaks me out, knowing someone's getting good look at me. I stare back at him, as if nothing is wrong.

" You're trying out for football right?" His question totally throws me off. Out of everything you could say to start a conversation, why would you go right into sports? Oh wait... that's just how the US is. Another annoying thing about this country.

" I am? Didn't know that was a thing" saying weirded out. Do I look like someone that would play such a sport? How could he possibly know that just by looking at me? He must have a gift or something. Are American's always this weird?

" I guess I can tryout? Who knew blending in can be so much fun? " I say sarcastically. Nick and Olivia give me a strange look. I really need to stop saying what I'm thinking out loud.

"Well that's great! Tryouts start Friday. Hope you're good kid because we are the lions, we aren't afraid to eat our pray!" He shouts then laughs creepily. I can't help but give him a weird look. 

" NICK! Don't go scaring the new guy before we have had a chance to make him run the right way." Olivia says looking at my facial expression the starts laughing along with Nick. The laughing didn't last long due to Olivia wincing in pain, from her jaw.

" Cool, we need more guys like you on the team." He says trying not to draw too much attention to his sisters pain.

" Where's Kaylin?" Olivia asks breaking up our conversation away from football. Thank god. He attempts to hold back an eye roll. 

" She went to lunch with the cheer squad. I came to find you to tell you that dad will be home tonight." 

The way Nick says that to Olivia I could tell this was a conversation he didn't want me to be part of.

" Okay, thanks for letting me know about Dad. But... Kaylin didn't say anything to me about going to lunch with the squad. Normally she always invites me."

" She assumed that you would be with Aaron. She didn't want to cause any drama between you and him. Plus she tried texting you."

" Oh." Olivia says, pulling her phone of out of her back pocket checking it. 

" Do you blame her?" 

" No. I don't blame her... Aaron just... Just tell her that I love her." Olivia says in defeat. 

" I'll tell her but only if you tell me something in return? I know your going to ask what I want but before you do, think about if your willing to tell me your deepest darkest secret Liv." He says starting to walk away then he turns around saying " I'll see you in class. We can finish our talk when we get home little Liv. Bye Drake see you at tryouts." Nick finishes saying as he walks back into the school. Right then the bell rang for lunch to be over. There was a lot more going on with that conversation then they were leading on.

" See ya." I yell back at him, but at this point I don't think he can hear me anymore.

Looking back over at Olivia, she just looks really stressed out. She runs her fingers through her hair and sighs. Just like Rachel. I really need to stop comparing her to Rachel but I just can't help it.

" Your life here is clearly more interesting than mine." I tell her in a half laugh ignoring the bell. Olivia smiles at me laughing.

" I'm sorry about your friend, I'm sure you will find a way to work things out with her." I say trying to empathize with her as I stand up offering her my hand.

" Yeah we both really need to talk some things out.  We all have Drama next period, I know your in that class as well, so let's walk together." She says taking my hand as I pull her up to her feet. She keeps a hold of my hand longer than I expect, I can't help but feel butterflies in my stomach. I haven't felt this feeling since I first met Rachel. 

" Thank you." She tells me with a smile, then lets go my hand. I had hoped she wouldn't, but I had to hold in my disappointment. We throw our lunch trays away in the closest trash can, I follow her to the back of the school where drama is to take place. With what she said earlier about all of us having class together I'm sure there's going to be a whole lot of drama, how fitting for it to take place in that class. I'm happy that I at least have one class with Liv, that I know of so far. As we approach the room, she stops me before we enter the classroom putting her hand on my chest to make sure I look down at her when she speaks.

" Mrs. Brickwall is really weird. I just want to warn you before hand. She's not a normal drama teacher. She's been known to be.... Interesting!" She says still keeping her hand on my chest. My heart rate speeds up. I'm sure she could feel it underneath her hand. She stares at her hand on my chest.

" What do you mean?" I ask scared to know the answer.

" You'll see." She says with a big bright smile, as she removes her hand from my chest. From the look she gave me as she pulled away, she looked sad. Almost as if she didn't want to remove her hand. But only if she knew I felt the same way. As Olivia opens the door for me she tries to keep that smile on her face even though anyone could clearly see, the pain she was hiding. For the love of f**k! I don't know if that pain is from her wound on her face or just that she's sad. Whatever the reason I have this instinct that I need to bring back her true smile.