Stardust

Chapter 2

'MISTER THOMPSON.'

THE SHARP voice calling for his attention made Axel snap his eyes up to look for the source of it. The frown of the woman in front of him only deepened when he returned her gaze and he pondered about whatever her name could be.

He had always been horrible with them, but she had been his teacher for a month now. Most of the times he would have a sort of semblance of her name by now.

But before she could give him more time to think up her name, she spoke again.

'I would prefer it if you didn't sleep during my class.'

'Yeah, of course Miss...' he began, trailing off as he thought, before letting his eyes widen,' Miss Schmidt, right?'

As the cheeks of the new teacher warmed, Jason sighed and leaned back in his chair next to Axel. Although he loved his friend to death, the guy could be quite dense sometimes.

In Athena High, where every student alone was influential enough to avoid punishment from teachers, Axel's word was the closest thing that came to law. Him disregarding the teacher's name like this almost certainly meant the fall of her authority and everyone knew it.

But no one could get mad at him, especially with the way he looked so triumphant over a victory he hadn't achieved.

'It's Gauthier,' she said, tension clearly visible in her posture.

'Schmidt is that other guy,' Jason said softly, turning his head to face his best friend,' the one from Biology.'

Axel's face lighted up when he finally placed the name.

'I was wondering who it would be,' he mused,' but I was so convinced I was right this time.'

'Maybe next time you'll begin with the right first letter,' Jason offered and Axel nodded.

'So, party tonight right?' Axel said, having completely forgotten the teacher and the lesson itself.

Jason paid it no mind, he knew the woman would know better than to speak to Axel again. Calling on him only would made her fall even lower in the eyes of the students and to survive here with the harsh hierarchy of Athena High, she couldn't afford that.

'Yeah, at Mike's place,' he said, a smile appearing on his face,' he said he already removed all the breakable things.'

'Didn't the door also break last time?' Axel asked amusedly.

'Yeah,' Jason said, barely suppressing his laughter,' but he couldn't remove the door now, could he?'

'He doesn't need to,' Axel said, a devious glint appearing in his eyes,' I'll make sure it won't come in harm's way.'

'I can hear you Axel, you asshole.'

Axel turned around, only to find his friend glaring at him two rows back. His signature smirk was already in place before he could reply, but Mike already threw a prop of paper at his head.

'Mike!' Axel exclamated,' that was petty.'

'I'll throw another one if you keep on talking about breaking my door again,' Mike hissed.

'Hey,' Jason protested,' I didn't help last time. That was all Axel.'

'You didn't help because you were passed out next to it,' Axel laughed.

The bell rung before they could further reminisce about the night and Axel was about to leave when Cara blocked his way.

The girl may have been only 5'4, but she certainly knew how to make her presence known. From the way she had put one hand on her hip to the casual swish of her hair, confidence all but oozed out of her.

He lowered his eyes to find hers, almost compelled to bend down to talk to her. The only thing stopping him was that the girl would have hit him for it and he wasn't particularly fond of being hit that much.

'Cara,' he stated, curious as to why she was stopping him from leaving.

'Axel,' she said, her brown eyes meeting his as her lips curled up into a smile.

'Yeah, great conversation,' he said when she didn't immediately continue, but she stopped him from passing her by.

Although he and Cara were friends, it was just a barely there friendship. They had dated for a while and even though it had been fun, they were horrible together. She had restricted his freedom so much he had felt suffocated and even now, just the sight of her reminded him of all the fights they had had.

But before he could run, Iris saved him. She grasped both their wrists, excitement apparent on her face.

'Have you heard?' she said,' there's going to be a new transfer student.'

'At this point in the year?' Jason asked as he appeared next to Axel. Axel shot a glare at him, knowing his friend had almost fled and left him to fend of Cara all by himself.

'Yeah, apparently something happened at her past school,' Iris shrugged,' no one really knows what, they're keeping it all under wraps. But here's the biggest scoop: she's a Greene.'

Cara's eyes widened as her expression, earlier annoyed by the interruption, turned into one of faint horror and interest.

'A Greene?' she said,' which one? Do Zara and David even have another sibling?'

'Yeah,' Iris said,' an older sister. She has been out of the house for the past few years actually, God knows for what. But she's returning and enrolling here.'

'Well I hope she isn't a class A b***h like her sister then,' Cara scoffed.

Axel almost laughed as he looked at his petite ex-girlfriend. He was pretty sure they couldn't come more vicious than her, but then again, he was biased. Spending more time with people had mostly just gotten Axel to dislike them and somewhere, he was kind of sad to have seen his friendship with Cara get shattered after the mess of a relationship they had had.

But Cara was right. Zara Greene was probably one of the hottest girls at school, but the girl could glare almost even him down. The permanent scowl on her face coupled with her icy eyes and Greene name kept all the people besides her posse out of the way.

Messing with a Greene mostly ended in social annihilation in the society they lived in, especially seeing as Liam Greene's corporation took care of almost all the oil and medical matters in the country. With his wife being one of the most sought after surgeons and the current owner of the Terra Hospital chain and him the owner of Greene International, there were not many people who dared to defy them.

Jason cast a sideway glance at his friend and wondered why Cara was even bothering about the news of another Greene.

The Greene's weren't the only big names and Axel Thompson was living proof of it.

The guy was almost royalty, with his mother the president of some country overseas and his father the owner of Thompson Industries, an international corporation which produced almost anything, from the latest technology to even high fashion.

Jason would know the influence the Thompsons held, almost all phones and furniture in this building wore the tell-tale mark of his name after all. The TI sign was small but easily recognizable and it made him remember his friend anytime he saw it.

For Axel Thompson, spending money was the same thing as breathing air. Not because he couldn't rationalize his spendings, but because he had almost the same amount of air as he had money in his bank account.

'I'm looking forward to seeing this new girl,' Axel said, his eyes alight with new-found interest,' let's hope she's a better talker than her sister.'

Jason doubted it.