Love and Hate

Chapter 2: Back To School.

Erin turned off the ignition, snuffing out the engine.

Rotating the car keys, she pulled it out, pocketing it as she slumped against the seat with a content sigh. She looked over at Ariana who shoved her phone into her bag planted between her feet.

“Are you ready?”

She zipped it closed and grunted in response.

“Great.”

Erin reached into the backseat to haul up her backpack. Together they both exited the artic white, fiat car. They both glanced over their congested environment, the parking lot swarming with cars eager to find not a good spot but simply any that was available.

Side-by-side, they trudged through the lot, weaving between the gaps of parked cars. Before they knew it, they were hiking up the wide staircase, flooding with the river pupils as they streamed inside entryway of Braidwood High.

“I swear if anyone makes a first day of the last year joke. I will stab them in the eye.”

Erin looked back at her with a worried smile. It was both scary and vaguely impressive how her expert-level makeup flawlessly concealed the truth beneath them. Though it looked good, it was nothing to admire.

“If I hear any pep about the first day, school spirit sh—”

“Let me guess,” Erin loudly interjected. “You will stab them in the eye.”

“No, I was gonna say that I was going to choke them. Let me finish my rant next time.”

Approaching the centre of the network of hallways. This is where the two would split to attend their register class, Erin goes left, and Ariana would go right. Before the division could commence, Erin brought them both to a standstill.

“Hey.”

Ariana paused. “What?”

Her lips bursts into a theatric grin. “Remember to smile, moonshine.”

Wordlessly, she turned away, dunking down to the left as she melted into the crowd. The one thing she loved about Erin was that she understood her, even though, sometimes, she failed to understand herself. She did not have to prove her gratitude or verbally express the limitless value she placed on their lifelong friendship.

She knew that she cared. And that was enough.

It was uncanny, the dynamic of their friendship, because they were polar opposites.

Ariana jerked backwards, halted abruptly, a fraction away from an imminent collision.

“Well, isn’t it my favourite girl?”

She looked up at the wanderlust-blue eyes of the star captain of the soccer team. Xavier Sterling. He slid his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket that matched the ones his three lackeys behind him wore.

“I missed you.”

“I can’t say the same.” She shouldered past him and he let out a dramatic oomph as she resumed her way to her register class. Meanwhile, Erin arrived at hers, the class filling with lethargic-looking students dragging their feet. All but Sophia Hart.

In the square-shaped room, she sat on the flank by the wall. She refused to sit near the windows; she claimed the outside was too distracting. Despite it only being only a register class. Her sparkling amber hair was beautifully plaited into a perfect crown braid, not a single strand out of place.

Her pastel-coloured bag leaned against the leg of her table. Her personal diary was open on her desk as she was diarising in it with her phone beside her. Erin plopped down the adjacent seat.

Sophia took a recess to acknowledge her. “Erin,” she said warmly. She closed her diary.

“Sophia,” Erin said in a greeting tone. “How was your break? Let me guess, you were too busy doing extracurricular activities, additional work for extra credit? Studying ahead to prepare for finals that a practically little less than a year away.”

She nodded casually. “That and doing volunteer work. It’s looks good on college applications.”

“IV league institutions?”

She looked back at her like what she had asked was foreign. “What else is there?”

Erin laughed even though she knew she was being completely serious.

“And how was your break?” She asked, amending her posture, crossing her legs under the table.

“Same as the last. Lots of binge-watching… binge-eating.” She mentally compared how she spent her time versus how Sophia had. “In comparison to you, I feel utterly useless. Yet, I don’t regret a minute.”

Sophia snorted. “And what did you watch, Bridgerton?”

Erin narrowed her eyes at the assumption. “Falcon and the winter soldier, actually.”

She quirked her brows in surprise. Then her eyes lit up. “Speaking of Marvel men. Have you heard about the new transfers?”

A frown struck her forehead. “Transfers?” She nodded. “In our year?” Her head bopped a yes.

“Heard word on the grapevine that they’ll be joining our grade.”

Erin arched a brow at her. “Heard?” she repeated suspiciously.

Sophia Lockhart, who has an honour roll streak cleaner than your grandmother’s kitchen. With all her time devoted to being the top of our grade, immensely popular, and simply. The best.

She always knew what would happen before it happened. She was like her own undisclosed FBI unit that knew anything about everyone, always had her ear to the ground, but her nose in her books.

“Three of them. Once I learnt their names, I scoured all forms of social media to turn up nada.”

Her brows nearly pricked her hairline. “You could not find someone. Do they even exist?”

“Ha. Ha,” she said dryly. “The only thing I know about them is that one of them looks like bucky. Teenage version, of course.”

The reference alone piqued Erin’s interests, but she waved it to be nothing. Transfers were not uncommon, the only thing that was strange was the timing. Shortly, their admin teacher strutted inside, her glasses clinging to her droopy nose for dear life.

A hush fell over the class as she started with a brief welcome back intro, leading into a break-down of the school planner, the upcoming try-outs and the auditions for the one of the two annual talent shows. The last one being the biggest, involving other schools and even people from the community.

Eventually, the bell blared out a shrilly screech.

Erin and Sophia gathered their things and vacated, nattering along the way as they made their way out. Suddenly Sophia gasped and gripped Erin’s arm, moving fretfully to hide behind her.

“There, there. Look, that must be them.”

Erin followed her line of sight to the three boys sauntering coolly in a classic trio formation. All of them inhumanely handsome, tall, muscular, with broad shoulders that bespoke strength. Their presence demanded attention without them saying a word, luring flattering eyes.

A group of soccer players walked up to them, they did a bro shake, having their own meet and greet.

“How do you know its them?”

Sophia released her with a deadpan look. “Are you serious? We know every guy in this school and tell me.” She nodded her head in their direction. “Do any of them looked like they fell from Olympus?”

Erin couldn’t make out their intricate features from their distance but their Greek, god-like physiques were undoubtably apparent.

“Okay, stop drooling.” Erin whacked her shoulder. “Go read a textbook or something.”

Erin sneaked another look at them before she forced her gaze away.

The day proceeded in gradual nonchalance, all of her subjects presenting the modules for this quarter, some even a recap of what they learn the previous year. And now, she had a free period. Usually, she would go to the music room and use that time to start on homework or study for a test, but since it’s only the first day. Erin decided to take out a play from Sophia’s game book and start planning ahead.

The music rooms are situated on the other side of the building, isolated in a separate annex. Typically, during her free periods, the classrooms were empty; they ran parallel from the assigned schedules.

Erin drifted down the stone walkway, she knocked on the middle classroom, opened the door and peeked inside to check if there was a class. Empty. She slipped inside and checked the new timetable hanging on the side of the wall. The next class was only due in the next fort-five minutes.

Her gaze skimmed over the black, grand piano at the front corner and the different percussion instruments that lined the circumference of the room. The few desks and chairs were in the centre of the room.

She unshouldered her bag and slid into the front seat. She unzipped her bag and pulled out her Lenovo laptop and waited patiently for it to blink awake. Erin flinched at the sudden bang behind on the other side. The door opened, revealing one of the three boys she had seen.