Wicked Intentions

\Chapter One/

I had gotten through three years of this place by being virtually invisible to the students and the teachers. Elise Larroe does not exist at Kassidy Pro High School, don't ask me how I do it, I just do. The transfer was hard already, I didn't need another repeat of my last school and I sure as hell didn't want it . . . Even the good parts.

I enjoyed my life, the simplicity of it anyway. Whatever demons I had were solely my own, no one could know my weaknesses, my dirty laundry wasn't aired out in the hallways and no drama. I was just me and Monty. Of course, that was until second-period history at which point my cousin beelines straight for me dropping into the seat next to me.

You see my cousin wasn't exactly 'normal' around here and neither were her friends. With her red hair braided and tucked under a red baseball cap she smiled at me, her green eyes matching the green ring on her bottom lip. The second of the fourth in this place. She wore an old white vest with a red chequered shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, her bag half opened dropped in between the small space of our desks. "Hey, so I have a plan."

"Oh great." I moaned, rolling my eyes and taking quick glances around the class hoping no one would focus in on us. She lowered her voice to a whisper as the new sub for the term walked in dropping her things at the desk in front.

"You know how mum and dad are going to Vegas for two weeks? Well instead of us being stuck in that dingy s**t-hole," she began, her voice way too chirpy for any god given occasion. "We could stay at Riley's."

"Riley?" I repeated, already hating this idea.

"Yeah, ya know mum thinks she's a girl but it's actually a guy?" I shook my head again. When did she ever think I'd take notice of her social life? We weren't exactly close. "The guy you said looks like a pissed off stoner twenty-four seven." Ah. Yes of course. "His mum would totally say yes and mum would let us but you'd have to come too. You don't have to stay at Rileys, it's just a cover-up."

It wasn't like I had a choice, they were putting up with me out of guilt no other reason. So whatever Calli wanted, I'd go along with it. I just didn't want to get caught doing it. "We're going to Kaden's tomorrow night though, just letting you know."

My eyes flew straight ahead hearing my name for the coursework followed by Kadens at the same time as Calli before she got up to hurry to her assigned partner. Thing is, my Cousins mates and now my partner wasn't part of some overly hyped clique or sports team or even the chess club. No, I had to be paired with the one person this place hates the most. The one person who gets all the attention no one wants. The one person with so much darkness that I couldn't say no because hell, I just need someone else to raise trouble within this dump apparently.

He looked around as the class erupted with chairs scraping the floor, people basically throwing themselves at each other declaring their team in an ambush of excited chatters. He looked almost hopeful but then almost vengeful when it became clear the immediate area around his desk was gonna stay clear. Looking down at his notebook, I watched his figures curl tightly around the pencil almost snapping it in half before I finally pushed forward on my chair. He was two rows in front of me and a chair along but the clearing created by the groups was enough.

"Hey," I said once but he didn't even take a glance. Clearing my throat I tried again but once more nothing. Was this douche bag legit ignoring me right now? Frowning, I tore a page out of my book and scrunched it up before aiming it right at the back of his head before calling out again just as it hit his neck.

His shoulders tensed protective as he took a quick look over his shoulder. His body almost made him look afraid but the rage in his eyes was hard to miss, "You wanna partner up?"

His eyebrow raised as he twisted himself around to look at me. Nothing about him relaxed but now his eyes were unreadable and to me, that would have set off alarms had it been a few years ago but with everything I've seen, I found the people with the blissfully pure eyes are the ones who you should be wary of. Why? Because they're ignorant to life, to pain and to suffering and that mistaken belief that life is a beautiful gift is the most dangerous thing.

"Sure." He replied, his voice wasn't hard or standoff-ish just slightly awkward like he was waiting for the big laugh and the horrible sly remarks to come. Taking one last quick look at his surroundings, he gathered his things and fell into the seat next to me. "Kaden Grant."

He stuck his right hand out across his desk waiting for me to shake it. "Elise," I replied before scribbling his name at the top of my page so I wouldn't forget to add it to the final piece of work.

Maybe it was the fact that I approached him first, but he seemed to get a little more confident as he hunched his shoulders and smirked at me. "Are you new? I haven't seen you before." Ah, New kid. That explains it.

"Nope," I replied, my eyes still fixed on the blank paper. I couldn't help but catch his smirk slip off his face like some hidden disappointment had suddenly shown up like he expected it too. "I've been here for three years," I added.

"Seriously?" He asked just as we were dismissed. I nodded already stuffing my things into my bag. "When do you wanna work on the project?" He quickly mumbled as he grabbed his notebook from the table following me out from the classroom.

"You actually want to work on this?" I asked coming to a stop, well this is the first. He took me in like I was an i***t but before he could open his mouth I held my hand up. "Okay fine. Um . . ." I didn't exactly know what else to say, this was like new territory for me. No one ever wants to do the work. I had to stare at him for a few more minutes trying to figure out if this guy with his weird Xbox reference t-shirt tucked into his baggy jeans was more trouble than it was worth.

However mean it might sound, I was a target every second I was seen with him. Out of the whole year, there are only four kids everyone beats on and he's one, working together on this publicly could destroy everything I've built . . . And I don't know if I could take that. People never found out who's cousin I was because well, we don't ever hang out and Calli wasn't popular enough for people to care. It just never came up but I guess Calli never pointed me out to her friends either. Good.

But the longer I looked the more I felt this pull, the way he looked in class was a total reflection on my life but we all see some aspect of ourselves in the underdog right? I wasn't some naive Eighteen year old, I'd been through my share of hell and I didn't need a new one. Just as I opened my lips to reply, two people approached us. Coming to a stop next to me was the third of the group. But when I looked up at him I couldn't understand why. Sure he was shy and lanky but his features were sharp and his hair long brown strands bounced around his shoulders. His blue eyes were warm but almost distant, he smiled nervously looking from Kaden to me then Calli.

Defiantly a f*****g shinning nylon target right now!

"Yeah sure, when are you free?" His smirk never returned but I added that we could talk more about it tomorrow in class when I took a look to my side, my breath caught in my throat. The oh so holy group of these halls had huddled together, three cheerleaders clung nearby laughing as they marched down the hall. I hurried away to my locker until they began to leave. Had they seen? Oh, f**k no! I do not need this s**t right now. I watched as Jackie, the main face of the school grew red with rage, my hands balled to fists but they didn't stop at me, instead, they charged ahead grabbing onto the back of Kaden's shirt yanking him straight to the ground. His hands flew to his head as Jackie slammed his foot into his side.

One of the cheerleaders had raced ahead also, she had the redhead by the elbow-throwing her up against the green lockers. She screamed out in pain grasping her shoulder as she slipped to the ground, the cheerleader throwing a slur of words at her.

"Ha, Daryl you gonna fight me you f*****g faggot? Gonna defend your girl's honor you ugly piece of s**t?" Jackie shoved him up against the locker pointing at Kaden before pressing his forehead against Daryl, his hands grasping his black t-shirt in fists. "You're a waste of pathetic energy. Hitler should have wiped out your whole f*****g family you Jewish cunt."

Next thing I knew, Daryl was mumbling a cry as Jackie elbowed him in the head before pulling his hair forcing him to stare into his anger filled eyes. "Ain't no one ever gonna want something as worthless, weak and f****d up as you, you son of a bitch." Finally, it was over. He stepped back and walked away laughing with his group but my eyes were glued to the broken blue shards of despair in Daryl's eyes. He looked towards me as if sensing me staring and I knew then it only made it worse. So I forced my eyes down and walked away feeling my chest erupted in shame as I gripped the silver cross hanging between my breasts in my weak fingers.

But that could never be me.