Beautiful Ruins

Chapter#01

Morning usually started with an alarm which was usually ignored by few snoozes and then a personal alarm, in human flesh. This was morning was no different. After hitting the snooze button about 15 times, she heard her mother shouting in a distance and another voice, shouting right in her ear.

"Wake up Ace!"

She obviously refuse to respond. This was the secret of sleep. Don't open your eyes because the second you do, you won't be able to go back to sleep.

"I am gonna dump cold water on you!"

Did she look so weak to be afraid of water? What could some mere liquid do to her?

She could hear him, sniffling around in her bathroom and she was ready. In seconds the cold water came splashing down on her. She ignored the shivering and kept her eyes closed.

"Arggghhh!! Mum she's not walking up!" she heard her brother, Mike yelling while probably going downstairs. She on the other hand, smiled blissfully and dug herself deeper in her blanket.

She just needed 5 more minutes of sleep, multiply by forever.

"Ace if you aren't going to wake up in a minute, you are forever grounded!" she heard mum yell from downstairs. This time her voice was loud and clear to her ears.

Very unwillingly, she opened her eyes and checked her cellphone. There were still 15 minutes till school starts which meant she defiantly had enough time to catch those 5 minutes but now she knew, no matter how tightly she closed her eyes, sleep was already out the door. She could only sigh and rise up. It took her few minutes to get her brain to start working as well. She was in the middle of having a blank stare competition with her carpet when she heard her mother shouting again.

"Are you up or not!"

"I'm up! I'm up! She yelled back and got on her feet. Her head blacked out for few seconds but she had no time to keep up with the speed at which her head woke up. She grabbed fresh clothes and dressed up. She had already taken a shower after her morning run so saw no need to take another. Pulling her hair in a bun, she forced her socked feet in the sneakers and slowly grabbed her backpack and mobile.

"Go back and brush you hair!" her mother scolded the second she saw her.

She was in no mood to argue with her over her hair of all the things first thing in the morning so she just stuck her tongue at her and ignored her. Mike coughed a laugh.

She heard her sigh back in frustration which was usually how most of their conversations went. Her mother would say something, she would ignore her existence and then her mother would sigh in frustration and would stop bothering to argue again.

She finished her milk and then ran back to her room to brush her teeth.

She was in the middle of washing her face when Mike yelled from outside.

"You coming with me or gonna walk?"

"I am gonna walk." she said and rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her.

"You will be late." he yelled again.

"Good." she muttered under her breath. Who would want to go to school in the first place?

Mike probably knew she was ignoring him so he left without saying anything.

She got out of the bathroom, threw a piece of gum in her mouth and tried to walk as slowly as she could manage to get downstairs again.

"I'm leaving mum." she yelled when she reached the front door.

"Have a good day and don't you dare get in trouble. For God sake it------"

She didn't hear what she said afterwards because honestly she wasn't interested.

She walked to school in a snail pace. There was no need to rush anyway, there was nothing worthwhile which she was missing. School have always been just a way to get into a good university which she did wanted to get in. Grades were something she could easily manage without much hard work but attendance have always been an issue with her. She have always been just ridiculously lazy. High school was just a joke and everyone knew that. More than half of the material could be find on google so what was the point of sitting in an hour long class to learn something you can probably learn through internet in few minutes.

She was a little annoyed though. Not because of missing classes but because it was her first day in this high school. She knew this town well. Has been visiting it since she was a child with her mum and dad. Even spent summer vacations here. Before her dad passed away, they used to come by every other weekend here. And now, since mum remarried, they decided to permanently shift here to watch over her grandmother who was diagnosed with last stage of cancer. Broody, mum's second husband was an oncologist who had taken grandmother's case. This is how they met. When they married, Broody moved from his bachelor pad to a new place with us all. He was a good man, quiet rare of a good man.

Finding the school was not hard. She had spent her childhood running around in this town, she knew it like the back of her hand. When she walked through the gates, she was welcomed with dead silence. She was very late. Considering she walked the 12 minutes distance in 45 minutes should explain a lot.

She walked to the main office to grab her timetable which Broody had offered to be delivered at home but she had refused. She didn't wanted to miss the chance to roam around in the school with the excuse of being lost. She wanted to prevail those new kid privileges.

There on a comfortable chair sat a middle age woman with a kind face. Her eyes were focused on the computer screen and she was typing like her life depended on it.

"Excuse me? My name is Ace Adams. Can I have my timetable?" she tried no to sound like talking was tiresome.

"Sure sweetie. Just hold on." the old lady replied without looking at her like this was her some everyday thing for her. She handed her the envelope with her things and went back to typing god knows what.

Ace didn't mind her attitude. She didn't wanted to have any small talks and just get these few hours over with.

Maybe she was an old lady, stuck in a 17 year old's skin.

She got out of the office and pulled the map out. Wasting few more minutes so she won't have to attend the first class all together, she walked aimlessly in the empty school, enjoying the peace and quiet which she normally didn't get. Which didn't last long because the loud bell rang and students rushed outside like prisoners tasting their freedom. She did relate to them on much deeper level.

She had a small idea where the next class was so walking to it didn't take long. Due to such busy population of kids around her, all changing class rooms, her figure was unnoticed as it passed through teenagers who were too loud for her old lady soul. She was the first to enter the class thankfully so she seated herself at the very back, ready to stay hidden as long as possible. She wasn't ready to fake smiles and put on a show for everyone to see just yet. It was just too tiring.

Few kids arrived after her, they dropped a glance or two at her but mainly talked within themselves in whispers which she had no interest in. Soon, the class was crowded. A few kids were sitting on their desks when the teachers arrived. A brightly cloth woman who probably looked older then age by quiet a number of years. She was the kind which Ace wasn't a big fan of at all because these kind of teachers were overly kind and cheerful that just makes you want to shoot them in the face.

She noticed her right away.

"We have a new student." She called out while smiling largely.

Thank you for making it so obvious!

Ace almost immediately smiled back and saluted her, her past personality taking a whole 180 degree turn.

"C'mon. Introduce yourself." she said while coming closer to her.

"Hi, I am Ace Adams." Ace simply said without making a large show of it. Acting out cheerful was fine but she never did more than necessary.

She heard a quite laugh from beside her. It sounded almost mocking which made her slowly look at the guy in green hood. He was lazily leaning on his chair like he had no worry in the world. Much thinner than average guys his age and had a jawline she herself would kill for. His blue eyes were not looking at her but upfront, staring at nothing like it wasn't him who had laughed at her.

The teacher was probably satisfied because she simply told everyone to get along with her and started her lesson. Ace on the other hand was still steadily staring at the guy who had guts to laugh at her. Her stare was bare and indifferent which was probably why he turned to look at her.

She did what she was dying to do since he laughed at her.

She stuck her tongue out to him and nodded in satisfaction when he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The rest of the lesson was spent ignoring the owner of that fabulous jawline and everything all together. She knew he had passed her few curious glances but she won't be answering his curiosity, simply because she didn't know what exactly he wanted. She also forwarded her schedule to Mike and received his in return.

When the bell rang, she quickly left the classroom. Her next class was with Mike in chemistry lab which she wasn't as excited for. She had nothing against the subject but she was already ready for this day to end, which was the other reason she was dragging her body instead of hurrying to the class and was playing around on her cellphone. It was when she was on the way, she ran into someone's back.

"Watch where you're going." she snapped fully knowing that she was the one who was walking blindly but she wasn't going to admit it.

The guy turned, his one hand held the phone from which a loud mummer can be heard.

"I'll see you later, James." he said before hanging up.

Now, seeing his face to face, Ace realized that she was really too short. Not only she have been blessed with an A cup, she have been fully blessed by shortness so if it wasn't for her face, she could pass for a middle schooler. Looking at this tall, fabulous jawline guy, Ace knew God have ignored her a bit too much.

She hadn't noticed her mind trailed off way off the situation in hand.

"You should be in class." his quiet voice shook her away from her envy.

"You should be too." she snapped back almost unconsciously now completely back to being indifferent to this unknown dude and going back to her cellphone.

When he didn't say anything for a while so she looked up to ask when he will get out of her way and saw him staring at her or something on her face.

"What?" she asked, slightly uncomfortable of his stare. It was slightly too different from anything ever given to her.

"Stop doing that with your lips." he snapped at her and then quickly like he realized that he said something he shouldn't have, walked towards the end of stairs.

She stared at his back for a while and then remembered she was biting her lip. A habit she had which was usually on very unconscious level but why would that bother him?

She finally shrugged and started walking aimlessly again.

At the end of the day, she had managed to ditch half of her classes and held two slips of detentions in her hand for arriving late in class. Those two teachers gave no fudges for new kid privileges.

Such joys of life.