Hannah.
Damn! When I woke up, I saw on my phone that less than 20 minutes left until class started. I jumped off the couch in a hurry, no time to clear the floor of trash, grabbed a T-shirt right off the chair and threw it over before casually smoothing my disheveled hair with my hands.
I was responsible for making breakfast, but today it was so late that all I could do was to grab a carton of milk on the dining-room table and shove it into my book-bag, as I was sure Ginny would have extra bread.
Before I left the house, I made a point of opening the door to my grandmother's room, and was relieved to leave when I saw that she was asleep in her bed.
I got on my bike and sprinted as fast as I could to school, where I was met by a barrage of unfriendly stares and whispered comments from girls as I made my way through the halls.
Bitch!
My locker had been spray-painted with the word in red paint, and when I looked up, Gina and her flunkies were walking towards me.
"Whoa! Maybe someone who hates you did that!" Gina's face was heavily painted, eyes set with an exaggerated set of false eyelashes, and her gold eye shadow made her look like an actress playing Cleopatra.
She had a cup of coffee in her hand and looked at me with defiant eyes.
"Maybe that someone is you." I folded my arms across my chest and took her challenge.
"I told you to stay away from Ian!" Gina glared at me fiercely, and the next second the hot coffee she was holding was pouring over my shoes.
The white trainers were quickly stained a coffee color, and a sticky wetness and burning heat could be clearly felt in my toes, which were hidden in the shoes.
"What are you doing?" Ginny's almost-screaming voice came from the stairs as she pushed Gina away from me.
I covered my fists with my hands, and anger burned in my heart for an instant. If it had not been for the presence of Principal Kane, my fist would probably have struck Gina's pretty face.
"Girls, it's time for class!" The portly Principal Kane stood less than ten feet away from us, his low voice filled with warning, "Don't let me see you guys causing trouble in the hallways, okay?"
Sophie and Lydia pulled away from Gina and trotted up the stairs with triumphant smiles. Ginny elbowed me as she whispered, "Are you okay?"
I made no answer, the anger still burning within me. The sound of the bell continued to ring, and then the lights in the passage began to flicker and flicker, and a strong gust of wind came in violently through the window.
"Hannah, Hannah," Ginny said as she shielded her hand from the strong wind blowing in her face, "We should get to class!"
"Come on!" Ginny tugged at my arm, but my feet did not move, as if they were nailed down. Her voice died away from my ears, and was replaced by a confused murmur of whispers.
Suddenly Ian appeared. He was dressed in a white tracksuit and had a light blue backpack slung over his shoulder. He was scanning the area with those mesmerizing eyes, seemingly a little bewildered by the sudden change in the weather.
"Hannah!" Ginny's exclamation finally brought me to my senses. I froze for a moment. What just happened?
The wind had died down, and the lamps in the hallways were back to their usual brightness. As I watched Ian walk past, a sudden wave of sadness swept over me.
"Don't be a nymphomaniac! We're already late." Ginny pulled me hard in the direction of the classroom.
In the class, Ian sat diagonally across from me, and Gina purposely sat closest to him. From behind, I could see her wink at Ian when the teacher turned around, and Ian just looked at her and coolly turned his head to the side.
Bitch!I cursed inwardly.
After class, Ginny and I sat down on the school garden steps to eat our lunch, which she graciously shared with me. Just in case I didn't get enough to eat, she also gave me leftover bread from breakfast to go with it.
I knew she would have extra bread!
"Did you read the campus forum this morning?" Ginny asked me in a low voice.
"No," I replied. I didn't even remember what had happened the night before, but after I had taken my last bite of bread, I remembered the uninvited visitor of the night before.
If I remember correctly, the man's name was Devon. I vaguely recalled that he seemed to be the same man who had accompanied me to a drink the night before. But I couldn't really remember exactly what had happened.
"Jesus, look!" Ginny brought her phone to me. "More and more people are reposting that video."
I stared at her phone for a moment, and it turned out that someone had taken a video of Ian saving me. It was because of him that I wasn't run over.
"Who did this?" The sneaky voyeurs had used the word "heartthrob" as a headline, and I could see the comments underneath the post were full of vile language calling my name.
"This is why all the girls at school hate you," Ginny said. "You stole their favorite boy."
"You know I didn't," I said helplessly. "The truth is Ian rejected me."
"People only believe what they see," Ginny said. "Jealousy made those girls think you were playing a trick to seduce Ian."
"Who would risk getting run over by a car to do something like that?" I asked, "As handsome as Ian is, I'm not stupid enough to die for him."
"Congratulations," Ginny said, "You're now the public enemy in school. The Pink Princesses hate you."
The Pink Princesses is a small campus group led by Gina, which are girls from rich families and love pink. But in my eyes, they are just a bunch of b***h who desire to seduce men everywhere with a big chest and empty mind.
No doubt they were the ones who spray-painted my locker red and left messages for me on the campus forum. They won't stop retaliating until they find their next target to vent to.
"Look, Gina's talking to Ian," Ginny pointed to the direction of 12 o'clock. "She's about to stick it to Ian."
I looked in the direction of Ginny's finger and saw Ian pull away from Gina's hand, which was hanging around his neck, and then he said something to her and walked away.
He's coming in my direction!
"Hannah, can I talk to you in private?" Ian stood in front of me, his fair hair like a beautiful aperture in the sunlight.
He was so damn handsome!
"Sure!" Ginny hastily answered for me.
"Let's go for a walk in the playground, shall we?" Ian stared at me with both eyes. "I won't take up too much of your time."
"She's got plenty of time," Ginny pushed me forward. "You guys can walk to LA."
I turned my head to glare at Ginny, and when I turned back, Ian was already heading in the direction of the playground. So all I could do was keep my head down and follow close behind him, almost bumping into his sturdy back when he stopped suddenly.
"Hannah," he gazed at me, an extra layer of gloom between his eyebrows.
My heart began to race as I gazed in fascination upon his handsome face.