Chapter 5

I was jolted awake by the loud beeping of my alarm clock. As I reached to turn it off, I clumsily fell out of bed and landed hard on the cold floor.

So much for hitting snooze... I slowly picked myself up and turned off the annoying alarm, resisting the urge to throw the clock out the window.

After washing my face, I pulled my hair into a ponytail and applied a bit of natural makeup. My outfit consisted of a tight, dark grey turtleneck, distressed high-waisted jeans, and my trusty Converse sneakers.

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and headed downstairs. I had a few bites of Fruit Loops before hopping into my car and starting the drive to school.

When I arrived at what I liked to call "hell," I stayed seated in my car for a moment, sighing and mentally preparing myself for the first day of real work.

I slowly got out of the car and took a deep breath of the fresh California morning air. As I walked toward the front doors, I spotted Josie in the distance and quickened my pace to catch up with her. When I finally reached her, she smiled and gave me a side hug.

"Hey!!" I greeted her.

"Hey! What's up?" she asked.

"Not much, how about you?" I replied.

"Nothing really," she said. We walked into our first period class together and sat down in our usual seats.

Our teacher was sitting at his desk, glaring out at the mass of teenagers rushing into his classroom.

"Today, students, we will be taking a test to see how much you retained over the summer. Unlike similar tests in other classes today, this one will count toward your final grade," he announced.

He handed out the tests, and the entire class groaned as if their volume could somehow prevent them from having to take the dreaded exam.

After the test (which I definitely failed), Josie and I walked out of the classroom together. With each step away from the room, I felt relief washing over me like cool water dousing burning logs.

The next few classes passed without anything significant happening. As I entered the History room, I sat down in the back and waited for Josie.

I began to grow impatient; she was usually one of the first to arrive, and I couldn't figure out what was taking her so long. A couple of minutes later, the teacher closed the door. My confusion quickly turned to worry when there was a loud knock on the door.

The teacher opened it to reveal a very flustered Josie, who hurried into the room as soon as the door cracked open. She rushed to her desk next to mine and quickly pulled out her books. Noticing my puzzled look, she glanced up at me once everyone had returned their attention to the lesson.

"I'll tell you and Madi at lunch..." she whispered, then started taking notes from the board. I assumed she had lost her phone or something minor like that, but it seemed to be more serious.

"And then she just walked up to me and knocked my books out of my hands and said 'whoops.' Then she added, 'Maybe if you weren't such a little b*tch, you could learn to walk.' When I tried to stand up for myself, she knocked my books out of my hands again and walked off with her friends.

After that, I had to quickly fix my hair, which took about a minute, and that’s why I was late to class," Josie ranted.

Apparently, the school's "it" girl had walked into Josie and gone off on her. The story sounded vaguely familiar...

They told me that this 'it' girl—whose name I had already forgotten—was one of the first girls Madison had a crush on in middle school. Back then, innocent and unaware of the harsh realities of the world, Madison confessed her feelings to her.

The girl then outed Madison to the entire school. Ever since then, she had taken every opportunity to target either Madison or Josie. If I ever ran into her, she’d better hope I didn’t do anything rash.

Madison and Josie continued chatting about school gossip, which, being new, I knew nothing about. As I sat there silently eating my lunch, my mind kept drifting back to how unfair it was that someone like Asmodeus could be so attractive. It seemed like such a waste of good looks, in my opinion.

I pushed thoughts of Asmodeus out of my mind and tried to focus on their conversation. No matter how hard I tried to follow along with their stories, I just couldn't keep up.

Eventually, I made it to last period. I quietly slipped into the back of the room and took my seat next to where Asmodeus was sitting. I could smell his cologne from where I was, and it was actually quite pleasant.

"Good morning, class! Now, as you're all discovering, it's time to get down to work. While other classes are giving you tests to assess your knowledge, I will be assigning projects," Mr. Zero announced, eliciting groans from around the classroom.

"You can choose any topic related to biology. You'll have two weeks to complete the project, and no class time will be provided for working on it. Lastly, you will be working with the person seated next to you."

When he said that last part, I almost choked on air. My heart started racing, and I did my best not to blush, though I’m sure my face turned red anyway.

About ten seconds after he said that, I sneakily glanced at Asmodeus, who was still looking at Mr. Zero. I quickly looked back at the teacher.

"You may use this class period to decide on your topic and how you will present it," Mr. Zero finished, signaling for us to begin as he handed out assignment sheets.

Asmodeus and I slowly turned to face each other. Seriously, did he just step out of a Daniel Swift photoshoot?! Unbelievable...

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked with a sigh. Remembering how much I disliked him, I responded curtly.

"I don't care."

"Fine," he said. "How about we talk about some basic genetics? Maybe explore the relationship between homozygous and heterozygous organisms in a population, and how certain prezygotic barriers affect that population's evolutionary path."

I paused for a moment, blinking in surprise. Was he actually smart? Sure, he was in AP Bio, but I had assumed his parents paid extra for him to be in the class. It wasn’t fair that someone could be both that good-looking and intelligent.

"Um, yeah. Sure. Okay then, yeah," I replied awkwardly, pulling out my journal. We started brainstorming different ways to present our data.

Before I knew it, the class had ended. He might have been a jerk, but at least he was smart. At least we would get a good grade.

I hoped we’d change seats after this and that I wouldn’t have to be his partner again.

He walked out of the classroom without even glancing back, disappearing into the crowd. Since I wasn’t catching a bus, I took my time at my locker. It took me about ten minutes to pack my bag, clear out my locker, use the bathroom, and get into my car.

When I got home, I opened the door to find my mother passed out on the couch, the TV still on, surrounded by empty alcohol bottles.

I held back my tears as I saw this scene and quickly ran up to my bedroom to do my homework.

Once again, I fell asleep watching The Vampire Diaries. I also decided that I would run away with the Salvatore brothers and never have to go to school again.