“Hey! It’s nice weather today, isn’t it?” I lamely joke, but Landon laughs anyway as he wipes rain off his face.
“Yeah, we tried to wait for it to pass, but we get bad storms, so there wasn’t much chance of that,” Landon explains, and I notice his use of ‘we’ just as I see Maxx walking up the steps. He isn’t running like everyone else, in fact he doesn’t even seem to care that the rain is pouring down on him. Maxx has a leather jacket on, a white shirt that dips to show off the top of his chest and black trousers. The outfit only makes him look more damn sexy, and I wonder where his blazer is. I notice three other girls all staring at Maxx, and I follow their gaze to see the way the water drips down his face and how his wet shirt sticks to his impressive chest as it goes see-through due to the rain. I completely get why any girl would stare. When I meet Maxx’s eyes, he narrows them, and I can practically see the annoyance in the way his body goes tense when he sees Landon next to me.
“Don’t say you’re another girl that drools over my brother,” Landon states with a groan, snapping me out of it and making me feel silly for staring. I have to close my mouth from the fact I was gaping.
“Sorry, your brother freaks me out a little,” I say.
“Sure, that’s it,” Landon laughs and links his arm in mine, leading me down the corridor. “You need to be a better liar than that if you want anyone to believe you.” I ignore his statement as I stare at the dark wooden corridors with dozens of white wood doors littered down them. In the middle of the corridor, there are three glass cabinets showcasing awards, photos of students and trophies, but there isn’t much else to look at. We get to the end of the corridor which opens up into the dining hall with archway doors to a courtyard just outside. I try to remember looking at the map last night and where everything is, but it doesn’t look like the map at all.
“I have science first, which way is that?” I ask Landon.
“I’ll show you around today, don’t even worry about it. This school is a maze, but once you get used to your rooms, it will be easier,” he tells me, filling me with relief.
“What about your classes?” I ask.
“I will explain that I’m showing you around,” he grins. “Don’t worry.” I smile back at Landon as he leads me to the right and down another corridor which has four girls stood together, watching Landon and me. They look almost fearful, and it confuses me. As we walk past them, I briefly catch one of their fearful whispers.
“Another one of them is here, and who knows who will go missing next!”
Chapter Four
“Aura Scott, right?” a middle-aged woman asks after I walk into the classroom, pushing the creaky door shut behind me. Does this whole town creak with old age? How do people get used to it? I turn to face the woman who pushes her glasses up from where they have fallen down her nose and raises a bushy black eyebrow at me. She has fuzzy black hair that is pulled up into a messy bun, dark skin that matches her brown pencil skirt. She has a crinkled white shirt tucked into the skirt, and it has the school logo embroidered on it.
“Yes, that’s me,” I answer, glancing around at the seven other students in the room who are all staring like I have a glowing neon sign around my neck that says ‘new girl’.
“I am Miss Glone, come with me,” the teacher says with a little yawn, nodding her head towards the aisle between the desks. I quickly walk over and follow her until she gets four desks down, placing a text book and a few pieces of paperwork on the desk. “This is your desk for the year. I need you to fill out these forms, so I can get a good idea of where you are and what we need to catch you up on.”
“Thank you,” I say, pulling the chair out and briefly noticing how everyone in the room is whispering and sneaking stares at me as I take my bag off. I slide my bag under the table before sitting down.
“I read that you have been out of school for a while, but I am confident we can get you up to speed. If not, we have tutors I can find to help,” she says and walks back to the front of the class. I start reading the first paper in front of me just as the door opens, and I look up, watching as Maxx walks into the room. He pushes the door shut, and the room goes eerily silent. I glance away from him to see Miss Glone is sitting at her desk, tapping a tablet, and the other students are watching Maxx like he is inches away from attacking them or they are inches away from jumping on him. Desire or fear, that’s what Maxx seems to inspire. I look back at Maxx as he walks down the aisle, briefly pausing when he sees me.
“Hey,” I say, which only seems to make him more annoyed as he sits down at the desk next to mine. “Whatever,” I mutter to myself and go back to reading the paperwork. I pull my chair back and get my bag, opening it to pull out my pencil case. I leave the blue, star-covered pencil case on the side as I kick my bag back and spot Maxx staring at me. When I follow his gaze, I notice that he is actually looking at the pencil case like it is a great mystery. The hot neighbor is weird.
“Morning class. Today we have a new student, Aura Scott. Please, can everyone say hello and make sure she feels welcome?” Miss Glone asks and the students all mutter hellos, except for Maxx. “Please continue on with your case study with your partners. If you need advice or help, I will be here.” The class quickly gets to moving around next to their study partners, and I notice that Maxx doesn’t have one. He only pulls a text book out and starts reading. I quickly fill in all the paperwork I have been given, which is a pretty basic test, and I take it up to the teacher.
“Thank you, Miss Scott. Please start reading the textbook while I go over this and see what we should do,” Miss Glone instructs. I make my way back to my desk and sit down, noticing a little white folded note on top of my textbook. I open it up, reading the scribble inside:
“Go back to wherever you came from before someone gets hurt.”
I jump when the nasty note is ripped out of my hands, and I look up to see Maxx crumpling it into a ball. He rapidly throws it at the back of the guy’s head who is sat right in front of me. I lean back when Maxx places his hands on my desk as the guy rubs his head and turns around.
“Stay the fuck away from her, you got it? I don’t like these jokes, and trust me you don’t want me playing games with you,” Maxx demands. The poor guy looks ready to pee himself as he nods rapidly with bright red cheeks and turns around. Maxx smoothly moves away, and I go to place my hand on his arm to stop him going so I can thank him, but he jumps away from me like my hand would burn him or something. When I glance up at him, he looks so angry that I’m not sure whether I should speak or not.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—” I stop, not really understanding why he reacted so badly to me trying to touch him, and clear my throat. “Well, I wanted to say thanks.”
“It was nothing,” Maxx states nonchalantly, sliding back into his seat and carrying on with his work. Yep, he is weird. I keep reading the textbook, skipping most of it because it’s all too basic and I learnt this already. I occasionally look around and notice how none of the students are even looking my way anymore. Miss Glone gets up off her desk chair and walks over to me, stopping next to my desk and placing my papers down.
“Miss Scott, I am very impressed with your answers. I don’t think there has been a student who got the entire test correct since Mr. Faraway over here,” she says, and Maxx looks up at the sound of his name.
“She got the entire paper, right?” Maxx asks, making me sound like I’m a piece of dirt, and I pray the burning tears in my eyes don’t fall.
“She? My name is Aura,” I snap.
“I know,” he responds, a smug look on his face as I glare at him.
“Miss Scott did indeed get the entire paper correct, and not only that, she added notes on easier ways to correct the problems,” Miss Glone answers, flashing me a pleased look.
“Good for her,” Maxx says, though his voice is laced with so much sarcasm that I can’t believe a word of it, nor would anyone else.
“Well this is just brilliant for you, Miss Scott. Mr. Faraway hasn’t got a partner for the case study because he needed someone that can keep up with him. Now I believe he has found that someone,” Miss Glone states, and Maxx groans loudly.
“I don’t want to work with her,” he growls out.
“You do not have a choice Mr. Faraway, and I believe Miss Scott could not only keep up with you, but challenge you as well,” she says, and starts to walk away, but pauses to look back. “I am being clear that you will fail the entire year if you do not make an effort to work with Miss Scott.”
“Got it,” Maxx all but growls out and leans back in his seat just as the school bell rings. I gather up my things and go to ask Maxx for some insight into the case study, but he is walking out the room, and he slams the door shut behind him. This is not the best start to the day.
I make sure I have all my things before pushing my chair in and noticing that Maxx has left a piece of paper on the table. I pick it up, quickly reading the equations and problems written all over it and knowing I need to give him this. It’s a lot of work, and pretty good by the looks of it. I put it into my bag before leaving the room and going out into the busy corridor. I spot Landon just as he runs down the corridor towards me.
“So, how was your first class?” he asks.
“Not bad. I mean other than having been made partners with your brother on a case study,” I admit.
“Ah, shit,” Landon mutters, and throws an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t worry. Maxx is all growl with no bite.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” I say with a little laugh.
