Chapter 1 NERD
“Rosaline Arlene Winnefred!” Layla, the Queen Bee AKA the school’s bitch, snarled out mockingly as I opened my locker. Her obnoxiously high pitched voice pierced through my ears.
Layla Cleo Star was the most popular girl in school. She was completely gorgeous with her chocolate brown eyes, dark hair, and perfectly tanned skin. You could say she was the most beautiful girl you had ever laid eyes on, and I would have to completely agree with you. Physically, she was perfect. However, her personality was opposite.
Apparently, if you got on her good side, she could be one of the sweetest people ever.
Somehow I managed to get on her bad side. Don’t ask me how. The moment she heard my name, she hated me. Her half smirk which had potential to turn into a smile, turned into a scowl instead.
Since that day? I was doomed.
She made it her mission to make my life a living hell, and succeeded.
Her favorite hobbies seemed to be: making me suffer, gossiping, and cheerleading- oh and did I mention? Making me suffer.
My best friend Jaxon claimed he believed she preyed on the weakest just for the thrill of domination. But personally, I had no idea why.
The cheerleaders around her giggled at the scene before them as she stood in proudly in the middle.
She faked a gasp, “has the nerd gone mute?”
According to everyone, I was the typical nerd. Braces, glasses, unfashionable clothes, good grades, and being painfully shy made my reputation the way it was.
The person who forced me into getting braces was my step mother, Cleo. Cleo wasn’t the type of step mother someone would want. She wasn’t physically abusive, but her harsh words were quite cruel and could destroy someone’s confident in a blink of an eye.
She was a child psychologist, and worked part time for the local newspaper; writing articles about ‘Raising Your Child Right!’ I was her ongoing social experiment. She gave me zero tips on being confident, made me go shopping at all the wrong places, and convinced me to wear glasses just for the purpose of protecting my ‘sclera’. Of course, I only wore my glasses when I knew there were risks nearby.
Since she married my father, she seemed to take me under her wing, and transformed me into an utter geek, just for experimentation. I had a feeling that she too, wanted to see me suffer.
As part of the usual routine, I decided to ignore Layla. I grabbed my books from my locker before shutting it as softly as I could, not wanting her to react more negatively. I spun the lock twice to make sure it was fully locked, so I wouldn’t get any more nasty surprises from any of my tormentors. When I looked up, I saw them all smirking at me like they knew something I didn’t. I tried to step around them, but they all blocked my path.
“You think you can ignore me?” Layla questioned daringly. Her presence was stressing me out. I knew it was best if I stayed quiet and let her do all the talking.
“You can’t ignore me no matter what! No one ignores me! If you don’t want to have any trouble for the rest of the year, I suggest you start respecting people who are better than you.”
‘As if that would make a difference.’
I bit my lip nervously, avoiding eye contact. Glancing down and my watch, I knew I was going to be late if I didn’t get to my next class within the next minute. We only had 3 minutes for hall passing time.
“Now I suggest you apologize!” she said, holding her head up high.
I sighed. “Sorry.”
She scrunched up her face. “You call that an apology?!”
I looked up at her. I already apologized, what else could she want?
“Don’t look at me like I’m nuts!” Her frustrated face was bright red.
Someone cleared their throat impatiently behind the cheerleaders. I tensed when I saw who it was. It was Axel. He was standing right behind Layla, and his face was filled with pure annoyance. Layla stood there, staring up at him like she was hypnotized. He pushed straight passed her and started walking my way.
Once Layla realized what was going on, she fixed her cheer skirt and batted her eyelashes sweetly in his direction, but he didn’t even glance back. The only guy who refused to look at her for that matter.
I looked down at the floor the moment he walked passed me. The feeling was uncontrollable. I felt a whole zoo in my stomach. My heart was pounding so hard against my chest, I felt like I was going it was going to fly out of my chest any moment. I looked up at his back when was a few feet away. And as he walked down the hall and out of sight, I felt utterly shattered.
There was no hope for a girl like me.
Axel Storm Spencer, known as the school’s ‘bad boy’ that everyone feared. On the popularity pyramid, he was the only one who stood above Layla. He wasn’t your typical bad boy; there was something special. He didn’t seem to have any friends, or at least from what I knew. He was sharper than a needle, but he didn’t participate at school. The only way he passed school was through his exams. He could be scary, but he had his sweet moments where he would stare out into space, deep in thought.
His personality was absolutely fascinating.
I had gotten my hands on a couple of essays he had written on different pieces of literature, and his interpretations were beyond creative, and were written with a sense of defiance. The interpretations themselves were pieces of art to me. He was a puzzle I strived to solve, as I admired him from afar. As if his intelligence wasn’t enough, he looked like a Greek God to me. His perfect blonde hair was the shade of sand, giving a sense of optimism, his eyes were emerald green, hypnotizing me from afar, and his body was muscular, highlighting how fit he was.
Axel was perfect. At least he was to me. So perfect, he was untouchable.
My crush began in middle school. It would sound cliché if I said it was love at first sight, but it was true. He had gotten in a fight with some 8th graders while we were in 6th grade, and his face was coated in blood.
Peculiar? Definitely.
I strived for the freedom he had.
I would dress a little more girly just for him to notice me, (from the terrible selection Cleo gave me), I would get more beauty sleep to look prettier, I tried expressing myself more in front of him, but of course, he never did notice me.
I was a nerd, he was bad.
I was soft, he was tough.
I was quiet, he was loud.
I held my tongue, he said anything he wanted to.
There was no way we would’ve worked.
Opposites never seemed to attract in my world.
“Quit day dreaming.” Layla huffed from behind me. “You’re everything he doesn’t want in a girl.”
I felt as if someone took a piece of shattered glass and stabbed it straight into my chest. Layla seemed to know what nerve to hit every single time. I turned to face her. She had a knowing smirk on her face. He was my secret, and the last person I wanted to know was her.
I decided to play dumb. “Who?”
She rolled her eyes in annoyance.
“She’s so stupid.” One of the cheerleaders said.
“I know!” Another one replied.
“She doesn’t even understand English!” another one commented.
“Totally!” Another agreed.
The bell suddenly rang. I felt myself start to shake. I was already late to class.
“Look who’s late to class!” Layla sang.
“She’s so scared, she’s shaking!” Another cheerleader laughed.
“Never had a tardy before, Little Miss Nerdy?” Layla snarled.
They parted a way for me so I could get to class. I sprinted forward and tripped on someone’s foot. All my books and papers scattered all over the floor.
“Oops!” Layla giggled.
I collected my assignments from the ground quickly before rushing to class. After a few minutes of sprinting like a mad man, I finally reached my class. I entered the room panting heavily like I was just running from a bunch of thugs.
“Miss Winnefred!” Mrs. Meisty, my History teacher called out while adjusting her spectacles.
“I am so sorry-”
“Tardy!” She interrupted me. “You’re lucky this is your first tardy otherwise you’d get a 15 minute after school. Grab a tardy pass and get to your assigned seat.”
I sighed in relief, relieved I didn’t get a detention. “Yes ma’am.” I knew better than not to obey her orders. She was one teacher who gave out detention slips faster than you could say the word ‘shit’. I rushed to my assigned seat. Right when I was about to reach my seat, I tripped on someone’s foot and fell flat on my face.
The whole class erupted into laughter.
I looked up to find Matt McCartney grinning evilly at me. Matt McCartney was that typical school football player. He was Layla’s best friend and had joined her in her mission to make my life a living hell. “Nerd,” he snickered.
“Dork,” someone else said.
“Ugly dork.” Another person corrected.
“Shut up!” Mrs. Meisty hissed at everyone. I got up and picked up all my books. “And Rosaline.”
“Yes ma’am?” I asked politely.
“Try not to die before we start class.”
With that, the class erupted into laughter again. She didn’t stop the class from laughing this time. Instead, she went to her computer and started setting stuff up for our lesson. I frowned at every single person laughing at me.
I ducked my head down low and slumped into my seat. The humiliation seemed to increase for me every single day. Last week didn’t seem this bad. The comment about being ugly seemed to get to me quick.
I knew I wasn’t the prettiest girl, but I couldn’t have been that ugly, right? Pale skin, dull blue eyes, and blonde hair. I was nothing compared to Layla look wise, but personality wise, I knew I could beat her by a long shot.
~*~
“You’re beautiful and everyone knows that.” One of my best friends Kasay attempted to cheer me up.
Kasay was one of those punk type girls. Everything in her wardrobe was black. She had ear length jet black hair that reminded me of Snow White’s hair. She was pale and had over 3 pounds of eyeshadow on every day. She never left her bedroom without makeup on.
Her grey eyes were eerily hollow and she had piercings on different parts of her body except on her lips and tongue. ‘The best kissers don’t have them.’ She once said high on cannabis.
She also had quite a reputation with the guys. Most of the guys at school called her the ‘Blow Queen’ or ‘Freebie’. She may have slept around a bit too much, but she was still a good person at heart. I knew she used to be involved in drugs since she didn’t have the best friends, but when we met each other, we seemed to click. We were both outsiders.
Jaxon sat down at our small lunch table with his lunch tray. Jaxon Kent Smith was my best friend, bff, other half, etc. The first time we met each other, we were in diapers. With him too, we clicked right away.
“Do you need me to kick some ass for you?” He asked, brushing some of his flaming red hair out of his hazel eyes.
Jaxon wasn’t a jock, nor a nerd, but he was a drama king. He was in the drama club and had played the main character in every single play since freshman year. He could memorize lines in a blink of an eye, and that was one of the main reasons why I never played ‘Memory Game’ with him.
We shared everything with each other: secrets, food, time, and our small crushes on different people. The only thing I didn’t share with him was my little crush on Axel, since he hated Axel’s guts.
“You wouldn’t hurt a girl, yet alone a fly.” I chuckled before taking a bite out of my burger. I scrunched up my face at the taste of the burger. I was sure it tasted worse than dog shit. Jaxon suddenly snatched the burger away from me and took a big bite out of it.
“Hey!” I protested.
“What?!” He asked as he shoved the rest of my burger in his mouth.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m pointing about!”
He threw both his hands into the air. “You didn’t like it anyway!” he attempted to defend himself. “I got rid of it for you.”
I knew what he said was utterly true, but I enjoyed bickering with him just for the heck of it. I glanced at Kasay through the corner of my eye. She was watching us like she was watching a comedy. She started laughing, which earned her a death glare from me, but of course she couldn’t care less. I turned back to Jaxon and watched him finish the rest of my food for me.
I snatched the strawberry milk from his tray and started guzzling the cold milky liquid down. “Hey!” he protested.
“What?!” I threw both my hands in the air. “You weren’t going to drink it anyway!”
He just glared at me before shaking his head. Kasay just sat there watching us amusingly. It wasn’t long before we all started laughing. Just then, everything went silent. It was so silent that if someone dropped a pin, you’d hear it hit the floor.
I turned to where everyone was staring. Axel had walked into the cafeteria. His perfect blonde hair was covering his emerald green eyes, so he brushed it out of his eyes. All eyes were on him and he knew it. He seemed so smug about the attention.
He ignored everyone and walked straight to the lunch line. I felt my heart pound against my chest as butterflies filled my stomach. He was too perfect. Everything from his posture down to the way he could ignore everyone. If I had all eyes on me like that, I would’ve started shaking.
Kasay nudged me in the ribs trying to get me to look at him since she hadn’t noticed I was already staring. Kasay viewed Axel as the finest piece of steak in the school, but Jaxon had a different opinion about him. To Jaxon, Axel was a selfish jackass. Jaxon hated the guy.
I didn’t even know why he hated him. I had tried asking him plenty of times, but every time I received the same answers. His replies were ‘It’s complicated’, ‘It’s a long story’, or ‘I’m not in the mood to talk about it.’
“Douche,” Jaxon glared hard at Axel as he popped a fresh mint into his mouth.
“Why do you hate him so much?”
“It’s a long story.” He replied.
“I’ve got time.” I pressed further.
He turned to me with a blank expression. “I’m not in the mood, Rosie.”
I knew he was just making up excuses to avoid the touchy subject again. I decided not to press further since Axel was standing only a few feet away from our table. I knew he’d never give in and tell me. I suddenly felt the urge to talk to Axel.
Before I knew it, I was walking straight to the lunch line. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I couldn’t stop now. My feet carried me to the spot right behind him. I felt myself start to panic. My palms started sweating and my heart pounded crazily against my chest.
I heard someone call my name, but I didn’t know what to do. I was frozen in my spot. What if I tried talking to him and he blew me off? I was just another nerd after all. I was as attractive as a drooling llama, so why would he ever want to talk to me?
I bit my lip nervously. I didn’t have a clue what to do and all I could seem to hear was the pounding of my heart through my ears. How was I supposed to know what to do when the hottest guy on earth was standing right in front of me with his back to me?
I stared at his perfect broad shoulders and the way his perfect blonde hair seemed to glow in the sunlight shining in from outside.
Maybe I should’ve said hi.
Maybe I should’ve made myself look good.
Maybe I should’ve cleaned up better.
Maybe I should’ve changed my reputation.
Maybe I should’ve made sure prepared myself better.
But no, I couldn’t wait to just be near him.
And I hated myself for that.
What if he thought I was just another horny teenage girl looking for some fun? My mind was screaming for me to run, but my heart was yelling for me to take a chance and talk to him. A chance like this came once in a lifetime.
The line moved forward. I took a step forward, following him. He was next in line to get his lunch. I bit my lip harder until I drew blood.
A decision that could change my life…