Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter 3

Orion High School

Light brown and cream colour, wide rather than tall, with only two extra floors other than the ground floor. This was her school, Orion High. It was the best High School according to her mother, which was why she enrolled in the school. It boasted of a high college acceptance rate, great programs, and extra credits that made sure almost everyone got a chance to apply for college, as long as they had the interest.

The school in itself wasn’t so bad for Roxanne, but she couldn’t say it was the best either. Why? Because Roxanne was a loner to the bone.

The bright sky hovered above Roxanne’s head as she walked into the school compound, distracting her from her earlier reminiscing. There were no teachers to stand by the entrance, unlike in her former school which boasted high disciplinary standards.

She stared across the open field, observing how empty the yard was. Most of the students were already inside the school building, ready for homeroom. If she didn’t want to miss it she had to hurry up.

Once again she picked up her pace as she walked into the school building. Flinging the door wide open without holding back, the sound and sudden momentum of the two sides of the door caused quite the noise, attracting the attention of the students in the hallway.

Their eyes all darted toward Roxanne, something she was trying to avoid. Thankfully, they turned their faces away again, as usual. Roxanne heaved with relief. The last thing she was looking for was attention. She continued walking. Down the path in front of her, passing by many lockers and people who glanced over at her, stared for a while and quickly looked away, walking off without talking to her.

“Perfect,” She whispered to herself.

At this point, she needed some sleep and quiet, so throughout the day she would just keep her head down and try not to draw any attention to herself, though from the way things were going, she didn’t need to try so hard.

“Roxyyyyyy!!!” A voice called for her

As Roxanne heard the voice her heart jumped as she slowly turned behind her to see the person who yelled after her so loudly. There was only one person in all of Orion who called her by that name, her best friend… Rather, her only friend, Betty.

The petite girl ran toward her, waving enthusiastically in Roxanne’s direction as she smiled. Roxanne pretended like she didn’t hear anything and immediately faced forward and continued walking straight for homeroom.

“This girl…” Roxanne muttered to herself.

The girl, Betty, Roxanne’s only friend in Orion, Betty was someone who didn’t care about keeping a low profile. She was loud, energetic and very talkative. For some reason, she picked an interest in Roxanne, of all things and ever since that moment, she always stuck with her like glue, until school did them apart.

“I’ve been looking all over the place for you! You are so late. Anything the matter?” She said, quickly catching up to Roxanne’s heaving heavily, using her two hands to support her body as she bent over to catch her breath.

Roxanne, who was now in front of her locker in order to quickly grab her stuff before homeroom, was more concerned about the bells which would ring at any moment.

Roxanne looked at the short girl as she breathed heavily and couldn’t understand why she kept doing this to herself. Other students kept their eyes fixated on Roxanne, though they acted like they weren’t. This treatment was something she brought on herself, though it was beginning to bother her.

When she first arrived at Orion High School, she instantly became the school belle. Thanks to her beautiful face, clear skin, and well rounded figure, no one could take their eyes off her. As she took the school by storm, sweeping both boys and girls off their feet, she was surrounded by a multitude of company, and they were such bothers.

Since her father just died back then, she was not In the right mood to talk to anyone or form bonds that would eventually break. Even though she received a lot of attention from everyone; Her classmates, students of higher grades… Even teachers. She didn’t respond well to their gestures and slowly, yet certainly… The crowd around her started becoming lesser. She was still very popular, a hot topic among everyone. But now for a different reason.

“She’s so cold”

“Just because she’s a little good looking”

“Proud much? Why does she have to such a jerk about everything”

As a rumour beyond her control, soon the whole school viewed her in a different light, causing them to only view her from afar. She was even ostracised among her classmates and designated as an official loner.

“I brought this on myself” She would tell herself.

However, even with her cold and emotionless nature as well as the rumours flying about her, there remained one person who still continued to pester her and talk to her relentlessly.

“Hey Roxy, what are you doing all alone?”

“Hey Roxy, wanna grab lunch?”

“Hey Roxy, Hey Roxy. Hey Roxy.”

Eventually, Roxanne got so used to her presence that she stopped resisting anymore. They officially became friends, and even though Roxanne still tried to maintain her demeanour of a cool and stoic young lady, she couldn’t shake her extrovert friend off. And so they became the weirdest pair of friends.

“Had a rough night. I woke up late this morning” Roxy said.

As she spoke, she used her hands to pack up the book she needed for class.

“Ohh, you couldn’t sleep well? Is that it? Well, I’ve got a brilliant idea. Why don’t you…”

“I’m fine now. Thanks” Roxanne quickly said.

“Ohhh, Hmmn, let me see your face for a sec” Betty said, drawing her face slower to Roxy.

The sudden movement toward Roxanne and their close proximity, caused her to take a step back, feeling Betty was too close.

“Hmmn, well. You don’t seem sick or anything. But, something about you looks different today” She said, using her hand to caress her chin.

“Can't that wait? We’ll be late for class at this rate.” Roxanne said, leaving her locker after packing up what she needed.

She quickly turned her face away from Betty so she wouldn’t see the blue strands of her hair which she had carefully tried to hide, but was still obvious if one paid a much closer look.

“Oh, that’s true…” Betty laughed as they both made their way to the homeroom.

Roxanne picked up the pace and Betty followed behind her, trying her best to catch up.

Homeroom went the same as usual, the only difference was that Roxy barely made it to class on time, nearly costing her perfect record. The teacher came and did his usual routine. When he finished, Roxanne heaved a sigh of relief.

“I made it,” She said to herself.

Classes went on as they always did. However, what stood out in the respective classes were the reminders given to the students by teachers concerning their tests before winter break.

The final bell rang, indicating the end of school for the day. A smile of relief appeared on Roxanne’s face. She had been expecting this. Finally ended as Roxanne sighed leaving the premises.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, causing her abruptly halt her movement to view the caller.

“”

A smile appeared on Roxanne’s stern and cold face, using her finger to quickly answer the phone call.

“Are you coming today?” The caller’s voice sounded.

Her smile widened as she heard those words.

“Of course…” She replied.

“I’m on my way”

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter