Zeke White

What was wrong with him? Why did he say that? He repeated these questions over and over again in his head as he walked back to his apartment. It was an immensely long walk, but Zeke didn't feel like taking a cab. He had bad memories associated with taxis, and he was trying to forget his past.

Zeke was about twenty minutes away from his apartment when he came across a silent alley. Not a single car or person in sight. Zeke sped up his pace. He didn't know what would happen if he- "Freeze!" a man's voice said to him. Zeke sighed. He needed to forget his past, but his past wouldn't leave him alone.

Zeke slowly turned around, and came face to face with three guys, whose faces were all covered up with masks and hoodies. The guy in the middle was holding a gun up to Zeke's heart. "Empty your pockets," the guy said in a gruff voice. For a slight moment, Zeke actually considered doing what the guy had just ordered him to do. He was trying to forget his past, and surrendering now would really mean he was an ordinary New Yorker who had been unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Now!" the guy with the gun yelled. Zeke started emptying out his pockets, when the guy spat in his face. Zeke froze. If there was one thing Zeke hated most of all, it was disrespect.

Without a word, Zeke wiped the saliva off of his face with the back of his hand. Then, he stared at the mugger. Zeke's eyes saw the guy pull the trigger. But the bullet never found its target.

Zeke leaned to the side. As the bullet whooshed past him, missing his arm by a milimeter, Zeke grabbed the point of the gun, twisted it around his head, and jerked forward, making the mugger lose his balance and let go of the gun. Without even a second of hesitation, Zeke pulled the trigger on the mugger. Then he pointed the gun to the other two thieves. One of them dropped his knife onto the ground with a yelp, and immediately fell to his knees in surrender. The other guy ran away without a second glance.

Zeke pointed his gun and took aim. The bullet found its mark on the head of the guy who had been running. He then dropped the gun, and kicked the dead guy who had spat on him for good measure, and walked away, leaving behind a bewildered and very much alive, whimpering thug on his knees.

The next day, Zeke walked into the New York's Institution of Modern Art with a bunch of legal papers in hand. He had decided to go with what he had said last night to the girl at the party, because- well, why not? Zeke still had a lot of money left over from his time in LA- it wasn't like he needed to find a job that very minute. Besides, the thing that had happened in the alley last night had proven just how much Zeke needed a distraction in his life.

While on his way to the office to make the transfer into this school complete, Zeke glanced at a nearby mirror. His attire, along with his timeless face, was perfect. No one would suspect that he was a twenty year old guy who had just killed two incredibly stupid thugs last night.

Zeke had gotten fake IDs printed out, but he had kept his name. He was now Zeke White, a seventeen year old teen who had just transferred from the Los Angeles Arts Studio in California. He had taken the required exams and tests to enter NYIMA, and the only thing left to make the transfer complete was the signature and approval of this school's principal.

It was efficient to have nerdy hacker tech friends.

"Well, everything seems to be in order," the principal said. "Just a quick question- I notice your parents aren't here?" she asked. Zeke nodded. "They're in Italy, finishing up with some exhibitions," he replied. "They're signatures are on there, though," he added. The principal nodded since it was an everyday occurrence for the students' parents to be off in some country in Europe. "Okay, then," she said, getting up. "Mr White, you are officially a student of NYIMA," she said, holding out a hand. "Thank you, Mrs Pierce," Zeke said, shaking her hand. "I can't wait to see what an impact this school will have on me."

"Did you see Ryan's story on insta?" "I still can't believe he would-" "I knew it all along, he was and always will be a man whore-"

Charlie just smiled and nodded along as Brooke and her minions continued to trash talk Tyler Thompson on Charlie's behalf. At least two dozen videos had popped up regarding Tyler's mishap from last night, with five of them being remixes of Thompson trying to get up, only to slip on some jello and fall down on the ground again.

"Who'd you say the guy was, Char?" Brooke said, with her eyes glued onto her phone. "A new guy. I think he said his name was Zeke?" Charlie replied. Brooke nodded. "God, I wish some people could have gotten newbie's face on camera. The only two videos that have a decent shot of your mystery guy has his face hidden in the shadows."

"He's not 'my' mystery guy," Charlie said. Ignoring her, Brooke shoved her phone into Charlie's face. "Really? Then what's that about?"

Blinking the bright lights out of her eye, Charlie took Brooke's phone and looked at it. There were at least twenty comments going on about 'the mysterious hero who had come to Charlie's rescue'. Charlie rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" she said, handing the phone back to Brooke.

"Oh my god," said Rachel, one of the other minions. "Who is- is that him? Your mystery guy?" she asked, gaping at the door across the hallway. Charlie turned around. "Yeah, that's him," she replied, glancing at the guy wearing a black hoodie.

"Wha- Charlie!" Brooke whisper yelled, yanking Charlie's hair towards her. "What?" Charlie complained, massaging her stinging scalp. "You didn't tell me the mystery guy was so hot!"

Charlie rolled her eyes again. "Fine, I guess he's a little hot." "A little?" Rachel said, staring at Charlie as if she were the stupidest person in the world. "Char, that guy is hands down gorgeous!"

"Whatever, guys, I'm going to class," Charlie said, getting up and picking up her things. Charlie liked Brooke, but more times than not, that diva girl's squeals really got to her.

Charlie walked into her literature class, and walked over to her usual seat at the very front, only to find the seat occupied.

"Hey," Charlie said, staring at Zeke. "Hey, you," he said. "What did you say your name was again?" he asked. "I didn't- It's Charlotte, but everybody calls me Charlie." "Right," he said, nodding. "Yeah, you're kind of in my seat, so-" Charlie began. Zeke raised his eyebrows. "I wasn't aware that the seats were assigned specifically," he said in a rude tone. Charlie wondered why he was being so rude when she realized she had been the one who had been acting all spoiled in the first place. She shook her head. "They aren't," she said, telling herself to stop being so stuck up. "I'm sorry," she said, sitting down in the seat next to him. "I guess I'm just used to having things handed to me at school," she said. Why couldn't she shut up? And why were they the only ones in the classroom? Couldn't anybody else afford to be early?

Apparently not. So, for the next very long five minutes, Charlie just stared at her textbook and tried to ignore the awkward silence in the room.

First period came and went. Charlie didn't have any more classes with Zeke White after that. Charlie walked into the cafeteria for lunch, already having forgotten about the uncomfortable silence she had shared with the new guy. Brooke and her minions were sitting at the best table in the entire school as usual, of course. Last year, Brooke's parents had paid the school for a huge interior redo, and now, the tables were made of polished cherry wood, and the chairs surrounding it were all made of plush velvet lined seats.

"Charlie, there you are!" Brooke said, signaling for Charlie to come sit next to her. Ignoring the looks of pure jealousy from the other minions, Charlie sat down. "Look who decided to pop back in from Paris," Brooke said, pointing at the girl sitting on the other side of her. "Ellie," Charlie said with a smile. Finally, a person she could actually stand being around.

"And I brought gifts," Ellie said, throwing up a bunch of shopping bags onto the table. "Take whatever," she said as the girls began grappling at the thousands of dollars' worth of junk inside the bags.

After ten minutes of wrestling for the bags, Charlie ended up with a Chanel designer bag, a bunch of expensive French pastries, and- "What's this?" Charlie asked Ellie, holding up a not so pretty butterfly brooch. "Careful with that one," Ellie said, grinning. She pinched the butterfly's top wing with her two fingers, and pulled it away, revealing- "Is that a blade?" Charlie said in disbelief. Ellie nodded. "My brother thought it would be funny to buy it as a joke. You can keep it if you want," Ellie replied.

Shrugging, Charlie pocketed the brooch. Better to have it than not.

After having their meal of freshly delivered goods from the hotel two blocks away, Charlie and Ellie walked towards Music together. The two girls were laughing at a new video of Tyler that had been posted a few minutes ago, when Ellie stopped talking abruptly and stared into the classroom. "What's wrong?" Charlie said, with traces of laughter still left on her face. Then Charlie frowned. "No, seriously, Elle, what's wrong?" she asked. Ellie's face was frozen in fear and shock. She was staring at something in the room.

Charlie turned around. There was nothing scary in the Music room- the entire classroom was empty except for Zeke, who was flipping through his music textbook. He looked up, and frowned. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Charlie stared at Ellie. She had broken out of her trance, and was muttering, "You- y- you-" "Me. Yeah, I'm new here," Zeke said, waving a hand. Charlie turned to look at Ellie, confused as to why she was freaking out, when she realized- Ellie was gone.

Charlie stared out into the hallway. She managed to catch the sight of Ellie disappearing into the corner of the hall. "Ellie!" Charlie yelled, beginning to chase after her but then giving up. What was going on with Ellie today?

"I'm sorry- did I do something wrong?" Zeke said in a tone totally different from first period. Instead of sounding rude, he sounded sincerely concerned for Ellie. "Yeah, it's just- she's weird when it comes to new people," Charlie lied, frowning.

The class ended, and Elle didn't show up at all. As soon as the bell rang, Charlie jumped out of her seat, and was about to go looking for her again, when Zeke came over to her. "Maybe we both gave each other some bad first impressions earlier today," he said to Charlie in an almost nervous tone. "You think maybe you and your friend could join me for some coffee after school? You know, to clear up the weird misunderstandings?"

Charlie stared at him. Was he being serious? He didn't look like he was joking. "Yeah, sure, I'll tell her that once I find her," Charlie said, quickly walking away before things got any weirder.

Unfortunately, Charlie never did get a chance to locate Ellie, because the bell for the next period just rang. Charlie walked into History, and sat at the back of the classroom, not only surprising her teacher but herself as well. "Charlie? What're you doing here?" Brooke said, her eyes still glued onto her phone.

Charlie told Brooke everything that had just happened in Music. Brooke frowned. "I knew that there was something up about that Zeke kid," she said, causing Charlie to roll her eyes. "Yeah, and who was it that was rambling on about his hot looks today morning?" Charlie demanded. Now it was Brooke who was rolling her eyes. "Normally, I would agree with you, Char. But this is Ellie we're talking about. The Ellie who trusts absolutely everybody. If she feels uncomfortable around the new kid, we should too."

Charlie frowned. What Brooke was saying actually made a lot of sense. Charlie was wondering whether or not to cancel the plans she had made for Ellie with Zeke, when the history teacher entered the room, and class started.

School, along with cheerleading practice, had ended, and Charlie had just spend the past five minutes sending a dozen voice messages to Ellie. "Hey," Zeke said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "Crap, White!" Charlie yelped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," he said, shrugging. "So, where's your friend?" he asked. Charlie glanced at the new message on her phone. "She's meeting us there," she replied. "Let me just change out of my cheerleading outfit real quick. I guess I'll meet you in the parking lot?" Charlie said, and Zeke nodded.

Charlie walked into the locker room, and got inside an empty stall, after placing her phone near her other stuff. Charlie changed, and was about to walk out, when she realized- the door was jammed. Charlie yanked on the door one more time, but again, it didn't open. "The hell-" Charlie grumbled, pounding on the door. "Hey!" she yelled, though it was pretty obvious nobody would be able to hear her. Practice had ended nearly half an hour ago; nobody was still going to be around.

Charlie cursed herself for not bringing her phone inside with her. "Somebody get me out!" she said, trying to shake the door open. Then she heard her phone vibrating, just a few feet away from her stall. Five rings later, she heard Brooke's voice- "Charlie? Where are you? New boy's asking if you went home," the voicemail said.

"Dammit!" Charlie yelled, slapping the door one more time for good measure. Now she was going to have to wait at least another hour before the janitor showed up and got her out of the stall. She really hoped Zeke didn't think she had just left him in the school and had run off with Ellie without him. Although she didn't particularly like the guy, she wasn't comfortable with the idea of someone feeling like they had gotten stood up because of her.

Sighing, Charlie sat down on the floor and waited for somebody to find her.