Chapter 6

Shawn

I was born and brought up in the states. I am an only child to my parents Mr. Hart, Benjamin and Mrs. Hart, Mae. So it goes without saying that I am the most pampered child. I had the best of everything here. But due to unforeseen circumstances in the business, dad had to move his base to a town in the middle of nowhere which is not even known to common people. I tend to keep forgetting the name too. It's not like I have never been there before. I have been there three to four times before during vacations at my cousin Balfer’s place. He was someone I was quite close to. We were of the same age and our parents never distinguished between us. I was relieved thinking at least I won't be alone at a new place all by myself.

We packed and moved to the new place and everything went too fast to take a rest during the past two days. Thanks to Balfer’s father, my uncle, dad could get a place next to their house in a very considerable amount with the help of a lawyer in this town. We were invited to my cousin’s place for dinner by Aunt Grace and Uncle Frank. We chit-chatted a lot over dinner. Dad and Uncle Frank mostly telling us stories about their childhood days. Post dinner mom and dad went back home and I stayed back with Balfer as we decided we would go to school together tomorrow from here. I had brought all my books and uniform to get ready and go to school in the morning.

“So, the school is good, just stay away from Hope,” said Balfer but I did not understand what he meant. “Are you asking me to be hopeless?” I asked. He started laughing like a maniac and replied “No I didn't mean like that.”

“Care to elaborate?” I asked

“What I meant was, there is this girl named Hope. She is the Mayor’s daughter and a completely selfish prick. She was my girlfriend and a very possessive one. She wanted me to be her puppet which I never agreed to so we had many arguments and ended up deciding it's better to not be together and so we broke up.”

“Oh! Got it, stay away from your crazy ex-girlfriend.”

“And her two best friends aka her devout followers,” said Balfer.

“Doesn't this sound like a teen movie? A mean girl having followers and being a selfish prick?” I thought out loud to which he just laughed.

“Yeah right. But she wasn't like that you know. She was the sweetest girl I had known and she was friends with 4 other girls who were equally sweet. I was head over heels for that Hope. But then something happened between them and Hope just stopped being friends with them and got two new best friends instead. Post that she became selfish and that is when we got into a relationship. But then I realized she was not the same person who I was in love with.”

“OK. And what happened to the other four?” I asked

“They are still together and friends. Best of friends. They are nowhere close to being how Hope is. But they hate me. Even they would be in our class. You will meet them tomorrow.”

“So why do they hate you?” I inquired.

“Because I am a playboy and kind of hooks up with every other girl who makes themselves fall over me. Which is something I started doing out of rage against Hope but then ended up enjoying.”

“You are a playboy at school? You have hooked up with many girls? I asked bewildered.

“Yes and Yes and that is it. Enough with the questions and let's sleep. Need to wake up early tomorrow. Good Night.”

“Good Night Balfer”

And soon we fell asleep. I woke up to the blazing sound of the alarm going off. I started getting ready that is when Aunt Grace came into the room and dragged Balfer out of bed and pushed him inside the bathroom for a bath. She looked and me and gave a smile along with a “Good Morning.” I replied back with “Good Morning Aunt Grace and continued with my routine” By the time Balfer came out I was all ready and went out to the living room and saw the breakfast was already placed on the table. I learned that Uncle Frank already left for his office. Balfer came downstairs and had his breakfast in a hurry and we rushed outside to his car as we were kind of getting late. As we reached the school just in time we got out of the car, Balfer guided me to the admin office for all the documentation which I was required to do and he went straight to the class. On my way to the office, my attention was caught by a girl who looked kind of shy and scared near the locker room along with her friends I assumed. I met Mrs. Briggs and got to know she was my class coordinator. Post completing my documentation I was led to class by Mrs. Briggs. I heard the bell go off indicating the beginning of the lecture. I followed Mrs. Briggs to the class and immediately saw the girl I earlier saw near the locker and was kind of happy which I did not know the reason why. As soon as I saw her I immediately turned to face Mrs. Briggs as I noticed her turning towards the class to speak something.

“Class, we have a new transfer student with us.” She turned towards me with a smile on her face and said “Please introduce yourself to your classmates.”

I got a little embarrassed thinking about talking in front of the whole class while all their attention was on me so I rubbed the back of my neck involuntarily and nodded. As soon as I smiled I could hear few girls saying “aww” which reminded me of the conversation I had last night with Balfer about him being a playboy here. I stood straight and waved saying “ Hello Everyone! My name is Shawn Hart. I just got transferred here. I was born and brought up in the states but moved here as my father got transferred here for his business. I hope to make good friends and no enemies” with that I smiled and my attention straight away went to the same girl at the back and saw her looking at me. I think I was mesmerized by her. And it looked like she was completely lost looking at me. ‘Interesting!’ I thought. Mrs. Briggs started talking. “I am sure you will make many good friends here. As for the seating arrangement, you can go and sit with Raylynn at the back. She will also help you in case you need any help around here at school.” She turned to face her and said “Raylynn can you please raise your hand.” She abruptly stood up raising her hand and said “ Yes Mrs. Briggs?” She looked around and sat back in the seat at the same speed she stood up. ‘Again, Interesting!’ I thought. I guess she was embarrassed when she noticed everyone looking at her and I saw the girl sitting in front of her looking at her and Raylynn just shook her head at her and started looking down. I walked towards the designated seat studying her head to toe. I noticed she had long hairs till her waist which was a shade of brown. She had a good figure and a thin waist. She had chubby cheeks and luscious red lips which glittered because of the gloss she had applied. She had a little crooked front tooth which was visible when she smiled and looked very cute. I noticed she was not that tall as compared to my height. Even near the locker, I saw she was quite tiny. Maybe around 153 cms. The most fascinating and hypnotizing feature of her face was her blue eyes. She had blue cat eyes which were accentuated by eyeliners. I felt as I could just look into her eyes and be lost in it the whole time without caring about the world. I was brought back to reality when I saw her scooting over to her right to make some space for me to sit. I immediately took my seat and put my bag down pulling out my book all the while noticing that she was observing me along with the girl in front of me. So I turned to her smiling and extended my hand saying “Hey, nice to meet you Raylynn.” I think I saw her blushing and thought to myself ‘Interesting!’. She shook my hand and said, “Nice to meet you too Shawn.”

I did not realize that Mrs. Briggs had started roll call which soon ended and she started with her session. It was language class. The whole time I noticed Raylynn looking at me repeatedly and couldn’t stop smiling thinking about it to myself. She was making it very difficult for me to pay attention in class. As soon as the session ended and Mrs. Briggs exited the girl in the front turned around to face me and said “Hi I am Wyola and he is Zenith.” To which I just smiled and replied “Hey, I am Shawn, nice to meet you”

“Nice to meet you too. So when did you move here” She replied

“Oh, we just shifted here three days back. Everything was quite sudden.” I said

“OK. If you need any help around here or with studies, do not hesitate to ask us,” she said

“Sure, will do that” I replied

And with that our second session commenced and soon half the day went by. When it was lunch break I saw Raylynn turning towards me and saying “ Hey, you can join us if you want for the lunch break”

“Oh that would be nice but I already have a cousin in this class so I would be joining him. Unless you want to join us, I would love that” I said but I doubted she would want to join because Balfer said he had that playboy image and I didn't think she would want to spend time with a group like that.

“You have a cousin in this class?” She asked and I nodded not wanting to answer that.

“Who?” She asked looking confused.

“Balfer” I replied.

“Talking about me brother?” He came in front and stood next to Raylynn while looking at me with a smirk. He looked at Raylynn and winked saying “I hope he was not snitching.” I eye-rolled at that and saw both Raylynn, as well as Wyola, had a shocked expression.

Balfer shrugged and said looking at me “let's go to the cafeteria, I am very hungry” I nodded and looked at Raylynn and thought she might not want to be friends with me now or she might think I am just like my cousin. I asked her “are you ok?” She replied “Yes” and was quiet so I just walked out following Balfer to the cafeteria. On our way, Balfer turned around and pulled me next to him by putting his arm around my shoulder and said “Those were Hope’s previous friends I was talking about. The one you are sitting with is Ray, the one sitting ahead of her is V. And I don't know if you noticed where or with whom I sit but the one I am sitting with is Nao and the one sitting ahead of me is Liz. They are good. And by the way, I saw how you were checking Ray out.” He wiggled his eyebrows saying that and winked at me noticing how speechless I was at that remark.

“No, I wasn't checking her out.” I defended myself.

“Oh, you totally were.”

We took a seat in the cafeteria and saw Ray coming with her friends to the cafeteria and sitting at the table next to us.

“And here comes the selfish prick I was talking about,” said Balfer.