Don't Look Back

“Treva…sweetie wake up, you’re gonna be late for school.” My mother whispered sweetly into my ear, gently waking me up as she lightly shook my shoulder. “Come on you don’t want to be late on your first day back.”

I let out a small groan as I removed the blankets that were covering my face. “What time is it?” I asked a little groggily.

“It’s 6:30 so you better hurry. You only have an hour before you have to be at the building. I forgot to register you before we got here so I have to do that as well.”

Yawning slightly, I stretched my arms above my head. “Alright mom. I’ll be ready in about 45 minutes.”

“Ok sweetie.” She said as she leaned down to place a soft kiss onto my forehead, earning a small smile from me. “I have toast and eggs downstairs if you want some breakfast.”

Smiling with gratitude towards her I nodded my head as she got up from my bed. “Breakfast does sound pretty good right about now to tell you the truth. I just have to take a shower and then I’ll be down.”

“Ok. It’ll be another 20 minutes until it’s finished anyway so I’ll just stick into the microwave until you’re finished getting ready.”

“Ok, thanks mom.” I said as she gave a small nod and shut the door behind her. My mom is so awesome sometimes I don’t know how anyone could ever not get along with her. If anything she’s more of a friend to me than a parent but I know to never take advantage of that either. My mother always tells me that if I just give her respect she will do the same with me, and she has so more than she will ever know. If I make mistakes she doesn’t treat me like I’m an idiot but helps me to correct them or if I just ever need someone to talk to she’s always there. Even when she was packed with her job at the firm she always made sure that I was happy first. That’s why I love her so much. She’s always the last person I’d expect to be selfish.

Letting out another small groan I pulled the blankets back that were keeping me warm and I walked over to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from under the sink and discarding my clothes so that I could take a shower. The hot water felt amazing as I let it flow down my back, waking me up so that I could be prepared for the day.

About 10 minutes later I finished rinsing my hair of the conditioner and stepped out onto my purple rug that laid on the floor. The air was cold as my skin traced the temperature change and I immediately got a chill as I wrapped the fluffy towel around my damp shoulders. My wavy brunette hair slightly stuck to my neck so I ran my fingers through it a couple times to slightly undo the tangles. I had gotten it cut about a week ago but it was still fairly long as it ended at about halfway down my back. The only thing that I really prided myself in was my hair to tell you the truth. It was naturally wavy but I straightened it to make it smooth and soft. I always got lots of compliments on it so it’d be interesting to see what people thought of it now as I had added a dark pink shadow in the back, covering up the purple streaks that I had about a month ago. My hair was constantly changing but I always made it look good.

After I brushed my teeth I walked into my room to find some clothes to wear. Considering that it was the first day of school I decided that I would at least try to make a fairly good impression by looking nice. Wrapping the towel tighter around my chest I opened my drawers and pulled out a pair of my favorite skinny jeans. They were slightly ripped in the knee and had a small rugged cut in the thigh but they made my butt look awesome so I dubbed them my favorite pair. I laid them on my bed and went over to my closet to look for a nice shirt to wear with the jeans. Flipping through the shirts that were hanging up on my hangers I finally found the one that I was searching for. It was a plain white t-shirt but it had a v-cut neck and was tight around my chest which helped to accentuate the much needed help in the boob area. I was only a b-cup so I took any kind of ’support’ that I could get. Also grabbing a small black vest that went along with it I laid my clothes on the bed and went to the bottom of my closet to decide on which shoes to wear. I didn’t wear heels often but like I said before it was the first day of school and I wanted to make an impression so I grabbed a black pair of stiletto’s and added them to the now completed outfit. All I had to do know was dry and fix my hair before my mom lost her patience of me being late.

I let my straighter heat up as I turned on the blow dryer, running my fingers through my hair to act as a brush as I ran the heat through it. 10 minutes later my hair was dried and I began the daily ritual of putting up my layers so that I could straighten them one by one. It took forever but after years of doing it I had grown accustomed to the time-consuming chore. I finished about 15 minutes later and got on to the last step of my routine. I didn’t wear a lot of make up, just your basic foundation, eye liner, mascara and eye shadow. I quickly put it on and decided that I would go for a more smoky-eyed look this morning. After I was satisfied with my appearance I raced back into my room to grab my clothes, making a quick glance at the clock to show me that I still had about 5 minutes to get downstairs. Trying not to rush myself too much I grabbed a bra and a pair of underwear and put them on before I slipped on my clothes, my shoes going on after I had buttoned my jeans. I looked into the mirror one final time, using a little bit of hairspray to keep my hair in place and all my little fly away’s down and out of my face.

“Treva are you done yet?!” My mother called up the stairs. I knew that my time was running short now.

“Yeah I’ll be right down!” I yelled back to her and grabbed my black bag which held all my notebooks for school and slipped it on my shoulder, my purse going on after that. I turned off my light and shut my door behind me as I made my way down the stairs, the smell of bacon and eggs wafting up my nose. My mom was an excellent cook.

“Well good morning good-lookin.” She chuckled as I entered the kitchen. “Are you hungry?”

“Starved.” I said as I sat my bags by the door, walking over to the table to pour myself a glass of orange juice.

“Well sit down then. And you’ll have to eat quickly cause we have to leave in about 10 minutes. I sort of lost track of time as I was getting ready this morning.”

I did as I was told and sat down at the table like she asked. She set the plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front of me and I could already feel my mouth began to water. I’ve always been a sucker for bacon, even as a little kid my mom knew that it was my weakness.

She sat down beside me with her own food and we both began to eat.

“So,” she said as she took a small crunch of her toast. “Are you excited for school?”

I shrugged my shoulders slightly as I swallowed the bite of egg that I had taken. “I guess so…Californian kids are a lot different than the ones back in Missouri. They’re not as…hickish.”

She let out a small laugh as she took a sip of her milk. “And thank god too. I don’t think that I could have taken one more day of an accent where the state was called ‘Missoura.’”

“I’ll double you on that one.” I said with a laugh and she clinked her glass against mine in a kind of a toast, laughing with me as well. “It’s good to be back.”

“Cheers.” she said as she took a drink, setting it back down after she had, had her fill.

About 10 minutes later we both had finished eating and I helped her to rinse off some of the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

“It’s fine,” She said after awhile. “I’ll just do the rest after I get back. You’re gonna be late if we don’t leave now.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “It’ll only take a few seconds to finish these.”

“Yes, yes I’m sure.” She said as she playfully pushed me out of the kitchen, leading me towards the door after I had grabbed my bags. “You’re just about as stubborn as your father sometimes you know that?”

Rolling my eyes slightly I headed towards the car. “I am not,” I said as I gave her a small smirk. “I’m worse.”

I heard her let out a small scoff as she got into the car as well, starting the car to warm it up. “Speaking of your father have you called him yet?”

I shook my head as I closed the door behind me. “No, I thought you had.”

“Oh, Well I’ll just give him a call later today then. Let him know that we’re back in town.” she said as she put the car in reverse to back it out of the driveway, then putting it back in drive as she headed down our street and towards the highway.

In case you are confused on my ‘fatherly’ situation, my parents are divorced. They split up when I was about 5, shortly before we moved to Missouri. They still talk to each other, mostly only when it involves me but they don’t hate each other or anything. Just two people who fell out of love with each other I guess. I understood so I’m not bitter. My dad is actually a really cool guy to tell you the truth. He was the one who taught me how to play my first instrument, the drums. He was a jazz drummer for one of his old bands when he was in high school so naturally he would teach me how to play when I was old enough to even hold a drumstick. I had a few small bands myself but the only one that really lasted for awhile was one that I started in around 8th grade. It was my old friends Emily, Shyla and Amber and we were called Venomous Bite . It was an all girl band but we still kicked ass. They were actually the only reasons that I enjoyed living in Missouri. Telling them goodbye was very hard but we promised to keep in touch with each other and I promised to call them everyday that I could. I only wondered who they’d replace me in the band with.

Pulling up into the school parking lot about 10 minutes later, I quickly followed my mother inside the building to which she was running to.

“Mom wait up!” I yelled as I strayed behind her, trying to run as fast as I could in my shoes. Stiletto’s were not meant for jogging. Finally I caught up with her and saw that she was already talking to the lady at the front desk.

“Jeez you think you could have gone any faster?” I said as I caught my breath, sitting down in one of the chairs in the office.

She gave me a small look but just continued to talk to the receptionist. “Yes I need to register Treva Dawn McDonnel, grade 12. I have her records from her previous school right here if you need them.” she said as she handed the old lady my papers from Nixa High School. The lady took them, giving my mom a small smile as she entered my information into the computer.

As I waited I looked around the school, taking in what it looked like and how it compared to my old one. It wasn’t as big as the one in Nixa but it was still really nice. The commons was opened up through the middle of the school, a balcony wrapping around the top where hall ways and lockers could be seen on the walls. If you looked up towards the middle of the cafeteria you could see that the ceiling was made up of a huge dome of glass. I thought it looked really cool as I had never seen a ceiling like that before and certainly not in a high school.

Some kids were still walking around before the bell rang, some of them looked my age but others were a lot smaller so I assumed them to be the freshman. Poor kids. Freshman always have it the hardest during high school. Except for the little preppy freshman kids who thought that they were hot shit now just because they were allowed in. Those were the ones that I didn’t feel sorry for and usually I couldn’t help but chuckle if I saw one being shut down by a junior or senior.

I was still looking around taking everything in and I couldn’t help but notice a group of guys that kept catching my eye. One of them was probably around 6’2 and was wearing…a kimono? Am I seeing things right? I put my hand over my mouth as I tried to stifle a chuckle, seeing as he was now sneaking up behind people and screaming before he could be seen. The other guys that were with him were laughing now too and I started to examine them as well. Another one was the shorter one of the group and had a small black Mohawk, gelled up so that it was perfectly sticking up. He was cute but I was taller than him so I didn’t focus on him as much. The next guy that I noticed had black shaggy hair which hung just a little bit over his shoulders, a gray bandana wrapped around his head and a hat with the word FUNK written across it. He was fairly built and had a lot of muscle…I could see maybe Amber going for him if she were here. He was defiantly her type.

The second to last guy was built as well but he was more pudgy than muscled. He wasn’t fat just…soft looking. Definitely a guy who looked like he liked to cuddle if given the opportunity.
And last but certainly not least was the guy that kept catching my eye the most. He was around 6 feet tall, maybe a few inches shorter than the guy with the kimono. His hair was cut short but he could defiantly pull it off. His muscles were lean but he definitely wasn’t a skinny boy. He was wearing a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and I could notice a few tattoo’s tracing along his tan skin, making me want to trace them with my fingers. He was definitely the most attractive one of the group, well to me anyways.

As I continued to secretly watch them, the bell rang and I was forced out of my daze. They each picked up their bags and slung them over their shoulders as they headed in different directions, going towards their classes.

“Hello?” my mom said as she waved her hand in front of my face. “Anybody home?”

I let out a small chuckle as I turned my neck to face her. “Hmm?”
“Here’s your schedule for your classes, a planner and an id tag.” She said as she handed me the things that I would need. I arched my eyebrow at the id tag.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, holding it up in front of me.

“You’re required to wear those here I guess. They’re making all the kids wear them now in case there’s a shooting or something.”

I rolled my eyes as I lifted my hair so that I could put it around my neck. “Oh yeah cause wearing this is really gonna stop a shooting.”

She shrugged her shoulders, wrapping her arms around me as she pulled me into a hug. “You have fun today ok kiddo? No fighting.” She said as she gave me a small look with that last comment.

I chuckled as I hugged her back. “Alright, alright I promise. I’ll see you after school alright?”

“Are you gonna ride the bus or do you want me to pick you up? Your car is still being transferred here from the old house so it should be here around this weekend.”

“Um…I’ll just ride the bus I guess. It won’t kill me.” I said as I picked my bags back up, putting them on my shoulder.

“Alright sweetie.” She said as she placed a small kiss on my cheek. “I’ll see you later then.”

I let out a small blush as she kissed me, looking around my shoulder to see if anyone had seen her. “Alright mom…bye.”

Turning on her heel and giving me one more smile with a wave she turned around and walked back out of the school, leaving me alone once again. I looked down at my schedule and saw that I had study hall on the 2nd floor with Mr. Marder. Well at least I had a blow off class to start off the day. Maybe I could get another chance for some sleep every once and awhile.

I made my way towards the direction of the stairs and climbed them with ease. Years of playing basketball and softball had left me in good shape and these were the times that I was grateful.

I held the paper up again so that I could see the number of the room, looking on the hallways as I tried to make my way to the correct one. Finally after awhile the numbers started to make sense and I found the room that I was supposed to go to. Should I knock or just go in? Pressing my ear against the door I heard that the teacher was talking so I decided to just knock, not wanting to just burst in on him. A few seconds later the door opened and I was welcomed with the warm smile of I guess Mr. Marder.

“Hello,” He said as he stood aside to let me enter, closing it behind him as I came inside. “You must be the new student Treva.”

I could hear a few murmurs of the kids talking after he said my name…it’s strange. Get over it.

“Y-Yeah.” I said a little nervously. “I just moved here from Missouri.”

“Well Treva, just take a seat next to Matt in the back and I hope you enjoy your stay here at Huntington High.”

I looked at him a little nervously again, not knowing who ‘Matt’ was. “Where?”

He pointed towards the back and I followed his finger towards an empty desk. My breath catching in my throat as I saw who was sitting beside it. The guy who I had seen this morning with the tattoo’s. I was definitely going to like this school. I hitched my bags over my shoulder once again and quietly made my way to the back of the room, taking my assigned seat. I sat my bags down next to the desk and sat there not knowing what to do. I could still feel a few eyes on me and it only made me feel even more uncomfortable. I took a chance by stealing a small side glance at Matt and saw that he was looking at me too, giving me a smile once we made eye contact.

“Hey.” he said as I slightly smiled back at him. “My name’s Matt.”

“Treva.” I said back to him, shaking his hand that he had extended. “And yes it’s weird I know but I tell people to just say Trevor in a British accent and that’s how you say it.”

He let out a small laugh, shaking his head as he did so. “No that’s not weird at all. I actually really like it…It’s different.”

A small blush crept up my cheeks as he complimented me, making me chuckle slightly. “Thanks.”

“So you’re new huh?”

“Yeah.” I said as I crossed my legs from under the desk. “I just moved here from Nixa, Missouri. It’s about 10 miles south of Springfield, if you know where that is.”

He let out a small laugh. “Out of the what 10 thousand Springfield’s here in the US? But yeah I know where that is. Why such a long move to Huntington?”

I sighed lightly as I started to explain myself. “Well it’s kind of a long story but I just couldn’t live there anymore, and I’ve always liked Huntington so I told my mom that I wanted to come back here.”

He arched his eyebrow slightly at my answer. “Come back? You’ve been here before?”

“Just when I was a kid. I left when I was 5 but I’d always look at the pictures of the beach and PCH on Google and stuff,” I said with another small chuckle. “kinda dumb I know but oh well.”

He smiled as he shook his head. “No that’s not dumb at all. Why did you leave?”

For a guy who looked like he could beat up your grandmother he was actually surprising me by being really sweet. The total opposite of his appearance. “My parents got a divorce and I chose to stay with my mom. Long story short her job made us leave.”

“Oh man that sucks.” He said as he leaned his chin on the palm of his hand. “What does your mom do?”

“She was a lawyer but quit about a month ago. That’s why we moved back, other reasons too but she just couldn’t find a job.”

He nodded as he understood what I was saying, smiling as he leaned back in his seat a little. “Well at least you get to come back now.”

I smiled wide at him again, feeling my stomach churn a little as he kept his gaze on me. “So…how long have you lived in California?” I asked him, wanting to take some of the focus off of me.

“Pretty much my whole life. I could never leave Huntington even though it does get a little boring every once and awhile.”

I let out a small scoff. “Try living in ‘Misery’ for 12 years. That’s annoying.”

He laughed again as he shook his head. “I don’t even want to know what that must have been like.”

I laughed with him some more and shook my head as well. “You don’t even want to imagine.”

His laugh turned into a chuckle as he turned in his seat, so that he could see me better. “Well if you’d like to you know ‘re-see’ the city sometime I’d be more than willing to take you around…but only if you want to, no pressure or anything.”

I lightly giggled as I sensed his nervousness. “No I would actually love to see the city again…are you free tomorrow after school?”

He scratched the back of his neck, looking like he was trying to think. “Well I have band practice but if you want you can come watch until it’s over. Is that ok?”

I smiled wide as he said that he was in a band. Gorgeous and a musician? He’s more perfect than I thought. “That’s no problem at all. You’re in a band? What kind of music do you play?”

He smiled proudly as he answered me. “Yeah I’m the singer. We’re called Avenged Sevenfold but it’s mostly rock music…we’re not really labeled.”

“That’s awesome!” I said with a large smile to match his. “I used to be in a band too before I moved here.”

He kind of looked surprised with my answer, but none the less he still smiled. “Really? I love chick musicians.” I laughed as he gave me a small wink. “What did you play or do?”

“I was the drummer.” I said as it was my turn now to smile proudly. “The band was called Mental Fiction.”

“A drummer huh?” He said as he arched his eyebrow, a mischievous smirk grazing his lips. “You’ll have to face off against Jimmy then.”

I looked at him guessingly. “Jimmy? Is he the drummer for Avenged?”

“Yep.” He said as he nodded his head, crossing his strong arms across his chest. “Don’t be confused if we call him Rev though…it’s sort of a nickname.”

I let out a small chuckle. “Rev? Why is that his nickname?”

“Ummm…” he said as he looked like he was in deep thought. “that’s actually a good question.” he laughed. “The full name is The Reverend Bartholomew Plague. You’ll have to ask him why.”

I laughed as I re-crossed my legs, lightly flipping my hair from across my shoulder. “Well that’s very…interesting. Do you have a nickname?”

He looked at me a little sheepishly, looking down as if he were embarrassed. “Maybe…”

“Oh come on you have to tell me!” I said as I playfully hit his forearm, making him laugh. “What is it?”

He playfully rolled his eyes, looking up so that he was making eye contact with me again. His hazel eyes sent shivers down my spine and after awhile I noticed that every time he laughed, two dimples would appear in his cheeks and I couldn’t help but smile wider each time that I saw them.

“Fine, fine.” he said as he pretended to let out a heavy sigh, making me chuckle. “It’s M. Shadows. My real last name is Sanders but I don’t like it, plus everyone says I’m the more ’darker’ one of the group so…I guess that’s how that evolved.”

I smiled as he looked back down again, probably thinking that I was about to make fun of him. “Well I think it’s pretty cool. What does the M stand for?”

This made him look back up at me, smirking as he looked at me with a questionable stare. “Um Matt…”

I could already feel my cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment as he slightly chuckled at me, me smiling as well but to only hide my dumb ass comment. “Oh…of course it does.” I said with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry you’ll have to excuse me it’s still pretty early.”

He waved his hand at me as he was still slightly laughing, trying to play it off as he didn’t care. “Nah don’t worry about it, it’s fine…What classes do you have after this?”

I still felt a little embarrassed but I was happy that he was changing the subject, so that I would feel awkward anymore. And actually as I thought about it I hadn’t even looked at the rest of my classes yet so I took out my schedule and began to read to him. “Well Study hall First hour, obviously.” I said with a small smirk. “Second hour-International Foods, Third hour-Creative Writing-Poetry, Fourth hour-Algebra 2, Then fifth hour I’m scheduled for a break and first lunch after that. Then after lunch I have Sixth hour Human anatomy, then Psychology and then Art to end the day. Do I have any classes with you?”

He took the paper from my hands, over looking it as he checked my classes himself. “Well I have this hour, Third and lunch with you. Some of my other friends have classes with you though. I’ll tell them about you so that you won’t feel alone.”

“Oh Matt you don’t have to d that.” I tried to reason with him. “I really don’t care and I don’t want to feel like a burden.”

He waved his hand at me, acting like he was going to have the final word. “Trev you’re not gonna be a burden. I promise you that you’ll like them.”

I playfully rolled my eyes as I gave into him. He was right though; I didn’t want to spend my first day at a new school along so maybe being escorted by 5 hot guys all day wasn’t such a bad idea. “Alright, well if you insist then that would be cool. Thanks.”

He smiled at me waving it off as if it were no big deal. “No problem at all. Do you want to sit with me at lunch?”

“Only if you want me to.” I said, trying to hide my excitement.

“Well I want you to. All of us have lunch together by the way.”

“Who exactly is ‘all of us?’” I asked, holding up two fingers as quotation marks for the last part. Hopefully he was talking about all the guys that I had seen this morning in the commons.

“Well there’s me, Brian, Zacky, Jimmy, Johnny and Cameron. All of them are in the band except Cameron. He does all of our art work and I think he may have that art class with you.”

“Oh really?” I asked him, curious to find out more about this Cameron. “Is he nice?”

“Oh yeah. He’s only mean if you piss him off or if you mess with his family or something. He’s cool.”

I nodded my head, taking his trust in his friend. “So what about the rest of them?”

He let out a small chuckle as he answered me this time. “They’re all just like Cameron. The only one you may want to look out for is Johnny. He’s kind of a little shit sometimes but he’s only a freshman so just punch him in the arm if he gives you trouble.”

I laughed as I guessed Johnny to be the short one with the Mohawk that I had seen earlier. “I’ll be sure to remember that.” I said as I checked my watch, seeing that I only had a few more minutes with Matt, my mood sinking a little bit as I realized this. “Well your friends seem pretty cool. I hope they don’t think I’m annoying or anything.”

He shook his head as he smiled at me. “I don’t think they will.”

I turned around to face him as I slipped my bags back over my shoulder, giving him a playful attitude. “Oh yeah and how do you know that?”

“Well…” he said as he lowered his voice, leaning forward a little bit so that he was closer to me. “most beautiful girls aren’t annoying.”

I let out an intense blush as I could feel his hot breath against my face, his cologne giving off a deep spicy scent that I would never forget. “Thank you…” I said quietly and he flashed me his adorable perfect smile, his dimples deeply imprinting his cheeks.

“You’re welcome.”

My smiled grew wider as he winked at me, only to be interrupted by the bell ringing. 48 minutes was not enough time to stay in this class I thought as I stood up from my seat; Matt following behind me with his own back pack around his shoulders.

“So what class do you have next?” I asked him as we exited the class room and he walked me down the hall.

“Just weightlifting. I’m actually supposed to get new lyrics from Zacky this hour so I’ll show them to you when I see you after this.”

Was this guy for real? Out of my whole 18 years of life no one has ever been so nice to me in meeting someone in such a short amount of time…I really liked it. “Well I’d love to see them.” I said as we walked in step with each other, him leading me to my next class. “Do you have a lot of songs?”

He re-adjusted his strap that was lying on his shoulder as we walked down the stairs, every once and awhile his hand would accidentally brush against mine or our shoulders would touch in the crowded hallways. “Not a whole lot but we’re trying to get a demo together really soon. We only have about 7 so far.”

“How many do you want to have?” I asked him.

“Either 12 or 13. I still have to talk to Jimmy about it later. He’s the one that’s got it all planned out.”

I nodded to him as we finally reached my next class, depressing me a little bit because I knew that I would have to leave him now. “Well this is me.” I said, tilting my head in the direction of the room.

“Well I’ll see you after this then.” He said with another one of his genuine grins. “You want me to meet you back here so that you know where to go? This school is kinda big…”

“Sure that would be awesome.” I smirked. “Have fun in weightlifting.”

He let out a playful roll of his eyes as he laughed, turning a little bit as he started to walk away. “Oh I will. Have fun cooking. Make sure Brian doesn’t burn anything.”

I let out another laugh as I nodded to him again. “I’ll try.”