My Toxic Valentine.

I awoke the next morning in my new bed, some how I had managed to find my way home. I didn't know exactly how, but I didn’t care. I was in one piece and I still had my phone and keys, so I had nothing to worry about. I woke to the sound of my alarm clock at 7:30am. Today was the first day at my new school, so I had to be there on time. I climbed up from my bed, the headache I had was almost mind blowing, literally. I walked into my bathroom and looked into the small cabinet, finding some Advil and popping two of the pills before shoving my head under the faucet, gulping them down with the cold water. I then waited for the pills to kick in before starting to apply my make up. I decided to go all out for school. I wanted people to know who the real Phoenix Hamilton was, even if it wasn't my preferred lifestyle, I'd choose this over a normal one any day. I combed my hair and left it in its natural waves before getting dressed. Once I was done I looked over myself in the mirror, nodding once and making my way out of the room. My mother had already gone when I arrived downstairs, meaning she was at work. I'd hopefully not see her till late tonight as her new job consisted of long hours. I shrugged softly to myself and grabbed an apple for my breakfast before making my way out of the door and locking it behind me. I walked a short while before realising I didn’t actually know where I was going. I turned around to the house a couple down from mine and knocked on the door, it took a while but eventually someone came to the door.

“Can I help you, dear?” A lady asked and I smiled softly as I looked to the ground.

“Yes please, erm.. I was wondering if you knew where Dulaney high school was? It’s my first day and I forgot I didn’t know where I was going.” I giggled and she smiled sweetly before nodding.

“My son is going there right now, I’ll ask him to show you the way.” She said with another smile before walking into her house, I presumed she was going to get her son. She came back moments later, a boy in her grasp, he looked angry. The lady smiled before point to her son. “This is Alex.. Sorry honey, I didn’t get your name?” She asked and I smiled before nodding.

“My name is Phoenix, Ma’am.” I said and she smiled softly before nodding.

“That’s a beautiful name.” She stated and I blushed softly, staring down at my heel clad feet.

“Why thank you.” I said as I looked up once again, her son still seemed to be angry, his head hung low and his hands tucked into the pockets in his trousers. He looked up and smiled softly at me, so I returned the gesture. He walked out of the house sadly, he said bye to his mother before walking off. I waved at her shyly and she did the same before closing the door. I sighed with relief, I hated meeting peoples parents. Although, I’d never done it before so I guess I wasn’t used to it.

“I’m sorry about my mom.” The boy stated, his eyes staring down at his trainers. “She’s gets really happy when she sees girls at the door, she thinks I’ve finally brought one of my girlfriends home.” He chuckled and I simply joined in with the laughter.

“Well, I’m awkward with parents, I don’t really do relationships, lets just put it that way.” I giggled and he chuckled along, kicking lone rocks with his feet.

“Well, I don’t do relationships either. I’m usually a no strings attached kind of guy.” He said and I help my hand up for a high five, he chuckled before slapping his hand against mine. I smiled softly until we came upto some giant gates. I breathed out slowly before smiling over at the boy I’d just met. He looked at me before nodding towards the school. “You can hang with us today as it’s your first day, don’t want you being all alone.” He smirked softly before making his way up the path towards the school. I followed shortly behind him as he went over to two boys and a couple of girls. I smiled at them all as me and Alex joined them in there little circle. All I heard next was a scream and Alex was on the floor, a boy on top of him. I giggled softly to myself and Alex glared at me from his place on the floor. The boy on top of Alex climbed up and turned around to be face to face with me. His jaw dropped. I giggled softly and used two fingers to push it back up into it’s rightful place. He smiled softly before tucking his hands into his pockets.

“Alexander William Asskarth, are you not going to introduce us to your very beautiful female friend?” The boy asked and I rolled my eyes softly.

“My name is Phoenix Hamilton, and the 'beautiful female' can introduce herself.” I stated with air quotes. I added a cheeky smile and placed out my hand for him to shake. He smirked, taking my hand in his.

“Jack Barakat.” He said before letting go. “She’s feisty, I like her.” He said with a soft wink and I simply smirked as I crossed my arms over my chest. I leaned over to his ear, my lips close to his face.

“If you think I’m feisty now, you haven’t seen anything yet.” I said and smirked as I heard him gulp. I added a soft wink before introducing myself to everyone else, I found out the other boy was Ryan and the two girls where Kara and Chantelle. All the other girls had vanished by now.

“So, Phoenix, How come you moved here?” Ryan asked and I sighed softly.

“My mother got a new job, we lived in New York before. Also, no one really liked me anyways, so it didn’t make much difference.” I chuckled and Ryan looked at me sadly.

“How come no one liked you? You seem pretty cool to me!” He exclaimed and I smiled widely before answering.

“No one was really unique at my school, so I stuck out and I also had a very bad reputation. But, it’s who I am. I like partying.” I giggled and they all cheered in response. I guessed they did too.

“Well, no one gets judged in our group. We’re all pretty close and even so, I bet you haven’t made as many mistakes as Alex has while drunk.” He chuckled and Alex groaned, slapping a hand to his face.

“Don’t even remind me of the whole Carmen thing, that was wrong on so many levels. That girl was obsessed! I thought it would make her go away!” He exclaimed and everyone simply chuckled before going back to their conversation before. I stood there for a while, no one really talked to me but then one of the girls spoke up. Kara, I think it was.

“I adore your tattoos! Where did you get them done?” She asked as she walked over, admiring my half sleeve and I smiled back softly.

“My friend back in New York did them for me, I’m seventeen so I’m near enough the legal age.” I said with a soft shrug and she beamed up at me from her place beside me.

“Well I love them, I think he did them very well.” She smiled and I blushed slightly as I looked at the ground.

“Thank you very much.” I said and she smiled before nodding at me, she looked around before lifting up her top to show me a small tattoo under her bra line. It read ‘What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’ I found it rather touching. “That is so beautiful. Us girls should be proud of our ink!” I said quietly and she smiled before rolling her eyes towards the boy I learnt was Ryan.

“Yes we should! Ryan doesn’t agree with it, he thinks it’s stupid.” She said and I gasped softly, raising my hand to my mouth for dramatic effect.

“Tattoos are good, he’s stupid!” I exclaimed in a childish voice and that made Kara laugh loudly. I laughed along with her until we where a tangled mess, attempting to keep each other balanced. The boys looked at us as though we where on something, but we didn’t care. We simply clutched onto each other as our breathing evened out. Soon after that the bell rang and I looked around for a while, unsure of where to go. Kara smiled at me as she turned around.

“Need some help?” She asked and I nodded my head shyly. “Come on, I’ll take you to the reception to get your timetable." She said and with that we were both headed off into the direction of the school entrance. Once we were at the reception, a lady smiled at me, before taking notice of my piercing and tattoos. She shook her head softly before handing me a slip of paper.

“I take it you’re Phoenix Hamilton? Here’s your timetable. Have a nice day.” She said, not really seeming to take interest. I rolled my eyes softly before leaning over to the glass.

“If you’re not careful, ma’am, I could report you for discrimination. You spoke to me like that because of the way I look, am I correct?” I asked and her eyes widened, her mouth opened and closed a couple of times as she couldn’t find the right words to say. “Exactly. Have a good day. Hope you don’t speak to anyone else the way you spoke to me.” I partially warned and she hung her head in shame as I walked away with Kara.

“Wow.. I really didn’t expect that!” She giggled and I shrugged, a small smile on my face.

“I know what to say without getting myself into trouble. It’s a good thing about me.” I giggled and she smiled before examining the timetable in my hands.

“Yay! You have first period with me! Let’s go!” She exclaimed as she took my hand and practically dragged me down the hallway. I saw myself getting many looks from a few of the boys that I went passed and I smirked to myself softly, liking this school already. She pulled me into a room and I groaned as I saw it was maths. I hated maths.

“Do we have to go in? I hate maths?” I exclaimed as we where half way through the door, earning stares from everyone in the room. Luckily, the teacher wasn’t here yet. I sat down next to Kara and Alex, who was also apparently in this class and sat back in my seat. I didn’t make a move to grab a pencil or anything, in my opinion, this class was bullshit.

“I’d get ready for being sent out. Whoever doesn’t have their work in front of them when the ‘lady’ enters is instantly sent out of class.” Alex mumbled and I laughed wholeheartedly.

“Let her. I fucking hate this class. I won’t do the work even if she shoves her hand up my ass and calls me her puppet.” I muttered back as he took a drink of his water, he choked making the water go all over the girl in front of us. He didn’t even have time to apologise as his head hit the wood of the table and he started laughing hysterically.

“That sounds like some freaky as fuck porno.” He said as his laughing faded and I simply giggled along as the teacher entered the room. She looked at the two of us oddly before pointing towards the door. I laughed and stood up with Alex, the two of us making our way outside of the classroom. The teacher followed us out and looked sternly towards Alex.

“You know my expectations, Mr Gaskarth and this is the tenth time you’ve ignored them! Go to your usual classroom.” She said before turning to me, her eyes softening. “Now I know you’re new dear, do you have any writing utensils with you?” She asked and I groaned, a slight smile on my face.

“Would I be punished if I said no?” I asked and she rolled her eyes before pointing towards Alex.

“Follow him, he knows where the classroom is.” She said and I shrugged softly before tottering down the hall after Alex. He laughed softly before looking over at me.

“First day and you’ve already got kicked out. Oh I’m so proud of you.” He chuckled and I nodded along triumphantly.

“You know it honey.” I said and he simply laughed before running a hand through his messy hair.

“I apologise for my attitude at my house this morning.” He added a few seconds later. “I went to an insane party last night. I woke up with the worst hangover ever. Hence why I wasn’t in a good mood.” He chuckled and I giggled along before kicking a piece of paper that someone had failed to throw into the bin.

“Well, I know how you feel. It was my first night. First party and first fuck in Maryland. I was wasted.” I chuckled and he looked at me, his eyes wide.

“Shit, you must have it real easy.” He chuckled. “We must have been at the same party. Were you the really hot girl dancing with Ben? Long brown hair? Tattoos?” He asked and I nodded my head softly, looking down at my shoes. It felt as we’d been walking for hours. “Oh, that’s awkward. I shouldn’t have said that.” He mumbled and I just shook it off with a wave of my hand.

“Don’t worry about it. He wasn’t the best I’ve ever had.” I said as I ran a hand through my hair. The rest of the walk was in silence, we walked out of the school, and that’s when I became confused. “Where are we going?” I asked and he shrugged before pointing over to a patch of grass.

“Chill? It’s better than being stuck in an empty classroom not being able to talk.” He said and I shrugged softly before following him upto the patch of grass.

“I really should not have worn heels.” I muttered with a soft groan. “I hate wanting to make an impression on people.” I mumbled before slipping the heels off that were getting stuck in the grass. It had been warm, so luckily the grass wasn’t wet. We sat down and Alex sighed as he looked at the sky. With the way he was sat, the sun was hitting him just right, making him look impossibly gorgeous. He turned to look at me and I blushed softly, staring down at the green grass. He chuckled softly, smirking in my direction.

“What were you looking at?” He asked and I shrugged.

“Nothing.” I said as I looked back up, smiling softly at him. I was lying, and he probably knew too but he didn’t question me. He simply looked up into the sky again.

“Do you believe that there’s another place.. Like.. After you die?” He asked randomly as he laid down on the ground. I shrugged softly, furrowing my brows at his question.

“I’d like to hope so.. I believe that the people that die, are always looking over their loved ones in some way.” I said, looking up at the clouds. “I’d definitely look over my dad if I was up there.” I mumbled the last part. Alex looked over at me, his eyes full of concern.

“Why? Where is your dad? If you don’t mind me asking..” he said and I shook my head softly.

“Army. Front line. Hopefully he’ll be getting out sometime this year but we don’t know yet. I'm stuck with my mother up until then.” I murmured and he looked at me, his eyes sadly burrowing into mine.

“I’m really sorry..” He said. I smiled and nodded, just thankful he didn’t bring my mother up. The rest of the period was spent in silence, I ended up lying beside him. We talked every now and then about the clouds and that was it. It was nice being close to a boy and not being sexually active in some way for once. I felt Alex would be a good friend. I just hoped I was right.