Reset

It literally felt like seconds had passed. Then there I was sitting on my bed, my cat asleep on my pillow and my mother screaming for me to hurry up, that I’d be late for my first day at the posh American private school that my father was paying so much for me to go to. All I could think about was…but I just died. I died later on today, a few hours from now as I begged my father to take me home. Back to London, my girlfriend and my friends. Sure, I had four friends here, but we weren’t nearly as close as the ones back home. They were here for the same reason; their parents followed my dad to America for a business.

I stood up and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door before turning to look in the mirror. I saw myself, exactly as I was before jumping from the building. Messy hair, dark bags under my eyes, a scratch from an itch I scratched to hard, the two giant pimples on my chin and beside my nose. I was exactly how I should have been.

“Harry, let’s go!” My mother called again. I ran my hand through my curls and sighed. “You have five minutes before I come up there.”

“I’m coming, mum.” I felt a headache coming on as I hurried down the stairs and came face to face with my angry mother. “Hi.” I said, already knowing she was going to get on me about something.

“You’re not even dressed.” She rolled her eyes and tapped her fingers on the railing of the stairs. “Get clothes on, then you are going to have breakfast to-go. I’ll take you to school since you missed a ride with your father.” She smiled slightly at me before shaking her head. “It’s a year, Harry. One year and you can go wherever you want.”

I went to speak, but she was already grabbing her keys. “Five minutes.” I said. She held up two fingers and I knew she wasn’t going to put up with much more this morning.

As I climbed the stairs, I thought about how different the morning went. My mother was annoyed, my father was gone and I hadn’t had the chance to talk to him about leaving. Which meant I wasn’t going to his building or jumping off the roof. The day was the same, but the events weren’t.

I had waffles and orange juice for breakfast and my mum was practically singing the National Anthem in my ear as she watched the news and read the morning paper. But now…it was all different.

I pulled on a white button up shirt and dark blue jeans. There was no exact uniform, just restrictions. Boys couldn’t wear holey jeans, graphic tees, sandals or sneakers. Girls were restricted short shirts and dresses, holey jeans, graphic tees, sneakers or sandals, spaghetti straps and cleavage. As long as you looked presentable, there wouldn’t be a problem.

I was fine with the dress code, back home, I had to wear a specific uniform and besides the blazer, I wasn’t too fond of anything else. I didn’t really bother with my hair, I just threw my shoes on and met my mother in the driveway. “Late your first day? Is that how you are going to impress the headmaster?”

I didn’t listen to her as she complained the entire way to school. Something was really bothering her this morning, it couldn’t just be the fact that I was running behind schedule. Did something happen after dad and I left? Did I get the attitude from that now, because I was running late?

She pulled up outside of the school and I wanted to curl up in a ball. There were small crowds of people all over the front lawn. It was obvious what clique was which and who was leading them. And there weren’t too many people who attended the school, so the thought of stepping out of the car to present myself to a majority of the student body did not sound pleasant. I didn’t want to be picked apart yet, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

I slipped out of the car and instantly set my eyes on the only four people I knew. “Harry, join us, will ya?” Niall smiled at me and I walked over, not really sure if I wanted to. “We’re playing a game, spot the fittest bird.” I sighed and shook my head.

“Not today guys.” I gripped the strap of my bag and looked around, curious about all the faces before me. All the faces I almost never saw. “You guys get a schedule yet?” But they were all too busy eyeing the girls.

If there wasn’t already “Fresh Meat” stapled to our backs, there was now. The four boys made me look like some kind of creep. But I was the one who invented the game years ago when we all first moved together. I just wasn’t up to playing it. I wasn’t up to anything. The previous day and morning were still playing through my head.

No one really paid attention to me, and I was thankful for that. I just wanted my schedule, get through these classes and make it home to talk to my father, maybe the events were just a very…vivid dream or maybe, if I really did go back to this morning after jumping off the building, maybe it meant that I could talk my father into moving home. Maybe this was all just a chance to better my argument. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be here and the world was on my side….

I found myself separated from the boys as I thought about the entire situation. I was still walking, almost to the front door when I set my eyes on the girl that would have won the game. Her long dark blond hair fell over her shoulders as she bent slightly to pick up her purse. A white dress fit her thin body perfectly, hugging all the right areas. Long legs peeked out from under a black lace trim. She was gorgeous.

I looked away when her bright blue eyes briefly met mine. I wasn’t ready for the intense color or the softness that hid behind them. So I leaned against the brick wall that led up the path to the stairs she started to climb. “Evelina Keeton.” I turned to face a cloud of smoke and when it settled, another beautiful face greeted me. “The girl on the stairs, her name is Evelina, but everyone calls her Eve.”

“I’d like to be her Adam.” I said, biting my lip when I realized how stupid it sounded.

The brunette before me took another drag of her cigarette and laughed, “And if you use that line, she’ll probably slap you.” She didn’t look at me, her attention was drawn to all the people around us, she was observing. “She’s probably heard that line more than anything.”

“It’s not that original, then.” I yawned lightly and found myself looking over at the only people I really know. “The name’s Harry.”

“Devon, but you can call me Dev.” She pushed herself off the wall and sighed, “Good luck on your first day, newb.” She winked and stomped on her cigarette before running up the stairs. I just stood there taking in the morning quietly.

It wasn’t long before the guys had found me. They pulled me into the building, debating which way the office was and if we’d be assigned similar classes or not. Similar wasn’t the word for it. “Horan, Malik, Payne, Styles and Tomlinson….” The headmaster eyed us and tapped his pen on his desk as we crowded around. “We’ve never really had to deal with five transfers at the same time.” We didn’t speak, I wasn’t that interested and I assumed the other boys were around the same level as me. “You will have the same schedule for now; we can talk dropping and signing up for classes later. For now,” He handed us each a piece of paper. “Mr. Tilden is expecting you for biology.”

Faint mumbles were our only replies as we filed out of the room and down the hall. Louis was running his fingers over each locker while Niall complained about the schedule. Zayn didn’t really pay attention as his phone was more important. Liam nodded each time Niall finished a sentence. He was the nice guy of us all, trying to please everyone. He would stand in front of an oncoming truck if it meant making you smile. Well, more of a toned down type of situation, I guess. I don’t know, maybe he would.

The classroom was the last down the hallway; there were only eleven students in the room, which made it sixteen when we sat down. I picked a table beside Liam, he’d want to do most of the work anyway, easy job for me.

“The new students have arrived. Introduce yourselves.” Mr. Tilden smiled as Louis was the first to stand. He was followed by Niall, then Liam and myself. Zayn stood last, still too interested in his phone. Mr. Tilden took that away pretty quickly, shoving it in a box on his desk before turning to the board and writing page numbers down.

Most of the class I was still thinking about the events that took place earlier. But when the bell rang, I was pulled aside by a rather angry Louis. “This schedule is bull. Not a single break all day, besides lunch. We have three other classes today and another four tomorrow. Art History? Who the fuck wants to sit there and stare at some shitty lines on a fucking canvas?”

“Me.” I said, knowing it would get him to back off. I didn’t really care about art or the history of it. I just wanted him to shut up. And he did, but only because Eve was walking by with a few other girls who could easily take second ranks in the game.

As Louis drooled, I moved onto the next class. After another introduction and about an hour or so of catch up reading, I found myself in the library looking for anything that could explain my situation. I was scanning the books on dreams when Dev came up behind me, quiet as a mouse. “Enjoying the first day?” I scoffed before grabbing a book titled, “Dream Meanings”. Dev was holding another book, “Hobby of yours? Think your psychic?”

“Just had a weird dream and got curious.” I said, putting the book back and walking to another line of books that contained the same information as the first.

Dev pulled out a book on vivid dreams, “I highly doubt they were the real winning jackpot numbers.”

“Well, guess the question is answered then.” I turned away from the shelf and sighed. There was no research getting done with her around. “No lunch for you?”

“I’ve decided to live off the human barbie’s diet. Light and air.” I gave her a concerned look, which earned a laugh, “The lunch here is shit, I’ll just grab a pizza on the way home.”

“Yeah, well…I’m hungry.” I pulled my bag onto my shoulder and turned towards the door. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”

“Maybe.”