The bell rang.
Hayley’s hands sketched without much thought, ignoring the shrill sounds and screams that ran through the air. There was laughing- class must have started, Hayley realized. It was a bit louder than usual today. She picked up her eraser.
“Hey.” She felt something brush against her shoulder.
Hayley looked up with a start, looking around her seat. Her eyes widened, seeing the many people around her. She dropped her pencil and hugged her sketchbook to her chest, turning her head around wildly.
Why was everyone around her seat, she thought silently. And so many people, too. The captain of the football team! Why was he here! His hair was done up, and his skin was tanned- She looked next to her to see the rest of the crowd was all girls. She swallowed. Was that- the Princess? The princess of their high school, in the class next to hers? Why was she in Class 4?
“Yes?” The words left her mouth before she could stop herself, and she clamped a hand around her mouth as soon as she realized that the words hadn’t been directed towards her.
Neither was anyone looking at her. Nobody must have noticed, she thought, sighing in relief. Luckily. It would have been awkward otherwise.
Hayley slumped back into her seat, feeling defensive of the people around her.
“So, Mr. Handsome, wanna join our team?” She heard the jock ask. The girls all squealed. Someone giggled. What were they talking about? Hayley wondered. She turned her head.
She blinked.
She stared, her mouth gaping open at the picturesque scene next to her. He was so beautiful. Just like a prince. He was the most good-looking boy she had ever seen, actually.
The kid looked European, or of some other Northern descent. His hair was blonde and his eyes were blue. A classic beauty. He smiled, and Hayley felt as if that smile alone could cause a heart attack. It was as if he had been born with special effects and an editor to wipe away any blemishes on his being. Hayley thought she could even vaguely see sparkles in the air.
“I-Wow- a” she stammered, her head turned blank. Why was there a handsome hunk next to her?
The crowd didn’t pay her much attention.
The boy blinked, and just like a scene in a movie, Hayley saw him turn sideways towards her direction. He was like a doll.
Oh god, even when he was simply moving, he looked like a Grecian god, Hayley thought. Even in their old school uniform, he looked stunning. If he actually dressed up- she shuddered. It appeared beauty was still beauty. Even if he wore a trash bag, she judged, he would still look drop dead gorgeous.
Wow. Even his sitting height was tall, and his eyelashes were so freaking long-
“Hello?” His voice was deep. It wasn’t deep like an adult’s, but it was deeper than most boys their age. It even had a slight foreign accent to it, making her heart skip a beat. Was it French? Spanish? Calm down, calm down, she told herself. Hayley fiddled with her fingers. She suspected it didn’t work. Her face was probably red as a tomato.
“My name is Alabaster Orin.” He said. “I am your new seatmate. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to- Nice to meet you too.” Hayley saw Alabaster stretch out his hand and she took it hesitantly. Seeing the eyes of countless other girls on her, she let go immediately after.
Sketchbook, sketchbook, she told herself. Hayley took a deep breath.
“So,” she heard one of the girls say in a chirpy voice suitable for tik-tok videos, “What club are you going to join in Nitidus? Basketball? Chess? Literature?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Alabaster answered.
“Come on, Lydia, it’s only been a couple minutes since he arrived here. You think he’d know all the clubs in our school?” Another girl said, shoving her. She had yellow hair and pink highlights.
“What? We’re Nitidus. He could know.” Lydia shrugged. “Plus that other transfer-”
“Don’t compare him with Prince Roy!”
“Um, excuse me?” Alabaster said hesitantly. “I would like to go to the bathroom, can you please-”
The crowd parted, but the conversations didn’t end. Hayley heard even more bickering in the corner and ducked her head into her sketchbook. The more popular girls could be scary, she thought to herself privately. Especially the ones with rich families. Some were guaranteed to get into certain colleges, which made them really stuck up.
Hayley grabbed her art sketchbook and stuck her face in it, looking at her work to calm herself down. On the first page was the girl from before. Ava, she remembered. Those words were written with a chocolatey brown calligraphy pen on the bottom of the page. She had also added a white ribbon on her- she thought it would look pretty- Hayley turned the page of her sketchbook.
The crowd was still here, she thought. Alabaster wasn’t back from the bathroom yet. The door slid open. Hayley reminded herself to calm down again.
It was then. The bell rung.
There were a series of awws and shrugs as the crowd around Alaster’s seat dissipated, hopefully everyone had returned back to their own seats.
“Everyone, sit down!” Hayley heard the stern voice of their math teacher.
She watched as her new roommate sat down next to her, making a subtle red creep down the side of her face. Maybe he noticed her staring. He titled his chin, and looking curiously at her, he made another smile before turning back to the board.
Damn it. Breathe. You can do it. Breathe.
Feeling self-conscious, Hayley looked down at her empty sketchbook. Class was starting. The teacher placed down her stuff and picked up the school attendance sheet. Hayley hesitated.
‘The Boy on the Next-’ That was too long. What about ‘The Boy in Class?’ ‘The New Boy in Class’? Hayley heard the teacher start to call out names and stiffened.
She remembered Alabaster’s smile.
‘The Boy Next Seat.’ she wrote.
𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺: 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘫𝘰 𝘢𝘪. 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧.
𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘡𝘠? 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬. 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘫𝘰 𝘢𝘪 𝘪𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧.
𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘓𝘖𝘛 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘑𝘜𝘚𝘛 𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞 𝘐 𝘞𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘙𝘌𝘗𝘖𝘙𝘛 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘊𝘖𝘔𝘔𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘚 𝘐𝘍 𝘐 𝘍𝘐𝘕𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘔.
𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭!
𝘕𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵.
