Chapter 3

• Camilla's POV
• Today is the day! I've been waiting for today for what seems like forever but standing here in my uniform I know it’s real. My uniform, You can tell it was bought by Ryan just by looking at how loosely it sits on me.
• Where the skirt ends, socks begin. It reaches right above my knees but I like it. I like comfortable clothing and this is very comfy compared to the little skin tight skirts I see most girls wearing. My hair is fixed into a very neat bun.
• “Princessa Venga!” I hear my brother Ryan yell from downstairs. I take one last look at myself in the mirror before heading downstairs.
• Taking my last step on the staircase, I glance at him, “Sorry, I couldn't find my notepad.”
• He nods, waving my apology off. “Okay the school bus will be here in a few minutes.”
• “The sc... sch.. school bus?” I stutter. I don’t know when it started that I began stuttering but it has become a part of me. I wasn’t always this mess but it’s better than the chaos I was so I’ll take it and embrace it along with everything that comes with it because I deserve it.
• It’s my atonement.
• “Would you rather your big brother drive you?” My head shakes quicker than I can say ‘NO’.
• He chuckles, his hand coming to his mouth, “I admit that hurt a little. But it's okay, I have an errand to run but if anything happens, call me. You have your phone with you right? ”
• “Yes.”
• “Mwah.” He kisses my forehead. “Have a great day, I will pick you up.”
• “No it's fine, I will use the bus today.” I smile. “Have a great day at work.”
• I go outside to the bus stop, running in case the bus leaves without me. I find Cindy, Bryant, Nina, Gigi, Nissa and Nicolas waiting on the bus.
• Bryant can drive his car to school so I don't understand why he's here. Cindy eyes me up and down, slowly before she smiles, “Milla. You look err good.” Her comment is making everyone laugh slightly.
• The bus arrived three minutes later. I grabbed a seat next to Nicolas. One thing I noticed was it was full of Wolf's, Vampires, a few Witches and three hybrids with an odd number of Humans. Nicolas has been teasing me since I sat down, but it's harmless.
• He nudges my shoulder and looks around as if he is about to tell me a secret, “Look, I am just saying that people are different there. High School isn't for the faint hearted.”
• I am intrigued now, matching his hush tone I gulp, “What do you mean?”
• “You will see. Just hold your head high and don't stutter.” He warns.
• “I don't Stu-stutter.”
• Damn it Camilla, trying to prove a point and you prove him right.
• He smirks at me, “Good luck sunshine.” He winks getting off.
• I glance at my wrist, 7:05 am. Alas, Winter Bloom Academy! It took us exactly twenty minutes to arrive here from Hilricon Academy, where Nicolas disembarked.
• With the help of a not so helpful Nissa, making my way to the principal's office, I hear she's from Alpha Adrian's pack so she must be a tough cookie for sure.
• The door is open and she gestures for me to come inside. I admit she’s younger than I anticipated, she’s wearing a pink dress, her coffee mug sits on her desk, there is a portrait of her next to it, she looks good in the picture. The smile lines on her face glistening, is she as happy as her picture looks or she’s telling a lie on her images.
• “Camilla Mia Burton?”
• I flicker my eyes from her picture to her and I nod, afraid If I speak, I might stutter.
• She nods, gesturing to the empty seat, “Any relation to Alpha Ryan Burton? ”
• Okay so she’s not going to waste time interrogating me, total power move. I see why she runs the school. “Yes, he is my brother.” I say each word slowly to ensure I don't stutter, even if I get annoyed by my stuttering.
• “Well so it’s you. I’m not sure I can be as oblivious as Sheryl asked but I will enjoy this for sure.” She mumbles to herself but I catch every word of it. What does she mean she can’t be oblivious like Sheryl asked?
• She looks at the file on her desk and smiles, while quickly goes through it when she finds the paper she's looking for. She smiles again, widely. She seems happy, and I’m sure it’s not because of me. “I have seen your records, you're an amazing student, we're glad you're finally joining us physically. Here is your schedule you're in room 302.” She grins.
• I hesitantly take the paper from her, my eyes cast to the floor as I do so. “Thank you, how will I know where it is?”
• “You won't miss it even if you try.” She chuckles.
• When I peer up at her, she’s smiling,
• “Have a great first day and oh welcome to Winter Bloom Academy.”
• I return her smile, “Thank you.”
• **********
• I Made my my way out and she was right. I couldn't miss the class it's extremely noisy and the door had ‘302’ and ‘stay out’ written on it. I made my way to the middle of the class where I took a seat. Very few people noticed me, that's good.
• “Who put this four eyed gargoyle in my seat?”
• I look up and find a girl standing beside me, with two others on top the desk behind her. She's pretty, definitely popular. Her eyes dance around, mischief clear as she pulls a deadpan look, “Get the fuck out. And why are you staring at me?”
• I instantly rise, grabbing my bag off her desk “Sorry.” I say, in panic I try to go around her but she sets a foot in front of me, making me fall. I land but first on the floor.
• She peers down at me, her mouth turning into a pout, “Sorry.” She laughs, mimicking me.
• Okay, definitely not sorry, she pushed me on purpose. I mentally roll my eyes as I pick myself up and dust my uniform, “That was-wasn't very ni-ce!” I snap, stuttering.
• Her head tilts towards me, her finger pointed to my face, “Watch it stammer girl. Or else you-”
• “Raquel!” Someone yells, I switch my gaze to the direction I heard the voice from, Mikel. A member of Dark Moon, we sometimes play chess together and he doesn’t necessarily let me win. His eyes flicker between Raquel and me, everyone that was oblivious to our interaction is now watching, I think it’s because Mikel is handsome and equally popular as Raquel, if not more.
• His gaze is fixed on me, “Princess what's going on?”
• “It's her, this little four eyed gargoyle ruined my morning.” Raquel stomps her foot like a small child.
• Mikel licks his lip, his gaze shifting to Raquel, “Raquel, leave her alone she's done nothing to you so don't pick on her on her first day.” He warns her.
• Raquel gasps, her face gaze flickering around the room, “How do you know you just walked in, let me bash her.” She scowls, her hands reaching for me, I flinch, closing my eyes as I await what I thought she was doing but it doesn’t come, I open my eyes glancing at him. If this were another time, she would be the one in my place but it's not and I’m not going to tamper with fate ever.
• Mikel is holding her hand and she’s trying to wiggle out, “First of all don't fucking touch her and second, I know Princess and she's not the type to cause problems for anyone.”
• Finally getting her wrist free, she puts her hand on her waist, batting her overly long eyelashes at him, “And me? I'm one to cause problems, is that what you're trying to say babe?!”
• “Just leave her alone or else.” He warns
• She gulps, her eyelashes batting faster, “You are joking right? I'm your girlfriend. Me, Raquel you can't do that!” She whines.
• So this is his girlfriend? Wow, I expected a whole lot more and less from the picture I’ve drawn in my head based on what he says about her. And she’s his mate, good luck Mikel.
• “Watch me.” He says trying to walk away.
• Grabbing onto him, she frowns. “Fine, what do you want?” She pouts once again sounding and looking like a bratty kid that doesn’t want her toy to get taken away. In this case,I guess Mikel is that toy.
• Mikel drops her arm, his head gesturing to me, “Apologise to her and welcome her like you should have your new classmate in the first place.”
• Her lip curls up, “Me?” When Mikel turns to leave once again, she grabs his arm. “Okay, okay. Gargoyle-”
• “Use her name.” He interrupts her, still facing the other direction.
• This is the last thing I wanted on my first day, getting in a fight which results in a couple fight which leads to the popular girl hating my guts. Raquel scans me up and down, her jaw clenching. “What is your name?”
• Miquel turns around and nods at me.
• “Camilla.” I tell her.
• Raquel’s gaze is threatening me, “Ok, Camilla I'm sorry I shouldn't have overreacted, welcome to our class you'll have a very pleasant day that I will make sure of.” She smile’s genuinely but I don't think she meant it.
• “There I apologised.” She turns to Mikel.
• “Good, you're not atrocious after all. Princess you can take a sit over there second row front seat none of the dumb dumbs in this class sit there.” He smiles at me.
• I take very calculated steps to the seat he mentioned while everyone, literally everyone watches.
• This is the thing about highschool students: they live for drama and me? Well I'm the girl that created quite a show on my first day and that will never be forgotten because the Queen B of the school was a part of the drama.
• I look back and Mikel and Raquel arguing, even as they argue his eyes are dancing at the sight of her, they look very much in love. That means one day Raquel will join the Dark Moon Pack. I turn away from them and glance at my schedule. Alright first class, maths. I take out my math book that Ryan purchased from the school.
• The siren sounds and Mikel leaves for his class. Once again Miss ‘I run the show’ is standing in front of me. I've seen enough high school movies to know she's here to mark her territory but I’m not into Mikel like that. Flipping her hair to the back of her head she narrows her eyes at me. “You stepped on the wrong shoes, Gargoyle, you will pay for this.” She declares.
• Okay my assumption wasn't so far off, she wants to ruin me. Great, simply amazing.
• “Good morning everyone I hope you're all doing fine so today we'll have a Math test that will count for fifty percent of your grade.” A middle aged woman carrying a Dior handbag who I assume is the teacher, announces as she makes her way in. The class murmurs, I mean, I like every subject except art, the only A+ I've ever had was in the first grade.
• Setting her handbag on full display, I mean her desk, she straightens. “But first I'm told we have a new classmate, where is she?” She beams.
• “The gargoyle in the seat of punishment.” Raquel answers, making the class laugh.
• Using her hand, she gestures for me to join her upfront, “Come up here sweetheart and introduce yourself.”
• I rise from my seat and turn to face everyone. they're all staring at me, half of them judging me, the other half trying to find ways to judge me.
• I take a deep breath to ease my nerves. “Hello, my name is Camilla Mia Burton. I'm sevent....”
• “No one cares about your age, just tell us your goddamn name and sit down.” Raquel snorts.
• Everyone laughs once again, okay I see this I'm the new kid that makes the popular kid look good and funny. If I don't entertain her or show her she's getting to me, she will find someone else to pick on. I'm sure whoever she was picking on before I got here is over the moon right now.
• The Math teacher bangs the chalkboard eraser on the desk to draw attention to her. “Quiet! And Raquel quit being so rude to your classmates or out you go.” She warns.
• “I was simply helping her out, Miss Vanderbilt.” She whines.
• Miss Vanderbilt, as I’ve learned, places a hand on my shoulder, “Camilla take your seat and we're glad you're joining us. And oh what you don't know is Camilla has been a member of this class since the 10th grade, and she's a great student, I'm sure you've seen her name on your class list or the academic leaderboard.” She grins, dismissing me.
• I walk to my seat but someone trips me, making me fall, for the second time today. Everyone laughs including the teacher but she quickly tells them to zip it.
• I take my seat wiping tears I didn't notice fell, isn’t this what I wanted? I can hear a taunting voice in my head yelling at me. I wanted to come to school to feel something, experience something new, anything but I hate it here I want to switch classes.
• “Alright now, put your pencils, mathematical sets and pens on the desk and err... yes Jessica collect the bags and put them in the front, I don't want to catch anyone cheating. If I catch you cheating, you automatically fail my class.” She deadpans.
• We do as she asks and she begins to distribute question papers. There's a knock at the door and Jessica, the girl who collected the bags, opens it, two girls walk in. Judging by the boys' reactions they are popular too and a class favorite.
• I can't help but stare at them, they're both beautiful but one more than the other, hazel eyes and raven hair with maroon falling to her back, her skin is glowing so much it could light up a room. The other girl has red hair to compliment her sky blue eyes, but her roots are black, she has a carefree aura about her, they both do.
• “You're late.” Jessica tells them, pointing to where the bags are. The red head flips her off and rolls her eyes, the other girl shaking her head at her.
• “You are just in time for our maths test. This will count for fifty percent of your grade at the end of the school year. So take a seat wherever you can, I will give you a question paper soon.” Mrs Vanderbilt elaborates.
• The two girls look at each other and talk in whispers taking their seats. One is sitting next to me and the other on her left.
• Mrs Vanderbilt comes around and hands them a question paper each. She takes another five to ten minutes distributing answer sheets to everyone. She gave us the go ahead and we turned in our papers. When I started flipping through this paper I realised school is way easier than homeschooling. I answered them in record Time and now I am chewing on my Pen clipper.