The Fire Starter (2 page)

"You must be Kayleigh," came a cool, calm voice before me. I looked up and realized that the boy who had come out of the castle had already reached me.

He wasn't even panting, which made me curious if he was an athlete or not. He had the body--not muscular, but with enough flat muscles that one could get with careful exercise. Plus, he looked cute too. His clear blue eyes made me smile unexpectedly; they were warm and welcoming, completely unlike this place that suffocated me. His hair was a longish black hue, which framed his face perfectly. He was extending his hand for me to shake.

"Yes, I'm Kayleigh," I replied, though it was already delayed.

"Welcome to Draker," he smiled, his eyes crinkling with friendliness. "I'm Reid, the council president."

Without warning, he took the bags I had, all three of them, in one hand and led the way, walking slowly so I could catch up. He didn't even seem to flinch with the weight of the three heavy bags.

"Some rules," he began, not seeming to have any problems walking, talking, and carrying my things while looking gorgeous. "No one is allowed to go into the forest. Don't invite outsiders into the castle, and don't loiter at night."

Those were pretty simple rules, I mulled. I nodded, keeping all of them in mind. In this new place, I will try my best not to break any rules, not like in my old school where I have broken practically every rule.

The castle was just in front of us, its turrets extending upwards in a prideful manner. Reid walked to the wooden bridge connecting the land we were on to the castle, which was circled by a moat of about two feet in width. I hesitated to follow him, as the bridge looked weak, but surprisingly it didn't give any groan under his weight combined with my bags, so I figured it was safe.

On the other side, he took the skeleton key from his jacket pocket and opened the steel--not wood, as I had assumed earlier--door into a well-lit corridor. "Welcome to Draker," he cheered.

There was no one to welcome me, which was fine by me anyway. I didn't want to be considered all special. I've had all that in my previous life, and this is a new leaf. I needed to be normal, not some rich, influential family's only heir. "Thanks," I replied warmly.

The corridor led to different hallways, one to the left, one straight ahead, and one to the right. On either side of the walls were two imposing staircases. Reid motioned towards the left one. "This is the West Wing, where the girls' rooms are."

I followed him up; again marveling at his strength as my bags bounced with each step he took upwards. He walked in silence, probably testing to see if any of the girls were ogling at him from their doors, because he was that ogle-worthy.

"This is your room, number twelve," he stopped at a door with the number written on a brass plate. He used the skeleton key once more and ushered me in.

It was a huge, if not grand, room, with a four-poster bed in the middle and a canopy of draperies tied around it, their ends gathered at the top in a tent-like manner. The wall opposite the bed was lined with a spotless mirror where I saw my green eyes widen with awe. My reddish brown hair fell in waves over my shoulders and I noticed Reid looking at me through the mirror. I looked back, holding his gaze for a minute, wondering what he was thinking, and then he unexpectedly smiled, a warm, pleasant smile, innocent and captivating at the same time.

He picked up the bags he had left by the door, put them on the divan at the foot of the bed then handed me my room key. It was an old-fashioned key with the number twelve written plainly on its hilt. I put it on the dresser table conveniently located within an arm's length as I surveyed the remainder of the room, the heavy curtains blocking the sunlight from filtering in through my room. I pulled them back, amazed at the sight before me. The moat, the gate, and everything beyond it I had not noticed before stood welcoming, causing a connection with this new place. There were flowers blooming in every color and the water in the moat was a beautiful shade of blue, just like Reid's eyes.

"I hope you're hungry," I didn't notice Reid was still here, and he caught me by surprise. I looked towards his direction as he was surveying one of the paintings lining the wall.

"Why?" I asked, curious.

Just then, the bell struck the hour. It was one o'clock.

"Because it's time for lunch," he smiled at me, beckoning me to follow him out of the room. "The dining hall is on the first floor, at the corridor below this stairs. You won't get lost," he reassured, as if he knew this already.

I nodded mutely, not eager to show myself in the middle of the hall where hundreds of people would be looking at me curiously, murmuring about the new girl, talking in hushed tones as they recalled what they had heard about me.

"Don't worry, the students here are really nice," Reid reassured me, but to no avail. The thought of eating alone on my first day in with pairs of eyes looking at me with judgment had already ruined my appetite. Reid seemed to notice my apprehension, as he put a hand on my shoulder. "Just sit with me, okay?"

That sounded like a good plan, sitting with the council president. He could reprimand anyone who badmouthed me.

But you're in a new school, Kayleigh. Don't preach about people being judgmental when you're also judging how they will act. Just try and be cool. Ignore all that need to be ignored. It was a plan simple enough.

Beside me, Reid was humming softly as we walked down the stairs and straight to the corridor to our right, where I could already hear voices. That must be coming from the dining hall. I braced myself. Reid coughed, entering the hall with as much confidence as a prince entering his court. I followed wantonly in his stride, hiding myself in vain. Most of the students had noticed me, and someone wolf-whistled. Someone shhh-ed, and another one laughed. There were some noises, but when Reid cleared his throat, everyone fell silent.

I looked at the circular tables filled with students busy with their food. Had I imagined they were talking about me a minute before? Because they didn't seem interested in my arrival at all. Well, at least most of them, since someone came up to me and sniffed shamelessly. Instinctively, I inhaled deeply, wondering if I smelled. But that's impossible. I never smell. Or if I did, I was pretty sure I didn't smell bad.

Everything in the hall was normal, just like a typical school. I dreaded the arrival of the mean girls, who I'm pretty sure, would make my life a living hell. I knew that from experience, since I did that to any newcomer in our school. I was one of the mean girls then. And we usually sit at the center of the room where everyone could stare at us freely and we could stare at our dominion without straining our necks. I noticed that Reid was walking ahead of me, and I followed cautiously, looking for the central table where the rulers of this school sat, waiting to devour me.

But it wasn't a throng of shrieking girls that greeted me. They weren't copy-cats of each other in pink frilly outfits. Instead, they were a group of five, four boys and a girl, all except one looking at me with interest, their eyes curious and inquisitive. But no one looked mean, thank God. Or were they just pretending? Or maybe I'm looking at the wrong table. Reid stopped in front of them and I felt my heart stop beating. Was Reid feeding me to the vultures already on my first day? And I thought he was kind!

He pulled up a chair and put it beside an empty one, motioning me to take my seat as he sat on the other unoccupied chair. He was on my left, smiling around the table with a patronizing, yet commanding stare. "Everyone, this is Kayleigh."

"No one told me she was pretty," came the greeting of a black haired boy with a confident smirk on his lips. He was eating what looked like quesadillas, and he winked at me boldly.

I returned his compliment with a steely smile, one that said I wasn't interested. He smirked even wider and actually chuckled, as if I had made a joke. "I'm Blake, by the way," he introduced himself. Between him and Reid was a boy of about his age sitting scowling for an unknown reason, his plate already empty and his glass almost out of beverage. They looked like twins, with their green eyes and black hair, but Blake's eyes were clearer than those of the one beside him. "This is my cousin, Xander," he introduced.

The guy called Xander smiled at me wryly, as though it was a burden just to curve his mouth upwards. I smiled back, telling him I knew how he felt. I felt queasy with the presence of so many strangers around me. I could barely recognize myself. When had I begun to start losing confidence in myself? I used to be able to talk to people even when I didn't know them. I shrugged it off, meaning to contemplate it later on.

Reid pointed at the person sitting beside Blake, a girl with a beautiful face, her long black hair tied in a ponytail high above her head, her face adorned with a mischievous expression. Unlike the other girls I noticed in other tables, she dressed casually in a shirt and pants. And she was devouring what looked like a cheeseburger, abandoning her dinnerware and eating with her bare hands. She waved at me dismissively as she continued to attack her food. "That's Kyle," Reid introduced.

The girl called Kyle acknowledged me once again with a tip of her head, her mouth full.

"Kyle? What a cute name for a girl," I commented, trying to be friendly.

"It's actually--"

Kyle elbowed the boy sitting beside her, who winced with pain. She gave him a long stare, and then turned to look at me with a wide grin. "It's just Kyle," she clarified. "And this one's Evan."

Evan was massaging the area where Kyle had elbowed him. He had dark-brown hair that stuck up on ends, messy yet still stylish. His hazel eyes were moist with the onset of pain caused by Kyle's elbow connecting with his ribs. "Hi," he greeted, and then looked beside him. "Since we're introducing each other, this is my brother, Spencer."

The final boy happened to be sitting beside me, who managed to take his eyes off the book he had been reading to look at me with what looked like a mixture of shock and dread. I looked back blankly, though aware of his brown eyes that danced in the light, his brown hair less messy than his brother's. He also had well-shaped, sinful lips that beckoned anyone to come nearer.

"Hi," I greeted, suddenly aware that everyone was looking at us, a faint blush creeping on my face.

"Hi," came his low voice, before he returned to what he was doing. For some unknown reason, I felt put out, my energy drained. But it didn't make any sense.

"Let's get you some food," Reid offered, standing up already. I stood up after him and saw that a buffet table was setup where the students were filling their plates with anything they fancied. Suddenly, I yearned for cheesecake, my emergency food, the one I always ate when I felt sad--wait, why do I feel sad again? I don't even know.

My first night at Draker was rather uneventful, thankfully. After lunch, Reid deposited me back to my room and handed me some papers to sign, then he left me alone to unpack. I reveled in the comfort of the room I would stay in for the school year, and hopefully after that. Every time I heard a noise in the hallway, I dreaded that my parents had already found me and were going to drag me away. But thankfully, there wasn't any knock, and no one disturbed me.

After unpacking everything, I hopped into bed and slept peacefully, which I rarely do in new places. I hoped this would mean that I was getting used to my new school already.

The bell woke me up the next day, jolting me awake from a dream I couldn't remember. I groaned, seeing that it was just six thirty. But since I had a class at eight thirty, I figured I should get started preparing. I wouldn't want to be late to my first class.

By eight fifteen, I was already waiting outside the classroom Reid had pointed out to me to last night. There was no one else around, so I opened my book and studied the lessons, eager to catch up with the other students as quickly as possible. I had never been an honor student, but I prided over being more intelligent than most people at my school. I'm pretty sure I'll do well in this school too. Maybe, with no scheming and backstabbing friends to distract me, I can even make it to the honors list.

"What's that?" came a baritone voice from somewhere behind me. I looked sideways, only to realize that Spencer was peeking at what I was reading. In that instant, his face was close to mine, his lips dangerously inches away from the corner of my mouth. But he pulled back before I could. I was starting to think that he had something against me, since he clearly didn't want to be anywhere near me. So why was he bothering to chat me up anyway?

"It's a Physics book," I answered, since it would be rude to flip him off without any reason. It's rude, though he had done it to me the night before. I'm not holding any grudge, really.

"Do you like Physics?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with interest.

"Not particularly, but I see that you do," I noted, realizing that his mood has brightened when he heard of the subject.

He nodded his approval just as the bell rang the time, and the teacher, a squat, elderly man with balding hair walked inside the room along with the students. I sighed deeply, preparing myself for my first class. How different would it be from the classes I had before?

"Everyone, settle down," the teacher commanded, but most students ignored him. He patiently waited as the students finished speaking animatedly with each other, and then finally talked again. "Alright, go back to your groups; we will have a group discussion today."

That's the problem when you enter a class two months into the semester. You are behind in the lesson, plus you have to raise your hand to tell everyone that you don't have a group yet because well, you had just arrived. "Sir?" I asked, embarrassed already.

"Yes, Ms. Woodcomb?"

I was surprised that he knew who I was, considering that he didn't bother looking for me before classes to introduce me to everyone. They must all know me already. "I don't have a group yet."

"Oh, right. Which group had only two members last time?" The teacher asked the crowd of uninterested students.