Chapter 1

                                                                Chapter 1

“Morning, mom.” I said with a yawn as I plopped down on the three-legged chair in front of her with a carton of week-old expired milk and a box of cereal.

 

The chair gave a creak and tilted slightly towards the side with the missing leg. It would’ve probably been uncomfortable for most people, but after using it for a couple of years, I hardly didn’t even notice it these days.

 

“Hey, sunshine. I was just about to wake you up; you came home late yesterday. You really shouldn’t sleep late; you barely look awake today.” She gave a laugh as she sipped a cup of morning coffee.

 

“Sorry, guess I just caught up preparing for the finals.” I gave a weak smile in return.

 

I reached for my spoon when my arm suddenly spasmed and I dropped it on the floor in shock.

 

“What’s wrong with your arm? Did you sleep on it or something?” She asked as she grabbed my wrist as soon as I picked up my spoon from the floor.

 

“N-nothing! I was just being a klutz.” I protested but she just narrowed her amber eyes at me.

 

She rolled up my sleeve and gasped when she saw a red bruise the size of my fist.

 

“Who did this to you? Was it him again?” She demanded.

 

“I-It’s-”

 

“It’s nothing. Right, Dinghying?” A gruff voice coming from the living room said as he grasped my shoulder with one of his greasy paws.

 

I have a lot of people that I don’t like, but this man topped my list with no extra thought. My step-father Paul was the bane of my existence. My actual father was murdered four years ago in a mugging gone wrong when we were visiting Korea. We returned back to Canada after that. Carl actually seemed like a decent guy with dependable income when I first met him. He was in a neat suit, had on a fancy cologne, and a bouquet of roses to top it all off. It was only after mom tied the knot that we found out he was a gambling and drinking addict along with being three grands in debt. Now he resides as a cave-troll in the couch 24-7 in nothing but a beer-stained hockey jersey and a pair of dirty boxers. That was why we ended up living in a run-down apartment while she had to get a job as a cashier in a nearby supermarket.

 

“It’s Donghyun.” I mumbled under my breath.

 

“Whatever. Sounds the same, anyways.” He said as he ruffled up my already messy black hair.

 

“Carl!” My mom yelled as she stood up while slamming her fists on the table. “The hell is wrong with you?! I thought you swore you’d stop beating him!”

 

“Why are you trying to blame me for? I was just trying to toughen him up! The kid’s nothing but a little shrimp!” He said as he pulled on a pair of pants and tightened his belt.

 

“Donghyun is the top ten in his grade!” She hissed. “And where do you think you’re going?!”

 

Mom tried to grab his wrist but Carl just slapped it away.

 

“Back off, woman. I’m just going to buy a couple of smokes. God knows I need them to deal with you and your Asian son. Mark my words, Cecilia- the kid has to grow up one day. If he doesn’t, well, let’s just say he won’t last very long in the REAL world when you’re not there to protect him.”

 

After that, he just slammed the door on us and headed out. What a marvelous way to start the morning. Well, at least he didn’t use the belt this time.

 

“Argh! You useless piece of-”

 

She screamed as she flung her empty teacup at the door, making it shatter into a million pieces. She just then buried her face into her arms and I heard her muffled sobs.

 

I grabbed a dustbin and a broom we had stored under the kitchen counter and began to sweep up the pieces. While I did that, I tried comforting her.

 

“Look, mom… I-I know things have been, well, rough on us the past few years…” I stuttered out as I swept up all the broken fragments and slid it into the trash bin.

 

“It’s all my fault. I’m a terrible mother.” She whispered.

 

I put a hand on her shoulder and she slowly looked towards me. I shook my head with a smile. She stared curiously at the last remaining shard I held in my thumb and index fingertips.

 

“…B-but I heard that the stars shine b-brightest when the nights are at their darkest.”

 

I quickly changed the shard with a poppy I had under my sleeve so it gave off the illusion that the flower appeared from thin air. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and I could see those ambers sparkle. With a trembling hand, she reached out and took it.

 

“You are the most sensitive boy I know. If there’s one thing I did right, it was raising you.”

 

“I j-just wish Carl could see it that way. Though, something tells me he never will.” I said as I finished my breakfast in lighting speed and headed towards the door.

 

“What he thinks doesn’t matter, sunshine. You just keep being yourself.”

 

‘But will that be enough?’ I thought.

 

“O-our day will come. I know it. We’ll endure this. I know we will. See you when you get back!” I said as I opened the door to face the world once more.

 

“Have a great day at school, sunshine!”

 

Yeah… About that…

 

Turns out having good grades didn’t exactly guarantee an easy road during high school. If academic skills were a road, it’d be smooth as a newly paved road. My social skills, well…

 

“Have these done by next week or I’ll introduce my fist to your face! Dong…um…something.” Colin threatened, throwing a wad of papers at me while passing me in the hallway.

 

“S-sure.” I mumbled as I crouched down on the middle of the busy hall and picked up each paper.

 

No one stopped to help.

 

Things got worse when I got to my locker. That was a new low, even for my standards.

 

I noticed that there was a small crowd gathered there. Some where laughing and giggling. Some just stared and pointed. Some had their smartphones out and were snapping photos with blinding flashes.

 

“Excuse me. Sorry. My bad.” I mumbled as I pushed my way through the crowd.

 

In bold red, somebody had spray-painted ‘GO BACK TO CHINA’ on my locker. I immediately flushed pink as I realized the laughter and stares were actually directed at me.

 

If there was a cliff nearby, I just wanted to jump off and die.

 

I didn’t even have time to wash it off, since I was already running late to my first class. I got out my textbooks and bolted to the classroom upstairs as if my legs were on fire.

 

I made it in the nick of time, then proceeded to my usual seat in the front of the class, right next to the teacher’s desk. As usual, the seat next to me was empty.

 

“Alright, everyone; shut up!” The history teacher/drill sergeant Mr. Anderson barked at us.

 

With a crew cut, camo pants, and muscles that seemed to be made of steel, he looked like he belonged in the military instead of a public high school. In less than three seconds, everyone stopped talking, headed back to their seats, and put their phones away.

 

“Alright, everyone. Since the finals are coming up, I decided to have a world World War 2 quiz tomorrow. Today, you’ll be pairing up into pairs and ask questions from pages 78 to 194 to practice. You may pick your pairs. Start!”

 

I groaned as I banged my forehead with my book. This was looking familiar. Way too familiar.

 

“E-excuse me, do you-”

 

“Sorry, I’m partners with Paige.”

 

“O-oh. Okay.”

 

I went to ask another.

 

I found another guy who hadn’t partnered up yet, but as soon as we made eye contact, he zipped out of his seat and asked the guy sitting three seats over.

 

In desperation, I turned to one of the girls who smoked behind the school with her friends, but before I could even get a word out, she flipped me off.

 

In the end, I sheepishly returned back to my desk alone, whilst everyone else had a partner.

 

“Gray! What are you doing all alone?! Where’s your partner?!” Mr. Anderson barked at me.

 

I answered him with my head down.

 

“I…I didn’t find one, sir.” I whispered out.

 

I braced myself for a scolding for not following his orders, but he just gave a sigh.

 

“I see. Well, I suppose it’s my fault for assigning pair work for a class with an odd number of students. One group will have three members, then.” He then turned to the rest of the class. “Which group would like to include Mr. Gray over here?

 

No one spoke up. Or even raised their hands.

 

After two minutes of embarrassing silence, Mr. Anderson gave up.

 

“Fine! Mr. Gray, I’ll let you study by yourself for this class. You’re the only one in this class who can actually ace a test without help, anyway.”

 

That got a lot of people glaring at me, but that wasn’t anything new. In this school, anyone who didn’t ignore my existence was my enemy. So, literally half the school.

 

“T-thank you, sir.” I stammered and he nodded at me.

 

Five minutes into the class, Mr. Anderson got called by a faculty member and left the classroom. As soon as he was out, the insults began hurling in.

 

“No wonder nobody wants to be your partner.” I heard someone hiss behind me. “I mean, with all the sucking-up you do.”

 

“Stop acting so pathetic!” I heard another practically scream at me. “Your act keeps getting the rest of us in trouble.”

 

“It’s not an act, Trish.” A third told the second voice. “He’s just a big baby.”

 

My pencil snapped in half just as I was finishing jotting down a timetable. I sighed as I fished out another from my pencil case. For six years I’ve practiced blocking all these negative voices and opinions, but the most hurtful ones still wreak havoc at my eardrums.

 

And my heart.

 

The voices stopped when Mr. Anderson re-appeared in the classroom, but not alone. It was a girl. She had red streaks running down her black locks, along with dazzling emeralds for eyes. S She definitely didn’t seem like somebody I’d want to mess with, judging by the vicious smirk on her lips and the deep scar running down from her left cheek to edge of her lip- wait, was that a brass knuckle sticking out of her pocket? Despite the scar and her eerie presence, she was easily the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

 

She must’ve caught me staring, since those emeralds fixed onto me. With a grin, she put her to her lips.

 

Like I’d ever tell. Been there, done that. Having my arm broken was not an experience I wanted to live through again. Thrice.

 

“Students, this is a new student who’ll be joining your class for the remainder of the period.” Mr. Anderson addressed the class. “So, uh, why don’t you introduce yourself, miss?”

 

“Sure, sir.” She shrugged. “Hey.” She gave a wave with a flirty wink.

 

I felt my face heat up as I quickly averted eye-contact.

 

“Beth, sit with us!”

 

“Forget them, join us!”

 

“No, us!” Practically everyone screamed.

 

“Seems like you’re quite popular, Night.” Mr. Anderson mused. “Not that’s much surprising…” I heard him mutter under his breath. “Miss, you have two choices.” Mr. Anderson told Beth. “You can either A; study together with a classmate, or B; study independently. So, what’s it going to be?”

 

I immediately started working on a face to hide my disappointment that she didn’t choose me, so I was beyond shocked when she plopped down her dirt-stained backpack on the desk next to mine and sat down.

 

“Y-you’re sitting here?” I stammered as I dumbly stared at her with my eyes round as marbles.

 

She already had her legs on the desk and hands in her pockets even before the teacher returned to his desk right in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at my question.

 

“What, you don’t want me to sitting here?” She said with a smirk.

 

“No!” I immediately blurted out, which caused her to giggle. “It’s just that, uh, nobody usually wants to, unless they want help with their homework or something…”

 

“Oh, think yourself smart, don’t you? Well, maybe I’ll just do that one day.”

 

“Night! Take your goddamn boots off the desk before I confiscate them! Unless you want to walk around the school barefoot, I suggest you comply.” Mr. Anderson warned.

 

“Heh. Sorry, sir. It’s an old habit.” Beth said with a flushed face and changed to a proper posture.

 

She then looked at me.

 

“Now, uh, what are we supposed to do, again?”