Time-Bomb-

I woke up tired as hell, which was a consequence I knew I'd have to face yesterday. I couldn't help it, though. I was diagnosed with insomnia last summer. It kept me up for hours after I intended to sleep. When I did get more than three hours of sleep, all that came from it were horrifying nightmares. Violent, heart wrenching, and vivid as hell lucid nightmares. Anyway, that's besides the fact.

I slipped myself out of bed and onto the floor. I pushed myself upwards still rolled up in the mass of blankets that were once on my bed and started on my way to the kitchen. I walked down from the pull down ladder (my room was practically an attic), then I went down the second flight of stairs to reach the kitchen.
I pulled out a box of cereal and poured myself a decent amount just before it was snatched from my hands by a younger kid.
"You're a bit crabby this morning, Alex."
"You're a bit crabby this morning," he repeated in a really high pitched tone which he constantly claimed to sound like my voice.
"Dick," I spat, before I sat down at the table. He flashed me his middle finger and sat across from me.
I ate my breakfast quickly, mostly to avoid Alex or anyone else.

After I was ready I left the house to get to the bus stop. Today was the second day of school. Aka, the day I start dreading my existence. I got to school just on time because the first bell rang signaling everyone to go to their classes. I walked in long strides to get to my math class quicker. Calculus was the only class I felt moderately interested in yesterday, so I didn't mind having to go to it.
I cautiously walked into the classroom and paused to take a look up at the board because seating arrangements were now made. I sat in the very front center (teacher's pet much), and I was in between some kid named Taylor, and Mike Fuentes. I took my seat and settled in, waiting for the rest of the class to flood in. Mike and Vic walked in at the same time and Vic took his seat in the very back of the classroom while Mike sat next to me. I didn't bother paying much attention to him, though, after Taylor took a seat next to me on my left.

"Hey, I'm Kellin," I smiled at her.
"Tay," she said briefly. Not really paying much attention to me.
"Nice to meet you, Tay. By the way I love your shoes," I said. Reeling her into my trap. If that's what you'd call it. I just wanted to be liked, so I buttered people up a bit.
She looked at me, smiled, and turned her attention back to unpacking her backpack. It wasn't long, though, before she took a second glance at me and stopped what she was doing.
"Are you new here?" She asked.
"Guilty," I admitted.
She smiled big at me, and brushed the hair out of her face.
"We should hang out sometime," she said, practically captivated by me.

It's become that easy. I wanted to avoid making enemies at all costs during my high school experience. All of my life up to this point I've been pushed around because I didn't know how to get people to like me. I was the weird kid. I will no longer be the weird kid.
"Yeah, whenever you want to hang out, I'm free if you are," I smiled at Tay. Her cheeks went rosy and she smiled back at me.
"Hey, Kellin. We're partners!" Mike exclaimed from the other side of me.
"Hah, yeah, I guess so," I said, trying not to sound like I wasn't completely annoyed by him. Something about the Fuentes brothers bothered me.

Lunch came much faster than I'd expect it to. The day just goes by so fast. I looked around to make sure no one was around and I pulled out my pen and notepad. I jotted down all of the dreams I had last night. It was a lot to remember for the past few hours. It just sits there circulating my mind until I'm able to write it all down in detail, then I allowed myself to forget it all. I couldn't forget anything until I wrote it down.
As soon as I finished I looked up and saw Vic hanging over me.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Uh, writing down my homework," I lied.
"I didn't know I was part of your homework," he winked.
Aw, shit. He's probably read a lot more than he should have.
"Listen, I don't want any trouble. Can we just forget this whole encounter happened?"
"No," he grinned, "I know what you're doing."
"What exactly would that be?" I asked.
"Writing about me, because you love me," he teased.
Well, that was definitely not the answer I suspected. I couldn't help but laugh.
"No, Vic, that's not what I'm doing," I sighed.
He nodded and took a seat on the floor next to me.
"I-I," was all Vic managed to sputter out, he let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.
"What?" I asked, confused by his sudden lack of confidence.
"I like you, Kellin."
"Uh, sorry, you don't," I spat. He didn't even know me what the hell is he doing?
"I do," he persisted.
"Vic, we just barely met. Why would you want to be my friend?"
"No, Kellin. This is more than a 'just friends' kind of thing," he admitted.
I was speechless, really. I didn't think my charm would have this kind of affect on someone. How could Vic like me?
"I like you because you're cute and pretty damn clever," he said, almost like he was answering the question I asked myself.
"Listen, Vic, I'm not gay, and I’m most definitely not interested," I said to him as if I were talking to a child. I wanted to make it very clear I didn't want to have anything to do with him. Besides, he wasn't even my type.
"Yes you are," he nudged me with a shit-faced grin.
"Yeah, right, like you know everything about me," I said sarcastically.
"I do," he confirmed, matter-of-factly.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. What was he trying to get at? I don't see why the hell he can't go mess with someone else.
"I can prove it, ask my anything," he challenged.
Oh, come on. Did he really think that he could answer anything about me. I figured I ask him the easiest question I could think of, only because we were practically strangers.
"What month was I born in?"
"April," he said confidently.
"Hm," well that was strange, "lucky guess. You had a one in twelve chance, that was pretty fair."
"April 24th," Vic said.
At this point it just got plain creepy. So I have a stalker on my hands.
"Uh, I have to go..." I said, taking mental note to stay the hell away from this creep.
"Wait. No. Please. I won't tell if you don't!" He pleaded.
"Tell what?"
"Don't tell anyone what I just did, I won't tell anyone about your freaky dream book," he said. So he did know what it was after all.
"Uh, sure, okay."
I guess it was a fair compromise. I mean, I didn't exactly intend on talking about Vic Fuentes to anyone, but if that's all it takes to get him to do what I want, then I mine as well.
Vic smiled, "thanks."
I nodded and stood up while pulling my backpack over my shoulders. The bell was about to ring.
"Let's walk to class together?" Vic suggested.
I couldn't help but feel sympathy towards him. As annoying as he was, maybe he was just lonely. That's probably what it was.
He laughed and shook his head at the floor. I just chose to ignore it while we kept walking to class.
"So, why are you rejecting me?" He intervened with an annoyed smile.
I was so damn creeped out, really. All that was circulating through my mind was how damn creepy he was. How the hell did he know my birthday? He'd have to go through confidential files to find something like that.
He looked up at me and sighed," Never mind, Kellin. I'm really sorry I'm, uh, taking things too fast... Aren't I?"
"Uh, a little," I sassed. I couldn't help myself. He was being so abnormal.
He nodded and walked faster to get ahead of me. I just shrugged it off and continued on my way.
I turned around for a second, you know, just out of habit. When I turned back, Vic was out of sight. Once I go to class there wasn't a trace of him. I guess he was ditching today. As much I didn't like the guy, I couldn't help but feel bad for shooting him down. I had to be a lot nicer if I wanted a good reputation here.

*The Next Day*

I yawned into my Calculus textbook, trying to hide how completely tired I was from getting absolutely no sleep last night.
"Good morning," Tay smiled at me as she took her seat.
"Morning," I flashed her a small smile as well.

Mike took his seat right as the bell rang. He looked viscous today.
"Good morning, Mike," I said softly, just in case he was grumpy because it was morning. He glared at me for a few second then rolled his eyes and turned away. What was his problem?
"Hey, Kellin," Tay poked at my arm.
"Yeah?"
"Want to eat with my friends and I during lunch today?" She suggested cheerfully.
"Sure," I smiled big.
She cheered and handed me a paper with a number on it.
"Call me at lunch."
"You go it."

It was now lunch and I was getting ready to call Tay when she appeared behind me.
"Boo," she giggled.
"Almost got me," I teased.
Her and I walked out to center court, receiving many stares of jealousy and adoration. I guess Tay was pretty well-known at this school. We sat down at a table with a group of about five or six.
"Hey guys," Tay said in her normal happy voice.
"Hey," I said, taking the opportunity to introduce myself to everyone, "I'm Kellin."
They all welcomed me and Tay decided to introduce them to me.
"This is Zack, Jenna, Josh, Hayley and Andy."
I nodded at them and grinned.
"Are you a freshman?" Hayley asked.
"Uh, yeah."
"Hey, don't worry. He's actually really cool, alright?" I heard Tay whisper to Hayley.
"Wasn't worrying," Hayley said, and leaned against Josh's shoulder. He gave her a small peck on the cheek.

We spent the rest of lunch just talking, I was mostly listening and taking note of all of the gossip I needed to know about everyone. I was welcomed so easily. This 'group' was exclusive, but if one person loved you, they all had to love you. They were of course all seniors, except for Andy, who was a junior. A cute one, might I add. He had pale blueish-green eyes and dirty blonde hair. I'd totally be all over him if it weren't for the fact that it would ruin my plans.

Later that day I ran into Matt before my last class.
"Hey," I smirked.
"Hey, man. I saw that you hung out with the popular kids. How the hell did you score that one?"
"They're the popular kids?" I asked. I was pretty sure they were anyway, but the extra reassurance was just what I needed.
"Yeah, man. They practically run the school."
Perfect.
"Oh, I didn't know that. Hey, I've got to get to class, see you later, Matty," he gave me a weird look after the new nickname I gave him, but I was in such a good mood now I couldn't care less.
This was perfect. I had just the plan to get myself a free ticket to popularity.
‹ Chapter 1

Notes