October 15, 2012

A few days after settling in to my new home in Los Angeles, I was already on my way to school. My older brother, Nirvan, drove off with me in the direction LA high was. I then felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up at him from my seat. I’m a short guy okay?

“Hey, are you going to be fine?” he asked me once I made eye contact with him. The way he looked at me said he picked up on hesitation from me, but nodded as he patted my shoulder in a comforting manner. I then answered his question,

“Yeah, I’ll be okay.”

Nirvan smiled and bid me goodbye after I quickly hugged him and got out of the blue Subaru he drove.
“Call me if anything happens, okay?” Nirvan hollered out to me as I walked toward the building. I turned around with a cocky grin and moved my fringe out of my face before I yelled back at him,

“Geez you can be such a dad sometimes, but I enjoy the pampering!”

Nirvan rolled his eyes and snorted at my remark intoxicated with sass, while pulling out of the school driveway. Man, I love my brother mainly because I can be sassy with him all I want. Once he left, I carried on with my schedule, and put my earbuds in while scrolling through my playlist, which mostly consisted of My Chemical Romance. Hey, they’re my favorite band and one does not simply get over their break up. Bless all of those other poor emo hearts. As I approached the doors, I pulled out a little slip of paper containing my locker number and combination. All was going well until someone violently crashed into my side. I groaned because they hit the arm that was still taking its sweet time emerging from its comatose, and looked to where the impact came from.

“Oh! Sorry!” a girl around my height with long cotton candy pink hair shaved at the sides apologized. She then bent down and picked up a sketchbook that she had dropped when we bumped into each other. God, she’s so pretty. Seriously, caramel colored skin, really weird green eyes, and pink hair? A walking piece of abstract art. Absolutely gorgeous!

“No it’s okay, um, can you help me find my locker? I just moved out here, and I don’t know squat”,I shrugged it off after looking down at my palm that still held the pink sticky note. She looked at it and nodded.

“So what’s your name? Where are you from?” she asked as she literally dragged me through the buzzing hallways.

“Nikolai, and I’m from Oregon”, I mumbled,

“You?”

She looked back at me and grinned,

“Erica. Erica Sanchez. Can I call you Nik? You seem like a nice guy.”

I nodded and continued to follow her, or more accurately, let her carry me. To be honest, I’m really digging the Latin accent she has; sassy and quirky. Within a few seconds, we made it to a less crowded hallway and stopped in front a locker, obviously. I thanked her and started to open it to put my less important stuff away. Once I was finished, I carefully closed it and noticed that she still hadn’t left my side. She was typing something into her phone and smiling. Not the flirty kind of smile just the “my-friends-are-gonna-be-the-death-of-me” smile. Suddenly a boy about a foot taller than us, made his way over to us in that “macho-man” walk. He strutted over to Erica and I from behind her. I knew this guy was trouble because of a smug grin plastered over that punchable pug face of his. And this isn’t a compliment at all. I’m sorry, I just don’t like pugs. My jaw suddenly dropped after catching his hand slap Erica’s butt as soon as she put her phone away in her black vest pocket. She gasped and whipped around with her binder to smack him, but he dodged it and got defensive.

“What’s your deall Aron!” she yelled at him and managed to slap him upside the head. Good. You go girl.
“Whoa! Calm down Erica, it was just a prank bro!” he acted as if he were being attacked.

“That wasn’t a prank, pendejo! You touched my butt and you know damn well that I’m not okay with that! My God you’re parents failed at raising you!” she snapped at the taller blonde boy. He glared at her for a while, and then his gaze lingered on me for a brief moment. I shuddered and tried to move away slowly, but before any of that took place he called me out. Great.

“Hey you! Skinny emo kid. I’m giving you one warning to stay away from her. She’s mine”, he shouted at me. I stared at him for a moment before deciding to go mess with this knucklehead. I looked over at Erica to see her looking pissed. And I mean pissed.

“Excuse you mister! I’m a human, not a Barbie doll you think you can claim!” she yelled walking up to him with a puffed out chest. I smirked to myself as I thought of a comeback that could potentially end his will to live. Chill, I’m being the sarcastic sass queen I was born to be. Aron turned around and snickered,
“Oh, I’m sorry I fell asleep waiting for you to go make me a sandwich”, he said like any idiot would. She stood her ground in front of him while using the death glare every woman has. Seriously, if you piss off a girl, they have this glare that could end you right on the spot. Just, respect women, okay? Is it really that hard?
“Go back to sleep and starve!” she said with poison laced in the calmness she used.

I choked back a fit of laughter at her comeback and I hoped he didn’t hear me, but it looks as if luck is done covering for me. Aron turned around once again and glared at me. It didn’t phase me the way Erica’s glare did when I looked at her, but that’s not important right now considering the fact that he’s now towering over me.
“Oh I think my bunny slippers just ran for cover”, I said without thinking. I suddenly realized what had slipped out after looking up at this macho-man wannabe. I took a few steps back while smiling sheepishly, and tensed up when the cold metal of the lockers made contact with my back.

“What did you say?” he growled and tried staring me down.

I suddenly felt all of the fear leave my body as my inner Tony Stark was activated.

“You heard me”, I returned while placing my hand on my hip. I’m not kidding, this guy’s hair looks like a failed science experiment; a strange yellow on the radioactive color spectrum.

“Like you could take me in a fight, shorty”, he sneered. I raised an eyebrow at this,
“My fist can still reach your face Donald Trump.”

He then got even more defensive and stepped forward in a threatening manner.

“Hey man, why don’t you just leave? Last time I checked we didn’t schedule an appointment for you or your crap”, Erica said as she walked around him to stand by my side,
“And he’s not going anywhere.”

I suddenly regretted everything I said because at this moment, this very flipping moment, he lunged forward and pinned me up against the lockers out of anger. Well, this is it. This is how I die.

“Hey! Let him go you jerk!” Erica screeched and started to pound her fists against his back. The second his hands wrapped around my neck was the second I pictured my funeral; my dead body in a black and red coffin (because I’m emo), black, white, or red roses decorating the place (because I’m emo), “Welcome to the Black Parade” being played in the background by a local band, not an orchestra (because I’m emo), and finally, everyone in the funeral house dressed like “Black Paraders” (because I’m that emo). All of that lasted for about three seconds because he suddenly let go of my neck after hearing a body part violently collide with another. Probably a hand. I hesitantly opened my eyes and saw Erica standing by me. I took the hand she offered me and stood up.

“Are you okay?” she asked once I stood up. I nodded and grew extremely curious as to what happened to Aron. There, on the floor, lay the blonde macho-man wannabe clutching his nose and groaning in pain. Next to him, stood another boy that was almost as tall as him, but closer to my height. This guy had short, dark brown hair, really pale skin, but not to the point where he looks like a vampire made of sugar, and really pretty light blue eyes that contrasted nicely with his hair. He wasn’t buff, but he wasn’t lanky either. He was just somewhere in the middle. My heart suddenly skipped a beat. Oh no he’s hot! He then looked at me with a stoic expression and began walking over to me.

“Did he hurt you?” he asked once I stood up.

Holy crap his voice is deep, but it’s so alluring. I shook my head and continued to hold Erica’s hand as I stared at this guy for a while longer. He nodded and averted his eyes for a brief moment before putting a hand on my arm. Oh god he’s so gentle!

“The name’s Andy”, he murmured after what felt like a long period of silence.

“Andy... thanks by the way, you know, um… f-for earlier”, I mentally slapped myself for stuttering, but I smiled like an idiot at him. Real smooth, Nik, real smooth. The bell suddenly rang and I realized I had been staring at him for a while. He chuckled after I snapped back to reality and felt my gut drop from embarrassment. Andy walked past me and lightly patted my shoulder in the process.

“You’re cute”, he mumbled before disappearing into the swarm of students going in different directions at once. I froze for about three seconds before taking out my schedule and frantically scanning for my first period. Art.