The Fighter and His Tiger (Unexpected Love #1)

1. Monday Week One

Rei's Aesthetic^

1. Monday Week One

It was daunting; facing your fears. But it was something that often left us feeling better off in the end.

The faded brick of my high school looked the exact same as it did last time. A part of me liked that it was unchanged, stable. But the other part, the part that knew that going in would not make me feel better in the end, was angry that the world seemed to go on despite my personal plight. 

"Hey, if you don't wanna do it, no-one is gonna make you Reillyn," he squeezed my hand and I looked over at him. Noah. My best friend since the young age of five. There wasn't a moment since I'd met him that he hadn't been right by my side, supporting me; except the moments when I wouldn't allow him to. 

Bright forest green eyes met my murky green ones and somehow managed to infuse me with comfort from the one simple look. I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile as I tucked a long brown curl behind my ear and nodded, "I've got to go in at some point No-No, can't hide out forever."

With another reassuring squeeze and a smile at my childhood nickname for him, we both started towards the school. I don't really know what I was expecting but I liked the fact that no-one knew what had happened; that it was a secret between me and mine. 

Just as it appeared from the outside, my high school was unaltered, lockers slamming, girls gossiping, boys jumping around like they were drugged up on something. 

My perusal of the halls that somehow felt unfamiliar now was interrupted by a mass of platinum blonde hair that came barrelling towards me so hard and fast that Noah had to steady me with secure hands on my back to stop me from falling on my ass.

A squeal shot straight through my ear, "I've missed you so much Rei, I'm so glad you're here," she pulled away to shoot me a broad smile, "I'm so proud of you!" 

All I could manage was a half-smile as I hiked my bag further up my shoulder, "yeah, thanks Kinsey, I've missed you too." 

"The real question, Tin Can, is; did you miss me?" Noah winked excessively, making me roll my eyes and Kinsey blow out an annoyed breathe. Noah had been calling her that since middle school after she got annoyed at us once and drew faces on the metal part of tin cans and naming them as her 'real friends.'

"Don't call me that Noah, it's not frickin funny anymore"

"Fucking, Tin Can, just say fucking"

School books reminding me of where I was and what I had to do all day were slotted neatly into my locker as they began walking off to homeroom together. I smiled a little as they began their usual back and forth banter which was mainly just Noah teasing Kins and her getting increasingly mad; some things never changed.

"Hey, chica, how you doing?" Iliana, the third member of our group of five, asked me as she stopped at my locker. 

Lana had always been absolutely stunning from her olive skin to her long silky brown hair threaded with lighter highlights that always made her appear as though she had been kissed by the sun. 

"Yeah, I'm all good," I closed my locker and scanned the green which was sprinkled in her light hazel eyes, "I just want to get back to normal."

"That's true, and it's easier to just rip the band-aid off, si?" Her sexy Spanish accent was definitely something to be jealous of. She had the ability to swear and insult someone in a different language, leaving them none the wiser; definitely a superpower. 

On our way to homeroom, we caught up with the fifth member of our group, Tori. She was the complete opposite of me and Lana, very quiet and reserved, often with her head in a book or the clouds. She was completely convinced that nothing in the real world could ever be as exciting as what she reads in books. The more that I experienced the real world, the more I realized she was probably right; the world was a pretty dismal place.