Secret Red

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first week of school was almost over without any hassle. Although she met with Jason and his friends a couple of times in their similar classes. Occasionally Jason would push her buttons till she ended up being frustrated at his obnoxious behavior. Some other times she would return the favor and made him scowled at her unpalatable behavior. Most of the disputes usually caused by how she adamantly opposed on the way he treated Rob. Other times, they just simply disliked each other. They were like north to the south pole that repels whenever they meet, ducks to the chickens that would end up in a brawl and mosquitos to the humans that only brings no purpose at all except giving an annoying as hell itch.

While his two other friends, Shane, who was more neutral, tried to avoid any dispute and Corey the chubbier yet sturdy boy was being very friendly towards her and often helped directing her to places she was not familiar with yet. Each lunch time, she would sit together with Zoe, Layla, Rob and occasionally Corey who happened to be Layla's cousin. Corey, who had curly brown hair, was the jokester who never fail to entertain the group with his goofy jests. It turned out that the boys were in the football team except Rob who was in basketball team, judging from their physique, it was an easy guess.

"Pull, damn it, Ariel!" Jason yelled.

"I freaking am, tyrant!" She screamed.

"You're not doing it! Pull!" He strained. Vexed with his endless protests, she pulled with all her might not realizing that the team had won until she heard the cheer and saw the beams on their faces. Too busy feeling proud of herself, she smug at Jason, not realizing that they had already loosen their grip on the rope, except her.

Falling ungraciously on the wet grass, the mud plastered on her butt and hands, Jason did the only thing he knew. He grinned.

"Ugh! You better drop that smug of yours. It's all your fault, now look what you've done." She was infuriated when his grin grew from ear to ear.

"Oh, I am looking at what I've done." He continued, standing on her feet with the pride she had left, she did the only thing that came to her mind. She swiped her hand across Jason's irritating face, smearing the mud onto his chiseled face, earning him an annoyed grunt.

"Oh, look at what I've done." She said in shock sarcasm, feeling proud of her art piece but her expression quickly switched as soon as she noticed the sudden change of mood on Jason who was bending down purposefully slathering his hands on the mud.

"Jason, don't you freaking dare! We're even!"

"It's my face against your butt, I don't see that being even, Ariel." He said in a chilling low, calm voice and the chase begun.

"He is impossible! He's obnoxious! Rude! Annoying! I don't understand how you're friends with him actually. I mean look at me!" She complained to Layla who held out a bottle out for her.

"Well, in his defense, he's usually a quiet and well behaved person. He's also actually really nice when you get to know him. Maybe you both just started on the wrong foot." She responded, trying to put on a serious expression looking at Alison's battle ramification, her muddy face and arms.

"Oh, I don't plan to get to know him. I've known enough. Let's just change, come on." She shook her head.

"You know I notice something interesting about you, similarly to Jason, I thought you're the quiet one until you're talking about him which turned you into a firecracker just complaining about him nonstop." She teased walking towards the school building when they saw three girls and a dark haired hooded girl who then quickly dashed away from them. It seems like the three girls were being impertinent towards the hooded girl.

"That's the trio MIA girls, Mia the girl with the very long blonde hair in white shirt, Ivy the blonde bob haired girl in blue crop top and Amber the dark-haired girl with the yellow tank top. They're from the cheerleading team and from a reputable family too. They're usually friendly and nice unless you piss them off. Though, Ivy do have quite a sharp tongue. While the girl who left earlier was Anna. They used to be friends but since her dad was arrested for drug abuse, everyone seems to be keeping a good distance from her. I don't really know much about her, actually. Just stay away from them, I don't want you to get tangled up in their webs." Layla informed holding onto her shoulder trying to make sure she does not try to do something as she did with Jason.

"No one did anything? All the talk about stop bullying when there's one right in front of our very eyes." She asked astounded.

"Well, Anna's very reserved and she'd bark off anyone who try to get close to her. While the MIA girls have been known to be friendly, actually. Moreover, we don't know exactly what went on between them so, we can't really say, Al." She replied shaking her head. They continued the rest of the day as usual until it was time to go home.

Alison walked towards her new car that her father bought upon her request, a white Chevrolet Blazer which was different from the previous car which was a white Mercedes E-class. Upon reaching home, she closed the door and took off the sweatshirt, showing a white tank top underneath. Pulled her red auburn hair down, taking off the thick glasses and made her way to her lavender minimalist room. Placed her things on the table, carried out a black box from her drawer and took out the purple letter and a picture of two girls laughing. Sad smile curled onto Alison's face as she stared at the two cheeky children wrapping their arms around each other while wearing a cute matching white shirt and tutu skirt. The young girls were laughing proudly showing a few loose teeth in the picture. They were happy, innocent, carefree and they were the best of friends. How she missed her childhood friend and tears stroked her cheeks endlessly.

Not realizing that she had fallen asleep in her cry, she noticed that it was already dark. Making her way downstairs to the kitchen, she heard her father's laughter and her mother clattering the pans in the kitchen.

"Hey dear, how are you? I went to check on you and found you sleeping. I'm making pasta for dinner. How's your first week of school, Ally?" Her mother asked while preparing their dinner as Alison pulled out a chair beside her father and sat by the kitchen counter.

"It was alright. I made some new friends and they're kind of cool." She simply shared to them. Being the only child in the family, she had no one else but her parents to share her everyday life, making the perfect example of a close loving modern family.

"It's great to have new friends in this new town. I wouldn't want my daughter to be missing the most complicated phase period of her life." His father answered placing his hands on her back.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just, I don't know..."

"Everything will be fine, dear. You can't always hide away from everyone forever. You'll fit right in, you'll make new amazing friends, you'd be an amazing friend as you had always been, Ally dear." Her mother comforted her as she tossed the pasta into the pan and threw a smile at her.

"Are there any boys? Always remember if a boy tells you he would go to the end of the earth for you, tell him to stay there." Her father reminded her looking dead serious.

"Dad! You know I've never had a boyfriend, you can trust me enough knowing that I'm extremely picky on that matter. Moreover, I will definitely be looking for a guy who is just like you, sir." She replied saluting her father.

"What is it? A new bag? New shoe? Definitely a new car, isn't it? Fine! we'll get them all by tomorrow." He joked.

"You know I don't need those anymore, perhaps new sweatshirt and jeans? I haven't got a sapphire blue and a seal grey colored sweatshirt." She pleaded as her face lit up.

"Oh Ally, I know you loved your sweatshirt collections, I just miss seeing you dressing up as you, at least wear a skirt." Her mother whined.

"I think she looks great in anything she feels comfortable in. Be it in the hideous glasses, boring sweatshirts and torn jeans, it is your choice. Just remember, you can never change a diamond even when you cover it in dirt, Ally bear." He defended her baby girl.

"Wow dad, sarcasm within the compliments, are you a teenager living in my dad's body? And it's called ripped-jeans, dad, ever heard of fashion?" She mentally rolled her eyes while fixing her long wavy hair.