1 Philemaphobia Chapter One

Urgh...I was definitely not thrilled to be back at school after summer break. For me, the only good thing this year had to offer was graduation at the end. My school spirit was at an all time low this year.

I walked past a couple of new faces and successfully managed to stay away from the ones who felt like they were on top of the world. I made it to my locker without having to talk to anyone. Aimless talks flowed through the corridor and I was glad I wasn't part of it.

"How was your summer?"

I spoke too soon. I took a deep breath and turned to see my best friend with a dumb grin on her face. Cherry and I had bonded in 5th grade over our weird names. Ever since we've been as close as shit.

"It was just boring." I replied. "The only thing I enjoyed was the air con in the library."

"Nerd!" She chuckled.

"I'm not being nerdy." I shot back. "I had a summer job there...I didn't go to read."

Cherry gave me a blank stare and I sighed in defeat. We both knew that I'd rather be at the library than spend time with people pretending to like me. I opened my locker and took out a spare notebook.

"Cheer up. New school year means fresh meat." She smiled gleefully pulling me into the crowded corridor.

Every school year we'd have to go through the painfully slow system of getting our new schedules. Us seniors would have to go to the gym to get the piece of paper that would control the next few months of our life.

"Since when are you a cougar?" I asked referring to Cherry yapping bout freshmen. She rolled her eyes and elbowed me at the side.

"I'm talking bout the new guy in our year." She answered with excitement developing in her tone. That only happened when she heard new gossip.

"We have a new guy?" I scrunched my nose up.

"Yeah!" She said and took out her phone to show .me some texts. "See! Elene told me bout this new guy and apparently he's a hunk."

I halfheartedly read through her texts with Elene nodding when I thought was necessary. However, I knew that the moment the new boy got into my radius, he'd be filled with numerous rumours about me. Those rumours would ensure I'd never even get to talk to him.

"Christian's saving us seats in the gym." Cherry spoke up as she pointed to the back of the sweaty dome of hell.

I tensed up as we walked past Drew and his group of idiots. Honestly I wasn't surprised when one of them stuck out his leg blocking my path.

"How was your summer Lippy?" Drew grinned. He didn't even wait for a reply. "Hopefully you didn't go kissing any boys. We don't want the mortality rate of this town increasing due to your hormonal antics."

Believe me when I say almost the whole gym broke into laughter, obviously having heard the conversation between Drew and I. Cherry stepped foward and kicked the idiot with the leg obstruction square in the balls.

"Keep it up Drew and you'll be next!" She threatened the guy who made my life a living hell.

"That's enough Mrs. Remember that this is only the 1st day of school. Although no one wants to see him procreating anytime soon, violence is never the answer." A loud voice boomed through the gym signalled the presence of the principal.

Mr Maina was a very cool principal. Everyone seemed to like him despite his strict punishments. Cherry was a likeable character too. She got away with almost everything.

I stood there rooted still embarrassed by what just happened  when Cherry grabbed my arm and pulled me to where Chris had saved us seats.

I gave Chris a small smile and stared straight ahead. I didn't wanna attract attention. I preferred blending into the crowd which gets pretty hard sometimes when your nickname in school is 'Killer lips' or 'lippy' in short.

I decided that the only way to endure this long welcome back speech was to lean against the wall and close my eyes. Maybe sleep would help me get through this last year of hell...