2 Metal Gray

Only when we were out of the lion's den and clear of Gayle's hearing distance, did Scarlet speak. "Oh my god, you didn't mess that up." She looked to be in surprise, her voice a pitch higher than usual.

I was just about to complain at her lack of faith in me, when the boy behind us spoke, "well, she almost did."

Hot or not, I settled him with a glare. One corner of his lips turned up in a slight smirk at that, an amused look in his eyes. I wondered if I'd been too quick to judge. He suddenly didn't seem like the quiet nerd I'd originally taken him for.

"Yeah, what the fuck was that about?" Scarlet frowned, her previous relief gone.

I struggled to come up with a reason on the spot, racking my brain to pick Gayle apart somehow. It wasn't very difficult. "Uh...she had lipstick on her teeth."

He laughed, "what are you, five?"

"No, but she really acts like it sometimes," Scar let out another heavy sigh, looking at me like I was her disappointment child.

I eyed the two of them with distaste, "I haven't even started the school year, but y'all are ganging up on me already, huh?"

Scar grinned and threw an arm around me in true sisterly fashion. "Ian and I are just stating facts, babe," she said, pulling me along as she walked down the hallway, back towards the lockers.

Ian, huh? So his name is Ian Park. It suited him well.

I turned to him. "So what exactly does your job as my monitor entail?" I wasn't really curious, neither was I particularly excited that Gayle went this far to keep me 'in check', but now that the opportunity for romance had shown itself, I wasn't planning on shying away.

"I'm not sure," he spoke, keeping in step beside Scarlet. "She didn't really explain much, just told me to tell her if you seemed 'fishy'." He finished with air quotes, and I could tell he was among the majority that didn't give Gayle the kind of respect she expected from us. She could only blame herself for it, really.

"So you're basically supposed to snitch," I rephrased in simpler words.

He shrugged with a half smile. "Pretty much"

"But when did she arrange this? We didn't discuss it in the meeting. I had no idea she was going this far," Scar spoke out of curiosity. Additionally, it seemed like an attempt to let me know that she really wasn't aware of it, or she would've told me. Though, I never really doubted her in the first place.

"Fred, the counsellor, reached out to me yesterday, said Gayle needed me for something. I've been wanting to stay in her good books anyway, so I didn't mind," he casually explained, stopping right before the row of lockers started. "Well, I need to go the other way, so I'll probably see you guys in class," he gestured towards the washrooms and the two of us nodded in understanding.

"Oh right," he said as he suddenly remembered he was still holding my stuff, handing me my timetable and the school prospectus. "I'll see you later," he smiled.

I stared after him for a couple seconds, trying to figure out if he was an annoying brat or actually a nice dude. I couldn't tell with all the mixed signals he threw around back there.

"What's wrong?" Scar's clueless face popped into my vision, and I shook off the familiar feeling creeping up my heart.

"What's Ian like?" I decided to ask the most credible source out there for now. I mean, Scar was be pretty oblivious sometimes, but she could read people well to some extent.

"What, you like him already?"

I rolled my eyes, "he's hot, but no. I just want to know what I'm dealing with for now."

"Hmm..." she thought to herself for a bit. "Well, everyone seems to hate him for being a know-it-all. Plus, he can be pretty aloof most times, not the easiest to get along with. But if I had to say, after being with him in the student council for almost a year now, I think he can be nice if he wants to. Really just depends on whether he likes you or not."

"So you're saying he dislikes most of the student body?" I asked, my brain already working out how my time with the guy will end.

"You could say that, I guess." She breathed out a laugh when she read my expression, "hey, don't make that face, we don't know if he'll dislike you yet."

"Everyone here hates me," I reminded her. To the people here, I was still just a crazy bitch who'd been left loose. There's no way me and that guy are gonna get along, I should've known.

"Not everyone," she pointed to herself, her puppy dog eyes on show. I would've easily caved under her charm, had I not been exposed to it since birth.

"Nice try. Let's just go," I sighed, pulling her along as we made our way to my new locker. It was the corner-most one, right at the end of the hallway, but it was clearly noticeable long before we reached anywhere near it.

I heard the whispers as we passed through the hoard of students, most of them making way on seeing me. It was all like white noise, completely meaningless, but it still made my head hurt.

Scarlet stopped, her hand pulling me back. "We can just turn around and go to class if you want," she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but I could hear the subtle rage in it. I shook my head, letting her hand drop as I walked towards it anyway.

Oh, right. I almost forgot to mention, but there's another word people often used to describe me.

At the end of the hallway, there on my locker, spray painted in red and clear, bold letters was the word;

'ARSONIST'