We met at sixteen

" Kyle! What's taking so long? " I heard my mom shout from downstairs. So I took the last box remaining and dashed out of my room. I wasn't going to stand there and think about the good times I had in that place. 

Mostly because there were none. 

Nor was I going to give myself the cliché pep talk on how I would miss my friends or how my mom had ruined my life by making us move. On the contrary, that was the most logical decision she had ever made in all her eleven years of parenting. 

" Finally, " she said as she rolled her eyes. Then she led me out and placed my box on the moving truck before we went to her car. It was old and beat up. But I have never loved that metal piece of overused steel more. Because it would lead me out of this place. We were moving to Boulder Colorado. And I would be able to start my life a fresh. 

No more getting thrown inside my locker. No more mean boys spreading rumors about me. No more feeling like I'm not good enough. I was finally leaving those bullies behind. The same people that had made me hate my existence. That had made me lock myself up in my room and cry myself to sleep for countless nights. 

The same ones that never failed to take advantage of any sort of weakness I had. I still feel hurt whenever I think of the things they did to me for the past couple of years. It's like their shadows are forever following me, making me unable to move on entirely. 

I hate them. All four of them. But I hate HIM the most. Because he actually made me trust him just for him to stab me in the back. And the fact that we're moving does not mean I'll ever be able to either forgive or forget either of them. 

Most especially him.....most especially Austin O'Grady. 

God.. I hate him!!! 

⭐❄️⭐❄️⭐❄️

Five years later.....

I love calculus, I like the fun play with numbers, solving problems that always think they're unsolvable. But on this particular day, I was unable to concentrate during that class. I was busy thinking about my mother, wondering where she could have been. It had been three days and yet there was still no sign of her. Of course this wasn't anything new, I was used to her disappearing and then turning up when she felt like it. Normally she'd just go out and drink herself to near death before she recalled that she had a son and staggered her way back home. But this was the longest she had been away and I was genuinely starting worried. If she wasn't back by tomorrow then I would consider actually going to the cops. 

The bell rang, dragging me back to the present, to my harsh reality. I sighed and started placing my books in my backpack. Then I recalled I had to hand in the assignment I had done for extra credit, the teacher smiled at me as he took the book and assured me he'd go through the work before the following day, when I went back to pick my backpack, Max and Kira were already at my desk. They were basically the closest friends I had at school. And we had been close since I moved to Boulder High five years ago. 

We just clicked. 

" Is it just me or did that lesson take longer than usual?" Max complained as he stretched. Looking sleepy. I chuckled, knowing that if there was one thing he hated, it was anything that had to do with numbers. 

" Dude, you slept through half the class, " Kira countered, reaching up to comb her hand through her red hair. 

" Don't forget we have a quiz next week, you'd better get over your phobia and pick up a book, " I offered Max my unwanted advice, he scoffed and said he had everything under control. Of course he didn't, but the last thing I wanted was for him to think I was judging or anything, so I let the matter be. We made our way our next class, Kira said bye to us since she was the only one who did art. The rest of us had Chemistry, and Mr. Arnold had already told us to meet in the lab for an experiment. He was however, late as usual. 

I resulted to going through my notes and trying to stay a few topics a head of everyone. Unlike most people, I needed to keep up my good grades, it was hard enough having to basically take care of myself and all my needs, which once again had me thinking...where exactly was my mum?!

Some chemicals and apparatus for the experiment had already been set out, Max was seated next to me, playing a game on his phone, he had been planning on getting creative with the chemicals but I had prevented him from doing so. 

A few minutes later, some girls from our class walked in and occupied the two vacant seats behind us. The class was in full on chaos mode, I could hardly concentrate. Each time I tried to read a sentence, someone would either laugh at a bad joke or make one. 

" He's so hot!" One of the girls behind us said, I tried to zone out their conversation.

" Where's Kylie?" 

" Probably hang back to try and get his attention,"

" She's such a bitch! But I'm sure she's not even he's type, "

" Oh and you are?"

Okay, there was no way to sit there and not listen to their teenage boy problems. They were probably talking about one of the football guys, Luke maybe. He actually wasn't that bad, kinda good--, okay, enough of that. I needed to focus, the only thing on my mind ought to be my studies, the girls went on with their chat about the guy, each one claiming that she had spotted him first so she called dibs. I was grateful when Mr. Arnold finally came to class and out an end to all the noise. The class went on quite well, he gave us a topic to go through before our next class and left before the bell rang, saying he had graded the test we had done the previous week and would give us the results the following day. There were groans and mumbling throughout the class, but after he was gone, the noise was back, and I once again had to endure listening about a boy crush. 

During lunch, I spotted Kira as she basically ran over to us, her backpack in her hand and a look of utter disbelief on her freckled face. She immediately sat down, reached for Max's bottle of orange juice and drank from it, then her eyes widened and she smiled at us. 

It was the same look she wore each time she had gossip to share, and since we were the closest friends she had,we were always the unlucky recipients of the information.

" Oh my God!" She almost shouted, then she blew out her breath and started fanning her face with her hand. Acting all flushed. Max frowned and asked her what was up, I wish he hadn't done that, I really never cared about what went on at school unless it had to do with my classes. Kira held Max's upper arm, I watched how his eyes fell to her hand before he swallowed and looked up at her. She seemed to be struggling, searching for words. I looked around the cafeteria, everything seemed normal, well, I wouldn't notice otherwise but still.

" Guys, I think I just met the love of my life!" She exclaimed excitedly. Max's face fell and I rolled my eyes. 

Kira met a new ' love of her life' every week. And every week Max's poor heart broke for reasons I chose to keep to myself because I didn't want to ask him and make him uncomfortable.

" What else is new? " I sarcastically asked, Max was about to put on his headphones but Kira snatched them from him, forcing us to listen to her. 

" I'm serious this time Kyle, I mean, have you seen him?" 

" Seen who?" 

" The new kid! Oh man, it's a good thing I broke up with Chris...this is destiny. "

I was never going to understand girls. I had no interest in trying to figure them out, actually, apart from Kira, I had never really hang out with any other member of the female gender. Well,there was Jenna,but things with her were a little complicated. I sometimes feared she was actually stalking me,but I had been able to avoid her all week so my life was stress free. 

" I need to find out as much about him as I can!" Kira said before she looked around the cafeteria, then she spotted some of her other girlfriends and she picked up the bottle of juice and stood.

" See you after school!" She said.

" Where are you going?"

" To do some detective work on my next boyfriend!" she said as she basically strode away. She always got hyper whenever she came across a guy that caught her attention,but today she seemed even more eager and affected. I turned to Max who was busy pretending to be listening to music, his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. I sighed, shook my head and went back to my assignment. I always tried to finish it before going home. I had a job at a record store and my shift started thirty minutes after classes ended, so I barely had enough time to get everything done. But after Kira left I realized that my focus had shifted completely. I thought about the girls at Chem class,about their little Convo, then about Kira's fascination with the new guy. Looking around once more, I spotted that a number of the girls were seated in little cheery squads, and they all seemed to be invested in their talks. If my suspicions were correct, they were all talking about the same thing. 

I couldn't help but grow a bit interested, I mean, how hot could a guy be?