Ch: 1 My Normal Life

Rhea's POV 

"Wake up Rhea! You will be late for school! Again!" I was shifting around in my bed when I thought I heard my mom's voice calling me, or did I? Definitely a dream, I thought as I continued to shift in my warm, fuzzy bed, not caring about the incessant shouts coming from downstairs or even the beeping sound of my alarm, however it took me a second to think it over as it was slowly coming to me..school...school..SCHOOL! I immediately checked the time and...it's 8:35!! I cursed under my breath as I hurried out of the comfort of my bed and into the cold bathroom for my morning routine. By the time I was done it was already 8:45, this is really bad! I wore my school uniform in a hurry, not even caring if it looked neat or not, and rushed downstairs for a quick breakfast.

The first thing I saw were my parents sitting on the kitchen table, "Morning mom! Morning dad!" I greeted them with a kiss on their cheeks as they greeted me back. "Morning. You are late but I do advise you with breakfast young lady." I gave my mom a cheeky smile before I grabbed an apple and ran out of the house almost tripping on my loose shoe laces, "Be careful on the way princess!" I heard my dad's voice behind me and snorted at the child-like nickname, "Sure thing, dad! Love you!" With that, I took off to my destination: hell.

I ran as fast as my short legs could take me, well I wasn't exactly that short, I was about 5'5, which is pretty decent and average for my age, it's just that my legs weren't particularly long, my neck and torso were the only things helping with my height.

After an exhausting 20 minute run, I finally made it, though it was already 9:10, which means our first break had started. I looked up at our school building, here it was, the source of every teen's suffering, standing right before my eyes. With a deep breath, I entered my high school with a grumpy expression plastered all over my face, that is, until I felt someone jump on me from behind and we both went crashing to the concrete ground, a very hard one might I add "GOOD MORNING!"

I chuckled at my best friend's cheerfulness in the early morning, "Hardly one when you are on the dirty floor, in the middle of the hallways and covered in dust don't you think so May? Oh and let me not forget, in the early morning too." I groaned at the impact. She looked at me mischievously and quickly helped pull me up on my feet. 

Once we brushed the dirt off our cloth we both burst into a fit of laughter before it abruptly stopped with the sound of someone clearing their throat. I tilted my head, ready for the absolute worst, to the side hesitantly only to see my other best friend, Grace, glaring at us, well, more specifically, me. You see, Grace was kinda like the mom of the group, she is always the caring and compassionate type, but her speeches were none of that. As for May, let's just say that she is the difficult type of person to deal with, no kidding.

"Okay, look, before you get angry and start your fancy lecture, I may be just a teensy weensy bit late, however it really wasn't my fault! I over slept because the stupid alarm couldn't do its job properly and wake me up, truthfully!" I hurriedly started explaining, even though I know more than anyone just how stupid that excuse was, especially since it was a big fat lie.

My best friend was still glaring at me and my tongue just couldn't say anything else to try and defend me, it was a traitor I tell you. I started shifting uncomfortably under her scrutinizing gaze, "Umm sorry?"

With that, she tightly shut her eyes before looking at me and said "A bit? You just missed the first 2 hours of school and a really important exam! The one that counts 30% of your grades! 30 Rhea! We are almost graduating, and you just overslept?" Grace gave me the "are you even serious" look.

"Look I know, and I am sorry, I promise I am trying though, you know I am." I said apologetically, hoping she wouldn't start lecturing me, that was the only thing I was concerned about at the moment, her blabbering has no bounds. Please no lecture, please no lecture.

She sighed while shaking her head and said "Fine then. In any case, I tried to cover up for you and told the teacher one of your family members was hospitalized and u had to accompany them there this morning, and with a little bit of persuasion, he agreed and said that you would be able to repeat the exam next week, you would have to stay after school to finish it though." From the corner of my eye, I saw May nodding her head, "You should have seen her, she was on fire, as usual"

A burst of laughter came over me and my eyes sparkled when I heard what she did, giving Grace a big, tight bear hug "Thank you, thank you soo much! I won't let you down next week, I promise! I will study my butt off for this exam!" I smiled at my clever headed friend, she smiled back and flicked her finger on my forehead "You better" she said playfully. "Alright! Since this is all settled down," May said as she hooked me and Grace's arms to hers "Our first break of the day started and we only have 9 more minutes so it's time for lunch ladies!!"

. . .

The three of us walked to the cafeteria and were met with loud noises. We bought our lunch and settled by a table at the very last corner of the room, away from all the hustle and bustle in the middle. We started chatting and laughing with each other, enjoying every second of the time we have together, as the saying goes 'gather ye rosebuds while ye may', we were heading for college really soon, and who knows how often we will be able to meet up, or if any of us will have to study abroad.

However the fun died down the moment our eyes caught 2 girls heading towards our table and stood directly in front of us. Lena and her pitiful squad, well more like sidekick actually, I have no idea why she even has one. Let me explain, like every other cliche high school story, we have our own drama queen, okay not exactly. Lena wasn't exactly beautiful, not to judge, and wasn't even liked, by literally no one. She just went around the school thinking she was something big and popular just because she is a big shot's daughter or something, when in fact, it was far from her imagination. 

Everyone disliked Lena, even those "popular" teens, whom were much nicer than her. Lena was actually quite liked back then, but her attitude got her to her current situation, one ''friend'' and a single life. I even heard her father thought of her as an embarrassment, probably a rumour? Kinda sad, but would you blame him? The problem is that, she wouldn't even change herself for the better and simply insist that she has done nothing wrong, and that she is the best of the best, on top of the world, Mrs Queen Bee!! Okay, now I am just exaggerating.

Honestly I would have loved to become her friend, and so would May and Grace, we even tried. Unfortunately, she would rather hang out with the queens of the school, who wouldn't even look in her direction, and when they did, its mostly about "borrowing" money. Somewhat related to this, we became mortal enemies, we can't even stand each other's presence anymore.

"What do you want now Lena?" May spoke up first. Lena gave her a look of disgust, ignored her, and tilted her head to look at Grace. See? That's the attitude I was talking about.

"Hey, Grace!" Lena smiled at her, ughh I forgot just how much I hate that voice, the"time for unneeded flattery" voice. "I just came over to say that the school president is holding a council meeting after school and asked me to send you the message"

Unbelievable..of course Grace would know that, she is the vise president, she would be the first to know especially since she is the one who organized the meeting in the first place!! Oops, I forgot to mention that she was exceptionally stupid, my bad.

What a lame excuse to approach Grace, at least think of something better. Grace nonchalantly looked up while replying composedly "I already know that, I just don't understand why the president sent you of all people to inform me for just that."

Lena looked a bit flushed before covering it up and answered "Oh well, he just spotted me in the corridor and asked me to give you a quick reminder as all", Grace still keeping her cool. She raised an eyebrow, and I knew she was getting annoyed, "Wouldn't he have just called me then, we DO have phones after all"

Haha, I really love Grace, she always talks bluntly with Lena which is absolutely hilarious. She began getting even more flustered and didn't know what to say while stuttering with her words. She isn't much of an "enemy" to be honest, she just does these stupid things all the time, and she always goes off running like a rooster at the end, and the problem is that we have to keep up with her bullshit every single time.

"U-um well actually..oh!-" Okay, I reached my 2 minute limit of breathing the same oxygen as hers. Just thinking of sharing something with her gives me nightmares. I interrupted Lena and completely ignored her unperceiving presence.

"Look at that! Our lunch break is almost over, let's walk outside for a bit before we head to class, I am soo tired of sitting around all day." I said with fake sadness, May immediately joined in the fun, trying to further embarrass Lena after ignoring her

"YES! Great idea Re! Come on Grace, we are SO wasting our time here doing nothing, just staring into thin air while we could be outside breathing in FRESH air" She emphasized on some words, Grace stood up with us, "Alright, let's hurry up then". K.O! Take that! I glanced behind me to see Lena and her "friend" glaring daggers at us with an unbelievably funny look, it took everything I had not to laugh right then and there.

"She Doesn't give up at all" Grace broke the silence. "I know right?! She is trying so hard to annoy you Re, however, all she is doing is embarrassing herself to a highly unbelievable degree! She isn't even learning from her mistakes..I am tired of keeping up with this, I can't wait for graduation" May mumbled annoyed-ly.

I gave them a funny look, "Let her be, at least we have our own share of drama to laugh at once in a while, life is boring after all." I said with sigh, not caring about what happened back in the cafeteria, it happens every day and to be honest, its getting old, even for me.

Call me heartless all you want, but let me tell you, I tried enough with her, she is hopeless. *RINGGG* "Well that's break, let's head back inside before we get to class late" The three of us speeding in our steps before the teacher reaches the classroom first.

Hell finally decided to let us go, for a few hours only of course, it isn't as merciful as you might think, nope it isn't. We still have to wake up early again tomorrow and go through the same old torturous routine. My friends and I bid each other goodbye and I walked back home. Going through a long 25 min walk really took a toll on me, but I have been doing this for years, so my stamina has been built up quite well.

I finally reached my house and went straight inside. It was completely empty and silent, typical. My older sister is in college in a far away state, my younger brother is living with my grandparents and my parents were most likely at work. I took off my shoes off and went upstairs to change my cloth and do all my soon due H.Ws.

After finishing up and cleaning a bit here and there, I headed to the kitchen for a bite of something EDIBLE, cafeteria food was barely ever considered one. It was still oddly quite though. My parents are usually back home at this time.

That's when I noticed the note sitting on the kitchen counter which read, "Dear Rhea, Your father and I went back to America to solve a case we have been working on for a while, I am sorry we haven't told you this in person but it was a dire emergency and it couldn't wait, we will be back in approximately 8 weeks, please take care of yourself and write to us often. Stay in contact with your sister and brother, Your Dearest Mother and Father" Well, this explains the silence, oh well, guess I have the house all to myself for 2 month, That's what you call the best thing ever!

                            . . .

Hello readers! Okay, I know this chapter was a bit boring but it was important to introduce our 3 characters here and an addition to the female character's enemy. And if you are wondering which country they are in, it's actually in the UK. I promise the next 2 chapters will be the best! That's when the FL finally meets the ML. I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***