Hunt Me Down - Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Nathaniel’s POV
When I woke up, the sun had not even risen. I lied in my bed, my hands at the back of my neck, staring at the ceiling while trying to prepare myself for yet another first day of being the new kid. I knew I’d have to fake so many polite smiles today that once back home, I’d feel like my lips were permanently stuck upwards.
Tiësto’s Break My Fall rang, startling me and I realized it was time to get up. The sun was now shining; I could see that through the white curtains. But its bright light brought me no comfort; I was still as reluctant to go to school. With a deep sigh, I turned off my alarm and went to my sister’s room.
“Vallery… Are you up yet?” I asked, knocking on her door. When I didn’t get an answer I opened it and went inside.
She was spread out on her stomach, with one of her hands hanging from the bed and her legs tangled in the sheets. A soft snoring sound confirmed my suspicion that she had yet to awaken.
I approached her and lightly shook her.
“Sis, it’s time to get up,” I started gently but she answered me with only a groan so I went on: “Come on, Val, or we’ll be late for school!”
“It’s too early…” She began to protest but just then her own alarm rang.
With another groan which quickly turned into a yawn, she got up and swiped her finger over the screen to turn the music off. I watched her take some clothes and head for the adjoining bathroom. I waited until I heard the shower turning on and only then I headed towards my room. I knew my sister well; if I had left her sooner, she’d just go back to sleep.
Following her example, I took a quick shower, once again thinking of the day ahead of me. I was not looking forward to it. A new school, new people, new teachers with new methods and expectations… God, I hated having to start all over again!
Did I have anything to look forward to?
It would’ve been a bit easier if we started school at the same time as everyone else instead of a good few weeks into the school year.
I getting out of the shower, I dressed plainly - blue jeans and a white button up shirt, hoping it would help me blend with all the other teenagers in school. As a rule – my rule - I never wore anything that attracted too much attention or something that showed off my figure; that was Val’s style. And yes, the moment I went downstairs for breakfast I saw her dolled up in a tight short blue top and her favorite pair of black jeans that were clinging to her lower body. She had shaped her eyes with eyeliner and mascara and her lips with some of that glossy concoction that girls were so fond of. At least her light brown hair was styled casually - in a high ponytail.
I looked around the kitchen and noticed our dad had already left for work. That was not uncommon for him, so I thought nothing of it and just sat down to eat.
Throughout all the time we had breakfast, we listened to our mom chirping about how exited she was to be starting anew and how she already met one of the neighbors – a Miss. Harris, who came to welcome us and was even thoughtful enough to bring us brownies. My sister and I kept quiet and just exchanged glances every now and then. By the looks of it, Val was sharing my feelings about the fresh start and not our mother’s enthusiasm.
When we were finished with our breakfast, mom insisted she’d drive us to school early and after saying goodbye to her, we went to get our new schedules.
The door to the office was opened so Vallery and I walked in. The place was small and a lot untidier than the one in our previous school. The woman behind the knockedabout desk was nothing like the professionally-looking, strict yet helpful lady that ran the office back in England; this one was drowsily leaning her head over her left hand while jotting something down in a scrunched piece of paper.
“Hello,” I greeted but she gave no indication she’d heard me so I spoke a little louder: “Excuse me?”
“The Principal is not here,” she began in a bored tone, still not looking towards us. “Whatever you did, sit on the couch and wait.”
“We don’t need to see the Principal,” I said and approached her desk. “We are Vallery and Nathaniel Reed and we transferred here from England. It is our first day here.” She gave me no reply so I went on: “We came to get our schedules.”
The uncooperative woman sighed deeply as if I was asking her to fulfill some tremendous task which was not a part of her job then got off her chair and started rummaging through some of the drawers in the right side of the room.
“What was the name again?” She asked a minute or two later.
“Reed,” my sister replied impatiently. “Two Reeds – one Nathaniel and one Vallery.”
“Which year are you supposed to be?”
“Twelve,” Val replied and the plump woman turned to face us for the first time since we’d entered her office.
“Twelve?” She repeated bewildered.
“Junior,” I clarified, thinking of the American equivalent.
“Twelve,” the office lady murmured with a sneer, fishing out two files.
“Here,” she took a sheet of paper from each folder and handed them to us; mine had stains on it, the smell giving away they were from coffee. The woman walked away without another word and sat behind her desk again. Val and I took that as our cue to leave her.
“Have a nice day,” I hesitantly wished on the way out but once again, I was deprived from a reply.
The first thing we did after we got our programs was to compare them. Val and I let out simultaneous groans when we realized we didn’t have many classes together; we both preferred to be around each other instead of having to bond with new people once again. I had one more reason to want to share classes with my twin: that way I could keep an eye on her and she was less likely to ditch.
“Well, at least we have homeroom together,” she remarked as we made our way through the gradually filling hallway in search of our lockers. Thankfully they were next to each other.
“Vallery…” I started with what she liked to call my parental voice.
“Don’t ditch classes, don’t talk back to the teachers, don’t frighten our classmates…” She listed in a bored and perhaps even slightly annoyed tone as she knew exactly what I was about to tell her. “… Don’t get into fights, don’t get into trouble and aim to pretty much be anyone but yourself.”
“I wasn’t going to ask you to be anyone but yourself. I was just hoping that you’d keep yourself in check.”
She rolled her eyes and muttered “same thing.”
“Please, Val, at least try to make it through the first week without ditching or getting detention! Do it for me, okay?” I pleaded as I knew it was the only way to get to her; if I attempted to boss her around, she’d just shun me away.
We had arrived at our lockers and dialed the combination to open them. Val had no problem with hers but mine was stuck. I pulled and pushed the door several times but all I succeeded in was getting peeved and making my sister laugh at my futile attempts. She slightly pushed me out of the way and then smacked my locker. Apparently that was the right approach, because it finally opened.
“It just needed a woman’s touch,” she stated with a playful smirk.
“Thanks!” I mumbled and started taking things out of my blue messenger bag and putting them in the locker. Following my lead, Vallery did the same. I noticed she had far less notebooks coming out of her black backpack.
“Are you sure you packed everything?” I asked her.
“No,” she replied shrugging then added: “I can always borrow from you, right?”
“And in the classes we don’t share?”
Another careless shrug.
“Vallery…”
“Fine, I’ll bring the rest of my things tomorrow. And I’ll try to be good for at least the first week,” she promised, getting back to our previous topic. I could tell she wasn’t very fond of the idea. The irritation in her voice and the way she slammed her locker’s door were telltale signs of that.
We searched for the room in which Homeroom was held and I couldn’t help but notice that some of the students were looking at us. Was it that obvious that we were new?
Was it our British accents that had given us away?
I took notice of the way they looked at us: they were checking us out. I inwardly groaned. I really didn’t like all the attention. Vallery was either oblivious to it or just didn’t care. It was probably the later. After all, I was the shy one in our family.
*****
I was two classes down for the day with only four more to go. So far, it was tolerable. The last one I had I did not share with Vallery so now I was in a hurry to find her. Perhaps I was worried too much but she had gotten in trouble on the first day of school before. I stopped at our lockers – the place we agreed to see each other during recess – and anxiously awaited her arrival.
“You look familiar,” someone behind me noted and my jaw dropped once I turned around to face the pair of grey eyes that belonged to none other then the bleached blond guy I’d seen making out on the evening of our arrival.
“You were staring at me and Cameron the other night. Did we startle you?” He asked, leaning on the row of lockers and cocking his head to the side.
“I didn’t, no,” I replied quickly then attempted to clarify: “I mean, you didn’t startle me and no, I was not startled.”
“Really?” His tone was teasing. “’Cause you ran away pretty fast. Was it the first time you saw two guys together?”
“Yes, but don’t worry; I won’t tell,” I said as heat flooded my face.
He pushed himself off to stand before me, placing his hands on the lockers behind me, his arms bare inches away from the sides of my face.
“Do I look like I care if you tell or not?” I gulped at the coldness in his tone. “I could grab any random guy and kiss him right now and I couldn’t care less what anyone would think or say about it. Hell, I could even kiss you.”
I sucked in a breath and vigorously shook my head at I tried to move away from him but was prevented b the wall of lockers behind me. My reaction seemed to amuse the boy and a smirk graced his lips.
“Come to think of it, you are kind of cute.” His hand brushed my cheek and he cocked his head to the side again. “And I like your accent.”
“Leave my brother alone,” someone calmly insisted and we both turned around to see Vallery standing a couple of feet away from us. Her voice may have displayed no anger but her fisted hands meant she was ready to spring to action and pull this guy off me in an instant.
“Are you going to let a girl fight for you?” The boy was facing me again.
“No,” I lightly pushed him and stepped away from him. “And she shouldn’t either. I keep telling her violence isn't the answer.”
“And I keep telling him it works fine for me,” she smiled cockily.
“I like you, girl.” The boy said, mirroring her expression.“Maybe I should fight you,” he went on with a wink.
“What? No! Stay away from my sister,” I shot out, stepping between the two of them.
“Oh, so that's the way to get a reaction out of you?” He laughed.“I’ll have to remember that for later. It's Hunter, by the way; Hunter Harris,” he introduced himself just as the bell rang.
Uncharacteristically for me, I did not tell him what our names were. I just grabbed my twin and speedily dragged her off to class, fighting the urge to look behind us to make sure that guy was not following us.
“Harris… Now where have I heard that name before?”