The oddball

My mother and sister almost knocked down the door of my room by knocking so much to get me to come out and eat. I told them I was studying and would come down soon, but to be honest, I'm not hungry at all and I have no desire to live.

~Flashback~

"Look at her, she looks anorexic!" commented Sasha, the blonde girl, and all the other girls burst into laughter.

A few months ago, my parents' separation hit me hard. My grades dropped, and my appetite disappeared.

"She's just a bag of bones and an idiot!" shouted a brunette I had never noticed before, while the others continued laughing.

I left the bathroom half-dressed and went home to lock myself in my room.

******

That same summer, I was working at a fast-food restaurant late at night.

"Hey, beautiful," he winked at me. That blond guy with green eyes was gorgeous and from another school. He would often come by to grab something to eat.

"Hi," I blushed, and he gave me a perfect view of his teeth.

*******

"I would never go out with you!" he burst out laughing along with everyone at the party.

"Have you not seen yourself in the mirror? I would rather die than be with someone like you." My tears streamed down my face, and I ran off, colliding with someone at the door and spilling alcohol all over me.

I heard the loudest laughter and hit the guy's arm as he tried to help me up. I got up as fast as I could and ran out of there.

That July night, I made a promise to myself never to cry again, to get up without any fear, and not to believe in anyone because of that guy I dated for a while, who ended up cheating on me with the blonde girl who mocked me in the school bathroom.

I arrived home and took a knife, staring at myself in the mirror. I grabbed that bundle of black hair and cut it off.

It used to reach my shoulders, black, full of shine and straight, but now, only that trendy masculine cut remained.

"Goodbye to makeup..."

I locked away everything I had in a drawer with a padlock, along with all my light-colored skirts and shirts with childish patterns.

"Today is a new beginning!" I say to myself. "Enough with the teasing, enough with the suffering."

From today on, I will write on these pastel pink, fruit-scented pages. From today on, I will no longer be Chloe Summers, and I will welcome Brad Summers, the tough guy of the school.

I slam the notebook shut and throw it under the bed.

"Goodbye, Dear Diary. Hello, new life."

The alarm clock blares loudly in the room. I wriggle between the sheets like a worm to reach it, and when I finally manage to do so, I toss it with a strong hit to the side of the room, and the infernal sound disappears.

"Phew... Finally, I can sleep," I cover myself up to my head and drift off into dreams.

"Brad Summers, it's time to get up!" my mother shouts as soon as she enters.

"Just five more minutes, Mom," I mutter.

Who doesn't get annoyed when they're woken up at six in the morning to go to school after staying up until two in the morning watching horror movies? Anyone who says "Not me" or "It doesn't bother me" definitely needs to see a psychologist or a biologist to determine if they're human.

I nestle a bit more between the sheets when I feel that tsunami fall over me. "D*mn it!" This time it's my sister Zoe, whom I observe with an empty water jug and a mocking smile.

"You're dead, shrimp!" she starts screaming and running through the house, calling for Mom.

"Mom, Brad wants to kill me," Zoe tells her as she enters the kitchen. I bite my lips, holding back a giggle since despite being 17 and starting the second year alongside me today, she still behaves like a little girl.

"Brad, go get dressed already! And take my car so you won't be late." I nod and rush to my room to get ready.

My mother gave me the choice to change my name and gender on a new birth certificate, which she used to enroll me in a new school.

My mother was very supportive, as was Zoe, and when they found out what had happened, they took care of packing everything and deciding which city we would move to.

"Time to go, shrimp," I comment, holding the keys in my hands and going downstairs, playing with them.

"Goodbye, Mom!" we shout in unison as we reach the door.

"Goodbye, my darlings! Behave yourselves! Brad, take care of your sister!" I nod, laughing at how silly I am since she can't see me, and get into the car.

As soon as I start it, Zoe does her thing and plays Katy Perry's "Part of Me," which fills the car.

"Zo, turn it down, you're going to make me deaf." My voice sounds barely audible, and I notice that she ignores me as she keeps wriggling in a strange way. I huff and take control of the sound, lowering it.

"What are you doing!? I was listening to that!" she shrieks, and I swear if looks could kill, I'd be buried right now.

"You can still listen to it, I just turned it down because the volume was hurting my ears." She huffs and adjusts herself in the seat with crossed arms, to which I shake my head, laughing.

We arrive at the school, and I park the car. We walk to the entrance, and I notice everyone's gaze on us. I don't know why, but it doesn't matter.

"Give them a sly smile," Zoe whispers. I furrow my brow but follow her advice, giving that smile often used by playboys.

Two girls near the lockers on the right bite their lower lips, looking me up and down, and that's when I understand what Zoe wanted to achieve. I burst into laughter, and my sister joins me.

~ Ethan ~

"You've got competition, bro," Fred comments as he arrives by my side while I put away my books.

"What are you talking about, Fred?" He nods his head, indicating that I should look down the hallway. I furrow my brow and follow his gaze.

With a cocky smile of a novice and a childish face, a guy enters alongside a smokin' hot brunette.

"He's no rival, Fred," I comment with a smile.

- Do you think so? Because Sara, your ex, is flirting with him. - He says without further ado, making me turn around like the exorcist. My younger brother wasn't lying. Sara, the cheerleader leader, with big breasts and red hair, was flirting with the new guy at the lockers.

- Who's the guy trying to get with your ex, Ethan? - This time it was Ryan, my friend since fourth grade.

- He's the new guy. - Fred comments cheerfully. - It seems like there's competition this year. - I close the locker with a loud bang.

- There's no competition... That mama's boy is nothing compared to me. - I'm fed up. Nobody gets with any of my exes the day after we break up! NOBODY!

I straighten up and walk over to where the new guy and the beautiful brunette are talking. I put on my best smile and give the guy a slight shoulder bump, then blatantly look him up and down.

The brunette furrows her brow and says a few things that I can't hear, while the guy stares at me intently. I swear, for a few seconds, my shield crumbles to the ground, causing me to crash into a locker, surprising my classmates and friends.

I rub my chest where I hit it and turn around once again, hoping the new guy didn't see it, which thankfully he didn't, as he wasn't in the hallway.

How did he manage to leave so quickly?

- Tell me that was to get the attention of someone important.

I glare at the brunette and growl, realizing that the hit hurt more than I thought.

- I don't remember this locker being here.

- It has always been here.

Esteban destroys my excuse without further ado, and I give him an indirect look, something he catches on to and raises his arms in surrender.

- Nobody should find out about this, okay?

- Whatever you say. After all, we wouldn't want to say that we're dating someone who tends to bulldoze everything in their path.

- I didn't bulldoze anything. That just appeared out of nowhere.

Fred looks at me with raised eyebrows and walks away with Esteban to go to class, while Ryan signals for us to leave.

We enter the classroom, making a grand entrance, and I realize that the teacher is only calling us.

- You've been reassigned to a different class.

- What? Why?

- I don't know. They mentioned something about Fred and some things over there.

I sigh and follow Ryan, who already has the paper with the new classroom number.

"New Classmates"

I entered the chemistry classroom, eliciting several sighs and flirtatious smiles. Ha! Let the new guy try to top this.

I took a seat at one of the desks at the back, next to Ryan and Esteban, my lifelong friends, so to speak.

We started talking about the game that would be taking place tomorrow, and today there would be a selection of two new members because the last ones retired due to silly "injuries."

— Good morning, class, — We reluctantly turned to look at Mr. Tomas, aka "Four Eyes," due to his huge bottle-bottom glasses. — Today, we have a new student. Let's welcome Mr. Brad Summers — Goodbye to calmness, hello to the storm... The new guy entered the classroom with a boyish face and a smile that made my stomach churn, causing sighs from the girls, as I could see.

— Take a seat in front of Mr. Ethan Grey, — he pointed at me, and the girls looked at me as if the character from that "Fifty Sha