The chapters are going to come slower from now on.
Happy New Year's Eve to everyone!
And thanks for your comments, in advance.
I hope it manages to meet your expectations.
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Did that boy ever get angry?
After Nathaniel and I had a war of words, I gradually got tired of talking and stomped on his right foot, hoping to shut him up. His reaction was to yelp in pain and bend over to clutch his foot. Then he looked up at me and weakly smiled,
“Damn, you sure know how to hurt a person.”
Consequently, I realised that I had injured Nathaniel in the clear view of his two brothers. Crap. I tried to cover up my horrified appearance and my cheeks were tinged a light shade of pink. From my peripheral vision, I could see Nathan wearing a very amused expression. On the other hand, Nate was observing us with a poker-face. For the briefest of moments, I saw mirth in his eyes. It only lasted for a mere second, then his eyes seemed to turn hard and unreadable. If I had blinked, I would have missed it.
“Sorry.” I muttered.
“Nah, it’s cool.” Nathaniel grinned goofily at me, showing his cute dimples.
Damn it, Melody.
I sat down, flustered. Opening my biology textbook, I continued reading up about cell mitosis. All around me, the students in the class were introducing each other; some had been former classmates in junior high. It was hard to concentrate with all the ruckus, but I managed.
To my right, I heard Nathan speak all of a sudden.
“Hey, you’re back!”
“Nathan! Long time no see!”
“We just met like a week and a half ago.” Was that Nathan’s girlfriend?
“Yeah, but I still missed you.” The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on who it was.
“What about me?” It was Nathaniel who spoke, with an edge of playful whining to his tone.
“Umm, hey, there’s someone I want you to meet.” I felt a prod on my shoulder. I raised my head to look and next to Nathan, stood the unsually tall girl. Helen.
“You!” The both of us squeaked.
“You’ve met before?” Nathaniel lifted an eyebrow in surprise.
“Yeah, like a few minutes ago.” Helen replied, while I stayed mute in embarrassment, recalling what had happened.
“Helen… did you just squeak?” Nathan asked incredulously.
“O-of course not!” Helen snapped, but a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “You must have heard wrong. I don’t squeak. Ever.”
“And are you blushing?!” A laugh escaped from Nathan’s lips.
“I’m not! Shut up, Peyton!” It was obvious that she was agitated.
“Anyway,” Nathan chuckled, shaking his head. “This is Melody Keyes.”
I saw a flicker of recognition in Helen’s eyes. “You’re Melody Keyes?”
I nodded, confused. She sounded like she knew me.
“Nathaniel has told me a lot about you.” I immediately turned to glare at him.
“What did you say?” I asked in a low voice.
He raised his hands up in the air as if to surrender, “Woah settle down, Tiger. Chill, I didn’t say anything bad about you, I promise. I’ll take a blood oath if I have to prove my innocence.”
“You sure took a long time in the ladies, Helen. So, I assume your nose is all powdered up now?” Nate interrupted, speaking in his bored voice.
“God, what is with you, Nate? I don’t powder my nose!” Helen growled. “I bumped into Nielson, okay?”
While Helen spoke this, Nathan leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Helen doesn’t like people thinking she does girly stuff. As you can see, she’s kind of a tomboy. Must be influence from her best friends.”
“So the three of you are best friends with Helen?”
“Yup. Ever since we were ten. She’s a real fun person to be around with, even though it might not look like it right now. Her surname is Keeane, in case you didn’t know. Helen Madeline Keeane. But don’t use her middle name, she doesn’t like it. Nathaniel often gets a beating for doing that. The boy never learns.”
Huh. He even annoys his best friend. How do they manage to stay best friends like that?
“I can introduce myself, Nathan.” We turned to face Helen.
“You were talking to Nate.”
She thrust her hand out at me, “Hi, my name is Helen Keeane.”
I grasped her hand and shook it, “H-hi, I’m Melody Keyes.” She already knows, you moron. “Nice to meet you.”
“You haven’t finished telling me about Nielson,” Nate cut in, looking at us with his dead-pan expression.
“Basically, I bumped into Nielson, she was terrorising a girl, we exchanged a few words, she stormed off. The end.”
“What did you talk about?” Nate pressed on, his look never changing.
“I just told her to let the girl go or I’d tell everyone that she stuffed her bra when she was twelve. Then she got jealous about Trey again and left in a hissy fit. Bitch.”
“She stuffed-“ Nathan choked, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his fringe.
“Jeez, Nathan. Lots of those Barbies used to do that in junior high. Didn’t you know?”
“W-why would I want to know that?” Nathan stammered, blushing.
“You look like a tomato.” Nate remarked. I fought off the urge to giggle at that comment.
“You know Nate, you really got to stop looking so dead all the time. Move on.” Nathaniel sighed, rubbing his forehead and looking at his brother. For the first time, I saw concern written all over his face, his green eyes telling a story I couldn’t decipher.
“Yeah, you’re really making us worried.” Helen chipped in, her brilliant sienna eyes looked at him with a mixture of pity and sadness.
Nate folded his arms on his desk and rested his head on them, turning his head to face the front, not saying a word. Nathan put his hand on Nate’s shoulder as a form of comfort, but was shrugged off.
The others didn’t seem to hear him and I being the closest, did.
“I don’t need your sympathy.” Nate muttered, his voice barely audible.
I sat there, not understanding them, but not wanting to pry. Where is our teacher?
It was as if I had summoned him up, because a second later, a young man strode into the room. Placing his books on the teacher’s table, he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name on the blackboard.
Whipping around to face us, he rubbed his hands together. “Students please be seated.” He instructed, picking up a register.
Everyone scurried back to their respective seats and a hush descended upon the room.
“Welcome to Velentia High School.” He smiled warmly, looking at each one of us with his icy blue eyes. He was wearing a black vest over a white, collared short-sleeve shirt with long black pants. “My name is Francis Reynolds, and I will be in charge of class 1/1 for the rest of the year. I will also be teaching you English and Literature.”
“Good morning, Mister Reynolds.” The class greeted, some people at the back even blew wolf whistles. I suddenly realised that Helen and the triplets were sitting in the front row alongside me. Either Nathaniel was asking for detention, or the boy was actually capable of paying attention in class.
“I apologise for being so late. Jared’s meeting lasted longer than expected.” Almost none of the students flinched when Mr Reynolds referred to the principal by his name. Apparently they were aware of the situation. “Let’s start off with introducing ourselves and I’ll tick your names off the register as we go along. We’ll begin with the person in the front on the extreme left.”
Helen stood up and walked up to the front, as indicated by Mr Reynolds. “My name is Helen Madeline Keeane. Call me by my middle name and I’ll break your neck. My interests are singing and debating, and I was from the Velentia Junior High choir.”
My eyes practically fell out at that piece of information. I couldn’t imagine a supposed tomboy decked out in a dress with makeup and singing.
As Helen walked back to her seat, Mr Reynolds said, smiling serenely, “Thank you, Miss Helen Madeline for sharing with us.”
I saw her stiffen and pause, then she took a deep breath and returned to her seat, fists clenched.
From the corner of my eye, Nathaniel was looking at Mr Reynolds with awe. Loser.
Slowly getting up and taking a short, leisurely stroll to the front, he turned around to look at the class, his expression stony-faced.
“I’m Nate Peyton. I was from the Velentia Junior High Literary and Debating Society.”
“And your interests, Nate?” At this question, Nate hesitated as if he were struggling to decide something. Finally, he mumbled, “I play the electric guitar.”
A few ‘Oooh’s were heard from the girl and some boys were also over heard saying ‘Cool’. Strangely, Helen, Nathan and Nathaniel’s reactions were to sigh.
“Thank you. You may go back now, Nathaniel.”
“My name is simply ‘Nate’. My brother is called Nathaniel. It should say there on the register. I’m on of the Peyton triplets.” Nate pointed monotonously.
“Ah yes, forgive me for my blunder.”
As Nate shuffled back to his seat, I could feel my palms sweating. I didn’t like going up to the front. People would be staring at me. Oh God, please don’t make me do this, I beg you… I tried pleading with him using my eyes.
“It’s your turn.” Mr Reynolds glanced at me, waiting for me to move.
So, Happy 2009! I can't wait to see the ball drop tonight! 
