Page 5 of Alpha
“Mmm,” I murmured as I took another sip and felt the caffeine begin to take effect in my body. Gary just shook his head at me and laughed. He knew better than to try and interact with me before I finished my first cup.
“Are you taking your new car or do you want the driver to take you to school?” Gary asked, sitting at the kitchen table as I finished my coffee.
“I’m taking my new baby,” I answered.
“I’ve installed a tracker on the car,” he notified me. I nodded my head. It was something I was used to and it was his way of keeping me safe. If I let him put a tracker on the vehicle I was using, then he wouldn’t have to send a bodyguard with me. There was no way I was going to school with a massive bodyguard following me around. If Gary could, he’d keep me locked up at home. I wasn’t going to live my life in fear of what could happen, though.
My parents’ deaths had been tragic, but there was no proof that their murderers were out to get me, too.
I was running late so I skipped breakfast and I grabbed a protein bar, which I shoved into my school bag.
I bent down and gave Gary a quick kiss on his cheek.
“I’ll see you later,” I said as I dashed out of the kitchen.
My new baby was parked in the driveway, ready for me, when I opened the front door. Gary knew me too well, so he’d made sure she was parked outside for me.
I got into the car and programmed the address of the school into the car’s GPS. I hummed along to the song on the radio as I started the drive to my new school for the next year.
The parking lot of the school was starting to fill up when I pulled in. I found a parking space in the front row of the parking lot. I grabbed my schoolbag and got out of the car.
As I walked away, I pressed a button on the remote of the car and I heard the door click closed. There weren’t many students at school yet but I did get a couple of curious looks as I made my way to the entrance.
The school wasn’t exactly as big as the schools I’d been used to. It was a fair size, but I wasn’t in the city anymore and the thick forest that surrounded the school reminded me of that.
The single-story brick building with large windows had a sign above the entrance that read “Parkland High School”. A large double entrance to the school was preceded with a small set of stairs that led straight to parking.
Once I entered the school, I passed a couple of students. A smell hit me and I faltered for a minute, trying to figure out what the smell was. It smelled like fresh rain.
Two students standing close by turned to look at me with curiosity as I pushed myself past the smell to the reception room. Behind the counter in reception sat an old, plump lady with a pair of glasses on the edge of her nose.
“Hi,” I greeted her.
“Hello,” she greeted me back with a warm smile. “How can I help you?”
“I’m a new student and I’ve come to collect my schedule and locker number,” I answered.
“What’s your name, dear?” she asked as she began to sift through some of the papers on her desk.
“Scarlett Hayes.”
“Here you go,” she said as she handed me my schedule. On the top of the sheet was my locker number and she also handed me a map of the school.
“Thank you,” I said with a friendly smile as I walked out of reception and began the hunt for my locker.
I rotated the map around a couple of times, trying to figure out which direction I was headed in. Someone had told me once that women were supposed to be good at reading maps, but I wasn’t convinced that was true.
After twenty minutes, I was still walking up and down the hallways trying to find my stupid locker. That distinctive smell that had hit me when I first entered the school seemed to be all over this place. I couldn’t explain why. Fresh rain intermingled with the distinctive smell of a forest.
The strange smells kept hitting my nostrils randomly as I walked around, trying to find my locker.
“Do you need some help?” I heard a voice ask, taking me by surprise.
“You scared me,” I said as I tried to catch my breath. My heart hammered in my chest.
“Sorry,” the stranger said, standing in front of me and watching me with amusement. He was a good-looking guy.
He was a little taller than me. His light brown hair was long enough to fall across his green eyes as he studied me with a smile.
