Flame Thrower - By: Leah Crowe (ebook reader for manga txt) 📗

~Chapter 1~

“Honey! If you don’t hurry, you’re going to be late for your first day of high school!” my mother called.
“Yeah, yeah I’m coming.” I grumbled, slowly dragging my feet out of bed. I wearily put on the closest things to me, hoping that they matched. Quickly walking towards the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and combed through my long curly red hair. Briskly scanning my appearance, I dubbed that I didn’t have anything sticking out and my shirt was on correctly so I was ok. One glance at the time sent me racing downstairs, grabbing my lunch and an apple and dashing for the bus. I just barely made it on time. The bus driver, a chubby black lady, bore holes through my forehead and I knew this was going to be a long year. I scanned the bus for an empty seat and found what I was looking for in the very back. Next to all the nerds and uncool people, I thought to myself, mentally slapping myself for not getting here on time. I sat down next to this devilishly hot guy with sandy blonde hair and mocha chocolate eyes. I turned away and grabbed my IPod, sticking the ear buds in and hopefully ending any conversation the guy next to me might try to make. I didn’t want to say anything stupid in front of him on my first day! He obviously had other plans. Although I had turned away from him, he was persistent in getting my attention until I had no choice but to turn off my IPod and listen to what he had to say.
“Hey, my name’s Marcus but everyone just calls me Mark.” He said, and he stretched out his hand, waiting for mine so he could shake my hand. Reluctantly, I did what he wanted me to.
“I’m Trisha and I can go by whatever; most call me Trish though.”
“Mhm yeah I know…I mean that’s really common.” He said, flustered. Well, that was odd

, I thought. Mark chuckled nervously.
“Yeah I guess so,” I said, “So was there some special reason why you wanted to talk to me or are you just completely bored or something.” I looked away and rolled my eyes. I didn’t really feel like talking to this guy anymore; hot or no.
“Well, actually I was wondering if I could tag along with you today. I’m kind of new here and well, it’d be nice to have someone to point me in the right direction.” He replied.
“Hate to break it to you, but just about everybody on this bus is new. This is the freshman bus, aka the bus filled with newbs.” I said sarcasm evident.
“Oh, uh well then can I just stick with you because we kind of ‘know each other’. You’re, I guess, a familiar face.” He said, almost pleading. What was up with this guy?
“Um how can you be familiar with my face when we’ve only known each other for about five minutes?” I said, really peeved. This guy was a strange one that was for sure. I mean talk about desperate!
“Ok well this might sound weird, but I feel like I’ve known you forever! You look a lot like someone I know. Like, A LOT alike.” Mark said with so much conviction, I was close to having pity on the poor, lost soul. Almost, but not quite.
“I’m sorry but THAT is just plain creepy! I really would like to be left alone thank you very much!” I said turning my back on him. Suddenly, the bus hit a bump and I was flung over to his side of the seat. When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself sitting on his lap! He was grinning like a madman and I turned the shade of my hair!
“Ohmygosh! Talk about klutzy!” I said rambling, “I am really sorry about that…” I faded away as I turned to look up into those deep, chocolate eyes of his. As, I got up to scoot back over to my side of the seat, I brushed up against his chest. Gosh, I could feel his abs under his shirt! Mark looked amused at the face I must have been making. This guy was gorgeous and had a pack! Maybe I should let him tag along. It would make a good impression on the first day… “Ok sure I’ll help you along today though I can’t tell you that I can help you much. I’m as new as you are. I guess we’ll have to figure this place out together.” I mentally kicked myself for saying such a sappy remark. Mark just beamed. It made me happy to see him smile like that. Geez, he had a nice smile...NO! I was not going down THAT road! I had just met the guy and he needed a friend so I would be just that and nothing more. The bus rolled to a squeaky stop and I looked out onto the campus that would be my prison for the next four years. If we didn’t move again, that is.

The campus was huge by the looks of it. Well cared for too. Mom picked a nice spot! Rose bushes grew along the sidewalk into the school and the grass was lush and properly groomed. It was all so orderly! I was afraid to walk for fear of ruining the prestige of it all! I walked into the main office. They might as well call it the office for the freshman because all around me were new guys like myself, getting information on where the heck to go and how to get there! Mark had grabbed a map and I found our names amongst a pile of period schedules. I grabbed ours and ran out of the office as fast as I could. I didn’t like being around so many people at once. Mark had followed me and now he stood, consulting the map on how to get to our first period class before the bell rang which, conveniently, we had the same room. All we had to do was find it. I stunk at reading maps so I left that job up to Mark and stood next to him, trying to look smart and on top of things, which I wasn’t. Duh…

“You know, Trisha, you are really special and you don’t even know it yet.” Um ok? Weird comment from the peanut gallery there. I decided to let that one slide and continued as I was. Mark seemed to have found the room we were looking for because he had started to walk down the hall. I doggedly followed behind him, forgetting about my ‘on top of things’ act. Some chick in the halls started to make goo-goo eyes at Mark. I grabbed his arm and pulled him close to me. I looked back at her as if to say, sorry sista! He is all mine! Boohoo, too bad for you!

Mark chuckled and wrapped his arm around my waist. He was going along with the act but I have to admit, I liked it. The girl pouted and kept walking. I smiled and kept on walking, wondering if Mark would let go of my waist. He didn’t but I wasn’t about to tell him to stop. We reached our destination, and after introducing ourselves to the teacher, we took our seats by the window. The bell rang and everyone scrambled for a seat. Our new English teacher wrote his name on the board. For an older guy, he was a sight for sore eyes! Some of the girls were actually trying to get his attention! Ok, that was a little gross and desperate but heck; I’ve got Mark to play around with so I’m good,

I thought! Of course we weren’t going out or anything! It was just an act I had to remind myself. The teacher cleared his throat and began to introduce himself.
“Hi class, I’m Mr. Retallio and I’m going to keep introductions short because who likes lectures right?” he said and I was pretty sure I was going to like this guy, “Please don’t talk out in class, no PDA or excuses. Oh, and tardy people really annoy me so be on time or my wrath shall fall on you!” He said in a funny accent and all you girls giggled. “Other than that, try to learn something this year and we’ll get along fine! I can’t think of any other rules right now but if I have to, I can make them up along the way. In a moment I will call out each of your names and give you your locker numbers. Then, I’ll give you time to put your things in there and get settled. I don’t really have a lesson planned for today so you can chat after that.” He said, “Ok when I call your name, please come up to the front and I’ll hand you a number and a map to find that number locker. Let’s begin! Alisha Conner!” He yelled and that snooty girl who was checking Mark out in the hall walked forward. I thought, just my luck but then it only seemed to get worse. It seemed she had some buddies in this class and each one of them was matched in heel size, skirt length, and attitude problems. Some cute guys walked up that I would have to look into later and then my name was called. Mr. Retallio handed me a number. He then called Mark. I saw that my number was 4068 in hall B and Mark saw it too. Mr. Retallio handed him a number but Mark flicked his arm and handed the number back. Then, Mr. Retallio’s eyes got all fuzzy and he handed Mark a different sheet. His eyes looked like they were on fire then,
“I guess I handed you the wrong sheet. Here you go, Mark.” He said in a rather off voice. Mark looked down and smiled. Then, he looked up at me.
“What number do you have?” He asked.
“Locker number 4068 in hall B, what about you?” I asked in reply.
“Same except I’m 4069.” He said smiling.
“Uh ok, well how did that happen? I mean that was totally weird! Did you see Mr. Retallio’s eyes? It looked like they were burning!” I said rather freaked out by the whole thing.
“So she is the one then.” Mark muttered under his breath but I could hear him.
“I’m the what? Ok what is going on?” I was practically yelling.
“I can’t tell you right now but I will, I promise.” Mark said then he walked out of the classroom, knowing I would follow since our lockers were next to each other.


Once we got to our designated lockers I looked them over and smiled. They were the kind that went from the floor up to my head and when I opened it up, I found there was plenty of room to put all my things in; I could even hang up some clothes if I wanted to! This school must be huge, I thought, to be able to give every student lockers this big! I could get used to this! This really pale kid came up on my other side and opened the locker next to me. Mark saw who it was and growled. I spun around to look at him. He looked like he was ready to punch the guy. Huh? I thought. I guess they had a history, just