When the others walked away, Marcos strode from the crowd of people surrounding the sign in table and went to a secluded wall. With furrowed eyebrows and a great disinterest to his environment, the jock pulled out his phone and scrolled through his Instagram feed.
His tour guide would have a hard time finding him due to the fact that Marcos Kingsley didnβt want to be found. His name tag was gone, thanks to himself, and he doubted this random dude followed politics. One of the few ways to learn the faces of the Kingsley kids in Ohio was through his father. If you follow winter sports, sure, you can learn a thing or two about his mother and his older brother, Leonel. If you follow video games, sure, you would know βyo im noahβ the stupid talented stoner streamer that aims to find cool gamer personalities to room with (in the guest house). Other than that, it would take someone who actually cared to stalk his family to find out more.
Standing anonymously, not bothering giving his name to the girls that clearly wanted to know, Marcos chose to be to everyone, at least for now, an attractive stranger. Nothing more. This whole merge situation baffled him. He found it amusing how the staff thought forced tours was a good idea. He would love to see what the school did if he skipped out.
Sighing, his dark gaze went from a picture of one of his friends to the time on his wrist watch. Marcos knew he had to find his homeroom soon. There was a deep desire in him to not go and to just leave. Deal with the repercussions later. Noah did it all the time. However, he knew his parents would give him more grief than not because it wasnβt like him to step out of line. Plus, he wouldnβt forgive himself if he coward out and not take his sisterβs advice. Accept that shit happens and look at this sudden change as a positive experience. He hated change.
And as another guy came out of the nurses office, her nagging voice clearly cutting through the thunderous chatter from the students in the halls of Rosefell, a dark-haired boy, whose breath smelled of old vodka and attire smelled of 80s punker, found himself DPβd between the verbal beating
Nurse Betty was giving him and the physical smack he felt on his side as he crashed into Marcos.
βJesus!β Came out his visible annoyance, walking maybe a few paces away from Betty the Bitch.
βBe careful! Youβll break that nose of yours if you keep runnβin to people like that!β Betty was a southern woman and she had the sass of an old southern, white woman but without the racism. Thank God!
βYeah, yeah, yeah.β Colin shrugged her off as he rubbed his cheek, which took most of the force from the collision.
βWatch where youβre going, poindexter!β He snapped at the wall of a man who was literally dressed like an abercrombie and fitch model, making him have the astute deduction that this one was a Lib.
βOh, fuck me! Youβre a lib, arenβt you? Actually, donβt answer that. Of course you are. Only a pretentious fuckwad would dress that straight and narrow.β Colin rolled his eyes, trying to have the cooler head.
He didnβt know this guy, so he had no reason to be so outwardly nasty towards him.
βMeh, whatever. Sorry for crashing into that brick wall you call a chest.β The boy gave himself a laugh.
βAnyway, nameβs Colin. What the fuck do they call you?βColin? Marcos knew a boy named Colin once. A long time ago, or so it felt. With complete disinterest, the dark-haired boy eyed the stranger in silence and listened to his vulgarity. Why was everyone running into him today? Pocketing his phone, Kingsley gazed at the stranger that entered his bubble and directly answered, already exasperated at the other guyβs presence,
βMarcos.β His eyes rested on Colinβs busted face and smoothly, he asked,
βWhat happened to you?β Colin raised a curious brow when he said his name.
βMarcos, eh?β He repeated back, humming thoughtfully. It was a name he hadnβt thought about in years -- not since he moved from the bougie side of town. And he couldnβt say it left a positive note.
As Colin studied this guyβs face, something about it was oddly familiar, but he shrugged.
βWell, letβs just say if you see a tiny little goth nightmare named Stephanie Cross running around, donβt get on her bad side or she just might wreck that pretty face of yours.β Colinβs comment came with a laugh that he felt in his face and he grunted from the sharp pain surging through it.
βSo why the fuck you hanging around these crummy halls anyway? No doubt youβre from Liberty, but arenβt you posh types supposed to come with a bodyguard or something?β He asked, taking in a slow breath to help himself get to a point where his nose wasnβt throbbing with pain.
The peace and tranquility that Marcos appreciated from his old school seemed to be a distant dream the more Colin talked. This kid either was rotting his brain by some hard drug or he hustled in the streets, thinking he was the best shit out there, when really, he was wasting his life away by being stupid,
βYou really know how to make a first impression.β Just being exposed to a chum like Colin was killing his vibe more than he thought was possible. If Marcos had a choice, he wouldnβt be here. That only took common sense to look at all the expressions of the new kids to see none of them
wanted to be here. Did this kid assume that every rich kid
needed a bodyguard? Like that was some common thing? Marcos wasnβt his father, a politician, seen on TV, and even if he was, he could protect himself. Yeah, no. Time to leave.
βGood talk, but Iβm heading to class.β Colin let out another laugh, stepping in Marcosβ way, preventing him from leaving.
βNow now, no need to be so sensitive, Marcella.β Colin placed his hand on Marcosβ shoulder, squeezing it with a bit of force. In the time he had been staring at him, studying his face, something was
starting to click, but it couldnβt be...could it?
βYou know, you remind me of an old friend of mine. Bit of a high strung, thinks-heβs-better-than-everyone-else prick.β Colin kept his stare stone-faced for a few seconds before letting his grip go, even went as far as to straighten the dent he made into Marcosβ shirt.
While Colin was taking out the wrinkle in Marcosβ sleeve, the jock jerked his shoulder and furiously muttered,
βDonβt touch me.β At this moment, Marcos menacingly glared at the pale boyβs face, letting their eyes meet.
βYou know who you remind me of?β Forcing his way through the lowlife, Marcos snarkingly smiled,
βNobody.β And that is what Colin will always be. A nobody.
JayVaughn Spencer had been pretty much oblivious to everything that had been going on around him once he'd set his attention on finishing his second breakfast. But it was a random voice exclaiming
"don't touch me" that snapped the boy back to reality, causing him to instinctively scan the room to see where the sudden outburst had come from. His eyes instantly landed upon an unfamiliar face who stood right next to none other than Colin Gallagher, someone who he admittedly didn't know too well personally, but
knew of well enough to assume that things were about to go south for both parties involved. And after realizing that no one else around him had plans to intervene, JJ decided to take matters into his own hands.
In swift motions, JJ tossed his trash into a nearby bin before quickly approaching the two guys.
"Hey, fellassss," he said once he'd reached them, trying his best to create a small wall between the two - "small" being the operative word seeing as how that was exactly how JJ felt standing in between their slightly taller, anger-filled bodies.
"Colin... always good to see ya. And you must be one of the Liberty students..." JJ took a quick glance down to see if the boy had been wearing a nametag, which he wasn't.
"Come on fellas, why don't we keep the peace, huh?" JJ said with a nervous chuckle.
"It's only the first day back, let's not get into..." Jay paused for a brief second as his eyes flickered to Colin's bruised face, and he made a mental note to figure out what happened to him later on.
"-too much trouble."βIβm not the one trespassing--ββLooks like your friend has nothing better to do. I was just about to leave,β Marcos grinded his teeth, stepping back and choosing the mature route. Some people didnβt know how to mind their business. Colin was one of them.
There was a breaking point of his patience and Collin was pushing every button to reach it faster than anyone has before. His rage while kept at a low simmer could blind him to the point where none of his surroundings mattered. Only the person in front of him did. You didnβt want to get on his bad side. Once you pissed him off, you were dead to him and he didnβt care how bad he hurt you. Marcos didnβt need that on his conscience on the first day of school.
Colinβs seething eyes fixated on Marcos for a few, intense moments. Despite all intentions JJ had, which were noble and on a regular day with any other person, Colin would back down. But today had gone off to a rocky start and Marcos Kingsley was the last person he expected to be face to face with. This pile of crap who deserted his friends for the flavor of the month and couldnβt even own up to it when he saw them again was as bad they got.
Yeah, you could say Colin still held a grudge or two for this disrespectful little bitch.
βWhatever.β Colin just shrugged, glancing at JJ as he pulled on his arm, tugging him away from the liberty trash as if declaring a silent war on him, while at the same time distancing himself away from Marcos.
βMy bad for ruining your tour. Marcos Kingsley isnβt exactly the kind of guy you want to show around our school.βAs JJ glanced over his shoulder at Marcos, whose figure had already started disappearing out of sight as they all went their separate ways, the young man finally started to put together the pieces in his head. Marcos Kingsley. He and Colin were supposed to be giving
him a tour of the school that morning, which obviously wouldn't have happened regardless based on how the two nearly killed each other after only three minutes of interacting. Suddenly, JJ felt kinda silly with his nametag still sitting on his jacket, and as he peeled it off he couldn't help but think about how it was an odd coincidence that the two had been placed in the same tour group given their apparent history.
"I see..." JJ said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice as he spoke. Of course, he wasn't about to just take Colin's word and believe that Marcos was this terrible person; he much preferred to get to know others before judging them. But it wasn't like he was gonna tell Colin that, especially not since he still seemed a bit peeved from what had just happened.
"He must've done something real bad for you to hate him so much. It looked like you two were gonna murder each other for a sec, so I'm glad I stepped in when I did."Colin didnβt exactly hear what JJ said. He heard the boyβs deep voice penetrate his ears, but it found a loophole through the other. Never in a million years did he think that heβd ever have to deal with Marcos again. Until just a few minutes ago, he was convinced that fucker had moved away to some place far away from the shithole that was Ohio, but alas, he couldnβt get his way in any regard today.
βYeah, I guess,β Colin shrugged, stopping in front of his homeroom.
βIβll catch you later, I guess.β Colin didnβt bother waiting for JJβs response. His mood was shot and he just wanted to see if lasting through homeroom would improve his mood or if he was going to ditch the first day or not.