Chapter 2

Lucas

" This is your bedroom ." Joshua announces, raising his hands wide and stepping inside the huge blue themed bedroom .

It looks so surreal. I have never had a whole room to myself, especially this big . My mother got me my own bedroom because I kept nagging her about it . If I didn't, I doubt that she would have ever acted on it.

" This is my bedroom?" I gape around, trying my hardest not to jump on the inviting bed. I guess that's for another time.

The guy watches me carefully and somehow that makes me uncomfortable so I stare back at him with a questioning look .

" What?" I raise my hands up in confusion . He simply shakes his head and gazes away .

" You don't look anything like our father ." He says, that takes me by surprise .

What's there to say? Of course Lizzie and I are very much different , even with the guy standing in front of me . He has blond curly hair and a pair of piercing grey eyes while I have dirty brown hair and boring brown eyes . I always thought so too, looking at how Lizzie fits in right in this family. She also possesses the same facial appearance as him, the difference is that, her hair is long and smooth .

" Oh" that's all I manage to say . Josh just shrugs back in return and leaves me alone, finally. Now I can drool all over my new room in peace and maybe, even jump on the bed. I am tempted but I don't.

I unpack, the walking closet they provided me with is too big . I have little clothes for myself . Five pairs of black jeans and a few handover shirts I received from my neighbours . By the time I am done, the closet looks as empty as ever . I guess maybe as time goes on, I will have a few clothes . Looking at the fact that Josh is around my height, he wouldn't mind giving away old clothes? I could only hope so . I never shy away from handouts . Beggars can't be choosers after all.

" Oh hey Lucas ." A cheery female voice snaps me back to reality . I turn around to find a rather short but curvey woman standing by my new bedroom door .

She has long shiny blonde hair tied in a messy ponytail . A fancy red dress that shows off her body and a pair of black heels . When I finally meet her eyes, I can't help but notice the grim look on her face .

" You need a shower ." She says without wiping the look off her face . " Maybe two, I don't know, your call . Everything is in the bathroom, I will request the maid to bring up your new clothes ." She looks me up and down.

" My new clothes?" I can't help but grin, my father went out of his way to even buy me new clothes?

" Yes, your fa-..." She clears her throat and looks at me " James insisted, if something doesn't fit you well . Let me know ." Then with that said, she leaves the room .

Somehow the way she had to correct herself makes me wonder why , why can't she just call him my father instead of his name? That's a question for another time. However I think I might like it here, minus the looks she gives me, I think I might like this new place, a lot . I swiftly turn around, do a small twirl and stroll around the bedroom one more time before I go to the bathroom .

"Wow!" I sigh in admiration . The bathroom is way bigger than the apartment I used to live in. I don't waste time stripping down naked and jumping in the shower . When the hot water hit my body . I just melt in satisfying groans and sighs . I guess I can get used to this .

***

" You have a beautiful house Mrs. Kevens" I say during dinner.

Almost everyone is here, Elizabeth who looks a little taken back by the amount of different food on the table . Josh, who's typing away on his cellphone and Mrs. Kevens, who's bossing the maid into serving all of us .

" Thank you Lucas" She gives me a blank look before she continues with her bossing around.

I quietly place my hands over my lap and look down at my empty plate that is yet to be filled with whatever Mrs. Kevens decides on.

" Are you okay man?" Josh elbows me besides me, I just shrug . " Wanna go to a party this Saturday then?" He asks.

" Sure, why not?" I say, now I'm feeling rather excited. I have never been to a party . I wonder what it's going to be like .

" Took you long enough ." Mrs Kevens says when a beautiful slender girl walks in the dining room.

She has one of those cheerleading clothes , with a huge football jersey I can only assume it's not hers.

" Had things to do ." The girl mumbles, looking annoyed by her mother. She takes a seat across from Josh .

The table has ten chairs, across from me and Josh, there's four chairs, one occupied by the girl then at the end of the table, each side, there are chairs . The left side is occupied by Mrs. Kevens and I can only assume that my father is going to take the one across from her . Lizzie decided to sit right beside me but rather the closest seat to Mrs. Kevens, her new friend so there's a deserted seat between us .

" Summer, didn't I tell you that-"

" Hello everyone!" A booming voice enters the dining room . Summer squeals in happiness while Mrs. Kevens face grimace.

" Summer's annoying boyfriend." Josh grumbles beside me with a sigh . Seems like literally everyone disapproves of the guy .

" Sorry Ma'am, I know it's a family thing but I'm Family too since I'm like dating Summer?" The guy says, glancing over Mrs. Kevens who just forces a smile .

Summer smirks when she sees how defeated her mother looks . I guess it's gonna be a long night .

" Aww! New faces, who do we have here?" The guy looks over me and Elizabeth curiously .

" I am Elizabeth and this is my brother, Lucas ." Elizabeth points over me with a broad proud smile .

" Nice to meet you two, I'm Cameron but you can call me Cam!" Cam flashes a huge smile towards me and I just smile back, unsure of what to even say .

" Since we got that out of the way, can we eat now?" Summer motions for the maid to serve her and we all start eating, only after you have been served .

I don't really get why we can't just do it ourselves but I am not about to question how they do things around here .

***

" Remember, you got school tomorrow!" Josh waves me goodnight, passing by my bedroom .

" I just got here!" I breathe out, Josh just laughs and continues his merry way to his bedroom .

I guess it's going to be a long day tomorrow, before I sleep . I sneak my way to my little sister's bedroom, only to find her already asleep and being tucked in by Mrs. Kevens herself .

" She likes you ." I announce, taking Mrs. Kevens by surprise who turns around with a hand over her chest " I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you ."

" Should have at least knocked ." She strengthens herself. " Something a decent human being would know

" She glares at me.

" I didn't think of that because the door was open." I reason but I could see how her face changes into the sour look she always gives me .

" Next time, do better." Then she turns away"Go to bed, you have school tomorrow . "

I don't say anything, instead I oblige and make my way to my bedroom, with nothing but questions in mind . Why does it feel like she doesn't like me at all? Well  I have the whole year to change her mind and see that I'm more than just a poor guy, right ?.

***

" Lucas! Wake up man!" I feel something hard shoving me . " You are gonna be late , this guy!" A deep sigh follows .

I slowly open my eyes , only to find Josh hovering over my face once again with an irritated glare .

" What's up?" I sit up, allowing Josh to pull back and stand up straight . That's when I realise that I have school . Josh is already in his uniform .

" School, remember? You have 10 minutes to get ready ." He glances over his watch " I have to go now, I'm gonna be late ."

I look over my clock on my nightstand " it's like 7AM man, isn't that too early?"

" Not for you, for me it is. Our school starts at 07h15, and if I'm not there before that, I'm stuck in detention for another month ."

" Wait, we are going to different schools?" I ask, now my anxiety is spiralling out of control . Here I am, thinking I will have at least one friend at my new school but nope, I am lying to myself .

" Unfortunately yes . " He gives me a sympathetic look" if it makes you feel better, Elizabeth is going to the same school as I am. I will take care of her ."

I look down at my comforter , should I make a big deal out of this? Since I have arrived here. I have been feeling nothing but left out on almost everything.  It's like Elizabeth is the most liked one, not that I'm complaining but I wish we weren't being separated like this .

" Don't worry, you will like it at your new school." Josh tries to comfort me but it doesn't help, instead I feel worse about the whole situation .

" Thanks." I say under my breath . Josh takes that as his sign to leave so he does . " Josh, where's my uniform then?"

" Oh , your school doesn't have a uniform . It's a public high school, you can literally wear whatever you want." Josh gives me a thumbs , like that's the best thing ever . I don't even have any clothes to wear .

After Josh closes the door behind me, I jump off the bed and walk my way to the closet with a heavy heart . ' let's see what we can wear for our first day!' I say mentally with no hint of excitement .

When I walk in the closet, the memories of yesterday come flooding in my mind . Yesterday, before bed, my new clothes finally arrived, it was brought by some maid who said that they were from my father . I managed to unpack almost everything with a grateful heart. So looking at my almost full clothes,  I think of my father and how much I need to thank him even though the clothes arrived rather late . Nevertheless, being late is better than nothing .

Knowing how the weather is gonna be, I decide on a pair of cut off black jeans and a white tank top , with my new white sneakers . By the time I'm done showering, and in my new clothes, I feel like a whole new person .

I run downstairs, bumping into literally no one and feeling scared that I might already be late . I enter the kitchen to find a man sitting by the kitchen counter drinking a cup of coffee , while looking at a newspaper .

" Good morning." I greet him nervously, he glances over me briefly then gets back to skimming the newspaper .

" Lucas ." The man literally spits out my name like saying it brings nothing but bad taste in his mouth .

" Yeah, that's me. Am I like late for school or something because everyone is not here?" I ask, pushing aside the vibes I'm sensing from him.

" Don't think so. Cartes is waiting for you up front . I'm pretty sure you have time to eat something and even grab your schoolbag . "

" Oops!" I let out a small laugh. " Yeah, I totally forgot about the school bag thing. Thanks ." He just raises his brows at me and goes back to his newspapers .

" I'm James, the man of the house . "He says after a long awkward pause . " I guess your mother told you nothing about me ."

" Oh yes! I have so many questions regarding my mother and how you two met, I'm just curious why you even ended things . " I blurt out without thinking twice, immediately cringing at myself internally when James just looks at me with a bored expression

" You are the reason we ended things ." James, my supposed father , says with so much venom. That only leaves me more confused . I can only conclude that he's not exactly a morning person or he just doesn't like me like his wife.

I try to continue the conversation but he completely ignores my poor attempts . He literally goes back to skimming his newspaper and pretending like I'm not even in the kitchen with him. I end up giving up myself and grabbing an apple, deciding if I should even try making something to eat . I probably won't feel comfortable enough eating around him.

***

Well, the first day of school as a junior is not fun at all especially looking at the fact that it's already in the middle of the year and everyone knows everyone, I'm just that awkward new kid with no friends at all . My height doesn't help . Makes it even harder to navigate the hallways without being pushed around.

" Are you lost?" A girl asks besides me , looking at my schedule with a soft smile .

" Yeah, so lost ." I laugh out dryly. Already wishing the day could just be over and done with . I'm exhausted

" Lucky for you, we have the same class ." She takes me by my hand and leads the way . Everyone is literally staring at us ,  and I just don't like it .

" My name is Amari Cooper!" She looks over me with raised brows " And you are?" Her hazel eyes searches mine but I look away before she can find whatever she's looking for .

Amari seems not to care with the amount of people giving us looks.  It's like she's already used to it . She walks with so much purpose, with her shoulders straight and eyes up front . Not looking at anyone but me and wherever she's going . Her blue dyed hair stands out the most .

" Lucas, the new guy ." I murmur . Feels kind of nice to finally talk to someone .

Since the day started, no one has approached me. Only the teachers acknowledge me in class, as for the students, I am another new kid they  gawk at until I do something cool , so they could have an excuse to talk to me.

" Couldn't help but notice that you were dropped off by one of the Kevens drivers , are you somehow related to Josh?"

" Something like that ." I can't say I am, I'm not even sure that I'm supposed to be at that house . I feel unwanted. Like an intruder .

" Hmhmm, you should definitely invite me over sometimes ." Amari suggests . I give her a sideway glance when she just bat her eyes innocently.

" I will think about it ." I say to her when we finally arrive at our class . She decides to sit right beside me and fill me up with the new gossip. Not that I care much about that, however it is a good distraction .

***

Any thoughts on this chapter? What do you think it's gonna happen next? See ya in the next chapter!