Freeze Your Brain

Chapter One

"Come on Ally, God!" Trish shouts to me down the hall, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walks, making the freshman drool as she walks by. They stand their like puppies, mouths open, pretty much drooling as they stare. I roll my eyes as I draw myself away from my locker, slamming it hard so the puppies turn their eyes too look at the sound. I wink at them as I walk past, laughing to myself at how they are sheep to her, they flock to her, everyone in the school does. Trish is the queen of this school. Popular, beautiful, confident. Luckily I wasn't like the freshman, who had to convince her that they deserved a place in her life, I had been friends with her since elementary, no convincing for me. Just running after her.

We walk into the cafeteria together, well, I walk behind her. She 'needs' to be seen first, I trail behind. She is the one they have come to see. They obsess over her, hover around her like bees. Animals are the best way to describe these people.

"Ally!" Shouts another voice, well aren't I popular today. I turn around and see Dallas sitting at our usual table. I loved Dallas, as a friend I mean. He understood my way of thinking, how in reality I hated this popularity thing, the whole thing was messed up. I couldn't understand how people obsessed over others, they were just other living organisms, just with different faces, why was this difference so influential in daily life? Dallas understood this, we also had a mutual understanding of how hypocritical we were for having this view yet still being considered 'popular'. I smile and wave at him, walking straight over, past Trish who was lining up for food, in other words, flirting with the lunch guy so she didn't have to pay for her food.

I toss my bag under the table, and enthusiastically jump down in the seat next to Dallas, he smiles at me, laughing.
"May I comment on how beautiful you look today" he says, his eyes wandering down my body. The outfit wasn't very impressive, a old black pinafore style dress with an old vintage shirt with a pattern Trish described as "something her grandpa would wear" tucked into the skirt, no tights, too warm. I was a fan of vintage clothing, with a strange obsession with the 80's I was often called a hipster, to which I always replied with a solid, fuck you too whoever had said it. Dallas also had a love for the 80's but he decided wearing the clothing to show this love wasn't for him. Trish tells me that he has a crush on me, that I don't believe for a second, however the way he stares at me some times, such as the way he is currently staring at my legs which were more on show as the pinafore rode up when I sat down, makes me question our friendship.
"Get a room Dallas" Trish laughs to herself as she places her tray down on the table next to me, Dallas reluctantly moves his eyes away from my legs and up to her face. Trish sits down in the seat next to me, the perfect spot as she always calls it. The table at the very far wall of the cafeteria, a place where we could see everyone, and everyone could see us.

"Anyway. Any development on prom" Trish asks, eyebrows raised as she stares at me, delicately raising her fork up to her mouth and pulling off the food, teeth bearing like a tiger ready to pounce.
"You know my view on these senior guys Trish, air head ass holes who are only after a drunken screw in the back of their car afterwards" I laugh, rolling my eyes.
"Not all guys" Dallas quietly whispers, turning his head to look behind him, soon realising his mistake as there is only a plain white wall there.
"Oh I know Dallas" I say giving him a pouty lipped look, fluttering my eyelashes, delicately placing my arm over his shoulders and pulling him closer to me. "Not all guys, your not, but your taking Trish remember"
"Exactly!" Trish launches in. "And you can not back out of that Dallas!"
"I know, I know" he sighs, a sigh which I'm guessing is sarcastic, Trish takes it that way and laughs, gently kicking him under the table. I release my arm from his shoulders and place my chin under my fist, balanced against the table. I begin to zone into my own little world and scan the canteen. The same usual people, the same place, the same situations, just a new day. Tilly, typical cheerleader, arguing with Trent, your stereotypical jock boyfriend. Dez, Trish calls him the king of the nerds, I still call him Dez. I wave to him and smile, I sit next to him in Math, we get on really well, enjoying the same more quirky sense of style. He waves back before returning to his conversation with his group, discussing an article in a science magazine probably. There is never anyone new, never anyone different.

Until now...

On the other side of the room I spot a new face. One I've never seen before. One beautiful new face. His features are very defined, strong jaw bone, cute rounded nose, I can not see his eyes properly as he is looking down at what I think is a book, his eyelashes covering his eyes. His blonde hair slightly hangs over one side of his face, a messy sandy blonde colour, works very well with his skin tone. He's dressed in a dark green and black plaid shirt, a black leather jacket over the top. I cant stop staring at him, its so refreshing to see a new face for once, especially one so attractive. I cant have been looking for very long but soon he looks up, clearly feeling like someone is staring at him. He scans the room, finally I can see his eyes, they look dark, I presume a dark brown, moody. Finally he spots me, looking me dead in the eye across the cafeteria. A smirk appearing on his lips, not the smirk I usually see on guys, not the smirk which hints at how he's been looking at your boobs and is imagining fucking you, a smirk I cant read, but one I want to find out.

I turn my head away, hoping when I turn back he's still looking. I look at Dallas, who seems to have spotted him as well.

"Looks like you've got an admirer there" he says, almost through gritted teeth. I pretend like I don't know what he is talking about. Scanning the room again I finally lay my eyes back on him. He smirks, chuckles once to himself, as if he knows I'm playing dumb to Dallas. I look him in the eye again, he doesn't break the connection.
"Do you know him?" Dallas asks, I try to turn myself away.
"No idea, never seen him before" I reply, trying to draw my eyes away from him, but his stare is so intense its hard to pull away, the mysterious smirk never leaves his lips as he looks at me.
"That's Austin Moon" Trish says with a hint of disgust. "He just moved here from LA or something. Seems kinda weird if you ask me" she tuts, turning back to her food. Well, he seems kinda cute if you ask me.
"Trish is right, he's looking at you like a piece of meat" What like you were earlier? I don't say this to him, he'd get pissy and I don't fancy dealing with that right now. I decided to try and change the subject, since my friends clearly didn't seem to have the same view on this guy its better to change things.

"So, what are you going to do about prom Ally?" Trish asks again, almost snidely, eyebrows raised expecting me to falter, a stuttering mess who doesn't know what she's doing, and I don't know what I'm doing, but I don't care enough to stutter.
"I don't know, I can still go on my own, its not exactly mandatory to have a date"
"Not mandatory" she smiles, "Just a little sad" she whispers under her breath, expecting me not to hear it. I roll my eyes and lean over to grab my bag from under the table.
"I'm gonna get to class. Don't want to be late" I say sarcastically, they both know I'm really going for a smoke, but I don't tell it straight. I raise my eyebrows and smile at Dallas who just rolls his eyes back, he hates that I smoke, but that doesn't stop him sitting with me outside in the pouring rain many a time just so I can get a fix.
"Meet you in the parking lot after school?" He asks, I nod back, grabbing the pack of cigarettes from my pocket and placing one in my mouth.

I guess there is one good thing about this popularity I somehow seem to have inherited. I can pretty much get away with a lot. People don't bitch at me for having a cigarette hanging out of my mouth as I walk through the school, it's lit, I'll add. I blow the smoke out of my nose as I walk down the hall, making one of the freshman cough, his friends laughing at him, calling him a 'Pussy' for not being to handle a bit of smoke.

I just walk the halls for a bit, even after the bell has rang for final class, I continue walking till the cigarette in my teeth is gone, a trail of ash behind me on the floor. I'm only 5 minutes late, not too bad considering.

Mrs Daniels, my English teacher, is already at the front of the class, book in hand talking about how meaningful the curtains are and what they represent as I walk in. Taking my place at the back of the class, she's so engrossed in telling the class the deep shit she doesn't even notice me come in. Slumping down in my seat I grab the book, not really paying much attention to anything or anyone. Its a small class with people I don't really care about, they don't really care about me either, the only difference being that they know my name, I don't know theirs. However, popularity doesn't matter when your stuck listening to Mrs Daniels spout some crap about the writers hidden meaning in ever sentence.

Finally I look up from my desk and look towards the window to my left, three other desks to my left, almost blocking my view but I can just about see the football field where Dallas currently is, working his ass of to keep up with guys he has openly admitted he hates. Just another thing to add to our list of hypocrisies. I look from the window to the person sat closest to it. My eyes wander up the black leather jacket, the green and black plaid shirt, his elbow balanced carefully on the desk, his head resting on his fist. His blonde hair hangs lazily over his eyes but I know he's looking at me the same way I'm looking at him. A sense of refreshment, something new, something unique. A new smirk appears on his lips, not like the one in the cafeteria, this ones more sexy, more suggestive.

I roll my eyes teasingly and turn back to my book, knowing he's still there, still staring, still smirking. I find myself craving this feeling, this attraction. Its a feeling I want to try and keep, and I know exactly how to get it.