The heat of love

The old Zander used to look in mirror and spend extra long than the normal guy with his hair, outfits and at some point people actually called him gay for a while. That never bothered Zander. Of course at some point in life Zander lost it all. He had to live with his dad, the one who was bitter about the divorce and then there was his mom, the one who hated Zander and of course Zander knew that. Everybody knew that no matter how hard he tried to get his mom to love him for once. When Zander got hit by his dad in the face that was all it took for the Zander that everybody loved die and turn into something no one could even predict even a stately fortune teller. Zander had this gorgeous smiled he was the special exception his teeth was straight and never needed braces. People were jealous of him and now Zander Robbins is known as the emo kid and just another face in the hall. He wanted to stop feeling this way stop feeling hurt, stop feeling so useless, and stop everything. There were days when Zander just wanted to curl up in a ball and just cry and kill himself. He was never strong enough to do it. All his fears went into his music, all his pain were in his songs and the way he sing it filled with emotions. Zander rolled out of bed with pain across his stomach. He groaned and looked in the mirror pushing his hair out of his eyes. Zander turned around from the mirror had enough of being disgusted of himself. Zander Robbins wanted everything to go back to the way things was before his so-called best friend stole his beautiful girlfriend Molly away from him. He entered the cafeteria with nothing but a brown bag. His black hoodie on with long sleeves to cover the bruises. Zander stared at Gravity four, just laughing but one girl stood out from the group, Stevie Baskara. She had the long brown hair and there was no way to deny she was gorgeous. Zander had the hugest crush on her and of course she was taken and out of his league.

"Don't look Stevie but Cutter-head is staring at you" Kacey stated to her best friend Stevie. Stevie turned around to look at Zander. He quickly looked down. Stevie turned back around to her best friend. "I think it was all in your head" Stevie told her while sipping on her milk. Stevie Baskara had everything any girl would have wanted. She had an awesome boyfriend she was madly in love. Stevie couldn't help kept staring back at Zander. She knew who the real Zander. The boy who used to make her laugh, the boy who made her feels beautiful that was Zander Robbins. She hated his nickname given by Kacey it made him sound so messed up but that was so far from the truth. "Why do you have to call him that name" Stevie asked Kacey. "Do we have to go over this AGAIN? He is emotionally damaged hence the nickname. Stevie how do you expect to get nicknames" Kacey stated to her. "Your nickname is Tough Stevie, because you act tough" Kacey continued to ramble on and on. Stevie rolled her eyes and turned back around to Zander somehow she was the only one who saw the pain in his eyes. He just stared straight back at her. Stevie could feel her heart beat goes so fast that she was about to have a heart attack. She smiled at Zander and Zander just stared at her with a small smile that no one could tell. He got up grabbing his brown bag and walked into the hallway with people calling Zander Emotional Disturbed, freak, and mostly cutter- head. Stevie couldn't understand how Zander could act like he doesn't care about people's insults. Even though Stevie was tough she wasn't that tough. Stevie and the rest of Gravity 4 got up from the table to go to Mr. March class. Stevie was holding her boyfriend hand, Cole. She smiled at him slightly and he smiled back at her. Zander sat behind Stevie who sat next Kacey and on the opposite side Cole was next to her. Nelson and Kevin were sitting in the front. Molly was sitting next to Zander and making out with her boyfriend aka Zander ex-best friend. Zander turned his head away and put his hood on to cover his face and head. Zander was still heartbroken about what Molly and Houston did to him. Grace was chatting with Kacey. "Okay guys whose presentation is going first" Mr. March asked the group of students. No one said anything, Molly smirked and stood up. "I voluntary Cutter-head" Molly said proudly and everyone agreed. Stevie looked back at Zander. His face went from color to pale quickly. "Well come on up here "Mr. March told him while pushing him up. Zander hands were shaking; he opened his mouth nothing was coming out. "Oh that's right he doesn't talk" Molly said with a laugh and Zander pulled his sleeve down and looked down at his feet. Zander quickly moved to sit down in his seat again. "Lay off, Molly" Kacey Simon said to her with an eye roll. "You are the biggest douche bag, I hope you realize that" Stevie snapped at Molly with a long lasting glare. "Leave my girlfriend alone" Houston said with an angry tone that Zander never heard before. "This is all your fault cutter-head" Molly shouted at Zander and he just looked down at his hands. Zander grabbed his items and backpack and walked out the door and kept running to the bathroom and he sat down in a stall. His feet up on the toilet, he took out his journal filled with songs. Zander knew he wouldn't ever be able to play them even though back in the day he knew he could sing. Zander felt the tears coming down from his eyes. "Disturbed, a freak, a loser you would be better off dead" The words in his head managed to come out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before start writing a song that was filled with pain.

The lights go out all around me

One last candle to keep out the night

And then the darkness surrounds me

I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died

And all that's left is to accept that it's over

My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made

I try to keep warm but I just grow colder

I feel like I'm slipping away

After all this has passed, I still will remain

After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain

Though it won't be today,

Someday I'll hope again

And there'll be beauty from pain

You will bring beauty from my pain

Zander slowly got out of the bathroom stall and stare at his reflection in the mirror. He removed his hood, he managed to keep on. The bruises were all over his face and the tears were dried on his face. He heard the bell ring. He walked out of the bathroom bumping into none other than Stevie causing her to knock down her things onto the floor. He bent down to pick her items but not before Cole her handsome boyfriend kicks Zander in the stomach and he groaned. "Don't touch my girlfriend" Cole said harshly to Zander before pulling Stevie away. "No Cole" Stevie said firmly and turned back to Zander. She bent down to his level. "Um hi Zander" She whispered to him and Zander handed her things back to her but not before She saw his face. "Thanks Zander" She said while grabbing her items from him. Stevie could tell there was there a bright spark in his eyes when she called him Zander instead of Cutter-head. She walked back to her boyfriend but not daring to look in his eyes. "How could you be so cruel to Zander" She asked him while her arms crossed. "Excuse me who" Cole replied with a questioning tone. "Cutter-head" She sighed and her arms still crossed and with this angry look. "He touched you, I don't want you to get what he has" Cole informed her with his arms crossed as well. "You're an idiot" Stevie stated bluntly before leaving him behind. She hated the way Cole acted towards anyone but especially Zander. Why couldn't people just call him Zander not Cutter-head or better yet leave him alone. Those were the thoughts that crossed Stevie's mind. She wasn't even in the mood to eat lunch so instead she was going to Gravity 4 band room and when she walked in she heard music. She looked at who it was. None other than was Zander playing the guitar and singing a song. "Wow" Stevie said causing Zander to drop the instrument. "That was amazing Zander, you're voice it's amazing" Stevie continued to ramble on. "Uh, Thanks" Zander said quietly that Stevie almost couldn't hear him. Zander grabbed his bag before Stevie could say another word. "Don't tell anyone" Zander said while bumping into no other than Kacey Simon. "Hey watch it, Cutter-head and what you doing in this room" Kacey snapped while her arms were crossed against her chest. He shakes his head and picked up Kacey's stuff before turning back to see Stevie waving at him and quickly left the room. "What the hell Kacey he did nothing to you" Stevie snapped while picking up the guitar that Zander left. "He touched me" Kacey replied with her hands on her hip. "So what Kacey" Stevie shouted at her while her arms were crossed. "What's gotten into you? You can't like Cutter-head" Kacey questioned her with one hand on her hip this time. "His name is Zander Robbins not freaking Cutter-head" Stevie stormed out of the band room and with Nelson stopping her. "Where you going" Nelson asked her. "You, Kasey and Kevin I sure hope you guys happy tormenting Zander" Stevie yelled at them. "We don't torment him" Kevin said while looking confused. "You call him Cutter-head" Stevie replied to them. "It's what everyone calls him" Nelson told Stevie with a small shrug. "That doesn't mean you have to follow the crowd" Stevie told them while walking away from them. Nelson sighed because Stevie was right, but he couldn't help being happy that Zander Robbins wasn't popular anymore and he was just a loser. The funny thing is that when Zander was popular he never made fun of anyone or bullied everyone. Everybody loved him and Nelson was always jealous about that. Nelson knew that. On the other hand, Kevin knew that it was wrong along with his bff, he just never felt like going against the crowd. Kevin knew how talented Zander was, the best guitar player, and singer and also managed to get the ladies to fall for him. Kevin always wanted that more than anything. Nelson and Kevin were jealous of Zander Robbins but the question now is; are they jealous of Zander or who he is. "Thank you" Zander told Stevie when he saw her. "You have no right to be treated like dirt at all, you're a human being" Stevie said to him while sitting on the stairs with him outside the school. "I never had anyone stick up for me before" Zander said while pulling his sleeve down. "Well now you do, and Zander what happen to you" Stevie couldn't help it, she needed to know. "Everything just happened" Zander said while standing up before grabbing his backpack. "Here" He said to her handing Stevie a drawing of herself. Stevie smiled so big and hugged him tight. "This is beautiful" She said while holding a smile on her face. "Thanks I'm glad you like" Zander said before leaving the school. Stevie kept looking at the picture with a huge smile on her face.