2-|The Prime

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The Prime

I WAS seated at the far end of the cafeteria. My arms laid on the table, spread around my lunch tray. Peace engulfed me—

'Baby shark' blared out of the speakers of my phone, causing me to panic and grab it. At least, I tried to. It bounced around in my hands before I caught it with both hands, grinning stupidly at no one in particular.

The students around me didn't seem to care, they just chatted away like nothing had happened. I exhaled and cursed myself for setting a lunch alarm then turned it off completely and grasping it in one hand.

Save for the chatter around the cafeteria, my table was quiet. I liked that the students respected me enough to give me an entire table all to myself. Then again, that could have been because they didn't notice me sitting there.

I didn't care. Collecting a fry from the tray, I pushed it into my mouth, munching away silently, cringing at the mushiness of it. 

Here at SGH, almost no afternoon could pass by without drama erupting among the students. Mostly popular drama. Sometimes it was funny, other times it wasn't. Lunchtime was always drama time either way, and I wanted to know who was going to deliver it today.

I stuffed another fry into my mouth.

My gaze landed on a group of populars, laughing away at something. It narrowed. They didn't have a particular table they sat at, so it was difficult to spot them most of the time. 

Reece had a broad grin on his face as his gaze flickered between his girlfriend, Lydia and her best friend, Hazel Pheon. Her auburn hair flowed down her back in soft waves as she giggled at something he said. Beside her, Tyler Bridge rolled his eyes and took a sip of his smoothie while the brunette opposite him struggled to get his attention. Taylor, his twin, tried to tickle him, but ended up receiving a growl instead of laughter. On Reece's other side, with his nose buried inside his phone, sat Kayden Facro. 

From afar, they seemed like your average popular students, just swimming in the bliss of popularity.

The Prime Empire knew what class was. Being the children of the school's wealthiest parents, they had this bond that couldn't really be explained.

Those guys lived better high school lives than the rest of us. Take our food for example. They always got the expensive and good stuff like: fresh lasagna, burritos, meatballs made of actual meat and even pizza. They could even order takeout right at school and get it delivered to them within minutes. I guess the school staff were kind of scared that if their parents were to withdraw them, all their fundings would go poof.

Those of us, who couldn't afford that, were stuck with oil soaked fries and plastic meatballs(I swear that's what they tasted like: plastic).

I shoved another fry into my mouth with more force than intended, almost choking myself in the process. I let out a small cough and pushed away the tray. I'd had enough soggy fries for today. With a sigh, I drew out my aged phone and stared at the blank, cracked screen. 

No messages. No calls. Zip, zilch, nada.

As I scrolled the screen, I watched it bounce back to the original state because there was absolutely nothing to scroll against.

"What do you mean?" Came the sudden outraged cry of a female specimen in the cafeteria.

I averted my gaze from my phone that was filled with loneliness and tried to find out what caused the ruckus. My gaze darkened when it settled on the Prime Empire's table.

The brunette from earlier was on her feet, fire burning in her eyes. Amusement at her demeanor flew in the air between the members of the Prime.

Ooh, drama!

By now, the entire cafeteria probably had that on their mind as they watched the scene unfold. My gaze flickered to the useless fries on the table. 

Well, better put it to good use instead of wasting the food then.

I pulled the tray back to myself and munched on a fry. From the distance, Tyler's blue eyes glimmered and a smirk formed on his lips. More than half the female population were already drooling over him by now.

Yeah, I get it. 

This guy was hot. Like spanish supermodel hot. His smile made all the girls around him drop their panties and his smirk made them do things that were a lot worse than that.

But there was a heartbroken girl, standing in plain sight for all of them to see. Couldn't they understand what was going on?

"I mean that I'm done with you." Tyler shrugged, the devious smirk still lingering on his features. "But thanks though. You were a good fling."

The entire cafeteria gasped. I found some girls even fanning themselves. Honestly the girls at this school needed rehabilitation. They thought everything these guys did was amazing. Everything including using and dumping girls. It only made them want to be around the Prime the more.

Heartbroken—I'm totally calling her that now—had tears running down her cheeks freely by now. 

Half of me couldn't believe her. The Prime Empire used girls for a living. They found it fun. Like a sport. They loved drama and stirring it. She must have been very blind to have fallen for their twisted shenanigans.

The other half felt kind of bad for her though. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang around power. That was their technique. They would accept a girl into their group then use her to play stupid games throw her away after. Pity, almost all the girls seemed to die for their drama. They were all eager to suffer the same fate. Some would even see her as lucky to be broken by the Prime Empire.

Heartbroken let out sobs and shook her head, then she ran out of the cafeteria. For one second the entire place fell pin-drop-silent. That spell was broken by the Prime Empire who began laughing. Some other popular groups joined in their laughter, and soon enough, the entire cafeteria was stifling laughter.

My blood boiled. 

That girl might have been wrong for falling for Tyler but she didn't deserve this treatment. None of the girls who passed through it ever did. And the way the populars controlled everything made me sick to my stomach. 

Or maybe it was the soggy fries...

I decided that I'd had enough drama for today. It was time to head to the library, where I would find proper uninterrupted peace. So I grabbed my backpack and got the hell out of there without anyone noticing.

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News about what transpired between heartbroken and the Prime Empire flew around in the air. Students giggled, fauned over and commented their thoughts on the issue to each other. It was expected, after all, it was the Prime Empire that stirred up the drama. Almost everyone here lived off Prime Empire gossip.

I had already arranged my notes and textbooks and every other thing I would need throughout the class on my table and was now staring at the door waiting for the teacher to walk in. It would certainly make the chatter drop.

The door cracked open finally, and someone stepped in. I sat up straighter, expecting a teacher. However, I was very disappointed to find out that the person who had entered wasn't the teacher. He wasn't even a teacher at all. 

He was Kayden. As in, Prime Empire Kayden Facro.

I swallowed hard and dropped my gaze to the table when he started towards the back of the class. Towards where I sat. Pulling my hoodie to properly cover my eyes, I prayed he wouldn't notice me.

Invisibility, don't fail me now.

What was he doing here? Since when did he offer economics?

"Hey, is this seat taken?" I froze at his voice then shook my head swiftly, snapping out of it. I'd been failed. But how?! Certainly he wasn't talking to—

"Hello?" 

I looked up, accidentally, and found that I'd made a huge mistake. The second I did, I was captivated by his hazel eyes.

"Uh...are you okay?" He asked, confused, leaning closer. I leaned back on impulse.

My brain did a reboot, debugging, system upgrade, clear cache.

Speak child, speak!

My mouth opened, no words came out.

System overload. Turn off all electrical appliances and stay away from the doors. Abort! Abort! Aborrrttt!!

I was overheating. Shite, was I supposed to react this way?

"Are you okay?" He looked genuinely concerned, coming about the table with long strides towards me. "Should I call the nurse?"

Everyone's eyes were on us by now, watching for what was going to happen next. My brain chose this as the perfect moment to die.

With my jaw still on the floor and mouth ajar, I blurted out senseless words.

"Free. Is. Table. Chair." My subconscious slapped me. 

Well, in real life I smacked myself in the face and squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe I was just daydreaming again...

That was what I thought until I heard Kayden's chuckle, backed up with snickers from the watching crowd.

My eyes snapped open. 

"You're still here?" I blurted out the question. Yes, my people. My mouth was hellbent on destroying me today.

Kayden just shook his head, flashing me a dimple and settled into the seat next to mine while the teacher walked in. Awkwardly, I shifted in my seat and surveyed the room. The seat next to me had been the only seat left in the entire class. That was why he spoke to me.

Why? Oh why did I like sitting alone?

That class was the definition of uncomfortable. I kept squirming in my seat and didn't get a single thing the teacher said into my head. Though I was able to get some notes down, nothing entered my brain. That shite was gone for good.

I was so elated when the class came to an end that I spring out of my seat and surged forward. That is, until Kayden spoke again.

"Hey. So, can I borrow your note?" I turned to him with wide eyes, my mouth at the dawn of its awakening. Silently, I prayed that it would fall asleep. Kayden laughed, dimples and all. His hair fell into his eyes but he did nothing to put it in place. "Sorry, it's just that I didn't quite get anything the teacher said—"

It was my mouth that cut him off, I swear it wasn't me.

"No it's fine." It blurted out. My hands went to work, frantically searching my bag for the note. I practically shoved it into his hand when I found it. "Here, you don't have to worry about returning it." I kept talking while backing away from him slowly and as fast as I could at the same time.

My mouth didn't stop. The thing really had a death wish. Kayden just stared at me with a swirl of amusement and confusion in his eyes.

"You can keep it. I have books—I mean the bookstore has books. I could buy one and recopy—" I smacked my forehead, heart pounding and brain cursing my every move. "Silly me, you could have that one too. I'll just borrow a note from someone and copy a new one... It's too bad  I don't know many people though." I snorted. "I'm negligible." It sounded almost like I was proud of the title.

I paused speaking  and grimaced, darting for the front door with all eyes on me. By now, my hoodie had moved back, putting my face on full display. My flickered between the classroom and the hall, then again and again until I inhaled sharply. 

"Bye." I threw Kayden a two-finger salute and ran out of there with everything I had.

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