Chapter Text
September 6th, 1999
It was a breezy September morning–one of those perfect days between summer and autumn, when it wasn’t too hot nor too cold. Scar Tissue by The Red Hot Chili Peppers blasted through Lucy Chen’s car radio as she drove to Mid-Wilshire High School. It’s been a while since she has been in Los Angeles, and her first day at yet another school. Her parents didn’t even bother to drive her, yet alone wished her good luck. They’ve done it so many times, the routine seemed useless.
Lucy’s parents were both psychologists. Her father worked for a hospital company that required him to move around a lot to assess the environment of each facility. Her parents met at one of those hospitals, and always dug deep into Lucy’s emotions. Even though they were psychologists, they seemed to not care about messing up a child’s mental health. They were tough on her; tough on grades, her clothes, her social life. Despite not being a military kid, she lived and felt like one.
At the same time, Timothy Bradford was just ending morning drills with his football team. Nicknamed Eagle Eyes for his outworldly perception on the field, Tim was the captain of the Mid-Wilshire Eagles. And, he was only a junior in high school. The title of captain usually went to seniors, but Tim’s overeagerness and commitment to his role earned him the name. He deserved it more than anyone. He only really cared about three things; football, his sister, and using football to get them both out of their parents house. Football was an outlet for Tim. With a dad who would tune him up on the regular, he’d rather be doing suicides at three am than having his head being bashed into the wall.
Lucy probably waited a good five minutes before deciding to get out of her busted, silver Honda Accord (which she named Daisy) and actually enter the school. Mid-Wilshire barely reached the top six for the largest high schools in Southern California, yet looked absolutely enormous compared to the five foot four Lucy. There were three floors and covered an approximate three-hundred thousand square feet, at least that is what Lucy thought.
“HEY! WATCH OUT!” Someone yelled behind Lucy right as she was about to walk into the front doors.
In a split second, she turned around and saw a projectile football going straight for her head. Yet somehow, by a miracle, she caught it, but accidentally bumped into someone, dropped the ball, and they both fell to the ground. Except, more like the person fell to the ground and Lucy fell onto them.
“Goddamn. Nice hands hot shot,” assumedly said by the same person who warned her about the ball. “Ugh, what the fuck.” Oh fuck. Lucy realized she was still on top of the person. “I’m so sorry,” she got up, brushed herself off, and offered a hand to help the–now identified as a sweaty, teenage boy get up. “I-I didn’t see you and the ba–” He got up by himself and slapped her hand away. Rude. “Watch yourself hot shot.”
His voice was raspy, not like a natural rasp, but like a rasp you’d get after screaming a bunch. The morning sun glistened on his face and already golden hair. Lucy thought that if you took away the light, it would still look like that. He was still rude though. “There’s no need to be an asshole. I’m saying sorry,” she quipped back. “I-” he was about to say something, but his friend came to interrupt him. Most likely to make sure he doesn’t say anything more.
“Are you guys alright? I’m sorry, I was throwing the ball to Bradford over here, but I think I need to work on my aim,” the culprit of the throwing was for some reason being sweeter than the person who fell because of the throwing? He had a goofy smile to him, and looked directly into Lucy’s eyes when speaking to her. “Yes I’m alright. I’m Lucy. Lucy Chen,” she lent her hand out to shake and this guy actually took it. “I’m Emmett Lang. Are you new here?”
“Uh, yeah. It’s my first day.”
“Oh nice. What grade are you–” The bell rang signifying the five minute warning.
“Oh, would you look at that? So upsetting to ruin this moment, but Emmett and I need to go to class,” said Mr. Brooding Bradford in the corner. Bradford started pulling Emmett away into the building.
“See you later. Lucy.”
Lucy couldn’t do anything, but wave as Emmett already entered the school. And she soon followed and made her way into the principal’s office. It was obvious by Emmett’s tone that he was flirting with her, yet for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about her encounter with the sweaty, rude, brooding, Bradford with glistening golden hair.
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It was the same for Timothy as well. He didn’t know why he was rude to the short girl. He was already pissed off by how practice went that morning to even be aware of others’ feelings, something his best friend Angela keeps telling him to work on. He wasn’t able to go through his first period without feeling so guilty for treating her that way. Tim usually is a gentleman. It was a big school, he thought, he wouldn’t see her at all and won’t get embarrassed by her presence alone. He thought wrong. Because despite having to move a ton, Lucy was quite a smart girl. She took the advanced classes of the advanced classes and was on the way to graduate a year early. So by Tim’s surprise, she was in most of the junior classes.
When Lucy walked into Tim’s AP Psychology class, he thought that the chances of her walking into another one was low. However, much to his luck, she walked into his AP Physics, AP U.S History, and for some reason his art elective. It was going to be a long year for Tim Bradford. This meant that the majority of his morning classes, he had with her. Pure torture. In most of them, she sat quietly near the back. She looked hyper focused, regardless of it being the first day of school so nobody really talked about anything.
Lucy had wavy, dark brown hair that flowed perfectly down her shoulders. She wore a light yellow sundress that cut off right above her knees, with a white t-shirt under it. The only reason why Tim noticed her jewelry, not that he was even paying attention to her, was because she kept fiddling with each piece. Lucy had tiny, gold hoop earrings that matched her stacked necklaces and one singular ring on her right ring finger. She was unimaginably put together, Tim couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
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Of course they had the same lunch, these just had to be the cards handed to Lucy. The universe just had to make her be stuck spending the majority of her day with the asshole. Once she saw him in the lunch room, she made a 360 and booked it to the library. Being in a cafeteria always made her overwhelmed, and she saw no point in socializing with people that she’d only know for a year before moving again. And so, she found solace in the library.
Lucy found a nice corner between the science fiction and mystery aisle, and pleasantly discovered a copy of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. Right as she was about to pick up the book, she heard a not-so-whispered “Hello!” Lucy turned to her left and found a small girl. “Oh! Hi. Um–”
“You’re Lucy right?” The small girl abruptly asked.
“And you are?”
“Right, my apologies. My mom says I need to work on my manners. My name is Celina,” the girl chuckled.
“Nice to meet you Celina. Could I ask how you know me?” Lucy just came to this school, either this girl is a stalker or in one of her classes. It was very unlikely the latter since the girl seemed too young to be in any junior classes, she had the looks and size of a freshman.
“You’re Lucy the Hot-Shot. The one who trampled all over Eagle Eyes this morning,” Celina said that with her shoulders back and tall. “I’m sorry, did you say Eagle Eyes?” Lucy only remembers speaking to three people today; Emmett, Bradford, and the principal. By the power of deduction, and Celina saying the word trampled, Lucy realized that Eagle Eyes was in fact the Bradford. The asshole Bradford. “Also, what do you mean Hot-Shot? I’m Hot-Shot? Wait, who even are you?” A billion questions flooded through Lucy’s brain.
“You know? Eagle Eyes? THE only Timothy Bradford aka captain of the football team aka Eagle Eyes? Not only the most popular guy in his grade, but also the smartest? The one who allegedly couldn’t keep his eyes off of you all morning until you were out of his peripheral vision?” Lucy was aghast. Who knew that the rudest man ever, had this kind of a reputation. “And you Lucy Chen, who has been the focal point of what everyone is talking about with your encounter with the hottest men in school. Emmett ‘Eager’ Lang and Tim ‘Brooding’ Bradford. They nicknamed you ‘Hot-Shot’ after your impressive catch before tumbling into Tim’s arms. Also, I’m a sophomore and really really nosy.”
I guess I was spot on the brooding part, Lucy thought to herself. She knew that Tim’s eyes were lingering a bit today, but for it to be the major gossip for the entire school? This all sounded very stereotypical and dramatic. “You look like a freshman you know,” was all that Lucy could mutter out. “Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to be a freshman, but I just started kindergarten early.”
“I have a few questions, if you’re willing to answer,” Lucy had about a billion more than she was asking for, but decided to start slowly. Celina nodded and sat herself down across from Lucy. “First off, why are people so concerned with the lives of a few students? Second, how did this get around the school so quickly, and third how did you find me? Also Emmett ‘Eager’ Lang and Tim ‘Brooding’ Bradford? Seems a bit on the nose.”
“People are so concerned with Tim’s life because he is the most closed off person despite him being so well-known. You know nothing about him yet everything at the same time. He swears off dating, fun, life even, and dedicates himself to football. He is known as this brooding character. So everyone is nosy when it comes to him. That’s how it spread so fast. Emmett is known as eager because of his constant flirtation with every girl that he meets. You were easy to find because of my amazing detective skills and I just had to follow Tim’s eyes.”
“Follow Tim’s eyes? What?” This was so much information in such little time, Lucy didn’t know if she felt flattered or threatened by Tim’s special treatment. “You do know Tim is in here right? He followed you after you walked out of the cafeteria.”
“I’m sorry. What again?” Could this day get any weirder? Not only does she have one stalker, Lucy has TWO people on her tail. What kind of high school is this? Lucy thinks. I need to get out of here. “Excuse me Celina, I need to get some air.” As fast as she could, she left the nice girl stranded, and bolted through the halls to the front of the school. For some good reason, she felt hyper aware about the people around her and what they could be thinking.
She went through the front doors, quickly turned right and—bumped right into someone. “I-I’m sorry I–”
“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”