A Dare With The Bad Boy

Chapter 2: The New

Luna took a jump and her body felt fatigued. All of a sudden, she felt cramps and before she could stop herself from falling flat on her face, it was too late. Her hands could not save herself from face planting the ground and that was how she landed in the emergency room. 

For three months, she was unable to move her mouth as she injured it after landing right on her face. It was fortunate that she didn’t hurt or break any of her other bones, but because she could not open her mouth, it meant she could not eat solid food. 

That whole time that she went without eating the unhealthy food she always ate, Luna’s body drastically changed. She could not remember exactly what she weighed as she disliked checking it, but she vividly remembered her doctor always telling her that she was too overweight for her age and size. This time, her doctor was inexplicably happy for her.

On the day Luna decided she would change her life for the better and lose some weight, she wouldn’t have thought she would even lose more than ten pounds, but here she was. To make it even more surprising for her, her whole body and face started to lose acne as she was only fed healthy food for a long time. It was as if her face and body had completely changed and she didn’t exactly know who that person was she was looking at. 

Luna put her hands on her waist and started to press on it, wondering where all of the stuff she had around her stomach had gone because all she could feel now were her ribs and a slightly hard stomach. She looked down at her legs and thighs and poked around it, wondering if she was actually dreaming because she could actually see her feet from this angle. It felt so surreal that all she could do was just stare at the new her. She noticed that the one thing that didn’t change or didn’t seem like it was her chest and it felt weird to her now that it looked like she had a bigger bust because her lower body was smaller.

As she stood in front of her bedroom mirror, trying to decide what to wear, she was still not over the fact that none of her old clothes could no longer fit her. 

Luckily, her mom had already gone shopping for a few clothes for her. Although they were just a few, they promised to go out to the mall again once school started so they could change her closet and donate her old clothes. 

Luna was nervous as to how her first day was going to go since she disappeared for so long. She didn’t even know if people even looked for her or cared in the first place. The only friend she knew cared was Alexa, her best friend, and the one that helped her finish Sophomore year at home. 

Because she was unable to go to school, her best friend came by as often as she could and brought her school materials and helped her finish all the school requirements online. This helped her finish Sophomore year in a breeze and also got her ready for Junior year. 

Luna looked in front of the mirror, unsure if this is what clothes were supposed to look like on her. For most of her life she only wore hoodies and baggy pants but because her mom bought her clothes, there were only jeans that were fitted and short sleeved shirts. 

She bit her lip in nervousness as she eyed her outfit up and down. She was wearing a simple pink top that was almost a little too short at the bottom that she thought her mom might have gotten from a kid’s shop as it was practically showing her belly button and denim jeans that were ripped at some parts. 

Luna couldn’t believe she was actually wearing ripped jeans. She had only seen the other girls in her school wear them and often felt somewhat envious because they looked nice in them. There was only one time she ever tried to put those types of jeans on and immediately took it off as she hated the sight of all her fats looking like it was coming out of the jeans. From then on, she never wore anything besides baggy pants ever again.

“Honey, are you ready?” Luna immediately turned to the sound of her mom calling for her from the other side of the door. 

“Um…” Luna second-guessed what she would answer for a few seconds as she continued to look at the mirror. 

“Y-yeah! I’ll just get my things, mom!” She shouted and her mom acknowledged before going back down the stairs. 

Luna grabbed her old backpack and hurriedly made her way downstairs to get a quick bite before walking to the bus stop. 

“Good morning, sweetie. How are you feeling?” Her mom asked as she motioned for Luna to sit down to the table. 

Back then, Luna got used to eating bacon, eggs, pancakes, and many more during the morning, but this time, the table seemed quite empty as there was only toasted bread, a wheat one at that. 

To Luna, this would have seemed like a big change she wouldn’t be able to adjust to, but after three months of eating nothing but whatever was fed to her on a tube, she ate everything and loved it. Her parents also underwent a hospital check up and although there were no complications, the doctor had suggested that the family start to eat less fatty foods and more on organic and whatnot. 

“Thanks, mom. These look delicious!” Luna replied before diving in her food.

If there was one thing that didn’t change out of her eating habit, it was that she still could finish her food in no time. She wasn’t sure if she had just gotten used to eating a lot, that having smaller portions made her eat faster than usual or if she had just always eaten like she had no time to lose. Either way, before her mom could even finish her first bread, she was already up and ready to go. 

“See you later, mom!” She waved goodbye and her mom gave her a quick smile before she went out of the door. 

It was seven in the morning and the clouds were high up, making the air quite nice and not at all warm. 

The wind blew and this instantly made Luna somewhat shiver from the cold breeze.

“Darn, I should have brought a jacket.” Luna muttered to herself but then realizing she no longer even had one that could fit her. 

If she wore her old hoodies, it would most likely not even stay on her body as it would slide down from how big the whole thing was. 

She made a mental note to put that in her shopping list later on after school. Her list was definitely getting longer and longer, but luckily, her parents were not the type to say no and her mom was even more excited than her. 

Luna looked around and realized how beautiful the houses were around her. She wasn’t sure if most of them had renovated their houses or it had always been like that and she never knew because she had gotten so used to walking with her head down and never saw her surroundings that much. 

Luna felt relieved as she walked and felt like she was finally free from eyes that judged her every move. She admired the big and small houses around her and the beautiful gardens they had. 

Flowers were here most favorite thing in the world because she grew up with her mom who had such a knack for planting and plants. There was practically a whole greenhouse in their backyard and Luna loved helping her mom with growing vegetables, but her favorite was taking care of the sunflowers and yellow bells. Whatever type of yellow flower it was, Luna would probably know what it was as they were her favorite color. To her, it symbolized optimism and light, like wherever there was darkness, you just had to keep walking and there will always be a light at the end of it.

Luna immediately stopped in her tracks the moment she saw the bus stop area. She was used to seeing more students but this time, there seemed to be only a few of them. Most of the students, being that they were already Juniors, had already gotten a car since they had already turned sixteen years old. Luna was quite younger and was only about to have her birthday soon and so she didn’t have a car of her own, nor did she know how to drive. 

Nonetheless, even if there were less people, her heart started to beat fast and she felt her hands begin to get sweaty as she started to slightly get nervous. 

If only Alexa was here, she thought, but Alexa was still in another country and wouldn’t be back until the second week of the start of school. 

Being the daughter of a military doctor, the school always allowed her to start the semester a little later than the others. One, because she often joined her father during the summer for a safe training facility to hone her in the future as she too wanted to become like her dad and this exceeded the summer time. Two, because it was not like Alexa couldn’t keep up with the schoolwork. Whatever time she started school, she would still end up being part of the top ten with Aiden Harries being top one, of course.

Although Luna wasn’t able to get in that rank, it didn’t mean she was less smart. In fact, if she wanted to, she could probably take her crush’s spot. Luna just hated being the center of attention for fear of being judged even more and so she chose to blend in as much as she could. She purposely answered her tests and homeworks to make some mistakes and so most of them wouldn’t have a high grade, just enough to keep her in the middle. 

Luna swallowed the lump in her throat and pursed her lips the second she arrived by the bus stop area. She hoped that the people around her wouldn’t mind her at all, and it was all going so well, until she entered the bus and suddenly, every step she took further inside, more eyes looked at her. 

Luna, feeling uncomfortable, crossed her arms in front of her stomach area, trying her best to cover the skin that was showing because of the top that was way too short to be for an adult, she thought. 

She hears murmurs and whispers around her and she starts to increase the speed of her walking. 

Once she finally reached the back of the bus which was her usual spot, she was getting ready to sit down when a group of younger kids ran and got to sit down on it first. 

They were in such a rush that one of them had hit Luna and this suddenly made her off balance as her foot slipped and had no time to hold onto the rail that was a few inches away from her. 

It was as if time slowed down and Luna’s mind was thinking what an amazing luck she had to embarrass herself in front of everyone in the bus on her first day back to school. 

She closed her eyes tightly and braced for impact, but for some reason, it never came. 

Instead, she felt like someone had gotten a hold of her from behind.

Confused as to who it was, she slowly opened her eyes, and what greeted her almost gave her a heart attack. 

A somewhat good one. 

Because right in front of her, the first person she least expected to see nor be in the arms of was the man she had always dreamed about being close with almost day and night. 

She exclaimed in shock.

“Aiden.”