In Love With My Bully Step-brother

Chapter 2 | Just a little lost…

Ashleigh’s POV

The first thing I noticed about Oak Bridge was that it was not for me.

To the left of where I stood, still gaping at the massive structure, was a student parking lot —I knew because there was a sign. But the kind of cars I was seeing…this might as well have been a parking lot in some resort in the UAE. Everything was exotic! If those were the kind of cars their students drove then, I certainly didn’t belong here.

I didn’t even own a bicycle! The only kind of vehicle I’d ever owned was a scooter I hadn’t ridden past my driveway back in Phoenix.

Even as I was still standing outside, a car drove past me for the parking lot. The speed at which it moved sent my skirt flying up with the wind and I had to drag it down with my hands. It was all the motivation I needed to get moving. However, that also proved difficult because, when I reached the glass entrance door, both leaves were locked.

“What…?” I stared in disbelief. What the heck was going on in this place?

“You need an I.D to get in through the student entrance,” someone said from beside me.

I turned around and came face-to-face with a group of girls all of whom looked like they’d walked out of a magazine. Their uniforms, though like mine, somehow looked shinier. Straighter at the edges. Their hair was straight and long and I didn’t think I could afford their boots if I saved up for a year. They smelled pretty good too, I thought as a mix of different delicate fragrances hit my nose.

“Hello?” The girl waved her hand in my face.

I pinched myself and came back to reality.

“The student entrance?” I asked and they all giggled.

The same girl pointed at the sign above the door and when I looked up, I saw that indeed this was the student entrance. It was written in bold white letters on a green board.

“Um…where…” I stuttered. I wasn’t very good at talking to strangers. “I’m new.”

“No s**t!” one of them exclaimed and the rest giggled.

This conversation got worse every time I opened my mouth.

“You’d want to go through the admin entrance that way,” the first girl explained and pointed somewhere behind her.

“That also has a sign in case you get lost again,” the sarcastic one said again.

My cheeks burned red as their giggles followed me all the way to the admin entrance around the side of the building. I looked up at the sign just to be sure those girls hadn’t tricked me. They hadn’t.

Still, my first day of school was definitely going worse than I had imagined.

These doors were also locked, but unlike the other, there was security to open up for non-staff visitors like myself. He wore all black, didn’t smile and kept his hand threateningly on a holster. I didn’t know why but for some reason, I waved at him. A single brow went up.

Thankfully, there was a receptionist I could talk to so, I ran up to her. After telling me how late I was, she led me to the clerking office where I could complete my registration and get my official student I.D badge. Good for me.

Afterwards, I was taken to the academics office where the Vice Principal issued my class schedule and school map.

“You’re late,” she said as well, peering down at me with judging eyes.

I apologized and fled from her office back the way I had come from. She was a scary looking woman. The receptionist pointed me the way back to the student block and with a show of gratitude, I left.

I’d already missed two classes that morning and the last one I had before recess was going to be over in about… ten minutes. According to my watch. It was literature, my favorite class. I didn’t want to miss it even if all I got to hear was the end.

I pulled up the map which had smaller prints than the schedule and found that I couldn’t read a thing. From my blazer’s pocket, I pulled my phone and tried to browse the map online. Perhaps, Google would have a clearer image but there was nothing. Of course, it would be dangerous to have their map online for just anyone to be able to access it.

“Shucks!” I sighed as I looked up at the long, brightly lit hallways stretched before me.

I was just going to have to walk through the hallways till I found the right door. If the entrances had signs, I was certain the classrooms would too.

I was still missing my glasses, so I couldn’t see beyond a few meters in front of me. Everything else was blurry and probably appeared farther than they actually were. I swear I had the vision of a concave mirror.

As I searched, I had to get really close to the doors to read their signs clearly because these letters weren’t as bold as the entrances’. At the fourth stop, the door suddenly came open and although I jumped back in time, I wasn’t prepared for the exiting party to suddenly turn around and hit me in the face with a thick leather bag.

“Ow!” My hand went up to my face immediately, certain I had been bruised.

Stupidly, I didn’t get out of the way and whoever was walking out didn’t even know I was standing there. All 350 pounds of solid mass knocked into me and I fell to the ground. The items in my hand scattered about me.

“The f**k?!” A deep voice growled.

I looked up to find its source and nothing in the world could have prepared me for what I saw. First, not only was this guy extremely tall and buff, he had the face of a god.

I couldn’t make out specific features like his eye and lip color but I could make out forms and this was one gorgeous form. Too gorgeous to be real. He had well-defined cheek bones, curly black hair and skin like skimmed milk.

The sides of his lips came down and I recognized a frown forming instantly.

Was there such a thing as a cute frown? Because he definitely had one.

I saw what looked like his hands stretching out and thought he was about to help me up. I lifted mine too and then… nope, he wasn’t about to help me.

I must have gotten something on his pants which he patiently wiped at. I dropped my hand.

“How can you be this short and not watch where you’re going?!” He growled again.

If his statement wasn’t so insulting, I would be drooling over the depth of his voice. Granted, I was short and even more so in comparison to him. Still…

“To the principal’s office Mr. Taylor,” I heard someone call from inside the classroom. The teacher perhaps.

Had he gotten into trouble? Oops! That would explain his bad mood.

With a huff, the guy walked away, crushing my map and schedule beneath his boots. Just then, the bell rang for recess and I scrambled to gather my things off the floor before the mob of students were released into the hallway. It was then I saw that Mr. Mountain man had crushed my phone too.

“Oh God, no!”

Everything I owned was in this phone. The documents and the pictures, my dad’s pictures that I would never be able to recover now…Ugh!

I was so upset I didn’t even care that people were staring weirdly at me as they walked out of their classes.