"Fine."

Will tried hard to contain his glee hearing the dejection in the voice of the school's most notorious student, he failed miserably if Preston's scowl was any indication.

Clearing his throat, he spoke in an even and calm manner – "Alright, Mr. Beckett that is all for now. You may leave and go on about your schedule. The list of your tasks along with the addresses of the houses you have to perform them in will be sent to you via email. Have a good day."

"Whatever, Prin- Mr. Stone."

Preston's hand touched the doorknob, he plastered a smile on his gorgeous face before turning it. Fake it till you make it. He was ready to walk his hall of fame.

A flock of people gathered and their multiple words around him as soon as he stepped outside the principal's office.

"Damn Preston, you were awesome out there!"

"Aaron had it coming for a long time."

"What did Princey say?"

"About that-" Preston began only to be cut off by a bizarre question from one of the students in the crowd.

"Did you get expelled?"

Everyone present gasped in shock.

"No no no no no!" Preston flailed his hands around as if the action would ward away the words that hung in the air. "No guys, I am not expelled. It will be a month of community service and I am a free bird again."

The faces of girls and guys twisted in confusion, one of them courageous enough to ask the outrageous – "That's it? Princey left you at that."

Preston glowered at Bonnie. Was she not happy? "Yes," he curtly replied. "And we will not call Princey 'Princey' from now on."

"We should not be calling Princey 'Princey?' That's...weird," a voice from the crowd mused. 

"No, it is not. We call him by his proper name now."

"I thought Princey was his name." It was Nate, a sophomore who joined their school at the beginning of this semester.

"No, Nate. His name is Will Stone, so we will call him Mr. Stone."

"But why?"

Preston groaned out loud noticing the curious eyes of his fellow students. He was exasperated.

"Because we have already harassed him enough and-" he lowered his voice before continuing "I saw a gray hair on him."

Another round of gasps rang around the hallway.

Teenagers are so dramatic. Drama clubs in schools might as well be there only to help them brush up their skills. Despite all the drama they carry in their backpacks, teenagers are the most talented. All of us agree as we lived adolescence too. The teenage years are the most prominent time to explore yourself and learn the biggest lessons of life. If you failed to learn those lessons, then as Carol Burnett said - "Adolescence is just one big walking pimple."

Preston hated displaying theatrically exaggerated reactions, yet he mastered them; dramatics was one of the steps to the pedestal he was standing on. He would be heroized for even sneezing in a certain direction.

"All of you, to your classes."

The show is over, Preston thought bitterly and exhaled a frustrated sigh. Will just had to ruin his moment of glory. He rushed past the man to get to his next class. 

History II

He hated the subject as he loved it. Stories intrigued him when he read them on his own but bored him when the teacher started droning on, explaining a basic sentence to them like they were in fourth grade. The history teacher in their sophomore year was finer than their current one, she dropped in extra facts related to the topic and also spoke about side stories. That was the reason Preston signed up for History II and because anything to do with formulas traumatized him.

Calculus? Eww.

That was next in his schedule. I will manage it. And he did. By sleeping throughout the period. The rest of the classes passed by in a blur surprisingly as he was mostly lost in his thoughts.

Tyrell caught up with him in the parking lot. Tyrell Brooks had been his closest friend since they were rowdy six-year-olds.

"Hey, Ty! How were the classes? Mine were boring as fuck."

Ty and Preston lived in the same neighborhood. They were in the same class until the end of freshman year. Ty was a sophomore now as he missed a whole year of school due to some emergency. Preston pestered him about it but he refused to share the details with anyone.

"After you pulled that stunt, your day was boring? You spew so much bullshit, P-Rex."

"I was a kid with lanky arms when I called myself with that name!"

Ty laughed out loud at his friend's distress before entering his car. His friend followed suit.

"Pres, you remember Tania?"

"The senior from last year?" Tyrell nodded his confirmation. "Vaguely. Why?"

"I got an invite for the party she is throwing. It is her birthday party."

"Am I supposed to know the day her ass graced the Earth?"

"Jeez! Let me speak. It is the 27th of this month."

"Today is 2nd, you idiot. Why are you telling me this now? I'll forget anyway. Just remind me when it's near the date."

"I am telling you so you can notify your parents. You know how they have an event for you to attend out of nowhere."

"Shit! You are right. Thanks, bro."

"Anytime. Now get your ass out of my car, I have tons of homework to do."

Preston stepped inside his house only to be met with pin-drop silence. He skipped to his room, happy to be able to blast his music at full volume. Music was his life. He spent the day lip-synching to his favorites and settled in his bed with his phone after getting tired.

In the middle of scrolling Instagram, his phone dinged, notifying him of an e-mail. Knowing what it was, he opened it. The discussion from earlier was written professionally in the mail. It also said only Sundays were off. At the bottom two names with addresses were mentioned.

ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴡɴᴇʀs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏᴜsᴇs ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ sᴇʀᴠɪᴄᴇ, sᴛᴀʀᴛɪɴɢ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ –

𝟷. ᴍʀ. ʀɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ ʜᴏᴍᴇs, 𝟸𝟶𝟻, ᴍᴀʀɢᴏ sᴛʀᴇᴇᴛ
𝟸. ᴍʀ. ᴀʟᴀsᴛᴀɪʀ ᴄᴀʙᴏᴛ , 𝟺𝟷𝟸, ᴊᴇᴡᴇʟ sᴛʀᴇᴇᴛ

Alastair Cabot, a nice name. That was his last thought before he fell into a deep slumber.

Hello darlings,

I very much apologize for the delay. I realized that Monday and Wednesday will be the better days to post updates as I will be having time to write only on Sunday. I am a day late but thank you very much for waiting patiently.

Love🌻
April Skyes