Sparks Reignited

6 | Locker Neighbours

It's the second day of school. Aunt Abbie drops off Judy first, who passes me a handful of candies, and she drives me to school before heading to work.

My sneakers squeak across the floor. I head down the hallway towards my locker to grab my books for today's classes. As I punch in the password on the padlock, I sense a presence looming beside me. Someone opens the locker right next to mine, takes out a couple of books, before slamming the locker a lot harder than necessary. The loud bang is enough to make me jump and my head snaps up.

I turn to meet the person with a curious look. My eyes instantly meet a pair of dark, emerald ones and they stare back at me coolly.

Kyle is wearing a black hoodie matched with a pair of slim-fit jeans with rips in them. His hair is tousled and slightly wet at their ends from walking in the rain. The sight itself is enough to make girls swoon and faint. Most would have believed that he might have walked straight out of a Vogue magazine. That is how insanely good he looks, except that his twisted lips and grumpy face might have ruined it all.

He eyes me with distaste. "Seriously?" he says in a disgruntled manner. "We're locker neighbors now?"

I wince at the harshness in his tone. From the beginning, he has already clearly displayed his dislike of me, but I'm still clueless at the reason behind his hostility. Nothing makes sense to me and the growing confusion is slowly making me lose my mind.

I ask quietly. "What did I do to make you hate me so much?"

At my question, he stiffens. He turns slowly to face me with a look of disbelief on his face.

"What?" he hisses. "Do you really not know the answer to that? You don't remember what you did to me? And what had happened between us?"

Shriveling under his glowering eyes, I bite my bottom lip nervously. "I really don't know," I admit honestly. "Tell me. Please."

Kyle shakes his head at me incredulously. Clearly, he thinks that I'm still putting on a facade and acting like an innocent lamb.

Hurt flashes in his eyes for a brief second, but it's replaced by rage quickly. "You're unbelievable, Riley Perez," he scoffs. "First, you cruelly dumped me through a text message. And now you show up in my school more than a year later and pretend as if you don't know me? What are you scheming underneath that mask of yours?"

My eyes grow wide in shock. His revelation has rendered me speechless, but I finally understand the root of his anger. The reason behind those cold-hatred looks that he gives me all the time.

Is he telling the truth? Were we really a couple in the past?

"I–"

I fumble for words to explain myself, but nothing comes out of my mouth. Originally, the plan was to keep my amnesia a secret from everybody in school, mainly because I don't want to be the center of attention and gossip. But in this case, is it even possible for me to hide this from an angry Kyle? To tell him I have lost all my memories of him?

He rolls his eyes at my silence. "You don't have to answer me," he tells me, his words cutting deep into my skin. The glare he shoots at me makes my heart clenched tightly. "Just stay the hell away from me."

He steps away from me, turns and heads for his class. At the end of the hallway, a pretty brunette clad in a crop top and mini skirt skitters to his side, hooking her arm through his. Her face is flawless, which is achieved by the make-up that's applied to her professionally. Her figure is tall and slender, looking as though she can pull off any clothes — something that all girls admire.

Is she his current girlfriend?

"Kyle!" I hear her call his name in an alluring tone. "Who were you speaking to?"