Her Beautiful Innocence

Chapter 1 | 𝚃𝚠𝚘 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜

A/N: Okayy, so here is the first real chapter!! And don't worry, Grayson is coming ;) Enjoy!

Sophia's POV

After debating on running away from the school, going back home and sneaking into Liv's house to stay there—I'm sure she'd let me sleep in her basement or something—I finally decided that it wasn't a good idea. I would get in a lot of trouble. And yes, I was actually being serious.

I turned around again, facing the school, already starting to sweat from the nerves. I took deep, shaky breaths. "I can do this," I whispered to myself. Luckily, no one was looking at me, well at least not many people. I noticed a few boys and girls turning to look at me. This wasn't exactly a big town, it wasn't small, either, but let's just say that most people already knew each other.

I tried to ignore them as I walked toward the school's entrance with double doors, but I could feel their scrutinizing stares on my back. Maybe I was being paranoid, I did always overthink, but still, I was extremely anxious.

I walked through the doors that stood open and looked at my right, then my left, searching for the principle's office. Fortunately, I saw a sign against the wall that read "Principle's Office" with an arrow to the left. I sighed in relief, thankful that I didn't need to speak to someone to ask for directions.

As I walked through the hallways, some people took notice of me. A few girls looked me up and down and turned around, back to talking to their friends. I hated my social anxiety, I always thought people were talking about me, judging and gossiping. But at least one girl seemed friendly enough to smile at me. I gave a small smile back, barely evident.

When I stood in front of the office doors, I could still feel holes being bored into the back of my head, so I quickly went inside, hoping to hide from them.

I saw a middle-aged lady sitting at a desk, her hair in a ponytail and glasses on the bridge of her nose. She looked up when I took a step closer to her, now standing in front of it.

"Hello, what can I help you with?" she asked politely, looking over her glasses. But before I could react, she interrupted me, "Oh, are you new here?" I nodded and smiled a little, trying not to look rude, but not wanting to talk.

"Let me see. Is your name by any chance..." She paused, reading something on her computer screen. "Sophia Ross?"

"Yes," I said, rather quietly. She hummed softly and rummaged through a pile of papers on the desk, decisively finding what she was looking for. "Here's your timetable with all your classes. If you need any help, the office is always open during school time, except throughout lunch, or you can just ask a passing student. That may be a chance to make some new friends, okay?" she advised.

I nodded again and persuaded myself to say something. "Okay, thank you." I said my short answer and left the office.

A few boys noticed me this time though. They were leaning against the lockers, and one of them elbowed a friend of his when he saw me. His friend rubbed his ribs, where the other guy had poked him, and looked at his friend with one eyebrow raised. The one that saw me motioned with his head to me, his eyes never leaving my figure. His friend followed his gaze that landed on me, and raised his other eyebrow as well.

I didn't know why they were looking at me like that. Was it my outfit? Did I have something on my face?

I quickly shifted my gaze away from them and started walking in the other direction. When I rounded a corner, I realised I had no clue where I was going. So, I looked down at the paper the friendly lady gave me, and frowned, having no idea where my first class was. English... Not too bad, I thought.