Maddy woke up in the kitchen, feeling dizzy; her eyelids were heavy and the yellow cupboards seemed to be staring at her. She let out a soft yawn, rubbing her sore eyes with her hands, and then glanced at the clamorous clock on the wall, which was cheerfully moving its hands, making that annoying clicking sound that she hated so much. That clock was as old as time - how ironic - yet it was still alive and kicking.

Unfortunately.

It was 8am.

"Shoot!" Maddy cursed under her breath and jerked up, pushing the chair she was sitting on backwards in a hasty move.

She glared at the round table in front of her, the one where her head was resting only a few seconds ago, as if it was its fault that she had fallen asleep. Tons of papers filled with notes of her illegible handwriting and piles of books and notebooks were lazily lying on its surface.

In other words, a lot of unfinished work.

She let out a somewhat weird growl, then ran to her room upstairs to wear her school uniform: a white shirt, blue navy skirt, that awful sweater that made her back itch and her dirty pair of Oxfords.

Rushing down the stairs, she was still pulling her socks up to her knees, which turned out to be a terrible idea.

She tripped and fell, tumbling down the stairs like a ball.

Ouch! OUCH! Dammit!

Hoping she hadn't woken her mom up, who was carelessly snoring in her bedroom, Maddy groaned. She quickly got up trying to ignore the pain and stormed the kitchen, grabbed her backpack, threw all of her stuff in it pell-mell, stole a peanut butter cupcake with caramel glaze from the counter and flew to the door, when she heard a sound resounding across the hall.

Is that the TV?

A frown took over her expression as she strode into the living room, biting the edge of that mouthwatering cupcake in her right hand. Yes, the curved screen of the TV was lit, random images popping up and a distant voice drifting to Maddy's ears from the speakers.

"... another outbreak of the highly infectious disease which initially escaped the laboratory in London... the virus seems to be spreading like wildfire all over the globe, wiping out millions of people in its path..." Maddy picked up the remote from the faded black couch to turn on the volume, completely absorbed by the lady's colourless, robotic-like voice on the news. "... scientists have been struggling to find a cure for months now, yet it seems like the vaccine is our only lifeline in these difficult times, according to the Federation of Remedial Organisations and Scientific Testing..."

Just then, a piercing beep-beep ripped through the air, taking Maddy out of her trance with a startled jump.

The girl turned off the TV and dug her hands inside the front pocket of her backpack to fish her mobile phone out. The same old notification was flashing on the cracked screen: low battery.

Great, I'm out of battery. Again. The thought was accompanied by a sigh through gritted teeth. Wait, what time is it?

It was already 8:15.

Crap!

And Maddy ran out of the house to get to the station.

***

Her head was slightly tilting towards the window as she was slouching in the uncomfortable seat of the bus. It was almost empty in there - the rich kids of her school were too spoiled to ever take the bus. Her high school, a living hell as she used to call it, was full of those types of students whose daddy is a millionaire. After all, she was the only student to be studying there with a scholarship.

Maddy was contemplating the view outside the window, the city of London unraveling before her sleepy eyes as the bus was flowing upon the blacktop, a smooth asphalt river. Plump drops of rain were rolling down the foggy glass in a brisk pace, as if they were competing against each other; it was pouring outside.

In her rush, Maddy forgot her umbrella, which was the main reason behind her childish pout: she would get soaked to the bone by the time she reached the school building. The other reason was that she hadn't had her casual morning coffee in her favorite cup, meaning she most probably looked like a zombie, with her dark circles underneath her puffy eyes. And then there was the third reason she was pouting like a 5-year-old: she hadn't finished her homework last night, her assignments were graded and she had fallen asleep instead of writing them in her messy scribblings. Oh, and she clearly missed the 8 o'clock bus, so she would be late for school.

I've never been late before, she thought to herself, then hit her forehead with her palm in resentment and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers, her nostrils flaring in frustration.

Maddy could feel the bus beneath her and, consequently, her body, still sore from the tumble, hopping up and down, up and down, again and again, making her feel nauseous.

When the driver pulled over, probably too abruptly, she hit her head on the front seat.

Ugh, what on earth is wrong with this day?

Maddy raised a hand to rub her aching head, fingertips gently caressing the area near her hairline to ease the pain. The girl was starting to lose her cool, as her glaring eyes focused on the boy that just got on the bus.

He was tall, wearing black baggy pants and a black hoodie. His ebony hair was messy and kinda long, falling in his eyes. His fair, almost pale skin clashed with his pitch-black hair in an unexpectedly attractive, insanely gorgeous way. He was wearing earphones, one hand scrolling down his phone, the other one tucked in his pocket. Maddy could swear she spied a hint of ink on the base knuckles of his left hand, black ink climbing up his wrist and snuggling into his sleeve, underneath the worn out fabric of his hoodie.

She must have been staring at him, because when he felt her insistent look, he lifted his eyes up on her, which caught her completely off guard. She panicked and looked away, turning her head towards the window. The girl kept her eyes fixed on the passing traffic, letting out a snort at the rain attacking the double-glazed window and thinking about how that idiot was the reason she had banged her head on the front seat. Well, maybe it was the driver's fault too for pulling over so suddenly, but if that guy wasn't there he wouldn't have to stop the vehicle in the first place. Right?

Is that gonna leave a bump? wondered Maddy, thrusting out her lips at the thought of herself with a huge lump on her forehead. She already had to deal with the bruises on her legs from her previous tumble from the stairs, and an extra addition on her forehead was definitely not her idea of what a good day should start off like.

Plus her mom would freak out. Yeah, not good.

A few minutes later, the bus driver pulled over, about two hundred meters away from Maddy's school, a low grumble coming from the old engines.

The girl stood up reluctantly, her shoulders dropping as she headed towards the folding door, when she noticed that her shoes were unlaced. She must have been way too absorbed by the sight of her untied laces, because, with the next step she took, she clumsily bashed into someone with force.

She almost fell down for the second time in one day - it was a pretty violent collision - but a big hand grasped her wrist, fingers wrapping around it in a firm hold that prevented her from falling.

Maddy's pupils dilated as she fixed her eyes on the guy in front of her. He was the same boy she saw a few minutes ago, the one with the baggy sweatpants. His dark eyes flashed, they were big and round and bored into her in such a way, that Maddy broke into cold sweat. His sharp jawline had something sinisterly menacing about it, and the way he raised a dense, pierced eyebrow at her made the girl gulp.

"Watch where you're going," he murmured brusquely, his deep voice cold as ice.

"You watch where you're going," Maddy heard a voice, and it took her a second to realize it was hers.

Crap... Did I just say that out loud?

His eyes widened, then narrowed as he locked them with hers. One corner of his uneven, split lips curved into a smirk.

"You are the one who knocked into me. Or did you do it on purpose?" He chuckled meanly, the type of laugh poisoned with smugness.

Son of a...

Maddy gnashed her teeth and shoved him to the side, so that she could finally get off that bloody bus.

Asshole...

The very moment she stepped on the concrete, she was soaked to the bone, as expected. It was still pouring with rain outside and she started running, splashing water on her white socks each time she stepped on a mud puddle.

The piercing cold made her shiver; she was trembling by the time she got in the building of her high school. She was drenched; the rain didn't pity her at all.

This whole day had gotten off to a very rough start.