Chapter 1

All Adam could hear was the continuous scratching of pen on paper, blue ink seeping out of his pen onto the exam paper in front of him, but he wasn't concentrating. He never did he looked around him to see boys his age hunched over their papers scratching furiously at their own papers, trying to get those thoughts out of their brains and onto the paper in front of them. Too bad for Adam he didn't have the thoughts in the first place. He wasn't built for school, he had been attending this private all boys school for his whole life and he still didn't fit in, he wasn't even that good at sport. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life, and it was beginning to sink in... that that might not be acceptable anymore. He had just turned 18 and he had begun to feel considerably older than his class mates, making him stick out even more then normal.

"Pens down, everyone cease writing"

Adams, head shot up to see his year level coordinator announcing the exam was over. About time! He couldn't be more bored if he tried. He had already etched his name into the table, written swear words and crude sayings into the desk, what else was there to do during an exam?

Ms Brookfield came around picking up the exams from the tables. When she came to Adam Heether's desk, she sighed as she not only noted his blotted exam paper, but the crude messages left on the desk and his awful state of appearance. Hair unruly with blue streaks roughly showing through it, tie may as well not have been on it was so low, shirt untucked, face unshaved, this was absolutely unacceptable. She had been meaning to have a word with this boy's parents, but being one of the only female teachers at the school, she hadn't wanted to do anything too assertive just yet. But that changed when she felt the sticky sensation of a glob of freshly chewed blueberry bonanza hubba bubba land in her long auburn locks. She turned around to find Adam suppressing a grin, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. This was the last straw!

Adam couldn't understand why the bitch had gotten so worked up. It was just a bit of gum... get some ice and scrape it out he thought to himself. Now he sat in the principals office once again waiting for his aunt to join him. His parents had both died two years ago in a drunk driving accident, leaving him stranded with his aunt. Rachael Heether was Adam's father's sister, and now Adam's only family. So when she got the call from the school, she groaned, telling her secretary that she was going out. She grabbed her cell and left the office, once again going to fix the mess Adam had made. She had lost count of the amount of times she had sat in this office. Adam really should have been expelled by now, but he was given a certain amount of leeway because of the untimely death of his parents.

"Ms Heether thank you for joining us once again. You take your tea with two sugars, if I remember rightly from last time?" Principal Rogers said with a raised eyebrow, he really was getting sick and tired of seeing this boys face in his office. "Uh, yes, thank you" Rachael says, sitting down next to her nephew but refusing to make eye contact with him. "So we have asked you up here today, Ms Heether, because your nephew has been reported to have spat chewing gum into a teachers hair during an examination. Now I know the traumatic stress Adam has been through has..." Adam rolled his eyes and he tuned out of Principal Roger's usual spiel about the 'traumatic stress' he had gone through. Personally Adam didn't really care about his parent's death, they were gone. He couldn't change that. Spitting gum into that bitch's hair had nothing to do with his parents carking it. He had never had the support of his parents even before his parent's death, so there wasn't much to lose when they did die. Still, he did miss them at times like these.