The Hackers Anonymous Leader by Solome Hailemariam (classic novels for teens TXT) 📖

 "Honey," mom (Sydney) called, "You don't want to be late on your first day of school,  let's go. Get out of the bed."
                  I jumped out of my bed and got dressed as she disappeared from my room and down the stairs. I went downstairs and I noticed breakfast was ready. I sat next to my sister 'Lilly' on the dining table. Mom and dad 'Cody' have already eaten. My brother 'Mieczyslaw' was still upstairs and my cousin 'Scott' was packing up his bag. Scott is the same age as I am, so it's his first day of high school too. Scott has been living with us since he was 4. His parents got divorced when he was 3. His dad left Scott and his mother, so Scott was with his mom before she had a heart attack and passed away. Scott was very miserable for years, but eventually, he got over it.  No one knew where his dad was because he never reached out after he left. It's been 10 years now and he says that mom and dad are his parents. He doesn't like talking about the messed-up life he had before he started living with us, so he says he is our sibling. 

               We finished up our breakfast and went out to wait for our bus. Everything was different. Scott and I went to the same schools since we were babies, so we're pretty much always together. Scott and I like each other, we never fight, we protect each other. We do our homework together, watch movies, hang out with friends, we practically do everything together.

       "Carlos High" I said and Scott smiled. Scott and I stuck together for the whole day. We had all of our classes together. We had Civics and careers first, then Math, then History, then  Visual Arts. "Scott, Lydia!" Bella, (a friend from elementary school) called. 
"Hey, Bella?", Scott said questioning her appearance in the same school as us.
"We didn't know you registered in this school," I said,
"Ugh, it's a long story. I obviously didn't want to register here, but my parents think it's safer than Eastwood high because it's a private school. You know, public school problems," Bella said
"oh yeah, public schools can sometimes be a problem," Scott said
"C'mon let's go around the school before the bell rings," I said and we started walking.
                      We had 2 of our classes with Bella, Art, and Civics & Careers. 
The day was pretty much a disaster, mostly because it was our first day and we were surrounded by strangers. While we were walking down the hallway, I heard a voice a little familiar, 
"hey, Lydia", it was Thomas. Thomas, our classmate since grade 4. Thomas has a three years older brother in Carlos High. He sometimes annoys me by asking me out, even though I said no, more than three times. I only see Thomas as a friend, but apparently, he thinks he has a chance with me one day.
"Tom, nice to see you again. Are you on the same bus?" I asked
"Nah, I have a ride. Just saying hello" he said walking closer,
"Oh, cool, well, I have to run, I am going to miss my bus. I guess I will see you tomorrow, Thomas" I tried to slip out of this conversation, mostly because I am not in the mood of talking to him right now. 
"Sure, tomorrow Lydia ". I waved my hand as I ran to the school bus. When Scott and I got home, Mike was watching Netflix, and Lilly was in her room. Because they have their own car, they got home earlier than me and Scott. Dad wasn't home. He had a late shift. Scott and I had homework to do so I grabbed cereal and Scott grabbed a granola bar. We sat on the table with our books and Chromebooks. Scott and I spent an hour and a half on our homework, so we needed a break. Dad got home while we were watching Netflix.
"Bedtime, enough Netflix," Dad said
"We just started watching, we were doing our homework," I said
"You will only be watching for one more hour, then go to bed." He said
"got it!" said Scott.

  I woke up in the morning seeing the sun shining for the first time in about a week. The second day of school. It went well just like yesterday. A regular school day. every day went well until the 31st of September, and the 31st day of school. The day was Thursday. It went normal until I got out of the bus after school. Scott didn't go to school today, he needed time off. I was walking down the hill when I saw these 4 creepy guys staring at me. I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I was sure they were whispering something about me, but I decided to ignore them and just walk past them. They stood up as soon as I was right beside them and I froze where I was, but I thought maybe I should just walk past them, so I did. About two seconds later one of them called
 "We have seen you around here a couple of times"      I stopped walking and turned around. 
" I don't think I've seen you anywhere here before" I said and started walking again. 
"oh, haven't you noticed us before?" the taller one joked, and they all laughed like it was the funniest thing ever said. 
"no!" I was scared, but at the same time I wanted to punch his face so bad,
"You help us with something, and we leave you alone," they said.
I said yes hoping they would leave me alone. 
"You're in a rush. Where are you up to?" I was surprised by how friendly they were being, 
"Home" I said and walked away without looking back at them.
               As soon as I got home, I just grabbed the first snack I saw on the table and went to my room. I hoped not to find them the next morning again because Scott is going to be with me and he would get in a fight with anyone that messes with me. I don't want him to get in a fight, so I stayed up until midnight on my bed thinking of a plan. I fall asleep while thinking of a scheme.

The next day Scott went to school as I expected. While I was talking to Thomas at school during break, he asked me a very unpredicted question.
"So, why don't you tell me about those losers that you met last night?" he seemed mad.
"What do you mean?" I wasn't confused, I just wanted to seem like I was.
"You know what I mean Lydia, and you know exactly who I am talking about." 
"Were you following me?" I didn't know what else to say. 
"You can't do this," he said,
"do what?" 
"Don't turn the question to me, what were you doing with them?" He yelled a little,
" You have never even met them! You don't know if they could be dangerous or not!" He yelled louder 'till everybody turned to us.
I pulled him outside and said " I know, but I am trying to get to know them."
" And tell me, were you following me?" I said narrowing my eyes at him,
"No, of course not. I appeared to be there for some reason, but that's not the point right now," "Don't try to change the conversation! you know I won't answer any of your questions if you don't tell me the truth" I yelled at him
"Fine, yeah," he said
"I knew it," I said walking away,
"But I didn't mean to, I had a friend and we were just hanging when I saw you there, I couldn't just leave you there hanging with some randos." He said
"Look, I really appreciate you trying to be nice, but you don't need to do this I can take care of myself " I assured him,
"Hey, listen to me you will end up regretting it later on," he said
"I don't get it" I was literally confused this time, 
"You can't trust someone you just met. They could be bad guys. I am just trying to tell you to be careful. How can you be so sure of someone's personality when you just met them?" He said clasping my shoulders with his hand.
"They don't seem like one," I said
"Lydia, just please listen to me," 
"Thomas, just let me live my life. Leave me alone. You're just too apprehensive that I am going to other guys but you." I said trying to hurt him so that he would leave me alone.
"I don't get it. What the problem with us?" he said pointing at me and him.
"Me and you?" I said pointing at me and him, trying to taunt him.
"Yes!" he said,
"Tom, I only see you as a friend. I am sorry, but there's never going to be a 'me and you'" I said making it as uncomplicated as I could. 
"Fine, but I still don't want you hanging with those people." He said also making it clear.
"I will find out more about them today and if they really are as bad as you say then fine I won't see them again." I told him, "Now I have to go to my locker before the bell rings."
"Right, okay," he said walking away, then I stopped him,x
"Please don't follow me today?" I asked him
"I won't," He said
"Thanks!" 

         I told Scott that I was going to stay at the school late so that I don't have to deal with explaining what is going on. I never kept a secret from Scott, but this time I had to. I used the late bus home. When I got there I was rather terrified to talk to them, but I held it, and went down the hill to where they were sitting. I saw Thomas was spying on me again. 
"Hey guys," I said. They stood up in a respectful way.
"Hey, Lydia," one of them said, 
"How did you know my name?" I was confused
"He's been internet stalking you" they all laughed, and I thought it was pretty funny so I laughed too.
"I am Liam," said the