Arya Schyler Everly.
I was born under that name and I live by it. I was your typical teenage girl. 14. Brunette. Green eyes. My only problem? I had no father. Never knew him, and possibly never will. Every time I would ask my mother about it, she would purse her lips and mutter silently, "You're too young. I'll tell you when the time comes."
Of course, I never knew what she meant. I was 13 when I last asked her but she still wouldn't bulge. I decided to drop it for a while when I saw the worry in her face every time I would talk about it.
Early morning, about 6:45 am, as my alarm clock had displayed, I heard my mom's booming voice passing through my wooden walls. Her knocking was almost as loud as her calling. I stood up groggily and frowned. I quickly changed into my clothes and went down the stairs as fast as I could.
I went down and found my mom smiling at me widely. She had pancakes laid down on our table and orange juice filled our pitcher. I wondered what had been so special about today until I realized: It was my birthday. I was supposed to turn 14 today. "Happy birthday, Arya!" my mom had exclaimed loudly. She was somewhere in her mid-thirties but her smile was deceiving so she looked much, much younger.
I would've forgotten my own birthday if it wasn't for her. I ate quickly remembering my class would start in 30 minutes. We ate mostly in silence so I tried to break it. "So mom…" I took a sip from my juice. "What were you saying about dad again?" She smiled at me wanly indicating she didn't want to talk about it. "You know what I'm going to say" she forced a smile. I nodded and ate most of my food as quickly as possible. I rushed out the door when my mom stopped me. "You know Arya, I'm not telling you about your father, only because I want to protect you." She smiled at me.
I gave a huge sigh. "I know, mom."
When I reached school the bell rung about 5 minutes I got there. No one had been my friend since nobody wanted to be friends with someone diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. In other words, a loser.
I sat at the back row of our classroom and I started fidgeting with my hair. My ADHD prevented me from doing good in class and I just couldn't stay still. Suddenly, I felt someone staring at me. It was creepy because when I turned to my right, Nico di Angelo was staring right at me. He had black hair and green eyes, like me. I leaned forward and whispered, "What are you staring att?" I raised an eyebrow.
As if he had been in a trance, he shook his head and blinked rapidly. "Oh. Wha-oh." He blabbered. "N-nothing" he stuttered. He momentarily stared into blank air and thought. "You need to come with me. Now." He said in an alarmed tone, still lowering his voice.
"Why should I?" I say blantly, trying not to sound intrigued. I realized I had raised my tone a little and he signaled me to quite down.
"Just do what I say." He says urgently.
"And if I don't?" as if right on cue, Mrs. Dempton, our teacher, calls out my name.
"Is there something you would like to share with the class, Ms. Everly?" I sink down into my seat and blush. "No" I mutter.
"Good." She smiled evilly and I gasped. "Your words won't be needed once I rip your throat out and tear you to pieces." Then slowly by slowly, her torso started to morph into the form of a serpent. I started to claw on my seat and looked around to see if the others had noticed but they seemed to just continue on whatever they were working on. The only who seemed to notice was Nico who quickly grabbed a sword. Pure black. Short. I groaned.
"Echnida" He muttered angrily. "I should've known." he gave me a somewhat crazy grin, which, mind you, wasn't the exact time to do that. "That's why you should listen to me." He pointed out and gestured his head toward Mrs. Dempton.