PROLOGUE
A shadowy figure walked under a street light at two in the morning. The figure appeared to be a young man, but the cloak hid him in a way that no one could tell who or even what he was. He was disguised by the blackness of the night, as if he himself was a shadow. The boy ran from the light of the lamp, and was once again hidden from sight.
Police cars drove by, and he flattened himself against a nearby wall. When the cars were gone, he emerged from the wall and inspected the thirteen candles he held in his hand. Each was a black wax stick, dipped in red blood. He placed them back in his leather jacket, then pulled out his lighter and looked far into the darkness. He saw a small black hole, and he departed for it.
The somber boy stepped into blackness, little light cast on the rats and spiders he stepped over as his footsteps echoed in the concealed cave. He finally found a source of light at the end of the tunnel, and he put away his lighter. As he stepped into the light, he set down the lighter, the candles, and a stack of envelopes, thirteen of them. The boy pulled out a pen and papers, then wrote on each paper:
Your time has come at last. Come to the alley behind the amusement park and wait for your light to appear and bring you back.
The boy finished writing, then stuffed the letters in the envelopes and stuck them in his jacket. He left his other materials behind and quitted the cave, returning to the black of night.
CHAPTER ONE: JIYUNA AND INGRID
Jiyuna
I woke up to sunshine on my face. I could hardly stand the light, and I deeply wished to throw the covers over my face, but it's my first day of school this morning.
I stood up and walked to my dresser, adorned with accessories, pictures of my friends and family, and clothes strewn over it. I picked out a black-and-white striped shirt with a sleeveless blue tunic and maroon shorts, then wrapped a green scarf around my waist. I put on a pair of black gloves and my mother's necklace and a black choker, then went to my bathroom to brush my teeth and do my hair. I spiked my bangs out and loosely braided my hair, then put on some eyeliner and mascara. I ran downstairs and saw my brother Jinsei lying on the couch watching the news. I said, "Jinsei what time is it?"
He looked up and said to me, "I think it's 7:15, Ji."
I said, "Great, let's get some breakfast with Riku."
He said, "Okay," and we left the house after I put on my little green slouch boots. My brother and I walked over to Riku's house a few blocks away and simply stepped into his house and greeted his mother and brother. I walked over to Riku's room while he was putting on a shirt and said, "Hurry up, we're getting breakfast, 'Ku."
Riku turned to me and said, "Jeez, Jiyuna, you're on your way to being scary," and grinned. I walked over to him and fixed his mess of long silver hair, moving his bangs out of his eyes. He shook them back into place and said, "Hey, I like my hair as it is. This way people don't stare at my face so much."
I laughed and said, "Riku, if your face doesn't bring attention, it's your hair covering up your face!"
Riku shrugged and walked out of his room, me following his lead. We walked into the living room where Jinsei, Riku's mom, and Riku's brother Peter sat, ready for a new school year. I said, "Sorry we can't stay long, but we need to get breakfast quick and head to school," to Riku's mom, and she replied, "That's quite alright, Jiyuna. You three have fun on your first day of junior year."
"We will," I replied, gesturing for Riku and Jinsei to get ready to leave. They followed me out the door, all of us saying bye to Riku's family. His dad works the majority of the week, so we rarely see him at all, as well as Riku. Riku's dad is nice, but he could definitely be considered as a workaholic. On the other hand, Riku's mom is a real estate agent, and has more time for Riku and Peter. She's a very sweet woman, and she is a role model for me. My mother died a long time ago, or so we believe. Something of a tragedy happened when Jinsei and I were very young and still living in Twilight Town, and our mother disappeared as a result. I think about her every day, and still wear her necklace.
We kept walking until we reached a local bagel shop, then we strolled into the shop and ordered muffins and bagels and coffee. The three of us walked out after purchasing our breakfast, and continued treading to school.
"Hey, Riku," I said, to get his attention. He looked at me and said, "Yeah, Jiyuna?"
"Which classes do you have today?" I asked him. Riku gazed upwards, thinking over his schedule, then said, "I've got Economics, Biology, P.E., and Worldview Studies for A-Day, and English III, Calculus, Computer Science, and Russian for B-Day."
"Aw," I whined, "The only class I have with you is Computer Science. Now how will I get to see you during the day?"
Riku put his arm around me and said, "Don't worry, Ji, we always have lunch and our one class period." I blushed even though I shouldn't have. I was used to Riku and the guys nonchalantly throwing their arms around me, but in this case I couldn't help but blush, thinking about a conversation between my best friend and I last night.
Flashback
"Jiyuna, think about it! You're friends with a ton of cute guys, but you won't try to make one yours? Come on, no doubt one of these guys is gonna want you," said Furi.
"Fu, hasn't it crossed your mind that maybe I'm not interested in my friends? I kinda want to stay that way, just friends. And that's actually hypocritical of you to say, considering you're friends with my brother and you won't do anything to get him." Furi's interested in my brother, and although it's strange for me, I'm fine with it. They seemed like they could be a cute couple, and I'd be nothing but supportive of them.
"Th-that's different, Ji!" she stuttered, "But you can honestly get any guy you want, even Riku."
I replied, "I don't think we'd be a great couple though."
"You'd be perfect together! Just keep your mind open about it. Alright, I'm going to bed, nighty-night," Furi said sleepily then hung up. I set the phone down and went to bed, the idea of being with one of my closest friends swirling through my mind.
Reality
I snapped out of my daze and said to Riku, "Yeah, I guess we have more time after school, too."
He smiled at me and shouted happily, "Good, looking on the bright side of things, Ji!"
I smiled back and we walked to school, and my brother and Riku kissed me on the cheek as we went to our classes.
Ingrid
I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed Emily's voice to the edge of the room, where the garage evidently was. I was currently living at her home as a foreign exchange student. "Come on, Ingrid! We're going to be late!" Emily called as her mom started up the car. I grabbed a couple of earrings from the counter and ran out the door, my hair still messy. My prep school in London didn't start until nine thirty, so beginning this early was very shocking. I hopped in the car next to my new friend, and I sorted through the various earrings that were rolling around in the palm of my hand. I picked out a white diamond, sticking it through the first hole in my ear. Next, I chose a chocolate diamond, sticking it in the second hole in my left ear. I had already put in the two more earrings in the cartilage of my left ear. I combed my straight and, frankly, boring hair out with my fingers, weaving knots out of it with slim and skillful fingers. My hair was so dark it was nearly black, but I had thickly streaked the natural color with a thin caramel color. My eyes were thickly outlined in eyeliner, not so that I could be seen as gothic or dark, but so they would accentuate my electric blue eyes. My skin was pocked with little, almost invisible pimples, which many people mistook for fading freckles. I have a small, petite diamond embedded in my nose.
I smiled at Emily, who smiled back. "Sorry, there's some rubbish on the bench, just leave that for me. I'll clean it up when I get back home." Emily's mother looked at me through the rearview mirror and she smiled at me. She adored my Cardiff accent.
Just as we got out of the car, Emily's mother smiled. "Have a nice day, girls!" she grinned, waving to us from the wrong side of the car. It felt nice to have someone to wish us a nice day. I didn't get to see my real parents or my step parents, because my school in London didn't allow me to go all the way to Wales to visit. I stepped forward to enter the school, when Emily grabbed my arm. "Oh, Ingrid… I just thought you'd want to know, this school could be pretty rough. There's a good chance that it's nothing like your prep school back home. But if you hang around with Libby, Lexi, Riku, Squall, and I and you'll be fine." Emily reassured. Then she gasped as if she'd forgotten something. "Oh, and Jiyuna, Jinsei, Ikite, and Furi are really awesome friends too, I'll introduce them to you as well."
I lifted an eyebrow and stared at Emily, which she didn't notice until we were halfway up the steps to the school. "What?" she asked, sort of defensively.
"Sounds to me like you've got a crush…"
"Do not!" Emily replied. "Squall's just a friend."
"If you say so…" I replied, raising an eyebrow. Emily led me to the front office. She rang a bell, to which the assistant principal scurried up to. Mrs. Strife-Gainsborough smiled at Emily and I. "Hello, Emily. And who is this?"
"Mrs. Strife-Gainsborough, I got an exchange student over the summer, and this is her first day. I was wondering if you had a schedule for her?" Emily explained.
Mrs. Strife-Gainsborough smiled warmly at me. She then drifted her gaze to Emily. "Yes, Emily, your mother contacted me over the summer and we have a whole schedule all set up for Ms. Ingrid O'Donnell, is it?"
"Yes, ma'am." I replied. "Thank you."
Emily smiled and led me out of the office, glancing over at my schedule, and then checking hers. "Oh, sweet! We've got Mrs. Baker first hour!" Emily did a kind of fist pump and led me to my locker, which was only a few down from hers. She showed me how to put in a combination and fetch my things from my locker. Mrs. Baker was a science teacher, so I needed to get a notebook and a Number 2 pencil. After I had my supplies, I followed Emily quite happily to Mrs. Baker's classroom, which I was sure would be a brilliant start to my day.
… Not. Mrs. Baker was a stupid, old, slob who watched the telly the whole time. We barely heard a peep from her. However, in the time that Mrs. Baker wasn't teaching, I got very well acquainted with Libby, who seemed to be a very good friend of Emily's. Libby had long brown hair that fell in front of her eyes, but there was a black headband wrapped that she kept around her head. She had fair skin and dark brown eyes, and she was very pretty and nice. And there were also very sketchy people in the classroom as well.
One of the boys was sitting alone in a corner with his head bowed. He had dirty blonde hair and wore lots of checkers. There was a little blonde teenager and she was trying to talk to him. Her hand was on his leg, and she was smiling. She was dressed completely in white and had her bangs parted to the side.
The next boy was hanging around a group of other sketchy teens, but to me, this one stood out. His hair was long and grey, and he looked very, very sullen. A little too sullen. He looked up and glared at me, and I turned my back to him, avoiding his penetrating grey eyes. Other teens surrounded me, but I paid them no mind, seeing that they only spoke nonsense. A few other teenagers peaked my interest, such as a boy with spiky, strawberry-blonde hair and large headphones over his ears, part of his face covered by the over-sized turtleneck that was fitted to his lanky figure. He sat alone, unwilling to speak to anybody. The same could be said for another boy with wavy hair and a white button-down shirt and jeans. He didn't seem unwilling to speak to anybody, per se, but he didn't seem to wish for anyone's company. I noticed him staring at me, and I glared back at him, not wanting his attention drawn to me, distracting me in a startling way.
All of a sudden, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first hour-and-a-half long period of the year.
When we walked out of the classroom, I mouthed the word "wow"and made my way across the hall to my second hour.
END OF CHAPTER ONE
