Chapter 1

"Joelle, dear, please come out of the car." My father coaxed me. He reached out to touch my arm but then reclined it once he remembered what he was told by the social worker. "Joelle, no one is going to hurt you here, trust me."

I sighed inwardly; I couldn't stay hidden forever. I loosened my grip on my knees and slowly stretched them out. I pushed my hands against the seat to move my body further so I could get out of the car. My father moved away from the car so I could get out and then closed the door once I got in, so I didn't have a chance to escape.

In front of me was an opened gate and many brown buildings, big and small, surrounding a courtyard. I turned my head a little only to be blocked by two men; one had grey hair, glasses, and a brown suit while the other one had brown hair, a red jumpsuit top, and dark blue capris.

The man with the brown suit stepped forward. "Mr. Chevalier; I am the principal, Mr. Delmas; and this is Jim Morales, our gym teacher." The man informed us; my father nodded and shook hands with Mr. Delmas, who turned to me after the handshake. "You must be Joelle; your father has told me a lot about you. You don't have to worry; people are very nice here and you'll be very safe here. These gates close when you students are sleeping and Jim here is always around."

I nodded. "She doesn't talk very much; it's actually decreased in frequency." My father said; my eyes dropped.

"It's okay; people here aren't going to force her to do anything. Even if they do, they'll get a talking to." Jim said, joining the conversation.

Mr. Delmas turned to me again. "Joelle; I looked over your schedule before you arrived and right now you actually have gym with Jim here. Would you like to go and I can have another teacher put your bags in your dorm room?" he asked.

I thought about it then nodded. "Who's her dorm mate?" my father asked.

Mr. Delmas smiled. "I put Joelle with another one of our fairly new students named Aelita Stones. She was shy at first but quickly made friends; she's perfect for Joelle. Plus, Aelita is a very studious student so there will be no distractions." Mr. Delmas said; I already liked the sound of this 'Aelita Stones'.

"Okay than; call me this afternoon, Joelle, so I know how you're doing." My father told me; I nodded. He was about to get back to the car but I quickly but nervously gave him a hug. "Don't worry Joelle, you'll be fine."

I pulled away and my father got back into the car and drove away. I turned around and Jim and Mr. Delmas were waiting patiently. "Okay; Joelle, follow me to the gym; that's where I hold gym classes." Jim said; I nodded.

"Joelle; come to the administration building so you can get the rest of your schedule." Mr. Delmas said before leaving.

I turned to Jim again and nodded so he started walking. I followed closely beside him. I could already see the building, a huge brown brick building with windows near the top. As we got closer, I heard loud noises that I figured that it came from the voices of many different students.

Jim opened the door, which silenced all the students in the class. I looked to see the students in gym clothes and was thankful that I was wearing sweats. Jim walked over to the class and I followed closely, keeping my eyes down.

When we got to the middle of the gym I just stood beside him. "Class, we've got a new student, Joelle Chevalier." Jim said. Some kids muttered 'welcome' but I just nodded. I looked to my right to see a horse vault, I smiled in my head. Jim saw my gaze. "Yes; we're starting a new unit; would you like to show us how to do it."

I took a deep breath and nodded. Jim backed up and I took the right stance; I just hoped I didn't fall. I took another breath as the gym silenced. I took off and hit the vault. I flipped in the air and landed on top of it with my hands separating me from the horse and my head then in an instant, I flipped myself again. Lastly, I landed, right on the line, with the perfect position and I didn't budge.

I heard clapping and I blushed in embarrassment. "Amazing; good job Joelle." Jim said. I walked to the edge of the group, my arms hugging my body. "Who's next?" It was silent for a minute. "No one? Fine, I'll pick, Della Robbia; your next."

My body froze and my eyes widened. "But Jim; after that performance that's not fair. Why not pick Ulrich or even Herve." The boy complained. The sound of his voice made me want to run out but my feet stayed planted to the ground.

"Now Della Robbia." Jim said. I timidly looked up to watch his performance.

At the starting point was a boy, my age and a little taller, with a purple t-shirt, black shorts, and white shoes with knee high socks. He ran down, hit the vault, flipped, landed on the horse with hands first, and then flipped again, landing like I did.

Everyone clapped and I slowly joined in. "Looks like you have competition Joelle." Jim said before calling another student. This time I didn't pay attention to the performance, all I heard was a yelp in pain and laughing.

"Okay; that's enough!" Jim said; the students started leaving the gym. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and I spun around so fast that I ended up on the floor.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you Joe." A voice said; my body froze up again. I felt a hand try to help me up but I screamed and hit my head as he let go.

I heard other footsteps. "Odd; what did you do?" another male voice asked.

"I didn't do anything; she just screamed." Odd said as he knelt by me. "Joe; don't you remember me? It's me Odd; we knew each other in grade school."

"She knows you Odd?" a female voice asked as I slowly got myself up.

Once I was standing up I noticed a small circle around me and Odd. The female that had just spoken had pink hair and was wearing a dark pink sweatshirt and black shorts. Two males, besides Odd, were also surrounding us. One had blond hair and glasses and was wearing an all light blue sweat suit while the other one had brown hair and had a green top and orange sweat pants.

The pink haired girl took a step towards me and I flinched. "I'm not going to hurt you." She said. "Did Odd hurt you?" I just shook my head.

Odd got into my view, his features showed worry. He started reaching out towards me. "D-Don't t-touch me." I stammered.

"Joe; I'm not going to hurt you." He said. "Don't you remember me? We met when you accidently poured grape juice on my head." I smiled, for the first time in the past 10 years. "See; you remember."

"Grape juice?" the brunette asked.

"Well, it matches his favorite color." The blond with glasses finally said, joining the conversation.

"Joe; why did you scream?" Odd asked; I froze as tears were slowly forming.

"I-I can't t-I can't explain." I stumbled.

Odd reached out. "Of course you can." He said.

I jerked away from him. "Don't touch me." I said strongly. Before he could say anything, I ran out the door towards the administration's office.

Once I got to the door to the administration's office, I shook my head before entering, clearing my mind. I saw a door that said 'Principal; Mr. Delmas.'. There wasn't anybody at the nearby desk so I knocked on his door.

"Come in." the familiar voice said; I opened the door. Mr. Delmas lifted his head. "Joelle; I was wondering when you were going to come."

"S-Sorry; I-I got caught u-up." I stammered; Mr. Delmas's eyes widened.

"Here is your schedule and your room number is at the top." He said; I nodded. "Have a good day and if you have any questions please asked somebody." I nodded again.

I walked out of the office, closing the door behind me, and then walked out of the administration's office. I looked at my paper to see that I had 'Chemistry' with 'Ms. Hertz'. I had no idea where that was.

"Hey Joelle." A voice said. I lifted my head quickly, fear in my eyes because of habit. I looked to see the pink haired girl that was with Odd. She got closer but didn't try to reach out or anything. "I never got to introduce myself; I'm Aelita Stones." My eyes widened.

"My roommate." I stated; she nodded.

"Exactly why I wanted to introduce myself." Aelita said. "Why did you run off?" I looked down.

"I-I don't really w-w-want to talk about it." I stuttered, she just nodded.

"If you need somebody to talk about; I'm here, even Odd is too. He must really care about you if he treated you like that, you know, back in the gym." She said; I nodded as I looked back at my paper. "What class do you have next?"

"C-Chemistry; M-Ms. Hertz." I said.

Aelita smiled. "I have that class as well; along with my friends. I can show you." She said; I nodded and put a small smile on my face. "Can I call you Joe like Odd did?" I nodded.

We started walking towards a building, but in silence. "You know, I lost my mother when I was little." She said suddenly; I looked at her and Aelita looked down. "She went missing when I was 3."

I felt tears come to my eyes. "W-What about your father?" I asked.

She was quiet for a minute. "He's missing you could say." She said; I looked to see that we had arrived near a door.

I pulled her aside. "Do you think we could talk after schools done? I need to get something off my chest." I asked; Aelita nodded. "I-It has something to do about w-what ha-happened with Odd." Aelita nodded again.