Chapter one

The school bell clanged against the worn rusty metal. It was the first day back for a long time. The bell's noise rang harshly throughout the silence. Everyone was still too tired to argue about the fact it was the first day. This year's winter was a long. It was still too cold for anyone to leave their houses, yet parents still expected their kids to go to school.

As Alex walked through the gates to Brookland high school, he felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe it was because he hadn't been to school for so long. Or maybe it was because of the temperature - whatever it was, he knew something was going to happen today. Alex stopped and looked up at the school. It looked different like it had before. It looked changed, or maybe it was he who had changed. Alex suddenly felt someone push into him. It was quite hard - hard enough for him to topple over. The person who had knocked him over was also lying face down on the floor. Alex realised it was girl. She turned around and looked at him. She then jumped up, apologised and ran away. Alex was left lying on the floor. He shook his head. What a weirdo.

Later on that day, Alex was sitting in chemistry class thinking about his first day back and what had happened to him so far. He was only in third period and he already had more homework than most people get in a year!

That's when a girl ran through the door - she had long, straggly, brown chestnut hair and her uniform was twice as big as necessary. She had blue eyes which were covered by her giant black glasses which looked like they were from the year nineteen sixty six.

"Sorry I'm late, got lost!" the strange-looking girl blurted out.

She had a strange accent which wasn't exactly unpleasant, but wasn't that spectacular. Alex even thought that it was kind-of annoying.

"That's O.K…" Mr. Katavic exclaimed suddenly, making the whole class jump in fright.

"Oh my name's Fina, Fina Kanami." The strange girl introduced herself.

There was a harsh giggle from the centre of the class where three girls sat. They obviously thought her name was funny.

"Alright uh - Fina - take a seat." Mr. Katavic's voice was a dull as ever. He obviously didn't realise that his class's attention was fixed completely on the new girl.

Fina pushed her way through the staring class and sat at the very back Alex suddenly felt sorry for her – she looked so helpless. This wasn't helped by the fact that no one was sitting anywhere near her.

"Right then; back to class. We were talking about the periodic table. Are you familiar with it Fina?"

"Oh, you mean me!" once again the girls in the centre sniggered loudly. This time Fina took more notice of the girls. She looked annoyed. "The periodic table, (then Kanami does a long impressive explanation)… is that enough information, Mr Katavic?"

The whole class was now staring at her - even Mr. Katavic. He was obviously impressed by her extensive answer.

"Crap." Fina mumbled under her breath. She smiled as if she had just guessed the answer to a simple question instead of giving a very long explanation of the class's new topic.

The bell rang and Fina looked as relived as everyone else to escape the classroom. She scooped up her books and ran out the class first. Everyone was left staring at the empty desk she had been not long before.

Lunch finally arrived. The day had been dragged on forever - and it was only 11.30. As Alex walked along as he tried to find a place to eat, he saw Fina running along the corridor ahead. She looked terrified. Alex then saw the three people chasing her. Fina seemed to have not noticed Alex's presence (for the second time today) as she ran straight into him. She looked over to Alex who was sprawled on the floor and about three feet away from her - for someone so small she really was solid. Fina jumped up and ran over to Alex to help him up. The three boys who were chasing her before started laughing at them.

"I am so sorry, really I am, I didn't mean to."

Alex stood up looked at her and then walked off. Fina stared as Alex limbered back down the corridor. She suddenly looked really angry and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

As the final bell rang for the end of the day, Sabina came up behind Alex.

"Did you hear Alex?" she asked. Sabina was walking behind Alex and perceptibly had something really important to tell him.

"No, what did I hear?" Alex inquired. Sabina launched right into it.

"Right, you know those three seniors – Brad, Mike and Jackson – and how they go around beating the hell out of people?"

"Yes what about them?" Alex asked. Weren't those the people who were chasing Fina?

"Well they were found in the lab. They were all knocked out cold. They had got into a fight and they lost badly – Brad or something broke his arm, and Mike's leg was dislocated. But who ever did it would have had to have been really strong. Oh and get this – they were knocked out using rope, how sad…ROPE!" Sabina seemed really shocked that someone could be hurt using rope, and that it had happened to the three toughest boys in the school.

Alex then spotted Fina. She was walking out of school. Alex watched her as she stepped into a chauffeured car. He wondered why she had a chauffeur pick her up from school. None of the kids would have been able to afford it – it would have been a stretch of money for just one night. He didn't particularly care but when he saw Mrs. Jones waiting outside the school with his house keeper Jack Starbright, Alex was sure it wasn't for any good reason. He knew what was going to happen next.

Please tell us what you think! We actually wrote it a while ago (OK, about November last year), but we never really got around to posting it up. Hope you like it! We both have a really good story-line for this!

I CAN"T FEEL MY ARMS