The only things I own in this is the following story and the character Bryn Parrish.
Introduction
Bryn Parrish walked through the halls of St. Peter prep school filled with apprehension. Alas it was her big day. Well, not really, it was the day she dreaded from the first day of school. It was the day she was to deliver her first speech in her mandatary public speaking class. She was never good at talking in front of a crowd. And doing it in front of a classroom full of her peers didn't ease her fears any. Highschool kids could be relentless. She just knew she was going to make a mistake or several. Her hands were already shaking and she wasn't even in the classroom yet.
Finally she made to the room that would no doubt be the scene of her great humiliation. She let out a small sigh as she straightened her uniform shirt and smoothed out her skirt. At least she didn't have to worry about what she was going to wear, the one and only good thing about uniforms. She checked her hair in the mirror before she left her locker and everything seemed to be in place. So at least she looked alright. With one more sigh she stepped into the classroom. She walked slowly and carefully to her seat which was in the middle of the class room.
There wasn't many people in the room just yet. She was a bit early in the hopes of calming her nerves some what. However that really didn't work. In fact it had the exact opposite effect. With every passing moment a new student would enter the room and simply reminded her of everyone she would be talking to, of every pair of eyes that would be on her as she droned on about her topic. Which at the moment she couldn't remember what exactly it was. She was that preoccupied with her stage fright. Thank God for note cards. She wondered if her breakfast would come rushing back up. She wondered if that would give her an excuse from actually having to go through with this nightmare.
Finally the bell rang. She closed her eyes knowing that the time of her personal hell was soon approaching she closed her eyes. She could hear the hustle and bustle of her classmates rushing to their seats. So far the teacher hadn't entered the classroom. This was good, maybe they would have a substitute today and the speeches would be put off until further notice. She opened her eyes hopefully and her hopes fell. The teacher had just entered the classroom.
"Good morning class." How could Ms. Arlington be so darn right cheerful when it was very nearly the scariest thing Bryn had ever experienced. "Just give me a moment to get situated and then we'll start off with this mornings speeches." She pulled out her lesson planer and grade book. "Let's see who's going today..." Bryn wondered if she could possibly drag this out any longer. "Ah, yes Matthew, Emily, Bryn, and Tammy." She looked up and gave a big smile. "Let's get started shall we." She walked to an empty desk and made herself comfortable. "Alright Matthew, you're up."
The teenage boy stood up rather confidently. Of course he had every reason to be confident, he was okay at being the center of attention. Most boys like him were, the good looking, athletic, most popular guy in school kind of boy. Bryn however couldn't pay much attention to him. She was too worried about herself to listen to him ramble on about some topic or another. She bit her lip nervously and she fidgeted just a little bit in attempt to hid the fact that her hands were shaking. She let her blue eyes wander to the windows. The slight, comfortable breeze that entered the room through the open windows calmed her just a little bit. She closed her eyes picturing herself anywhere but where she was. Perhaps in a park, lounging on a blanket, just enjoying the morning sun. It was shaping up to be a beautiful September day in southern California. And then just like that her little daydream was intruded upon by the bored claps of teenagers. Matthew was done with his speech. And that meant that there was only one person left until she had to get up in front of the classroom of about 15 kids and talk.
And this reality seemed to drag on as Matthew walked back to his seat and Emily stood to took her place in front of the classroom. This of course was going in slow motion, at least in Bryn's mind. With each agonizing second her fear escalated. The coloring in her face had gone a shade paler. The butterflies in her stomach seemed to flutter with more force. And apparently she had started biting her fingernails without even noticing it. Once she did realize what she was doing she quickly drew her hand away from her mouth and settled for gripping on to the side of her desk, where her knuckles turned white.
"How am I ever going to get through this?" A voice in her head said. Just then another breeze came through the windows, a little stronger then previous ones. Someone's loose papers rustled for a moment and then settled back down.
Bryn barely paid any attention to that. She just kept her baby blues focused on the speaker in the front of the room. Well, not really, she pretended to keep her eyes on the girl but in reality she couldn't pay any more attention to her then she could to Matthew. All that kept going through her mind was, 'why the hell do I have to do this, why the hell do I have to do this.' And then once again breaking her thoughts were the sounds of clapping. Emily was done and that meant... it was her turn to stand up at the front of the room.
Emily had made her way back to her chair, looking rather relieved that she was done, and Bryn had still made no movie to stand up. After a few seconds and a few looks from the people next to her she stood up and quickly grabbed her note cards. Perhaps a little too quickly as in a matter of seconds she dropped them and the fluttered to the floor in a small, mixed up mess. She felt her cheeks go pink on her otherwise pale face as there were a few snorts of laughter. Not necessarily at her, but at her clumsiness. She quickly gathered up her cards and didn't bother to look at their order. She hurried up to the front of the room. She cleared her throat in an attempt to buy herself some more time before she actually had to say a few words. She looked around the classroom, which didn't help. Fifteen pairs of eyes looking, paying attention only to her did not make her pounding heart beat any easier.
"Um," She looked down at her note cards and said the first thing she saw. "And so the rating systems in place for movies is..." And then she let the sentence die there as she realized that she had said something that came right in the middle of her speech. Why didn't she take the time to organize her note cards after she had dropped them. "Er, sorry that's not the beginning... hold on a second." Her cheeks burned an even hotter red as she looked down and fumbled through her note cards. She could hear the laughing again. She felt small tears come to the corner of her eyes as she looked helplessly at her note cards. Students who were a little bored now turned to one another and started talking to each other while she got herself situated.
But of course she thought they were all talking about her, mocking her, making fun of her blunders. In her teenage, scared of rejection, mind that was all she saw. The hot tears started pouring from her eyes now and her note cards lay forgotten. There was a loud sound in her ears and the breeze outside was no longer just a breeze. It was becoming downright windy. Bryn could hear nothing that was going outside of herself. She raised her hands to her ears to stop the roaring. She didn't hear the teacher trying to get everyone to quiet down. She didn't hear the teacher ask her if she was alright and if she need a moment before she continued on with the speech. The roaring in her ears just got louder and the wind got gustier.
Soon loose paper was flying from students desks, followed by notebooks. There were yells of surprise from the students. And with the yells came heavier winds. Before the teacher could react and shut the windows, the caved in and shattered, showering the students closest to them with shards of glass. It was a miracle that most of them only had slight surface cuts on their skin and a few escaped unscathed. There were screams of panic now as heavier objects, like the desks began to shake with the wind. Books were flying around the room and people were ducking low to ground to avoid flying objects and hopefully taking some sort of shelter from the freak windstorm.
And at the center of this, kneeling on the floor, eyes closed and hands over her ears was Bryn Parrish. It was almost as if she was the cause of it. The objects were whirling in the wind around her, almost as if she was the center of a tornado. Her hair only lifting as if it was caught in a slight breeze. One could tell she was terrified and those of herclassmates that could see her were terrified of her. And then all at once Bryn screamed out. "MAKE IT STOP." And all she knew after that was blackness as she fell into unconsciousness.
Okay so this is just the introduction. Next chapter we'll actually get to see some of the characteres we know and love from the show. Please review.