Hi everyone~! I'm here again and this time with an original piece of work! That's right! Protected by Nightfall is an original piece by me! Now I can't take credit for one of the characters. He belongs to a great friend of mine. However, everything/everyone else does belong to me! So sit back, relax with some soda and popcorn, and read away~!
I felt all forty-two eyes_including the teacher's eyes_on me. Every eye took in every detail of me. Every face held a look of annoyance. Every mind judged. I could feel myself grow shaky as I gulped quietly. Oh, God, why? I wasn't there for five minutes, and I already felt like I was going to throw up. My eyes glanced around the room. No one said a word. A pin could be dropped and heard in this brutal silence. I hated this. I just had to be late. I blame my alarm. It went off thirty minutes later than normal, and now here I was, awkwardly standing in the doorway of my first hour Algebra class.
"You must be the new student, am I right?" The teacher looked over the roster, scanning for my name. He had thinning, grey hairs everywhere but the top of his head, which partially shined in the morning light. One could guess he might be on the edge of retirement. "Miss...Adriane Rivers, correct?"
I gave a slight nod, my grip on my books tightening, and my knuckles turning white. "Y-Yes, sir." Now everyone knew my name. Great! Let the whole class know the name of the most awkward girl around!
"I think you're in the wrong room."
The voice came from my right. I turned to look over at a young man with white hair_Wait, white hair? I had to do a double take. He definitely had white hair. It was spiky and somewhat flared out, some of it sweeping towards his left eye. He sat in the furthest desk back into the room in the middle of the row. He was slouched forward, his hand supporting his head as his elbow propped him up. Now, I'm not totally judgmental, so I was trying to be rational. He was probably was one of those immature, annoyingly funny, misunderstood guys, or he could really be a trouble maker.
"'How to Handle Being a Misfit 101' is down the hall," he said with sly smile.
Well, he certainly didn't seem like option one.
"Zeo!" the teacher exclaimed. "Honestly, that is no way to treat a new student!"
"Dude, good one!" A guy to Zeo's left high-fived him as they laughed. He had a blend of orange, red, and yellow in his hair, almost making it appear as if it was on fire. He was slouched back into the seat he sat at, and Zeo copied the postion as he high-fived his friend. Geez. I just got here, and I'm already insulted. What a wonderful way to start of the day.
"What'cha think, Nightfall?" Zeo whispered as he leaned over and gently nudged the boy to his right. "That was funny right?"
The black haired boy, Nightfall, didn't say a word. He just seemed annoyed. I noticed unlike the other two guys, he actually had a natural hair color. It was messy, and some of it hung over his right eye, completely covering it. His sleeve covered arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned back into the chair. The hood of his hoodie rested on the middle of his head, as if he was trying to be sneaky about wearing it in school. I had to admit, it gave him the "strong and silent" type of look. Since he was looking away, I felt a sense of relief. That was one less pair of eyes on me.
"Oh c'mon, Nightfall." The flame haired boy leaned over his desk to look past Zeo and over at Nightfall. "That was funny. Admit it."
"Would you two just please shut up," Nightfall mumbled softly. His visible eye closed, as if he felt like he was going to snap.
"Someone got bit by the grumpy bug today," Zeo murmured.
The teacher finally stepped in to stop them. "Zeo, Blaze, go to the principal's office. Now."
The flame haired kid, Blaze_his named suited him, actually_looked surprised. "What?! Why me?! Mr. Anderson, I didn't_!"
"Don't give me the 'I didn't do anything!' protest, young man. You and Zeo march down to Mr. Wilson's office right now." Mr. Anderson began scribbling away at a sticky note, and as quickly as he wrote it, he stopped, and held it out into the air. "You two take this on your way out." Then Zeo stood with a sigh and Blaze with a groan. With their books in their hands, they trudged over Mr. Anderson. Zeo lazily snatched the note from his hand, and I quickly stepped out of the door way so they could exit. They gave me dirty looks as they left, and I couldn't help but look away from them, trying to avoid the looks of anger. Mr. Anderson sighed quietly as he said, "I'm so sorry for that. Those two have never done that before, especially to a new student." He straightened up and cleared his throat before continuing. "Anyway, I am Mr. Anderson." He turned to the class and said, "Class, this is Adriane Rivers. Miss Rivers, where did you move from?"
Now the spotlight was on me. All the eyes_excluding Nightfall's eyes_returned to me, and I held my books close to me as I answered, "I-I came from a small town in Indiana. I-It wasn't too big. The population was about...three thousand I believe." I was now on Revington soil. It was a huge city compared to my hometown, Tranquility. Yeah, it's a weird name, but when explorers came by and started a village in the area, they couldn't help but notice how small and peaceful it appeared. There were no crimes or anything, so the early villagers named it Tranquility.
"Ah, so this must be a big change for you. Well, welcome to Revington High. I hope you make yourself at home here." As he spoke, he pulled out a piece of paper from what appeared to be his grade book and inspected it. "Okay, now I want everyone to stand up and move to the back of the room. I think it seems appropriate that we have a new seating chart." He began erasing the names that rested in the little boxes on the paper as the students stood with their things and moved to the back of the room. I managed to shuffle over to the awaiting crowd, and I stood in the front. I heard the students behind me talking, and one girl's voice stood out.
"How long do you think she'll last?" she whispered, but it was still loud enough for me to hear.
"Probably a week at least," her friend whispered back.
I found it hard to breathe. I had no idea what this school was like, but I knew after my first ten to fifteen minutes here that it would be a roller coaster.
As we waited, Mr. Anderson started walking by the desks, pointing to one every time he called out a name. "Carol, Matt, Adriane..."
At the sound of my name, my head shot up, and it felt like all the air had rushed back into my lungs. My desk rested in the middle of the room, and I quickly shuffled over to it, wanting to get away from the crowd behind me. Mr. Anderson continued to name off the students.
"Shadow, George, Frankie..."
Nightfall sat in the desk beside me, which was the one Mr. Anderson marked as Shadow's desk. He didn't look over at me or even mutter a word. I slowly built up the courage to ask, "I-I thought your name was_"
"It is," he said, interrupting me. That's when he finally looked over at me, and I was taken back by his striking green eyes. They were a bright, clover green color with dark rings around the pupil and edges of the iris. They felt oddly familiar, and I was so entranced by them, I almost didn't hear his voice. "My friends call me Nightfall. Everyone else calls me Shadow." He hesitated when he said "friends," as if the word was something he wasn't used to saying.
"S-So that means I should call you Shadow too, right?"
"What do you think?"
"R-Right. Sorry." Man. This guy was kind of cold. At least he didn't gang up on me like his two buddies did, that is, if they were even his buddies. He seemed annoyed by them more than anything. It was like he only tolerated them because he had to, like if two to three people who hated each other were forced into a group for a project and they only stood each other to get a good grade. At least, that's how I saw it. I turned away from him and looked down at my books.
I had a feeling it was going to be a long day.