I walked in the hallways, over to my locker. Dalia was already there, putting her own stuff into her locker from her blue backpack. It had pins all over it, the splattered on paint barely visible. Her many bracelets fell to the front of her wrists, the camp bracelets covered by bigger ones, same with her hairties. She had her dark hair in it's usual bun, and her face was shaded by the loose bangs covering the side of her face. It was obvious she was rushed this morning, because her shirt was a Relay for Life shirt from two years ago and her pants were just shorts, and she had flip flops on.

"Hi Dalia!" I smiled, opening my locker, pulling my backpack off of my shoulders and setting it on the ground. I crouched down beside it, unzipping it and emptying it into my locker.

"Hey Audra!" she smiled, picking her own backpack up and putting it in her locker, taking the things she'll need for first period out.

"How're you?" I asked, shoving some gum into my mouth. I put it back in my pocket before I got mobbed.

"I'm tired..." she yawned, "You?"

"Same...Why does school have to start so early?"

She laughed "So that we have enough buses to get everyone from every school."

"Why can't we go laterrrrrrrr?" I complained.

"Do you want to get out of school laterrrrrr?"

"No." I grumbled, getting my stuff for first period out "Can I just copy your notes tonight? I might just sleep through science..."

"Sure, but tomorrow, go to sleep earlier." She slammed her locker shut with a bang. Everytime we close our lockers we see who makes the loudest noise, most of the time it's me.

I stood up and slammed my locker shut. As usual, mine was louder. "Sometime this year, I will find an equation to get the loudest bang when you close your locker..." Dalia mused.

I sighed "You're a nerd." we laughed, and walked down the hall to science. One of the many guys in our grade was murmuring about some science sub that was hot or something, and I got confused. "We have a sub?" I asked Dalia, and she shrugged.

We walked into the science room and I nearly chocked. We did, in fact, have a sub. But that guy said she was hot...she's a creepy old hag, not some hot sub. I looked on the board, and I saw that we were going somewhere today, and I remembered. Today is the day we go to the park and 'learn things' when really we just hung out. Even the teachers knew that that's how it went.

Dalia nudged my arm and looked at the sub, her facial expression told me she saw the old lady. I nodded. I sat down with Dalia before the bell rang, but as soon as it did, everyone was quiet...it was a Christmas miracle! Even though it wasn't Christmas...it was the middle of May...

"So, my dearies, I am your substitute teacher, Miss Figgs." Miss Figgs said, her voice confident. "If you all would look at the board, you'll see we have a field trip to the park..." She said some other things, but I wasn't paying attention...I could care less.

So I went to sleep. About 19.5 minues later, Dalia woke me up and said that we were leaving for the field trip, so I got up and stretched. Dalia went on before me, but I took a while to gather my things. Just as I was pushing in my chair, I heard the door slam, and I looked to see Miss Figg staring at me. Her eyes weren't how they werein class, though. They were yellow, and the pupils were more like slits than normal eyes. She saw me and her eyes turned back to normal. "Dearie, don't you have to go to the field trip?" She asked, her voice dripped with poison honey. I shuffled past her, thinking I was still dreaming and that it was my imagination playing tricks on me.

I shoved my things lazily into my locker and ran to the front of the school, where the school buses would pick us up for the field trip. I met up with Dalia, and told her about the classroom, but also added that I was sure it was my imagination. Dalia agreed with me. Pretty soon, we were on our way to the park. I was forced to sit by someone else because our seats were assigned. I had to sit by Daniel Schafer, just about the most annoying kid in the whole eighth grade. He was a freaking stalker! He folllowed me eeeeeverywhere and he kept asking me all these weird questions. UGH! He was sooooo annoying.

"Hiya Audra! How're you?" Daniel chirped.

"I'm fine. You?" I responded flatly, all emotion gone from my voice.

"So how's your parent situation?"

I sighed. I didn't even mean to tell him in the first place, but he caught me sobbing in the hallways and I needed to tell someone. Dalia knew.

I sat there, sobbing my eyes out in front of the science lab. It was lunch...no one would see me. Everyone was eating. Except for Daniel. Shit. I wiped my eyes hastily, sniffling. Of course, he heard me. He walked over, his poofy hair bouncing everywhere.

"What's wrong?" he asked, a frown etched on his face.

"M-my p-parents..." I stuttered, not making eye contact. "Well, mainly just my dad..."

"What happened to your dad?" he frowns, sitting next to me, putting a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"I don't know! I've never known him...never seen pictures..." I hiccuped, embarrassed at myself for crying.

"Oh..." he just rubbed my back, trying to get me to calm down. Eventually I did.

"P-please don't tell anyone?" I whispered, shrugging his hand off my back.

"I won't." He promised.

"Thank you." I wiped my face off, the tears staining my sleeves.

"Anytime." I knew he meant it. He gave me a hug and I hugged him back weakly. As soon as he had pulled away I went straight to the girls room, putting cold water on my face.

"Not any better." I said, frowning. "My mom is doing nothing to try to find him and I can't just go on and put my name it. I've tried it."

"Oh...well that really sucks..." The bus lurched forward, pushing me back against my seat.

"You know how you can get to the ice cream place from the park?" he chirped, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah?"

"I have money...wanna get ice cream together?"

"Sure." Why not? He was gonna buy me ice cream...it was worth it. I also had a feeling he knew who my dad the ride dragged on. I watched everyone else, aware that Dan was watching me. I turned around, "Could you stop that?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Oh...sure..." so then he looked at Miss Figgs, his face was a mask of confusion.

I continued to watch everyone else as the bus eased into a stop. I tried to get out, but Daniel grabbed my shoulder. "Let me go!" I said, shaking, trying to knock him off of me.

"Stop moving!" he whispered, sitting back down. "Seriously, Audra, I need to check something..." He frowned. He stood up and walked over to Miss Figgs. The conversation went a little like this:

"Hello little Satyr." Miss Figgs croaked. My ears must've been decieving me. Saytr?! Wasn't that, like, Greek mumbo jumbo?

"Hi." he sounded scared.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to leave." Everyone was off the bus but us three. Even the driver.

"Why do you want that?"

"Because there are people I was sent to protect and if I have you ruining everything then I'll never be accepted!"

"Why do you care for so many people's approval?"

"Because it's what matters to me!"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because it makes me feel better about myself..."

"Why should you feel bad about yourself?"

"Because I have hooves! Not feet! And I have horns in my head!" He started sounding depserate.

"She heard."

"I don't care!"

"You should."

"JUST GO AWAY!" He shouted, turning around and walking back to me. "Let's get that ice cream."

"Bu-"

"It was nothing. Me and her have a history...we were joking around." We were just out of our seats when I felt a lurch in the bus.

"How did that happen?! The bus isn't even moving!" I said, starting to panic.

"Get off the bus..." He murmured, pushing me ahead of him. I looked back in fear, then turned around and ran. But I ran right into Miss Figgs...at least I think it was Miss Figgs. Well, it was no where near Miss Figgs. The creature had leathery wings. The only thing the same was the face. Except for the eyes.

"I must be hallucinating." And like a lady, I fainted.