[Ryder's Perspective]

Today was the day that I was going to Kadic Academy. I had decided to go to a boarding school after the incident at my last school, which they still can't prove had anything to do with me. Kadic Academy seemed like the perfect place to start tenth grade. High school might be challenging, but since I've never had any friends, I left nothing behind to have to worry about later. I'm not like most kids, by the way. I have no cell phone, nor do I intend on getting one. I tend to ignore all social norms and do what I want, when I want. And finally, I'm not telling you what this one is.

At Kadic, a really preppy girl with dark hair approached me; she ranted on and on about how she's the prettiest, most popular girl in the whole school. My reaction, was to shove her in the mud and walk away. She shouted after me and attempted to get up, but ignored her. I walked into the dorms.

I tried to open the door to my room, but it was locked. A nerdy looking blonde kid in glasses unlocked the door for me. Great, I have a roommate, I thought.

"Hi, I'm Jeremie." He glanced up at me and tried to maintain his smile as he saw what I looked like. I'm dressed in a black hoodie, black skinny-fit jeans, a black beanie, black steel-toed boots, and black fingerless gloves. I have a gold stud in my right ear and two piercings in the middle of my bottom lip. My hair is a messy, jet black with red highlights, and my eyes are black with a red tinge to them. My skin is paper white. "You must be Ryder.

"Yeah." I walked into my room and sat down. I put my clothes in the wardrobe, and I lied down on the bed.

"You from here?"

"Nope."

"Do you have a phone?"

"Nope." Jeremie gave up playing 20Q with me, and he went to type on his computer. I walked out of my room and glanced at my daily schedule. I walked down the hall, and someone bumped into me. She had black hair, dark black eyes and was wearing all black with gold earrings and a lip ring on her bottom lip.

"Sorry," she told me.

"Yeah, it's your fault."

"You're supposed to say, 'Sorry'."

"But I didn't."

"You're still supposed to!"

"It wasn't my fault!" We both glared at each other for what seemed like hours. She broke the concentrated glare by slapping me. The noise ricocheted off of the deserted hallway. I could feel myself blush, so I was lucky that only us two were there. The goth girl stormed off to the stairway. I, on the other hand, stormed off in the opposite direction.

My schedule said that it was time for lunch, so I tried to find the cafeteria. A girl dressed in all black, but definitely not goth, helped me find the building. I saw the real goth girl sitting alone at an empty table, so I sat across from her.

"Hey." She glanced up, and then ignored me. "You not eating?"

"Nope, are you?"

"Nope." The preppy girl, Sissi, came over here.

"Why aren't you eating? Well, the school food here is terrible. You're hair is amazing!" She tried to touch my hair, but I grabbed her wrist with my thumb and index finger. Meanwhile, the goth was shooting us death glares.

"Shoo." I blew her off and released her hand.

"Uuuuugh!" she whined as she left the table. Jeremie sat next to the goth, and a pink-haired girl sat beside me.

"Hi, I'm Aelita. You've already met Jeremie, my boyfriend." She blushed slightly. "What grade are you in?"

"Tenth."

"Oh, that's too bad; Jeremie and I are in the ninth grade. Yumi's in the tenth grade, though." She babbled on like this for a little while, explaining the schedule, and talking about the different buildings. I was tuning her out until she asked, "Why aren't you eating?"

"I'm on a special, um, diet."

"Oh, what can't you eat?"

"Everything, it's an all liquid diet."

"Would you like a glass of water?"

"No, thanks."

"Oh, okay." A teen boy, about Aelita's age, walked over towards our table. He was blonde, with a splotch of purple in the middle of his spiked up hair, svelte, and wearing a purple hoodie with a pink undershirt.

"Hey, you look pretty."

"I am," goth girl replied.

"What;s your name?"

"None of your..."

"Jade," let slip Aelita. Jade gave her the infamous death glare and kicked her under the table.

"Ow!"

"We should go out sometime."

"Or not."

"How do you get your hair that beautiful?" We both stood up at the same time. I went outside and ran into the forest. I found a big, aged tree, climbed up on a huge branch, balanced myself, and rested.

I stopped resting suddenly, and I jumped out the tree. I walked around for awhile, until I found a salt-water lake. I knelt down next to it, and washed my face with it. The water was boiling hot; it felt nice. A hand shot out of the water and grabbed my neck. I was pulled into the salty water while I grappled with the unknown being. When I thought that I had won, I tried to resurface, but my foot was grabbed. I kicked the thing that grabbed me, and I clawed at the ground. I did a back-flip to get out of the pond, and Jade was flipped at a tree.

"What the heck?"

"You tried to drown me!"

"You were spying on me!"

"Was not!"

"Was, too!"

"We should get to the dorms."

"Stop trying to change the subject!"

"Curfew is in five minutes! We'll get detention if we're late."

Fine! Try to keep up." She dashed ahead of me, racing towards the dorms. I sprinted, and I caught up to her.

"I am." I pretended to trip her, but she just jumped over my foot. "Looks like I'll win."

"No you won't!"

"My dorm is a floor below yours; it's closer."

"Crap!" I opened my door with my key.

"I win."

"Win what?" asked Jeremie.

"Nothing." Jeremie's clock read 9:59. looks like I got here just in time. The clock ticked and now read 10:00. "Are you going to get off of your computer? Jeremie?" He was IM'ing someone. His computer read:

greekgeek21: we shud call my romates asleep

prettyinpink14: mine is to

greekgeek21: k

I jumped into bed and pretended to be asleep. Jeremie dialed Aelita.

"Hello?" asked Jeremie.

"Hi."

"It's been so peaceful this year, so far."

"Yeah, the end of last year was, too. I'm glad that nobody goes near the abandoned factory anymore."

"Do you think that XANA's gone for good?"

"Of course! My father died to get rid of him!"

"I know, I'm sorry, Aelita."

"It's okay." She hung up, and Jeremie went to sleep. I remembered seeing an old, abandoned building on an island when I was on my flight here. I looked up a sewer map on Jeremie's computer, and I memorized it. I snuck outside to the park, and I picked up a manhole. I then climbed into the cold, dark sewers. When I reached my destination, I climbed up a tunnel, and it opened up on a bridge. I walked across it, until I was next to the building. I slid down one of the many ropes and landed on the ground. I heard buttons being pressed in the elevator.

"Stupid elevator!" I climbed in. "This is MY factory!" she screamed. I played with some of the wires in the button box, and I clipped a green one. The elevator traveled downwards, into the factory.