(Hey, everyone! This is story of pure fiction. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it. I hope you like it.)

I sighed, staring at the board as Mr. Taylor babbled on and on. I was ready for today to be over.

I took a quick glance to my side. My best friend Becca was listening closely and taking notes. Just behind her was her boyfriend, and another friend of mine, Luke. He was writing furiously in his notebook. I grinned, knowing he wasn't actually taking notes. Luke was always writing his own stories while pretending to take notes.

I glanced to my other side. Adam was trying to be sneaky as he texted his girlfriend, Sarah. The smile on his face was giving him away and I had to choke back a laugh.

I returned my gaze to the front of the room. I should have been paying attention, but I had too much on my mind. Today was the day. We were finally checking out All-Around Mystiques & Mysteries, a new shop that had opened two weeks ago. They had everything from jewelry to cultural artifacts.

*ring* *ring* *ring*

I jumped, tuning back into class as the final bell of the day rang.

Mr. Taylor cleared his throat. "Alright. That is all for today. Please study over the material for the test tomorrow. You're dismissed."

I grinned, "Yes." I started shoving my stuff back into my bag. I knew I wouldn't study, but I'd take my notebook home anyway.

Once most everyone had left, I turned to Becca and Luke with a huge grin. "Let's go! This is gonna be great."

"It's just a store, Belle. Geez."

I turned and rolled my eyes at Adam. "But this is a new store. It has all kinds of amazing things. So, shut up and let me be happy"

Becca laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders. "She's right. Let's all be happy. Any time we can hang out is fun. No matter what we're doing. Now, let's go raise some hell."

Luke grinned, "Oh yeah! Becca's right. It's time to raise some hell."

I took the lead as we left the school and headed into town. It was great that the school was so close to all the shops.

Okay, so I should probably introduce us. I mean, what's the point of a story if you have no idea who we even are. First off, my name is Isabelle, but I prefer to be called Belle. I have auburn hair and brown eyes.

Then there's my friends, Becca, Luke and Adam. The four of us have been friends since our first year of middle school. Becca has dark red-brown hair with brown eyes. Luke has light brown hair with blue eyes. Adam has black hair with blue eyes. We all dressed a lot alike. Blue jeans, converse sneakers, and t-shirts with comic book or anime characters on them.

Becca and Luke love to pull pranks. Sometimes, Adam joins in and helps them. I just awkwardly stand to the side. I'm horrible in a lot of social situations. But my friends love me anyway. As long as we're together, the four of us can get out of anything.

The chime of the bell on the door brought me out of my thoughts. The store was empty except for us. Perfect.

I grinned and took off to explore. The others followed slowly behind me. There was so much to see.

Every couple of minutes, we'd wave the others over to look at something, then take off again.

I slowly approached the glass counters. Necklaces with strange designs lay inside the displays. They looked like they were shining; drawing me closer.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

I bit back a scream as I jumped back.

A creepy looking guy now stood behind the counter. He was wearing dark clothes with a black scarf covering most of his face. He stood in the shadows, but his eyes were bright and unusual as he stared at me.

A cold chill swept up my spine. I swallowed hard. "Oh, uh, I, I didn't see you there."

His cheeks lifted as though he was grinning. "I was in the back. I just stepped out. I didn't mean to startle you."

He moved forward and opened the glass case. Before I could say a word, he pulled out a necklace with a charm shaped like a key, but it shone like a crystal. "These are part of a special sale for today only. Four of your choice for $40."

By this point, Becca, Luke, and Adam had joined me at the counter.

Luke stared at the necklace with wide eyes. "Wow. My mom saw necklaces like these before. They're usually $15 each."

I scanned the case, then smiled. "Let's get them. We'll each put in $8. Then they can be a friendship symbol."

Becca grinned, "Oh, yeah! That sounds great. And we'll each get our color." She turned to the clerk. "We want the blue one, the green one, and the red one too."

After we all added in our cash, we collected the necklaces that had our color. Becca took blue, Luke took red, Adam took the clear one, and I took the green one.

We headed out and grabbed food after we finished at the shop. When it started getting dark, we all started home. We parted ways by the park. All of us shouted to the others until we could no longer hear each other.

The rest of the evening was calm and easy. I spend most of my time in my room, reading Luke's stories online and texting Adam and Becca. My homework remained in my bag, completely forgotten.

At midnight, I tucked my new necklace into my night-shirt and climbed into bed. As I thought over the day, I couldn't help but smile. I sighed as I snuggled under my blanket. No matter how bad the day seemed, it was always better after hanging out with my friends. My fingers curled around my necklace through my shirt and I began to drift off.

If I had known that our peaceful days would be over in the morning… I never would have gone to sleep that night.

And that's chapter 1! I hope you all liked it. Comment and let me know what you thought.