Chapter One
Dropping Out
That last night, I spent cramming over some last minute studying for my Chemistry exam. I was worried about keeping my scholarship to attend the prestigious Trinity Academy, and how grueling practice was going to be the next day. Little did I know how much I would crave having these types of insignificant worries. No longer would I have the opportunities to go on a normal date, be able to continue competing, never having the chance to attend prom next year, or even experience the accomplishment of graduating, seeing my families proud faces when I receive my diploma. Little did I know that my goals in life would be completely shattered, that this was my last night as a normal high school student. That tomorrow, not just me, but also everyone else would be considered a dropout…
"Rios! Concentrate! Damn it girl, what's wrong with you today?" Coach Stile shouted at the short brunette, his star shooter who was currently missing a few targets. She groaned and looked over at her coach, a sheepish look evident on her pretty face.
"Perdon Coach, just a little ti…Ouch!" yelled the, now awake, teen as she rubbed her sore head. "Did you have to smack me?" she asked, glaring at her Coach, pulling another arrow out of its sheath, getting ready to take aim at the target laid out on the gym floor.
"Of course, I need you in top shape for next week's tournament, or did you forget the reason why you're even able to come to this school?" he said, grinning evilly and taking glory in reminding her how easily her scholarship could be taken away.
"No Sir. Perdon, I'll concentrate," she said, tension forming with every word she uttered. What she really wanted to do was aim at him and shut him up for reminding her constantly of her lower status and threatening her scholarship. Closing her eyes, trying to ignore her coach's words, she once again gained concentration; she took aim and fired at the target, scoring a perfect bull's eye. With each shot she took, her aim and speed became quicker and more precise, blocking out everything that was occurring in the gym, doing what she loved best.
As Meralis continued with her practice, a student with a lean, runner's build walked into the gym, passing by her area, looking around for someone. "Yo, Armando - over here man!" yelled someone sitting over by the indoor swimming area, obviously leering at its occupants: the female swim team. "Took you long enough - how was practice?" asked the boy while Armando offered him a hand and heaved his friend up.
"I'm doing alright, practice was surprisingly short today. The Coach got called out to handle something. It seemed urgent, so he told us practice was cancelled," explained Armando, scratching his head and shrugging. "What are you doing in this area anyway? Don't you have cricket practice to get to?" he asked, while taking a look over at the girls from the swim team, one strawberry blonde haired swim captain in particular, Elisabeth Hertz.
"Earth to R.D.," said Armando's friend as he punched him on the arm. "Dude, future Valedictorian or not, she's way out of your league man," he said, avoiding Armando's question, resulting in Armando rolling his eyes and smacking his friend. "Idiot, who said I was interested? Besides, aren't you late for practice?" he asked, while taking one last look at the swim captain, seeing the five foot seven blonde, in her school swim suit showing off all her curves, lean over her bag and pick up a phone. "Dude, lets go," he said, not waiting for his friend's reply and heading for the gyms exit; his friend grabbed his metal cricket bat and jogged after the raven-haired teen.
Over by the gym's pool, Elisabeth was walking at a brisk pace in the direction of the bleachers, closest to the pool. "Hello, Felix? What the hell are you doing calling me? I'm in the middle of practice," she exclaimed, feeling annoyed by her estranged brothers sudden call.
"Look Elli, I don't have a lot of time to explain but just hear me out," said the person on the other line, taking a brief pause before continuing. "Okay, I need you to come home as quickly as possible. You understand me?" said her brother, worry and slight panic evident in his voice.
"Why?" she asked, uneasiness settling in as she took a seat, yelping as her wet bottom touched the cold steel of the bleachers.
"I can't explain so just do as I say, okay? I'll be with mom and dad. Look Elli, I know we've had our issues in the past but please listen to me," he begged; this only further infuriated her.
"Felix, what the Hell? Ex-" She was cut off from finishing what she was about to say by the sudden sound of the dial tone on the line. What the fuck, she thought, frustrated and worried about the situation. She walked back over to the pool. "Hey guys, practice is over. Something's come up and I've got to go," said Elisabeth, her blue eyes daring them to question her. After seeing no objections, she quickly put on her sneakers and, forgetting to change back into her normal uniform, headed out of the gym towards the main office.
Meanwhile, inside the school's main office, two students sat next to each other, looking bored, waiting to be called in to see the Dean. The shorter of the two slid her headphones down so that they dangled around her neck. Blowing her long bangs out of her face, she looked over at the somber-looking boy next to her. "So what ya' in for?" she asked, trying to make light conversation to pass the time.
"How 'bout I tell you after you tell me what you did to get you here," the boy said, grinning at the petite red head, knowing full well who the sophomore was. "What prank did you pull this time?"
Her bright blue eyes shot over to his face, quirking an eyebrow at the older student. "Do I know you?" she questioned.
"Probably not," he said, still grinning. "You're Sadie Migamichi, the red haired pixie who turned the school's swimming pool into a giant Jell-O bowl during the homecoming game in her freshman year!" exclaimed the boy, his green eyes shining with mirth as he recalled the memory.
"Oh my God! I was only showing school spirit," said Sadie, giggling. "Oh, this time I'm here 'cause I might have accidentally, somehow, slipped a bit of turquoise hair dye into the cheerleading team's shampoo bottles," Sadie explained, an innocent look washing over her features, causing the boy to snort then laugh at her newest antics.
"Accidentally, huh?" he said, his laughter dying down. "I'm Kevin, by the way. Kevin Walker, a junior here." He extended his hand out to her in introduction, sobering up a bit as a serious expression was plastered on his handsome features. "To answer your earlier question… well, I got caught with a gun on me."
"What?" asked Sadie, shocked at what he had said. "Why the Hell would you bring one to school? Oh shit, you're not one of those crazed suicidal ones, are you?" she asked, scooting a little further away from Kevin, causing him to sigh loudly.
"No, not at all. Relax. For some weird and random reason, my dad gave it to me, telling me it was for 'just in case' when he dropped me off here today. I didn't question it, seeing as he usually has good reasons for why he does things," he explained to Sadie, seeing the calculated look in her expression as she digested what he had just told her. "I'm kind of worried - he was acting weird. You see, he's the Chief of this area's police force."
As his explanation went on, a fight outside, between two lacrosse players, was about to break out.
"What are you playing at Mark?" said an angry goalie. "You're supposed to be defending - why are you letting the ball pass man?" he questioned, yanking off his helmet to reveal short, auburn colored hair and pale skin, littered with freckles. In frustration, he threw his lacrosse stick on the ground and started walking up to the defender. The guy shrugged, uninterested by the confrontation. "Damn it, answer me! Coach has been riding our asses after the last match, which we lost, thanks to you!" He continued yelling, now shoving his teammate, who still would not answer, in the chest, the other players watching the confrontation between their two best players. Mark, the lacrosse defender, not enjoying being shoved, swung his fist towards the goalie's face, losing his balance as he missed his target. The other players, seeing this, finally snapped out of their dazes and intervened in the fight that was about to happen.
"Keaton! Man, relax! He isn't worth it," shouted one of the players as he and another grabbed hold of Keaton's arms, preventing him from retaliating. Unfortunately, one of the school's guards patrolling that area witnessed Keaton trying to retaliate and, without questioning the other students, took hold of both boys involved in the confrontation.
Another witness to the lacrosse team's display of aggression was a rather large student, standing at over six feet, half dressed in the school's janitorial uniform - he heaved over his shoulder a heavy sack of plant growth to take over to the elderly school gardener. "Not that I don't appreciate the hard work, Patrick, but won't you rather hang out with friends during your lunch break rather than help an old man like me?" smiled the aged man, kindly, at the student.
Placing the heavy sack into the school's maintenance room, he then walked back out as he wiped the sweat of his brow. He answered, "It isn't as if I have a choice on the matter. You know very well the only reason I'm here is because my uncle pulled a few strings and wanted me to learn some discipline by helping out with maintenance at this school and stay out of trouble." He finished explaining, moving the sledge hammer from in front of the door, placing that in the room too.
"No worries my boy. You only have a year left and then you'll be able to do as you please," said the elderly man, patting the teen's broad back as a form of compassion towards the gloomy student. Patrick offered a small smile to the man as he went back to work, thinking about how it was not the work he minded, but rather the lack of friends he had not been able to make since arriving at the school a few months ago.
Back inside the school, in the dining hall, a group of girls could be heard laughing at the antics of a few obnoxious baseball players, trying to impress them. One student not impressed with the spectacle was sitting in the furthest corner eating his lunch. His caramel eyes shut in irritation as he pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. Not being able to take the shriek-like laughter from the harpies or his headache anymore, he stood and walked out of the dining hall, planning on making a trip to the infirmary. On his way out, he passed a table with two, cute freshmen chatting and giggling aimlessly.
"Oh my God, Carmina, that senior Geoffrey is so cute," said the taller of the two girls wistfully watching his retreating back as he exited the dining hall.
"Andria, why not try talking to him then?" Carmina advised her friend, giving her an encouraging smile.
"Because he's a senior and I'll probably have a better chance at attracting one of those idiots over there," she said, pointing at the baseball players, knowing full well that they would not give her the time of day. Carmina laughed at her friend's comment, letting out a few giggles as she tucked her long, silky chocolate-brown hair behind her ear. "Look, what's the worst that could happen? He rejects you? Just get to know him first - try to become friends, okay?" she said to her friend who was cheered up by the idea. "Anyway, did you see what happened to the varsity cheerleading squad?" asked Carmina, laughing at the thought of what happened to them earlier that morning.
And so the girls continued to eat their lunches, laughing about Sadie Migamichi's latest prank, blissfully unaware at what was about to transpire in the school's gym. Meanwhile, back in the gym, as the end of lunch break was coming to an end, two Kendo club members were busy in the midst of a practice match. One in particular stood out: she had the gracefulness of a dancer as she sparred with her partner. She was, oddly enough, not wielding a wooden bokken, but rather a wooden version of an M16 rifle - wooden bayonet included. As the two sparred close to the boy's changing room, the male partner heard a sudden crash from within the room. He suddenly stopped his match, just barely dodging the female's swift strike.
"Hey, hold on a sec' Shizuku - I thought I heard something in there. Why don't we stop practice for today, seeing as break's almost over anyway and I want to go check out what that noise was," he said, stepping off the fighting mat and heading for the boy's changing room. As he left, Shizuku decided to take a break, since she was in no rush to pick up their material. Patting down a small towel over her sweat-soaked, slight muscular body, she took a sip from her water bottle. Unexpectedly, a loud crash, followed by a yell of pain, emitted from the boy's changing room, startling the girl.
Coming out of the boy's changing room was her sparring partner. Blood seeping out of a wound in his side, he clutched his abdomen to trying to stop the bleeding. "My god, Shinji! What happened?" she asked, panic evident in her voice as she ran over to her friend. He collapsed onto the ground, his already pale complexion taking on a grayish hue.
"Some manic in the changing room attacked and bit me. I think I knocked him out though," he said while Shizuku hurriedly tried to stop the bleeding by pressing towels on his wound, causing the boy to wince in pain.
Watching the commotion nearby, the archery coach ran over and ordered Shizuku to run to the infirmary and get help. Seeing as she had done all she could for her friend, she nodded and ran out of the gym towards the infirmary.
As the door closed behind her, a large bang echoed throughout the now quiet gym; all faces turned towards the direction of the sound. Then, suddenly, a screech could be heard as the archery coach struggled with the injured student, in an attempt to fight him off and save himself from being bitten.
"What the fuck has gotten into you, boy! Get off m…" But that was all that was heard as the maniac in the boy's changing room emerged. His uniform was tattered and smeared with blood, bite wounds evident on his arms and legs. His eyes could only be described as fogged with milky white haze. He charged for the, now screaming, students closest to him, causing panic and chaos to break out in the gym. Students were trying to run out from the gym in all directions, all screaming in fear as they witnessed more of 'them' come roaming into the gym from the boy's changing room.
All screaming, they tried to run for safety… all except one. Witnessing her fellow classmates getting attacked, she gathered the arrows from her practice session and started raining them down in vicious volleys onto the attackers. Shooting their legs and arms, she tried to immobilize them, but her efforts seemed futile.
"What the hell, stay down Cabron!" she yelled, panic starting to set in as they kept getting up and chasing after the screaming students. Her dark chocolate eyes widened as she saw her coach rise from where he was sprawled, pale skin just like the others, and a hazy look in his eyes. Knowing he had to be killed, she took aim and shot an arrow right through his eye and into his brain.
"Yes!" She danced, having figured out quickly how to put those things down. "That's what you get, Cabron, for putting me through shit these past few years."