Chapter One

Oh hi. Well, you must be here for the story huh? Most people are, though I don't get why. It's not like they believe me. They should. What I'm about to tell you is utterly and completely, and irrevocably true.

…no, I'm not in love with a vampire, so stop giving me that look.

Anyway, you'd best get comfortable; this might take a while.

Normally, I can't remember things to save my life, but that day, the beginning of my life changing forever, I'll never forget. All day in school I'd been hearing the whispers. Did you see them? One is in my class! I know right? Could you believe his hair? Wow, he was so hot!

In case you couldn't tell, our humble little High School just got three new students. Normally, this isn't a big deal. But with these three…you'll soon see what I mean. Oh yeah, you don't even know who I am. Sorry.

In a nutshell, my name is Elise; brown, unmanageable hair, blue eyes, short for someone who's seventeen, and easily described as weird. (Most would say eccentric, but really, I'm weird; don't be jealous.)

So, walking towards my third hour class and listening to other kids, mostly girls funnily enough, gabble about three new students was making me a bit irritated. For the love of flip! I thought. You'd think we'd have better things to talk about than some person's hair! I'd rather take Twilight-Boy-Crooning over this!

I was well aware that I was carrying Twilight in my backpack at the time. But, in thinking those thoughts, I had the weirdest feeling that I might eat my own words later. I pushed the thought out of my head and adjusted my heavy backpack.

I opened the door to English and gratefully plopped my backpack on the floor next to my desk. Lugging a large sketchbook and art necessities around does weigh me down. After writing and correcting the daily sentence, I yanked out the over-large sketchbook, my drawing pencil, and my trusty Pokédex.

What? You'd be surprised how much fun it is to draw Pokémon as heavily muscled humanoids!

The rest of the class trickled in, talking about the new students, surprise, surprise. Rolling my eyes, I kept sketching. The tardy bell rang. The door opened. The class was suddenly silent. The teacher primly cleared her throat. I looked up…and froze.

Remember when I said I might eat my words? Well, in that moment when I looked up and saw who was standing at the front of the class…I started eating. They didn't taste that good either.

"Everyone," our teacher called out, "This is Silvester Hedgeland. He and his brothers just moved here."

"Hello." Silvester smiled nervously.

Holy…FLI−wha-ta? (Holy Flip! What the?)

I was that shocked.

Silvester was average height, with light skin and a cute, boyish face. That was pretty much the only thing that was normal about him however. He wore a metallic gray short-sleeved jacket with a bright turquoise pattern and a lot of white faux fur around the collar. Underneath the jacket was a black long-sleeved shirt that matched his tight black pants. Thick gold bracelets adorned his wrists and covered the cuffs of the white gloves on his hands.

Gloves. Gloves and bracelets. Hmmm…

Those same bracelets encircled the rims of Silvester's boots. His black, white-stripe-down-the-middle, turquoise-tipped, with-a-little-pink-jewel-in-the-front, boots.

But all of that was nothing compared to the two most eye-catching things I'd ever seen.

His hair was silver. Not faded, not gray or white, a pure shiny metallic silver. His hair was silver! And long! Hair fell back behind his shoulders, flowed down his back, and rested nearly to his thighs! The only time I'd ever seen hair longer than that was on a guy who swung an impossibly long sword and wanted to destroy the world. In a video game. And in a following animated movie.

All of it was incredibly straight, except for the five funny little tufts that stood up on his forehead and stuck out in different directions. But looking down to his face, I easily forgot the wardrobe and hair style, and maybe what day it was; I can't remember.

His eyes, Silvester Hedgeland's eyes, were bright gold.

Moving carefully, I guiltily pushed Twilight deeper into my bag with my foot. He's wearing contacts, I thought to myself frantically. Just gold colored contacts. They exist.

Silvester smiled that nervous smile once more and sat down three rows to the left of me. I couldn't help but notice, gawking at him like an idiot and not paying attention AT ALL to the lesson, that Silvester was acting…strange. He was running his hand over his right ear repeatedly. The expression on his face was something close in incredulity or disbelief. Like he couldn't get used to having ears on either side of his head. I wondered idly if I really was insane as we continued where we had left off yesterday. In between Edgar Allen Poe's lines of gloom, doom, horror, and death, I continued sketching. But throughout the entire hour, I pondered only one thing.

How in the world did Silvester get past the dress code?

Subconsciously decided to be a filthy hypocrite, I watched Silvester like a hawk in the few minutes before the end of class. He was chatting to the crowd of girls that had swarmed him with questions, the poor guy. It was fairly obvious that he was uncomfortable with all the attention, but smiling painfully, Silvester continued talking. He looked really insecure.

Suddenly, he was staring at me through the gap of giggling girls. Caught, I gave him my friendly smile and nodded my head. Silvester blinked in surprise and nodded back, if a bit awkwardly. I looked away and gathered up the last of my things as the bell rang. The usual flood of teens on the way to lunch flowed out the door as I began the 'Stuff the Backpack' ritual.

"Too much stuff, too much stuff." I sourly chanted under my breath. I grumbled about it every day, but never really did anything about it; I kept forgetting. Finally getting the zipper to close, I slung the backpack over my shoulder and turned to the door.

Wonder of wonders! I wasn't the last person to go like I usually was. Silvester Hedgeland was fiddling with a small drawstring pack of navy blue. Slowly walking to the door, I debated on whether I should say something to him or not. Yes, I'll admit it; for all my outspoken-ness, I'm shy. It's embarrassing.

"Um, hey uh…"

I looked down in to two golden pearls. Up close, Silvester's eyes seemed a lot bigger and brighter than most, like an anime character. I blamed the contacts I knew he must be wearing. Several strands of long platinum hair slipped from over his shoulder and hung in space as he tilted his head. This coupled with the questioning look made him looked like a little lost puppy.

I have a huge soft spot for puppies.

I tucked some stubborn hair behind my ear and smiled. To be honest, I was glad that he'd spoken to me. He seemed pretty interesting, all awesome clothes and hair aside.

"Hi, what's up?"

"Um, do you know where the…uh, the cafeteria is? The map sort of confuses me and…"

His voice sounded a lot younger than a high school student, but in a cute way. I glanced down farther to see a wrinkled school map held in one gloved hand. I made a mental note to ask him about those later when I had the chance. I also wondered randomly if he was gay, which wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I knew a few who were like that, and their way of dressing was somewhat similar, minus gloves.

"Confused huh? Well, you and me both brother. I've learned to never trust those things. Follow me."

Silvester scrambled after me as I flipped down the door latch with my foot and pushed open the door.

"You see, what I do is either ask someone who most likely will know, or just follow the crowds." I gabbled over my shoulder. "But when classrooms are involved, I just follow the numbering system."

I like to talk. A lot. No shame.

Silvester caught up and walked beside me, silver hair swinging back and forth. I pushed back the small twinge of annoyance I felt when I noticed that he was a good three or four inches taller than me. Nearly everyone was taller…

"Numbering system?" He asked as we turned around a corner, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. For example, if you know where room 15 and 17 are, you'll have a good lead on guessing where room 22 is. Get it?"

"Oh…I see. But what about if−"

"WHAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The full-throated yell bounced off the school walls. The teens around us barely turned their heads, being so used to this. Silvester, on the other hand, jumped and stared over his shoulder.

"What was−?"

"Hold that thought; I need to take this call."

I casually stepped around the guy and filled my lungs.

"WHAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Silvester jump again. I mentally winced as I realized that, once again, I didn't exactly think. It's good to remember that showing a new person the way I communicated with my friends five minutes into our first conversation wasn't the best way to build a good impression for myself. But the damage was done. I gave him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. One of my friends was looking for me. Ah, yes…"

To gloss over the awkward situation, I placed my hand on a shocked Silvester's shoulder and turned him around.

"You see all those kids over there?" I pointed down the hall to a large, yammering column of teens in a line. Silvester nodded.

"That's the lunch line. It looks deadly, but don't worry! You'll survive."

I was joking like I always do, but the humor didn't do its job in wiping away the spooked expression. The poor guy looked terrified. I was positive that the sudden 'Whaah'-ing, and the mass of students that looked more like a stampede than a line, had metaphorically knocked Silvester off of stable ground. And truth be told…I didn't like to see the fear in his large eyes. A sudden wave of protectiveness came over me, inexplicable, but potent.

"Hey…" I patted his back until he looked at me. Underneath my fingers, I noticed that the silver strands had a different texture than normal hair. It was harder, sharper…

Silvester turned his head, the tufts on his forehead swaying. In those wide eyes, I saw barely hidden panic flickering in the gold. It reminded me so strongly of myself when I was insecure. I moved my hand back to his shoulder; the muscles were tense beneath the fabric. I smiled softly.

"It'll be ok."

The corner of his mouth twitched. I grinned and thumped him on the back. I pretended not to hear the breath whoosh out of his lungs. "We'll, I'll see you later Silvester!"

I'd started back down the hall in the general direction of the bandroom when−

"Wait!"

I turned to see him standing there in the middle of the hallway with a small, but genuine, smile on his face. "I didn't get your name."

I smiled back. "My name's Elise."

!PAUSE!

Hi. Before I continue, I'd just like to say that I do not talk in my sleep, and I did not dream of Silvester the following night. Actually, I did dream about a demon/psycho killer named 'Necks' who was going to cut off my head with a hacksaw, but that's not the point! The point is, that's the wrong story, but I can get you tickets for the next showing. Okay. Sorry. Just had to get that out there. Moving on…

!UN-PAUSE!

"Did you see his eyes?"

"No actually. I was doing my best to avoid those."

"I was getting an eyeful of the rest of him. In case you didn't notice, that boy is smokin' hot!"

"Chelsea, don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"…oi."

…Which was what I heard as I entered the room. Unlike most, my friends and I ate lunch in the bandroom. The advantage to this was 1, elbow room, and 2, you could be your true self without being self-conscious.

I immediately guessed what everyone was talking about. "Which one?" I asked, dropping my backpack with a thud and a 'Duke, sit!', and following suit. Maddie and Carissa, two of my best brunette friends, exchanged looks while Chelsea, blond and vivacious, cackled. I rolled my eyes and waited. I could only stand boy-talk if I was surrounded by my friends. Biased, I know. Still no shame. Haha!

Maddie leaned forward, lowering her voice slightly. "Shane Hedgeland. Chelsea and I have him in second hour."

Silvester's brother. I thought, nodding my head in interest. "Well, aside from the obvious details from Chelsea, what's he like?"

"I have no idea." Chelsea piped in, looking eager and serious at the same time. "He's frickin' scary! I was nervous just being in the same room with him!"

I frowned, pausing in the act of peeling away the plastic from my Cup of Noodles. That didn't sound anything like Silvester. Maddie was nodding in agreement, eyes wide and grim. "Yeah, he barely spoke at all during class, and when he looks at you…"

She gave an uncharacteristic shudder and pulled the history textbook at her feet closer. It took quite a bit to be able to scare Maddie, brave as she was. "If looks could kill."

My frown deepened and I looked at Carissa, silently asking a question. She caught my gaze above her goulash and nodded. I raised my eyebrows in confusion and stood up.

Not really what I was expecting. I mused, walking to the bathroom to add water to my noodles. The mental picture in my head didn't completely match up; the nice Silvester versus the scary brother of doom.

…okay, that's being a little judgmental, something I strive not to do. Besides, the main reason things weren't adding up was because I hadn't met this…Shane yet.

Striding back and sticking my ramen in the microwave, I decided to wait before I settled on an opinion. In a school this size, I was bound to meet him.

Author's Note: And thus, Running Rings has begun! Who is this mysteriously intimidating Shane? Will Elise ever unpack her over-large backpack? And just why did she name it Duke?

All will soon be revealed!

Read and Review please.