Chapter 1

The coach the school was using was one of those old fashioned coaches, that had the psychedelic pattern on the seats, and if you looked at it for long enough, you'd start to feel sick. It was cruising along the expressway, and the skyline of the city could now be seen out of the left hand side windows. Slowly, it now seemed, the coach passed around the city and started to head towards the Atlantic shore.

Autumn Coast High, junior year, class A were sat on the bus, and the forty students were now becoming excitable. This year the school had decided to send the students on an activity weekend, which was being held on Freedman Island, some tiny little place in the middle of nowhere, about 2 hours off the coast of North Carolina. The bus pulled off the expressway and the scenery changed from a concrete jungle to one of peace and nature, much like the town on Autumn Coast, North East Virginia where the students were from.

Jack McTelford (male student #12) had been looking out of the window, observing the scenery changing, and looking forward to the few days ahead. He was sat on the aisle seat, which meant he had to look over Oliver Lloyd (male student #10) to see what was out there. Olly had his eyes closed and was listening to music on a CD player. Jack couldnt tell what it was, probably some kind of light rock, which was all he ever seemed to listen to. Olly was English, and his family had moved to Autumn Coast last year when his parents had been offered jobs in the area. The two of them hit it off straight away, as Olly was funny and clever and an all round nice guy. He was also able to speak to girls fairly easily, having the ability to make them laugh, where as Jack had always found this difficult, closing up when talking to a girl he liked. Even though Jack always thought of himself as fairly popular, deep down he was actually quite shy.

Jacks eyes moved from the window to Oliver, and noticed he was mouthing the words to the song in his ears. He laughed slightly and looked down at his own uniform. They must have been one of the only schools in America that still had a mandatory uniform, even when going on trips. There uniforms were pale blue jumpers, embroidered with the schools logo; a dramatic looking ACH all intertwined, as well as gray trousers (the girls had pleated gray skirts, which in most cases stopped short of the knee) and black shoes. Nobody paid attention to the shoes part though, as almost everyone wore trainers, especially today. Jack looked down at his trainers and realized he needed a new pair. His dark blue DCs were looking quite shabby. Maybe hed get the same ones in a different color. He liked the stonewashed ones, but they got dirty really easily. Whatever, these were going to get scruffier over this weekend. Hed have to get some more once they got back.

Jack looked up from his feet and down the aisle of the coach. They were sat just behind the middle of the bus on the left hand side. Hed wanted to sit at the back but the seats were already taken when he and Olly had gotten on. As his eyes moved along the students he noticed that everyone was sat in certain groups. Hed never really thought of it before but there were several little cliques of students in this class. Each bunched together on the coach, like members of some elite faction, which rivaled the others. It was odd, how young people seemed to form cliques, like mini support groups to help with the pressures of being a modern day teenager, each in different ways of course. God, life was so hard, Jack said to himself, smiling slightly.

He realized that Oliver and himself were sat and the front most row of the group which could only be described as the Jocks and Preps. Jack rolled his eyes at the thought of contributing to the great American clich that always included these sorts of groups, but then again it was true. He belonged to the popular guys, and just realising what he'd just thought made him cringe. Somebody please shoot me, he thought.

Behind Jack sat Joel Becker (male student #2), who would probably be described by outsiders, as the leader of the group. In truth they didnt really have a leader, but Joel was the most popular, and even though it killed Jack to admit it, the best looking guy in the class so the title would probably go to him. His ice blue eyes could stop any teacher dead in their tracks, and he knew how to wangle his way out of anything he didnt want to do. In short Joel Becker was the dude, but the dude surely knew it. Next to Joel was Stephen Delaney (male student #4) who was a typical jock, but he was nice when you got to know him and pretty loyal to his friends. Those who didnt know him though, would think he was an obnoxious bully, making fun of people for a cheap laugh. Jack suddenly felt guilty, as he always laughed.

Jack noticed that Olly was now knelt on his seat, facing the back to the bus. Jack glanced round, his imagination still roaming the bus and saw James Hunter (male student #6) perched above Stephens headrest. Oliver and him were discussing the positives and negatives of their upcoming SAT exams, and both were laughing intensely. What was it about Olly? James was a definite preppy, always looking well groomed and immaculate. His white shirt collars were tucked into his pale jumper, which Jack thought looked really unfashionable, but what the hell, everyone had their own style, and James was one of the better guys, never having to put anyone down to keep himself up. The rest of the preppy and jock boys were also sat behind, with the exception of Cory Matthews (male student #11) who was sat on the seat in front of Olly with Terri Chaney (female student #3), his girlfriend of the past 4 years. They were so intimate with one another, happy just to be left to their own devices. Terri was beautiful with long black tousled hair and eyes as dark as onyx. She could almost be scary looking if she wasnt so kind hearted and gentle voiced. He could hear her laughing. She had an infectious girly giggle, which made anyone who heard it grin.

Across the aisle from his group were the girls, or more specifically, the popular girls group. They had been the best looking girls ever since first grade. What was it with good-looking girls being friends with other good-looking girls? They always seemed to find each other and form an impenetrable circle. The most popular girl in the class was Kaitlyn Summers (female student #18 , who had the most beautiful golden blonde hair Jack had ever seen. Of course, she was dating Joel Becker (male student #2) and had been for almost a year. She was in the aisle seat across from his and they were holding hands but talking to other people, as if reaffirming that the other belonged to them (they were the most desired boy and girl in the whole school, even though they were only juniors). Kaitlyn was sat next to Katy Larson (female student #10) who was smiling at Kaitlyn as she was talking. Katy was pretty but not in the same league as her best friend. They had been close ever since childhood and the Two Kates, as they were known at school, were inseparable. Courtney Robinson (female student #17) was sat by herself in the seat in front of Kaitlyn; the spare seat was probably reserved for Terri Chaney, and she looked rather annoyed at being ditched by her friend in favor of a guy.

In front of the Popular girls were another group of girls, the neutrals, or nice girls as they could be referred to as. Sat on the aisle seat, directly in front and to the left of Jack, was Joanna Lowe (female student #12) who looked back and made eye contact with him before turning away, her face suddenly becoming flushed with embarrassment. Joanna had short blonde hair, and was rather pretty. There had been rumors around school that she had a crush on him, but Jack being as shy as he was, had never really acted upon them. In front of Joanna, Natalie Foster (female student #6) was knelt on her seat facing her, which meant that Amber Atkinson (female student #2) was certainly sat next to Joanna. Natalie wasnt really as pretty as the other two, but had this amazing personality that would never falter, and her incessant smiling always made her seem more attractive. Amber was the most quiet of the three, but had surprised Jack from time to time with her wickedly sarcastic sense of humor, saying the funniest things which would sometimes even rival Ollys humor. He liked their group, they were friendly and pretty, but without the undertones of bitchiness which were present in Kaitlyns group. Occasionally the two groups intermingled, as if the popular girls deemed the neutrals to be on their level, or maybe the level just below, but mostly they remained separate.

Jack began to smell smoke, and snapped out of his imaginary tour around the Autumn Coast students. He poked his head out into the aisle and looked to the back of the bus. Troy Redlow (male student #17) was sat in the center seat of the back row and had just lit up a cigarette, proceeding to smoke it as proudly and as in open view as he could get. He was such an idiot, trying to be as much of a delinquent as he possibly could. He guessed that his two cronies would be sat on his right, hanging on his every word, as his girlfriend, Amy Norton (female student #14) was sat on his left. Amy was attractive in a certain way, the rebel without a clue way, but didnt do anything for Jack. Also she was quite the troublemaker, just like her other half, and Jack preferred to have nothing to do with them. Her other delinquent friends were probably sat around there too, he could see what looked liked that back of Rachelle Ellinger (female student #5), the resident slut of ACH, on the seat in front of Amy. He shook his head and said quietly to himself stupid. It wasnt the fact that they were smoking; Jack had never really had a problem with that. Olly smoked (apparently a lot of English kids did), only the expensive ones of course, cheap cigarettes were the worst things in his book, it was just the fact that they were doing it on the coach as if to invite a telling off. If Olly could resist his cravings then surely they could. They probably only did it to look cool anyway, which was as far from the truth as Jack was concerned. He couldnt really see who was sat down the front. Most of the normal kids were probably down there, with the few losers in the class. God Im horrible, Jack thought.

Thomas Jennings (male student #8 stood up and opened the lock up above his head, pulling out a portable disk player, which he obviously had kept in his bag. The dull ceiling lights illuminated his greasy hair. After closing the locker he glanced up the aisle, probably being drawn by the sound of Oliver and James laughing, they were still discussing SAT exams but had now moved on to an e-mail they were sent with stupid answers to the questions people had actually wrote. Jack caught Thomas eye, who looked away and quickly sat down. He didnt look back. Was this kid afraid of me? Jack thought. It was an odd feeling as he and Thomas had been friends in primary school, inseparable almost. It was funny how things worked out. Well, Jack thought, it probably is for me.

Jack turned his attention to the headrest in front of him, and began thinking about the upcoming SATs. How could Olly and James joke about these things? The mere thought of sitting an exam that would determine your whole life scared the hell out of him. He had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, which probably had something to do with the fact that his dad was one. He'd need at least a 1300 to study pre-med at Columbia University, which was his first choice. Olly had finished talking to James and still laughing, sat back down in his seat. He glanced over at Jack,
'Thinking about the SATs buddy?' It sounded so casual coming from his mouth, though he never had been much of a worrier, well not in the time that they had known each other. Oliver also wanted to go to Columbia, but he wanted to study politics, which seemed quite an odd choice for such an easygoing guy.

'Yeah', Jack replied sounding as if someone had just asked him if hed seen his whole family murdered before his eyes. Oliver, sensing the tone of his best friend replied,
'Well, at least your not dumb enough to put how furry something is when asked what the meaning of the word ferocity is'. Jack couldnt help but laugh, and his worries seemed to almost disappear. He decided to not think about the SATs this weekend. This was about having fun.

Jack looked down the aisle and noticed Miss Sawyer making her way to the back of the bus. She had been their teacher for just a few months but had already made quite the impression. You'd expect young teachers to relate more to their students, she was only in her early 30s, but there was no other way to say it, Miss Sawyer was a bitch. She was always so harsh on the students and often gave out punishments for the most minor breakage of the class rules. She was fairly good looking, in a kind of domineering mistress sort of way, and often some of the lads would joke about her giving them a spanking, but Jack couldnt really see it.

She marched past them, knocking a pen out of Courtney Robinsons hand on her way to the back, not noticing the angry glare that Courtney dished her way. Almost everyone looked to see what would happen when she reached Troy Redlow. Jack however, looked down the front of the bus and saw Mr. Jones standing up, his brown plaid suit creased from the journey. He was shaking his head, looking as if hed expected this. Mr. Jones was quite cool really. He was old, and completely out of touch with the modern world, but he was a nice man who looked for the best in people, even Troy Redlow. When they'd found out that both teachers would be accompanying them on the trip, it was quite the disappointment as there were a number of teachers that Jack would have preferred.

Joanna Lowe was looking towards the back like most of the others and looked at Jack with a puzzled look on her face,

'Whats going on?', she asked him, her blue eyes staring right into his. God, she is pretty,
'They've been smoking', he replied and then turned around and faced the back of the bus. He sensed her disappointment that the conversation did not continue, but after all he was shy, and she was pretty. She turned back to Amber Atkinson who rose in her chair and turned around. It was the first time he'd actually seen her face since she got on the bus and it was filled with a mixture of suspense and humor.

All of a sudden Jack heard a loud Bitch come from the back of the bus and Miss Sawyer walked back down the aisle, cigarette in hand.
'Did you hear me, Bitch?', Troy Redlow shouted from the back but she didn't even glance back. She simply walked to an empty pair of seats towards the front of the bus and threw the cigarette out of the window.

'Shut up, losers', Heather King (female student #8 shouted out from her position behind Kaitlyn Summers, and the whole class laughed. Heather was probably the harshest of Kaitlyns group, but at least she had the courage to say what everyone else was thinking. Jack would say that much for her. Some people could have said that Heather King was just as stunning as Kaitlyn, but in a different way. Her hair was brown and flowed just past her shoulders and her eyes were crystal blue, but they contained a severity that Kaitlyns didnt. In fact the struggle for the coveted position of best looking girl could have easily gone to Heather, or Terri Chaney, or even Joanna but Kaitlyn won out every time. It was just one of those things.

The rest of the students settled back into their seats and Jack looked out of the window. The bus was driving along a small main road, past numerous fields and houses. Occasionally he would see people but he got the feeling that this area of the country was fairly sparse. The bus suddenly entered a tunnel, which seemed to come out of nowhere, and Jack found himself looking at his reflection. He could see Courtney leaning over her chair in the window, talking to Kaitlyn. She had an excited look on her face, as if telling her some salacious piece of gossip. Courtney knew everything about everyone, most likely before they even knew it themselves.

Jack could also see Joanna, staring towards the front of the bus and then turning back round to talk to Amber. Natalie Foster was in her usual position; perched up talking to them, smile on face. Jack looked at himself, and ran his hand through his hair, thinking to himself that it needed a good wash; he'd overslept this morning and had been unable to have a shower.

What happened next startled him slightly. The lights on the school coach suddenly went out, sending the bus into complete darkness. Someone down the front of the bus screamed, Jack thought it was a girl, but he couldnt be too sure.

'Calm down everyone'. Mr. Jones had stood up at the front of the coach and was now addressing the class. 'Its only the lights. This old thing has been begging to be replaced so its not really much of a surprise!' He breathed deeply and with an air of annoyance, as if his foresight could have stopped this incident. 'Just calm down, well be out of the tunnel in a few minutes anyway'. With that he sat back down, or Jack guessed he had.

He turned to Olly, who he could make out from the small bits of light emitted from the window, probably due to passing cars.
'Exciting', Oliver said in a rather forced British accent. Jack smiled, not that Olly could see anyway and replied,
'Rather, old chum'. He heard Olly chuckle.

Suddenly Jack felt something on top of his head. He froze instantly before realizing it was the hands of Joel Becker, probably trying the get a cheap scare out of him to impress the girls.

'Oh, I love these hands', Jack said sarcasticly, grabbing them and pulling them down, 'Im going to lick em all over'.
'Oh, your sick man', Joel replied from behind him and pulled his hands back. Olly was still laughing.

Jack looked forward towards the front of the coach and could just make out the rows of seats in the darkness. A little bit of time passed. Something felt weird, not right. It was really quiet. The only thing he could hear was the stupid laughter of Troy Redlow at the back of the bus. God, I wish he would just shut up. He felt tired all of a sudden and turned to Oliver, whom he now saw had fallen asleep with his head against the window, it quickly bouncing up and down with the vibrations. Jack was about to say something when the darkness overtook him as well.