Chapter 1

It was a dark, stormy night, when Andres and I were getting ready for Snowball 2018. We were at his house as Andres and I were already having a date that night. Dinner was part one, the Snowball was part two, and part three would only make it better. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) He walked down the staircase gracefully, hand on the railing, wearing a black suit and tie. When he made it down he brushed his hand through his slicked back black hair and leaned in close to me. He put his hand on my chin and whispered in a monotone voice, "Ready to go, my love?" it sent shivers down my spine and my face turned to the color of blood. "Y..yes" I replied, still embarrassed, even if he was my boyfriend. "Then let us go, my darling," he said as he kissed my cheek.

We then walked outside under the umbrella Andres always had. He pulled me close to him and said, "I don't want anything bad to happen to you, ever, even if it's just a cold." I hugged him and continued hugging him as we walked to his black Chevrolet. He opened the door to the rider's side and waited until I sat in the seat. He then walked over to the driver's side and entered the car himself.

"You excited?" he asked with a smile when he sat down in the driver's seat and turned the key.

"Of course I am, Snowball's the only reason I stay in CGS" we both laughed, not because it was a joke, but because it was truth.

We then pulled out of the driveway into the street and we began our journey to the dance. Andres turned on the radio, classical, always classical, but it was nice to hear with the rain falling on the roof of the car. It was so peaceful that I fell asleep.

I woke up to a jolt in my shoulder, and opened my eyes to Andres' face, hovering above mine. "Awake now, my darling?" he sweetly said with a smile as I gazed into his deep, brown eyes, "You were out the whole ride. Anyway, we're here now, let go inside." I nodded in agreement then Andres left the car, came around to my side, and opened my door. We started walking towards the entrance.

It was cold, as the rain was still pouring. Andres sill had his umbrella, and covered me with it. It was then, as we walked, that I saw the Poe sisters ahead of us. I ran up to them, dragging Andres and his umbrella along with me, to say hello.

The Poe sister were always together, whether it was in class, at lunch, or on the bus, they were talking to each other. That is to be expected, though, as they are twin sisters. But, tonight, something about them was strange. They were wearing weird clothing, carrying brooms around with them, and had sticks in their pockets.

"Oh, hi," Wendy disappointingly said with a weird smile on her face, "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just excited, that's all. What's up with you two, and what's with the weird cloaks?"

They both looked at each other nervously, as if afraid to say the wrong thing. "We're, well I'm, excited" Replied Ellen awkwardly, "Let's get in line, Wendy." They both left quickly, with either fear, or anger, or on both their faces.

"Well that was weird," I said, "They didn't answer my question, and they're usually chattier."

"Oh, are they now. They seemed normal to me. I wouldn't think too much of it" Andres replied, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Why don't we get in line as well?" he said pointing over to the building. There was a long line at the entrance to the dance. Andres held him close to me, as I rested my head on his shoulder. The line was slowly moving along, and the night was getting colder. Andres took off his jacked and placed it around me, "This'll keep you warm" he said graciously. We were finally making process in the line and could enter the dance, when the student council met us, minus the president.

"Hey," the Prussian-blue cat-girl Ashley, the class treasure, said mockingly as she waved her tail at us. She then stood there, hands on her hips and her tail on her chin. Taunting us, wanting a fight to break out.

"Hello," Andres said, confused, "Is there a problem?"

"Just warning you, not to have TOO much fun," she smirked, as her cat ears twitched on her head.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Okay, stop!" Meaghan, the class secretary, intervened shaking her hands with a grossed-out look on her face. Ashley patted her head in an attempted to calm her, but it instead turned Meaghan's disgust into anger. She slapped Ashley's hand.

"You did NOT just do that, shorty" Ashley hissed.

"What did you just call me?" Meghan said as her voice grew and her faced boiled with anger.

"Shorty. S-H-O-R-T-Y" Ashley smugly replied. Meghan blew the first strike to Ashley's stomach. From there, it was anyone's guess, as their fist were swinging too fast as they continued to fight.

"What we mean is," Cole, the vice president, continued, which stopped the two from fighting, "Don't step out of line. We see you two in class, and this is a respected event, don't ruin it." Cole stared down on Andres, with his fiery-red eyes, like a king viewing a peasant.

"We'll try not to," Andres replied, "politely." Most people wouldn't have been able to tell, but Andres was pissed off. Just then, the class president walked over.

"What are you guys doing?" Adam asked, smugly with his buff arms crossed. "You're not scaring them, are you?"

"Oh, were not. It was nothing," Ashley quickly replied as she leaned in closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. "Right, Andres?" she turned to Andres, now cheek to cheek with Adam.

"Yeah, it was nothing," he said back, his anger becoming more apparent.

"Well, enjoy yourselves. WE put a lot of time into setting up this dance, we wouldn't want to be disappointed." Adam said pushing Ashley off him and ending the conversation. All the student council started to walk away after this, but then stopped and simultaneously said, "Don't forget to vote for us next year," then laughed, and continued walking.

"Tsk, they piss me off," Andres said, red with anger, but quickly calmed himself, "Shall we continue with our night, my dear?"

"Yes," I said, "Let us," I hated seeing Andres angry, I never knew what he would do, but I didn't want to know.

Inside there people scattered all over the place. The music was loud, the people were loud, but I was quiet and so was Andres. We began to dance with each other neither of us are good dancers, but when we're with each other, it doesn't seem to matter. We were enjoying ourselves, for a good hour or so, until Jessica met up with us. I don't have anything against her, it's just that me and Andres wanted to spend most of this dance with each other.

"Hey, guys," she said as she gave us hugs, "Isn't Snowball great?" Andres and I nodded with awkward smiles. "Well, I think it's great, have either of you guys seen Adam?" Andres and I stood there, not saying a word. Luckily, the Lil' Man, Andrew, and Angel were there to save us.

"Jessica, why're you over here instead of with us?" Lil' Man asked.

"Yeah, Jessica. Come let daddy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) be with you," instigated Angel. Jessica's face turned red with embarrassment. They all began to walk away, chatting, leaving Andres and me alone.

We could be alone again. And we danced for another song, but once Fireball by Pitbull came on, Andres stopped dancing, gently grasped my hands and said, "My darling, though I know your presence is a privilege, I'm afraid that I need to go out for a bit. The environment is making me woozy."

"Oh, that's alright," I said, "I need to use the restroom anyway"

"Thank you, my dear" then he began to walk away, but before completely disappearing into the night, he turned around and blew me a kiss. I wasn't upset that he suddenly left, he does this often where he feels to claustrophobic and just needs some air. Also, I did need to use the restroom, so this allowed me the opportunity to take care of my business.

On the way to the bathroom, I noticed that there was a weird feeling in the air. Everyone wore it on their faces, as if someone had just died. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when I went into the bathroom my observations were confirmed by Tanya and Anne.

When I went into the restroom, I noticed both staring intently in the mirrors, as if they had just seen a ghost. I slowly and cautiously walked up to them to see if they were okay, but the moment I stood next to Tanya they both filled with life again. Tanya looked at Anne, and Anne looked at Tanya, fear and worry filled their faces, two looks they had never previously worn.

"Did you just see that?" Anne asked Tanya with her ever-widening eyes.

"You mean the thing with the thing and the guy?" replied Tanya while pointing all over the bathroom.

"Exactly."

They both looked petrified, so I became worried and asked, "What did you see?" They both looked at me, not realizing that I was in there.

"Uhh...nothing, nothing," answered Tanya, in disbelief.

"Quick question, where's Andres?" Anne asked, nervously.

"He went outside to get some air, why?" Tanya and Anne both looked at each other, then looked back at me. They seemed to have formed a mission in their minds that needed to be carried out, immediately. "What's with you two? You're creeping me out." They looked at each other and then looked back at me, again.

"We need to find Andres, now," they both said at the exact same moment. They then dragged me out of the bathroom, even though I didn't use it yet, and told me to lead them to Andres, as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the fire alarm went off. Everyone was running outside from the building. I looked over to the back of the room, and saw that the food stands were all engulfed in flames. I stood there, stunned, petrified, paralyzed by the flames. Why is this happening? Was this an accident? Who could do something like this? Is part three going to happen? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Anne and Tanya had to shake me back into reality. "Come on, we need to go" they said pulling me out of the bathroom. We ran for our lives to until we got outside and into the parking lot. There, we stood hands on our knees, gasping for air. I looked around for Andres, worried that he might have gone back in to find me. I couldn't find him.

I slowly slid down to my knees on the parking lot, rain pouring on me. Afraid, confused, and alone. I wanted someone to wake me from this terrible nightmare. The fire ruined the food, our date, and possibly even Andres.

A sudden jolt went through my spine as someone shook me from behind. It was Andres. "I'm so glad to have found you, my love. I went outside and the next thing I know, the building was on fire…" he continued on but I didn't listen. I stared into his deep brown eyes, tears flowing like a river from my face. Andres noticed this. "What's wrong, my darling?" he asked with a confused look on his face. I flew into his chest, now bawling, and hugged him. "It's alright, it's alright," he comforted me, "I'm here now, no need to worry."

He guided me back to his car, let me in shotgun, and got into the driver's seat. It was an awkward ride back home, completely silent. When we arrived at my house, Andres led me out of the car and to the front door. Ding-dong. Andres rang the doorbell, and my parents answered.

"Why are you back so early?" my mother asked us, "The dance lasts another two hours."

"There was a fire," Andres answered, "and she's a bit shaken up,"

"Oh my...OH MY," my father began, "Now you hurry inside. Thank you, Andres, for bringing her here. You can go now." Andres nodded as he went back to his car. Once at his car, he turned around and blew me a kiss. He then entered his car and drove away.

Nothing strange happened rest of the year, everything was normal. My teachers hurried to finish their lessons, AP study sessions, and eventually the dreaded AP exams. I never scored anything higher than a four, a three for Andres. Somehow, the student council were able to pull off getting only fives, but again nothing unusual. Nothing unusual at all. That was until next year, Senior year, when Xander transferred into our class with his pet wombat, Dennis.