Good evening, everyone! This was a bit of a surprise, but for those of you who are fans of PoisonAppleTales, you may have seen the little story they wrote on Arsenik's makeover post- this inspired me to give a go at writing an AU-centric story of the characters in a high school setting.

For those who may not be aware, school was a difficult time for me, personally. I thrived academically, but socially, it's something I'm not sure I've ever truly recovered from. To this day, I still have difficulty making friends and I unfortunately spend most of my time doing solitary activities. It's something I wish I could change, but I have found writing fanfiction, drawing, and other creative outlets as a positive means to cope with this. It's thanks to people like PoisonAppleTales and others that have made this shortcoming in my life easier to bear. With that said, I'm going to see where this story takes me! I do appreciate any who take this ride with me!


Kara was a smart student. She had no problems with her academics. She had no problems with her teachers. She had no problems with her assignments, projects, or homework.

She had a problem making friends.

There was just something about her that was different. There was something missing in the connection between herself and others. She remembered one year, almost everyone in the class chose to dress up as Power Rangers. Imagine their surprise when Kara walked in wearing a pink princess gown, her large, blue eyes reflected in the masks of the other children.

Always searching. Always wandering.

She saw things the other children could not see. Felt things. Things that were missing. It was if these mysterious presences were drawn to her. As if they knew. No one believed her when she tried to tell them of these things. They thought there was something wrong with her.

When they tried to pressure her into doing mean things, Kara refused. Through the years, Kara was ridiculed. She was pushed, smacked with seatbelts, spat at, verbally harassed.

Kara eventually became accustomed to being alone. That was when she came.

She first came as a soothing voice in her dreams. Then, she appeared as the lady in black, her long, raven hair nearly obscuring her face.

Go to sleep, child. I will dry your tears. She said softly… but not sweetly.

Kara kept the lady in black a secret. She also noticed things with some of the children as the years passed.

She saw that many around her fell into ruin and misfortune. The lady in black simply smiled.

What they have done to you, they did to me. And what they do to me, I shall serve my just revenge.

Eventually, Kara began to suspect that the Lady in Black wanted more than just to help her.

She wanted to control her.

The Lady in Black became angry. If Kara did befriend someone, the Lady in Black made sure to undo it. Sabotage it in some way. Kara began to see the Lady in Black did not truly care for her.

She felt more alone than ever.

It was her senior year. Kara had stopped going to the lunchroom a long time ago. She would spend her lunch period in the library, or the art room. She was getting a head start on some assignments, taking a bite of her bagel as she dabbed her mouth. She looked up when she noticed something out of the corner of her eyes, looking towards the back end of the library where a light began to flicker. She stared for a moment before resuming her work, finishing up a paper and printing it out. She collected her things in a folder, packing up to leave. She stopped when she thought she heard something, stopping to glance back behind her. Now, she was well aware of the school having been built upon a former graveyard site for the local Psych Center that had been closed for over a decade. The grounds which the facilities had been founded upon spanned about a third of the town's land. Since its closing, more people began to move in, deeming it a safer area than when some of the buildings were active, holding inside of them some of the most insane, dangerous individuals. Over the course of its nearly century-long existence, hundreds of such individuals perished, their souls even more erratic and at unrest than in their waking lives. Kara had many encounters with such entities, and many were quite unpleasant.

As she moved to the back of the library, she heard a thud, making her jump a bit. She noticed a book had fallen, wandering over to pick it up. After doing so, she glanced once more at the long aisle of books before turning to head back towards the front. She suddenly hesitated, stopping when right in front of her stood her worst nightmare.

"Well. Look who's in our spot."

Kara frowned. A girl known as simply Wildfire, as no one dared to call her by her actual name- pursed her lips as she crossed her arms. Even the popular girls dared not mess with her and her posse. She was as tough as nails, and had no concern with what people thought of her or being socially relevant. She only cared when she felt one was messing with her.

"I was just leaving." Kara said, about to move past her when she felt resistance.

"Oh? Did I say you could leave? Because… I don't really remember saying you could come here, or go."

"Wildfire, I have to get to class." Kara said flatly.

"Oh, yeah… don't want you to screw up your perfect attendance record." Brooks, Wildfire's best friend, laughed.

"You should have just gone to class instead of going where you're not supposed to." Wildfire said, shoving Kara against the bookshelf. "If I find you back here again, snooping around, I'll make sure you never step foot in this library again."

"Wildfire, I wasn't snooping around. It's like you had the devil hiding in here or-" Kara stopped when all the lights shut off then, feeling Wildfire's grip on her loosening.

"What the hell?! Turn the damn lights back on before I beat your ass!" Wildfire shouted towards the front. Kara simply tried to move away as quietly as possible, the only light now coming in through the windows.

Meanwhile, Ambrosia and her two cousins headed out of the lunchroom, going to their lockers. Ambrosia was one of the few people who spoke to and was nice to Kara. Well- she was nice to everyone, really.

"I cannot believe you turned Arsenik down, Ambrosia. You've really got your head in the clouds!" Rosemary scolded her.

"How could I accept his offer to tutor me if I didn't have my homework with me?" She replied.

"Oh… you are hopeless, Ambrosia, simply hopeless." Jasmine sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Ambrosia stopped then, tilting her head. "That's odd… has the library closed early?"

"Who cares about the library! Maybe if you had taken Arsenik's offer, you could have moved things to a… private session." Rosemary wiggled her brows, sticking her tongue out at Jasmine when she nudged her.

Just then, all three girls frowned when Wildfire and her group of friends headed out of the library, seeming unsettled.

"Get out of our way, losers!" She shouted as they shoved past them.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "They're just pulling off some nonsense again. Come on, before we're late."

"Hold on a moment." Ambrosia said, wandering into the library, flicking the light switch on. "Hello? Is someone in here?" She called out. She blinked when she noticed someone emerge from the back, making her way over to them. "Oh, Kara. Is everything alright? Why were you in the dark?"

"It's nothing." She kept her head down, moving past the her and the other girls. Ambrosia tilted her head in confusion, watching as Kara hurriedly made her way down the hall. She noticed what seemed like a fresh hand mark on her wrist.

"What's her problem?" Rosemary asked, shrugging to herself.

In class, Kara looked up when someone hurried inside, making it to their seat while the teacher's back was turned. She barely glanced at them, keeping her nose in her book.

"Hey. Psst. Kara. Hello, Earth to Kara."

Kara inhaled deeply. "Chase, I'm trying to concentrate."

"Did you get the answer to question five on the homework?"

"Yes, I did, Chase. Read the third paragraph in the packet. The answer is right in there."

"Oh… okay. Thanks. Say, what's gotten into you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kara said, jotting something down.

"Well okay then, so-rry." He rolled his eyes, taking out the packet as he tried to sloppily finish his assignment.

After class, Kara sighed as she went to P.E. It was one of her least favorite classes. Even worse, they had begun the swimming portion of the curriculum. She got into her swimsuit, putting on a thin pair of shorts as she was self-conscious. As she headed out, meeting the other girls, she put in her ear plugs as suddenly, she heard someone shout.

"Ugh, look at how FAT she is!"

Kara's head snapped up, and soon realized the insult was not directed at her.

"Haven't you got anything better to do with yourself?!" Jasmine shouted, consoling a very upset Rosemary. Kara furrowed her brows, Ambrosia comforting her as well as some of the other "popular" girls continued to jeer. Seeing how upset Rosemary was becoming, Kara tightened her lips, storming over.

"Shut up."

"Excuse me? What did you say, freak?" The girl said, snickering.

"Knock it off." Kara said. Wildfire stood in the corner with Brooks, raising a brow as the scene began to play out. For once, she let the preppy girls start trouble.

"I can do whatever I want. Besides, you're smart, aren't you? Don't you know fat when you see it?"

"I also know a bitch when I see one." Kara said, Ambrosia covering her mouth at the use of the curse word. Jasmine was silent, Rosemary having stopped her crying as she watched curiously. The girl glared at Kara before grabbing her, shoving her into the pool.

"Get her!" She screamed, her clique jumping in. Wildfire snickered, elbowing Brooks lightly as the girls held Kara underwater. "Hey, I have an idea! The boys are going to be coming in soon. We should give them a little show, don't you think?"

Kara gasped for air as she was let up, still restrained by the girls. The leader of their clique grabbed a pair of scissors, laughing as she began to make her way over. As Kara struggled, she looked up as the lights began to flicker. Wildfire separated from the wall as she, as well as the other girls outside the pool, noticed something.

"Hey. Get out of the water! Get out of the water, you airheads!" She shouted. The girls noticed something dark accumulating in a spot under the water's surface, making its way towards them. They screamed as they fearfully splashed their way to the ladder to climb out.

"Kara, take my hand!" Ambrosia cried. Just as they had made contact, that was when it happened.

Kara felt something yank her down, pulling both her and Ambrosia into the water.

The rest of the girls' frantic screams were muffled now, the pair being dragged to the deep end of the pool. Ambrosia became terrified as she saw something within the growing darkness of the pool floor.

It was then she heard something from above, arms wrapping around her waist as she was dragged upwards. Her heart skipped a beat, however, when her hand separated from Kara's.

A pair of glasses floated on the surface of the water. Kara continued to sink to the bottom.

The First Ending: Water

Water is symbolic of dreaming, purification, regeneration, strength, change, and unconditional love. It symbolizes death as well as rebirth. It is life-giving, but can also be destructive. It is associated with the Autumn season.

"In my dream, I was drowning my sorrows, but my sorrows, they'd learned to swim." -U2


And there we have it! So... what do you think so far? Is this a story you would be interested in reading more of? Please let me know your thoughts in a review. I will be working on my other projects as well, so bear with me as I go back and forth a bit! Until next time, thank you for reading!