AN: Hey, guys…so, I haven't written any stories or updates in a while…I don't know why really, I guess I just lost all my writing inspiration for like a year…however, I was sitting playing the viola today when I came up with an idea for a story I kind of feel like writing…so, here's a bit of an intro, and if 2 or more people review and tell me they like the concept, I'll keep going with it
My eyes fluttered open as I quickly scanned the scene around me. My head rested on a cold, marble floor, and there were no windows on the sleek, steel walls. I approximated the room to be a perfect box shape, about ten feet by ten feet each side, and there were no visible doors. I tried to move to search the room, but my hands and feet were bound by metal cuffs, so I was essentially immobile. My neck was still moveable, however, and looking down at my body I realized that I had no injuries of any sort.
It was just as I began to remember how I got there that two figures entered the room.
[FLASHBACK]
I heard my alarm clock buzz at 6:00 AM and, still half-asleep, I managed to pull myself out of my pastel blue queen-sized bed and onto the carpeted floor. Looking in the mirror, I examined my disheveled face. My light blonde hair was literally all over the place, and my bangs were sticking up in all directions. Thankfully, my face was still clear and smooth as usual, so I wouldn't have to wear makeup today. That was great news, since I absolutely despise wearing makeup. It just feels so heavy and unnatural on my skin.
A quick brushing of my hair made it smooth and slightly wavy. Not my hairstyle of choice, but it was good enough to wear to school. At least, I hoped it was.
See, today was not like any other normal day. Today was my very first day of transferring to BOCD High after moving from Florida to New York because of my dad's job transfer. Of course, I tried as hard as I could to put up a fight before we moved, since I had made so many friends and gotten so used to the town in my sixteen years of living there. However, my father simply insisted that we move to New York, as he had just gotten an amazing job offer from some Mr. Block, forcing us to move from sunny beaches and palm trees to murky weather and big cities. To make matters even worse, my dad's job transfer was in the middle of the school year, forcing me to enter a brand new school smack in the middle of junior year.
I threw on my uniform (yes, BOCD just had to make us wear uniforms) before quickly logging onto my mac computer, I checked the various emails from my friends back at Florida. Most of them were wishing me luck on my first day and said that they missed me and all that. One email caught my eye, however.
Clairebear,
Need a ride to school on your first day? I'll pick you up at 7.
-Derrick
Oh, yes. I forgot to mention Derrick Harrington, my new next door neighbor.
The day my family moved in, the Harringtons invited us over for dinner. The parents seemed like the usual rich, slightly stuck up married couple that didn't really care about their neighbors, or anyone else, for that matter, so I opted not to attend. I planned to simply spend the night sulking in my room, video chatting with the girls from Florida that I missed so much. That was, however, until I had seen their son, Derrick.
His hair was dirty blonde and slightly shaggy, long enough for him to do the annoying hair-flip thing, but not so long that it looked as if he needed a major haircut. He was extremely tall, probably somewhere around six feet, and his body was extremely toned and perfect.
It was easy to say that simply looking at him changed my mind.
We spent the entire night talking while our parents ate, and he was just about as nice and funny as he was hot. Even my little brother Todd, who's about thirteen years old and extremely annoying, loved talking with him.
It was no surprise that my heart skipped a few beats when I read that email. Especially using the pet name he'd given me that night we'd had dinner.
Logging off my computer, I saw that it was already 6:55 and that Derrick was bound to be at the door any second. I grabbed my purse, backpack and cellphone and dashed down the stairs to the kitchen, where I snatched a granola bar off the counter as I ran out the door. Derrick was already waiting out front, driving a red Mercedes-Benz and drinking Snapple out of a glass bottle. He was wearing the male school uniform, which looked amazing on him. I hopped in the passenger seat of his car as he began to speak and drive to the school.
"Okay, so there are a few things you should probably know before you get to BOCD," Derrick started, "the first being the basic school rules."
"I already read them in the school pamphlet thingie," I told him, remembering the huge packet of information about the school I'd received the week before. BOCD was a fancy private school, so they felt the need to keep the students completely informed on everything about the school, from layout to rules to teachers and even the extremely obscure extracurriculars (such as the blue M&M club, which I was actually considering joining for kicks).
"Oh, no. These aren't rules you'll find in your information packet," replied Derrick with a smirk on his face, "these are the unwritten, world-renowned rules of the student body of BOCD."
"I feel honored to be receiving this information," I responded as he took a sip of his Snapple.
"Oh, you should. Being the new kid, especially in a school like this, can really do some damage to you," said Derrick, being completely serious, "So here's rule number one. Always walk on the right side of the hallways. They're like highways, where if you have to get to the class on your left, make a U-turn. Most of the kids in the school are so used to this hallway system that if anyone goes in the wrong direction, they'll immediately get flattened."
"The hallway's a highway. Got it," I said, imagining myself getting run over by large male jocks while trying to cross the hallway.
"Rule number two," Derrick continued, "Never eat the school pizza. All the other food is fine, but there's just something about the pizza that is just disgusting. One bite, and you'll be so sick you'll be out of school for the rest of the day. Of course, the good side to this is that if you have a test after lunch, the pizza is your ticket to an extra day of studying."
"Don't eat the pizza unless in the most dire of circumstances. Understood," I said, trying to remember which classes I had after lunch.
"And finally, rule number three," Derrick said as we pulled into the school parking lot, "Obey the social order."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, picturing almost every cheesy high school movie ever created in my head.
"Well, the main thing about that is that you should never, under any circumstances or motive, cross the Pretty Committee."
I literally laughed out loud.
"The Pretty Committee?" I scoffed, "that sounds like something a middle school clique would call themselves to try and sound cool."
"Well, it started out that way," stated Derrick, "the four of them, Massie, Kristen, Alicia and Dylan, had been best friends in middle school and made up the name. When they came to BOCD, they never really came up with a new one."
"So, wait. What makes them so important, though?"
"In all honesty, nobody really knows. They just seemed to rule the school ever since they first arrived. I'm friends with them, and really, they aren't all that special. But their leader, Massie Block, just gives off this all-knowing sort of vibe…it's as if she knows any bad thought that crosses your mind, and she punishes you for it," said Derrick, his face looking slightly confused and afraid at the same time, "the four of them know everything about everyone, and they spread rumors faster than wildfire. They can be nice at times, but…"
Derrick's sentence trailed off as he stopped the car, parking it close to the front of the school.
"Just don't cross them, Claire, okay?" asked Derrick, staring at me with his chocolate-brown eyes.
I swear I almost melted from his gaze.
"Okay," I barely managed to stutter as we broke our stare and hopped out of the car.
Looking around, I saw a sea of preppy rich kids as they dashed into the large brick building they called BOCD High. Strangely enough, I'd seemed to already draw attention to myself by merely arriving with Derrick. Boys stared at me quizzically, and girls had jealousy evident in their eyes. Apparently he was a bit of a stud here.
"So, I've got to go meet up with some of my friends, so I guess I'll see you later," said Derrick as he headed up to the school.
Okay, he was serious about the whole social chain thing. Apparently it wouldn't be cool to hang out with the awkward new kid. I looked into the car to make sure I hadn't left anything, when I saw his phone sitting next to the Snapple he was drinking. Grabbing both, I closed the car door and ran towards Derrick.
"Hey, Derrick! Wait! You forgot your AAAHH!"
Halfway through my sentence I tripped on a rock in the asphalt and went flying. I heard the sound of glass shattering, and I felt sharp pains shooting through my right arm. Now on the ground, I looked down to see that my right arm had landed on several shards of broken Snapple bottle, and Derrick was off in the distance, not having heard my call for him. Leaning on my surely-injured arm, I slowly began to stand, worried that my arm might be bleeding and disgusting. I flipped over to look at my forearm.
Nothing,
Not even a scratch.
I looked back at the ground to see that the broken glass had not impaled my arm, but that my arm had actually further crushed the glass into dust.
What?
Firmly clutching Derrick's phone in my left hand, I bent down to examine the demolished glass. Yeah, it was dust all right, simply miniscule bits and pieces. I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, and I triple check my right arm. I was perfectly fine.
Still dazed, I suddenly realized the parking lot was completely empty. The bell then rang for first period to begin, and I realized I was late. Great, I was late on the very first day of school. How wonderful.
I concluded that nobody had seen the incident, as there was not a single person left in the parking lot, and the only person in sight was a small, skinny, dark-haired girl sitting against a tree far out on the grounds of the school. I put what had happened out of my head and dashed into the school, remembering that I had art first period with Ms. Kevins. Having already practically memorized the school layout due to paranoia, I made it to the classroom in what I assumed to be record time. I slipped Derrick's phone into my left pocket, reminding myself to give it back to him later.
With a stroke of amazing luck, the teacher hadn't arrived yet, and everyone was sitting outside the door. Among these students were four that I immediately knew, even though I'd never seen them in my life.
A tan, chestnut haired girl sat surrounded by three other girls. The girl in the middle was talking as if she were the most important speaker in the world, and the other three girls looked as if they were about to fall on their knees and start bowing down to her. The speaker then stopped speaking and looked up, catching my eye and basically staring me down. She then proceeded to walk straight towards me, never breaking eye contact. I began to wonder if this was Massie Block, the leader of the Pretty Committee that Derrick had told me about.
"In case you're wondering, yes, I am Massie Block and yes, we are the Pretty Committee. I presume Derrick told you about us this morning?" said the girl, now about a foot away from me, still staring into my eyes.
Whoa, Derrick was right. It's as if this girl can read minds.
Massie towered over my 5"5' frame by about five inches, but the three-inch stilettos she was wearing with her uniform (how she got away with that without breaking the dress code is completely beyond me) probably had something to do with her immense height. I assumed the three girls behind her were Dylan, Kristen and Alicia, but I couldn't tell which on was which.
"Oh, and this is my Pretty Committee, by the way. The redhead is Dylan, the blonde is Kristen and the brunette is Alicia, if you needed help with identification."
Okay, now her mind-reading was just borderline creepy.
Dylan looked like a total girl, but behind the thick mask of makeup, her face showed a bit of insecurity. Kristen looked toned and tan, and her lean figure led me to believe that she played a lot of sports. Alicia had a smirk on her Latina face, and she was so skinny she looked fragile, except for a massive pair of breasts emerging from her chest.
I suddenly saw everyone's heads flip in one direction, down the hall. It was the principal, clad in a simple business suit with a red and black striped tie and slicked back gray hair.
"All students in Ms. Kevins's period one art class are to spend the period in the library, as she is absent today and has not sent for a substitute," yelled the principal down the hall.
Glancing at the class, I saw them all begin to talk and cheer animatedly as they headed to the left and down the hall. I followed them, knowing it was the way to the library, when suddenly a pale hand reached out and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, surprised by the girl's touch on my shoulder.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," replied a medium-pitched female voice, "You're Claire Lyons, the new kid, right?"
I turned around to see the girl I had seen that morning leaning against the tree. She was very medium-sized, about my height and not too skinny. Her hair was dyed black and her eyes were a piercing dark green.
Wait one second, if she was so far off on the school grounds before, how did she possibly get here so fast? Maybe more time had passed than I thought. Or she was some sort of exceptionally good track runner. But she didn't have messy hair or look exhaused at all...
"Yeah, that's me. Hi...and what's your name?" I decided to respond, still wondering about her getting to the school on time.
"The name's Layne Abeley," she introduced, sticking out a hand, which I shook, "Principal Bentley assigned me to be your student guide for your first couple of days, just to help you get accustomed to your class schedule and the school and everything."
That's funny. I didn't remember anything in the pamphlets telling me about a student guide.
"Are you sure? Or is this just some sort of prank?" I replied, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Oh, no, don't worry. The principal never tells anyone anything. The mere fact that he came to tell us to go to the library is a miracle in itself, actually. So, do you want to go on a short tour now, since we have a free period?"
"But aren't we supposed to be in the library?"
"Nah, it'll be fine. I have the principal's permission to do this."
I let Layne guide me back down the hall and through a few wings. She showed me where the core subject hallways were, the quickest routes across the school and even a few hallways so out of the way I would've never thought they existed. All the while, we talked and I found that she was a pretty awesome girl. She had an extremely sarcastic sense of humor that I appreciated. She also had a fondness for health food, and she even had phases where she'd eat almost nothing but certain snacks. This week was Luna Bars.
Layne suddenly stopped at the end of an abandoned hallway with a dead end, finishing off her Luna Bar.
"Hey, Layne, why'd we stop here?" I asked. The hall had only a single classroom to the right, and the rest was slightly dilapitated brick and old posters advertising clubs. An individual water fountain sat in the back wall, at the end of the hall, and on it hung a sign reading "Out of Order".
"I'm so sorry to do this to you, Claire, but you'll thank me soon enough," she responded, pulling something out of her back pocket as she threw on a gas mask she took out of her backpack.
"Wait, Layne, what are you-" I began before I saw her activate a capsule of sleeping gas. Then everything went black.
[END FLASHBACK]
I watched as the two dark figures entered the small room, and I immediately recognized them both.
"Layne? Principal Bentley? What's going on here?" I asked as I slowly regained consciousness.
Neither of them answered me.
"What have you done to me?" I then asked, enraged. They had put me under using sleeping gas, the cuffed me and thrown me in some small room like I was a crazy person or something. I was confused, agitated and most of all, scared out of my wits. I began to struggle against the cuffs that bound me, kicking and screaming
"Claire, please, you need to calm down!" yelled Layne.
"Why should I? You kidnapped me and trapped me for no reason at all! And what is Principal Bentley doing with you?" I yelled at her as I continued to struggle.
"Well maybe if you stopped struggling, we'd be able to explain it to you!" replied Layne is just as loud a tone.
I went limp and silent, desperate for an answer as to what was going on.
"Thank you, Claire," Principal Bentley began, "now, first thing's first, are you aware of your gift?"
"Wait, what? A gift?" I asked, even more confused than before. Was he talking about some sort of present? Does he mean gift like as in something special about me?
"I already told you, Viktor, she doesn't know a thing, I can tell," said Layne.
Wait, why did she just call him Viktor?
"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, my questions still unanswered.
"Look, to put this in as simple a way as I can," said Principal Bentley, bending down to my crumpled figure on the floor, "you, Claire Lyons, were blessed with superpowers, and we're here to teach you how to use them."
AN: So, what do you guys think? I personally have a lot of ideas as to where this story might go, so again, if two or more people want this to keep going and tell me they want more, I'll keep writing
Xoxo,
Baysil
PS: Those of you who've already read this chapter or others, I changed Harrison's name to Viktor due to some future problems that might occur if I keep his name as Harrison :)