Chapter 1

The place was black without a glint of light anywhere in its mists, like a cave or a cavern. There was nothing that could be seen, nothing that could be touched, just pure and unblemished darkness. After moments had passed, and nothing still showed, a bright rondure of light appeared in the stillness and the blackness. The sphere reveled the bright blue sky and light clouds of a beautiful fall morning. Soon after, bright colored trees with falling leaves began to show themselves in the orb. It finally centered around a building, a school of some sorts. In front of the school was a gate, a brass and steel gate that lead to the entrance of the building itself. In front of the golden looking gate stood a young girl reading the message in front of her, 'Dillingham Preparatory School'.

Charli walked through the auspicious looking gate, and entered her new school. Dillingham was supposed to be the best all girls school in all of New England, it had an amazing reputation. Everything about the building seemed inviting, there were flowers everywhere and a big sculpted fountain in the middle of the entrance walkway, but what seemed on the outside was not usually how it tended to be. After all, young, beautiful and rich girls attended this particular school, and she was not a part of that crowd. She was a normal girl, with a normal family, who was not particularly wealthy.

Last week was when Charli moved in with her sister and new husband, they lived in Sharon Massachusetts, which was small compared to her beloved New York City. She had lived with her grandmother since she was a baby, who suddenly feel ill early September, now she is currently living in a nursing home in New York, while Charli had moved away to Sharon.

Charli did not want to move away from the city, even though she went to a a bad, public high school there, she still had many friends that she cared deeply for and meant the world to her. But she would be missing her best friend Allison the most, someone who Charli told everything to and was always there for her when she needed her. It is said that if you you find a true friend in your life, you are a very lucky person. Allison was her true friend and right now, Charli needed her more then anything in her life.

The inside of the school, somehow was even more amazing and far more impressive then the outside. Unlike her previous school, this one was clean, it was completely spotless. Everything there looked fresh and expensive, it was over the top, but fit in with the décor, Charli was afraid to touch anything, for fear that she might tarnish what she touched. The hallway was long and wide, with new lockers on ever wall. They were painted a blue violet color to match the school colors. It was completely and utterly beautiful.

Charli made her way to the headmasters office, which was farther south of the main entrance to the building. It was not difficult to locate the office, there was a sign above the door that read 'Headmaster.' The door that lead inside the office was more elaborate then the classroom doors that Charli had seen on her way there and the decorations were far more superior. Only a powerful figure in the school, such as a headmaster could have this particular room.

She entered the headmasters chambers, only to find no one on the receiving end, the room was empty of any person. There was not even a secretary to greet her or to give her farther instructions. Still, the place was magnificent, it resembled that of a college deans room. There was a large mahogany table in the middle of the room. The walls were furnished with lovely paintings, most, she could tell, were of the headmaster himself. In one side of the room stood a very wide and large bookshelf, with an impressive array of books.

Charli's attention was more preoccupied with the room itself that she did not even hear anyone enter. The man who appeared before her was short, he had most of his hair was missing, and he wore a gray suit that made his round belly even more profound. He did not seem like a nice person at all, by the scowl on his face, he did not look too eager to see Charli.

"You must be Charlotte Haverill," said the headmaster. "We do not get many new students to often, welcome to Dillingham Preparatory School. We are pleased to have you." Charli could tell he did not mean it, there was no sincerity in his voice, his voice sounded more annoyed then anything.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," replied the small, brunette girl. "You must be Headmaster Arthur Dillingham."

The man sat on his large and comfortable looking chair and motioned the girl to sit on the other side of his desk. Charli did as she was told, but the chair she sat on was uncomfortable to the point of straining the lower part of her body.

"We usually do not hand out scholarships, but as you can see Miss Haverill, you are an exception. Your entry scores were amazingly perfect, and your previous teacher said many good things about you. I will hand your schedule for this year and a map of the school, to make your stay a little less difficult. Your teachers will tell you what to do when you go to class. And if you have any problems we have an excellent guidance counselor that would be more then willing to help you."

The headmaster handed over the papers to the teenage girl, making it more then obvious that he wanted her out of his office immediately. Charli left the room, while mumbling a "thank you" under her breath. The young woman headed towards classroom 31-A, which was on the other side of the building. This was her homeroom and her first period of school. This was also her AP Biology class, who was taught by a man named Mr. Earlson.

It seemed that class had already started when Charli entered the room. But Mr. Earlson did not look too angry at her, as he helped Charli find a seat in the back of the class and returned back to his teaching. Charli had always loved science and the way her new Biology teacher appeared, it sounded like she would would enjoy Biology this year too.

After Biology was Calculus then it was time for Gym. Calculus was boring, and the teacher was very dull and miserable looking. She also made Charli stand up in front of class and introduce herself, a feat that was very agonizing for her. Most people liked to be the center of attention, not Charli, she liked to blend in as much as possible because then it meant that people would not bother her as much.

Gym was very grueling, it was dodge ball season, and what Charli had learned at her previous school was never play dodge ball. People got too competitive, that it was not fun to play the game, it was just too dangerous. Thankfully, Charli did not have to participate in the game, but tomorrow, her attendance was mandatory.

Lunch was next on the list, by that time Charli was practically starving. It was a miracle that her stomach was not rumbling uncontrollably. She did not have any breakfast because she was in such a hurry to get to school. Her sister did not even bother to wake her up when the alarm clock had failed to go off.

The line to order food was long, it looked like every girl in the school had the same lunch period. Charli was not very happy by that, it just meant that she would have to wait much longer to eat lunch, or she had to find a faster route to the cafeteria, which was practically impossible considering how big the school was.

Then it was her turn to order, thankfully food was free or she would be hungry for the rest of the day. Even though this was a school for the rich, the food was pretty ordinary. There were French fries, burgers, and salads, nothing special about that. She did not find any lobster on the menu, nor was there any caviar, as she expected.

After she had ordered, came the hard decision of were to sit. By the looks of it, everyone had a group of friends to have their lunches with and no one looked too inviting. There also did not seem to be any free tables either, which made everything much more worse.

"Oh great," said Charli to herself, "now I have to find a group of people willing to share their table with me. Just perfect."

In one of the table, there were only three girls that were seated there. It looked like they had plenty of room for an extra person. As Charli got closer to that particular table, more people began to stare at her and she began to feel even more uncomfortable then before. The room also began to get a lot less noisy, it appeared as though no one was breathing as Charli approached the table. The girl who stood up was a blond, but not a natural one, her hair was much too light and faded to look natural. Her eyes were very light, but dull almost gray. She was beautiful no less, and by the way this girl carried herself, she knew it all to well.

"Hello.....I am new here," began the new girl. "My name is Charli Haverill. Would you mind if I sit hear." She heard the other girls around the room gasp, as if they could not believe their own ears.

The blond looked at the new girl in a very interesting way. She seemed to be studying Charli as if she was a piece of candy and was not sure if she wanted that particular piece. But the blond nodded and pointed to the seat next to her, making the other blond in the table get up.

"Nice to meet you Charli," said the first girl. But she looked as if she did not mean it at all. There was something about her that made Charli's spine shiver. It was not a very welcoming feeling at the least.
"My name is Diamond Dillingham. My grandfather told me so much about you."

So this Diamond girl was the headmaster grand daughter, she looked just as annoyed as her grandfather did earlier that day.

"Nice to meet you too," was all that Charli could say, she was intimidated by Diamond.

"I am Belinda Dillingham," said the brunette who sat on the other side of the table. She was very pretty, and she had a kind voice, which made Charli feel a little bit more welcomed. Her most prominent feature were her lips, she had Angelina Jolie kind of lips, which made her that more attractive. "The girl next to me," pointed Belinda to the other blond in the table, "is Mona Applefield." Unlike Belinda who looked very natural, everything about Mona looked fake, from her nose to her breasts. She looked just like a doll, plastic.

"Hello Belinda, Mona," was all that Charli could reply to them. She had never been in this situation before, especially when dealing with high society type of girls.

But the other girls became very animated towards her, asking many questions that made Charli very uncomfortable. They wanted something they could gossip about later, something to make Charli look like a fool, and she knew that all to well. It was the same way as in her other school, cliques were created to make none members miserable, it was a favorite pass time to them.

When the bell rang, Charli was grateful to leave the cafeteria. She was ready for school to end for the day, it was just too exhausting, especially being the new kid there.

It looked like the only period she had with the girls form the cafeteria besides lunch, was last period World History, and that was only with Belinda. She appeared to be a very nice person, and it did not look like she had an ulterior motive for being friendly towards Charli.

When a long day of school finally ended, Charli was more then exhausted. It was only her first day of school and she just wanted it to be done already. That was very unlikely, since it was only October eighteenth, and school did not end until a many months later. She walked towards her old and used Ford car as fast as she could. She did not want to be seen by her peers, who all had new cars, some even had expensive convertibles, it was just too humiliating. As soon as she was inside her automobile, Charli just sped home as fast as she could, hoping forget the day.

Long strands of blond hair were reveled by the brightness of the orb. Inside the sphere was a speeding car that was heading towards it's destination. And with that the bright rondure suddenly flicked off, enveloping everything in darkness as it once had before, including the stranger that had seen everything.