Hope you like it so far! Definitely going to speed up after the set up is complete!

I don't own the secret circle

Xox

H

The morning went smoothly for Skylar. She met a few people who seemed pretty nice. There was another New York transplant in her history class named Alex who had moved from the city freshman year and she was grateful she had someone she could somewhat relate to. She made plans to have lunch with him and a few of his friends. She was not sure if he recognized her from any of the tabloids but he was being nice to her out of pity but honestly she didn't care at this point. She was just happy that she didn't have to sit alone in a crowded lunchroom on her first day of school.

It was fourth period, she had lunch next and she was eager to meet Alex so she didn't feel so alone. She walked into Economics and she was happy that she recognized some people and even knew their names. She took a seat next to a girl named Laurel who was in her History class. Laurel did not speak but just smiled softly as she turned to the lanky kid sitting directly in front of her. They were talking in hushed tones and Skylar, again, had the feeling that she was the topic of the quiet conversation. She sighed as she took her notebook from her bag and started her nervous doodling again that she was startled to see who had taken the seat in front of her. It was Nick. She tensed up a bit. She hardly knew him and she was surprised at how he made her feel- excited, nervous and intimidated all in the same breath. He was sitting backwards in his chair his tanned arms folded across the back and he was whispering along with Laurel and the skinny kid. He looked over at her and shot her a quick smile which she returned with flushed cheeks. He had this power of her and she couldn't understand why. She was never nervous, shy or even intimidated by guys before so she was very curious as to what it was about him that had her head in a spin. As soon as the teacher started talking Nick turned around and faced the front.

"Ok class we are going to jump right into it, as this class is going to be a group project class. There will be four people on each team. You will be given a binder and inside the binder will be a business type and a startup budget. It is your job as a team to create a mock business from scratch" Mrs. Moore, the teacher stated. Skylar smiled. She had done something similar in her old school so she felt like she had an advantage. Everyone started looking around for their friends, forming their own teams except for Skylar. She would just join whatever team was lacking a person given that she barely knew anyone.

"Settle down class. There will be none of that. I will be setting up the teams" Mrs. Moore said. Skylar sunk in her seat when she realized the teams were being picked according to where they were sitting. Mrs. Moore called out group of fours and when she got to the back of the class she heard "Skylar Greene, Lauren Quincy, Sean Dulaney and Nicholas Armstrong here is your binder" and handed the binder to Skylar. Skylar clutched the binder tightly and looked at Laurel, Sean and then at Nick. They all looked a little stunned until Nick broke the awkward silence. "are going to keep that all to yourself and do all the work for us?" he said sounded a little bit annoyed. Skylar shook her head "sorry. No here" she said handing the book to Nick. His hand grazed hers as he took the binder from her and she had to stop herself from gasping out loud. She could feel a warmth, an energy coming off of Nick that she had never felt before and it startled to the point where she couldn't even pay attention to anything but the lingering feeling she had on her hand from where he touched it. "So what do you think Skylar?" laurel asked "About what?" Skylar responded slightly dazed. "The company" Sean said shortly. Skylar looked at each of them, as if she had no idea what they said. "Are you alright?" Laurel asked looking at Skylar sideways. Skylar relaxed a little "yeah sorry just a little overwhelmed. This is nothing like my old school" she admitted. Nick mumbled something under his breath that Skylar couldn't make out but whatever it was made Laurel reach out a smack him on the arm. Nick just glared at Laurel and opened the binder. The business was going to be an auto body shop and Skylar smiled. "Oh you know cars?" Sean asked in mocking way. Skylar just shrugged not wanting to give too much of who she was away "I know enough".

The rest of the period they talked about possible names of their company and where it would be located. A few minutes before the bell rand the teacher calmed the class down. "Ok folks. By Monday you need to have the basics started. Company name, where it is going to be located, rent and possible renovation costs, if that applies. So you have one week. You will have a little bit of time to do some of it in class however you will need to do some work outside as well." she said "class dismissed". When the bell rang Nick bolted out of that class so fast, Laurel and Sean darted after him. Skylar just took her time trying to shake the feeling that her economics group didn't want her around. Her feelings heightened when she got to her locker and saw a group of kids arguing not too far from where she was. She noticed Nick, Diana, Laurel, Sean, the boy and girl from chemistry class and 3 other girls she didn't know all taking part in a heated discussion. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying but the way one petite girl was staring at her she knew it was about her. She stared back and Diana noticed her looking at them and gave her a sympathetic smile. She turned to group and said "we will talk about this later" and walked away in the other direction. As Skylar was closing her locker she noticed the group disperse and as Nick walked past her, he gave her a look with those mahogany eyes that felt as if it were boring holes through her soul. What is wrong with these people? She thought to herself as she shut her locker and headed downstairs to go meet Alex for lunch.

Alex was waiting for her at the door to the cafeteria he smiled wide and led her through the door and to table toward the back of the room. She noticed a glass door where students were gathering. She saw Diana talk to a few people as she opened the glass door leaving the kids with envious looks on their faces behind. Skylar was very curious about what Diana's role was. She seemed nice yet she seemed to have privileges that no one else had. She was deep in thought when she heard Alex "So how was your first day?" As he opened a brown bag and pulled out an apple. She shrugged as she watched Nick, Laurel and Sean enter through the glass door. "Don't ask" she laughed. "Ah the club" Alex laughed. "The club?" Skylar repeated. "Yeah it's a group of kids who live up on Crowhaven Road. They get the back room and some other things that no one else gets and after three years I still have yet to figure out why" he continued "most of them are really nice especially Diana and Cassie. They just keep to themselves like they all share some kind of secret". "Sounds intriguing" Skylar laughed. She stopped when she saw Nick walk out of the back room. She walked past her looking at her and then at Alex with a disapproving look. "You have a run in with Armstrong or something?" Alex asked. Skylar just shook her head "he is my lab partner in chemistry and he's on my business team for economics. I get the feeling he doesn't like me very much" she admitted. Alex laughed again "Nick doesn't like anyone". Skylar felt a little relieved to learn that it wasn't her. Her and Alex ate and talked about New York. A few of Alex's friends came over and said hello and introduced themselves. Skylar was grateful for Alex for helping her to feel like she fit in. That was only confirmed when Sally, one of Alex's friends said "hey there is the bonfire dance at the football field Saturday night. It's usually really fun. There is a huge bonfire, great food and a DJ. You should come" Sally urged. "Sounds fun, I will definitely be there" Skylar smiled. "How about helping on the decorations committee?" Sally practically begged. Skylar smiled "sure just let me know what you need and I'll be happy to help". Sally smiled and Skylar smiled back.

When the warning bell rang she got up and noticed Nick standing against the wall with his arms crossed staring at her with an almost thoughtful look in his mahogany eyes. She could not understand what his deal was. On the one hand he was so cold towards her, almost scary in a sense and on the other hand she saw someone with pain on his face, who had walls of steel built up around him. She went on with the rest of her day without incident. Her favorite class was introduction to journalism and she was pleased to see Alex and Sally were in that class. She loved everything about that class including the teacher that she didn't even pay attention to the short girl that had also been in her chemistry class.

When class ended Skylar grabbed her books and headed up to her locker. She noticed Nick was at his locker across the hall talking to a beautiful girl with long black hair and a short girl with dark spiky hair. Skylar noticed Nick look at her with that same cold expression on his face the curiosity in his mahogany eyes growing. She blushed as she smiled at him and turned away. The more he looked at her the more she herself was curious about him. She sighed and opened her locker and just as soon as it was opened it was shut but she didn't do it. She looked around and the only people she saw were Nick and those two girls. She shook her head and opened her locker again and this time when it shut she noticed the red glossy fingers nails that were attached the slender hand that, this time, slammed her locker shut.

Skylar looked up at the taller girl with the raven hair and took a step back. She was had an evil gleam in her eye and Skylar couldn't help but notice the star ruby necklace she wore around her neck. "Stay away from Nick" the girl ordered. "excuse me?" Skylar asked stunned. "I said stay away from Nick. Him and I have, well , an arrangement and if you mess that up I will make your life a living hell" she warned and walked away.

Skylar turned back to her locker, shaken and was trying really hard not to cry when she heard a husky voice say "Don't let Faye scare you". Skylar turned to see Nick standing there expressionless watching as Faye and the shorter girl walk away. "Well she is kind of scary" Skylar admitted and Nick laughed. 'Oh yeah especially when you end things with her and she just doesn't get it" he started to say and stopped himself. Skylar didn't know what to say to that. She quickly turned back to her locker and smiled to herself so he couldn't see. So he was single with ex issues sounded like every guy she had ever met. She didn't mean to giggle out loud as she closed her locker and turned to Nick. "What's so funny?" he asked she just shook her head "Nothing I still can't believe how different this place is" she said as she started walking. Nick stated walking with her. She just couldn't understand why. She wondered if he was bi-polar or something the way that he was hot and cold towards her. Nick took a pack of cigarettes and his keys from his pocket and he paused when he saw Laurel, Sean and the two big goofy guys waving at him by the front door of the school. "see you later" he said and he hurried off.

Skylar shook her head. Her mom wasn't kidding about how strange the people around here were. As she headed outside she noticed Nick and his friends talking on the side walk directly in front of her parked car. They were oblivious to the fact that the silver mustang was hers and that she was standing close enough to hear everything.

"Faye said she saw you staring at her all day" one of the goofy boys said "Just curious Chris. Aren't you guys?" Nick responded. Laurel shook her head "You need to be careful Nick, we all do. It's bad enough she is in our economics group ". "Yeah where are we going to do our project? We can't do it at my house what about you guys?" Sean asked turning to Nick and Laurel who both shook their heads. "That's my point. This is just too close for comfort and everyone is on edge now" Laurel said and Skylar just stood behind a tree and listened. "Do you think she is one of us?" the other goofy kid asked. Nick shook his head "I don't think so" he started to say and was interrupted by Laurel "exactly so we need to stay as far away from her as possible which will be easier for some of us" she said glaring at Nick. Skylar, on the verge of tears started walking towards her car when she got to the group she said excuse me and they parted and she walked right through the middle of them. She undid her alarm, opened the door and threw her purse and backpack in the front seat. She started the engine and put the top down. "Nice car" she heard Nick say and she didn't say anything back. She just gave him the evilest look she could muster and drove off.