Em and I arrived at school to much more of a commotion than I ever could have ever anticipated. The looks of surprise I was getting from the guys and disgust from the girls made me feel naked.
I was never much of an attention grabber, so my first instinct was to assume that the looks were regarding something else. "Do you think their staring because of the Red Hawke video fiasco yesterday?", I whispered to Em.
"Oh please! Half the kids at this school are probably too enthralled about where the next kegger is going to be thrown to worry about silly things like political terrorists. Their staring because you look positively beautiful; the guys want you, and the girls are grape jelly on toast.", Em said with a smile and lift of her right eyebrow. Yay! My fun and carefree bestie was back, even if it might be short lived. I giggled, threw my arm over her shoulder, and we walked into the school together with our heads held high. Damn the Atrian or Red Hawke spies! For this moment, we were typical teenagers.
Em and I parted ways at my locker just before the bell for first period rang. She and I had looked around nervously for Grayson, but he never went to his locker. I wondered if he would have the gall to show up, after what he had done to Emery. His absence made me believe he was actually a Red Hawke. If he was telling the truth and it was all his parents, then he should be able to come to school and try to make amends with Em.
Regardless of what role Grayson played in Em's video sabotage (stooge or master mind), I was still planing on telling Roman. Roman and I had third period English together, and even though we sat on opposite sides of the classroom, I knew that would be my chance.
First and second period seemed to go by in super duper slow motion. I was also starting to regret my clothing choice with every stare, and note I was passed asking if I was free this weekend. "Tomorrow, I wear overalls and a parka.", I thought to myself while keeping my head down for the remainder of Mrs. Herman's lecture on the fourth US/Iraqy War. When the bell rang, I rushed to English in hopes that Roman would be abnormally punctual.
Alas, Roman wasn't in the classroom yet. I took my seat in the back corner by the window and waited on the edge of my seat for him to come into the room. Why was I so egar to tell Roman the scoop on Grayson? I mean what could Roman actually do about the Grayson thing anyway? I'm sure the Atrians are aware that some Red Hawkes probably keep a low profile so as not to be suspected. My palms were sweaty, and an unhappy thought passed through my head. Was I feeling something for Roman?
Could it be that I'm so egar to get the news to Roman just because I want a reason to speak with him? My throat went completly dry at the thought. Emery is my best friend, and she clearly has feelings for him, and Roman has them for her too. The only reason I'm alive right now is because Roman wanted to help the human that he cared for, Emery. If it wasn't for his feelings for Em, I would be dead. I felt numb at the thought. If I was only alive for the sake of Emery, then what does that say about me? I pushed the negativity out of my head. If I do have some feelings for Roman, then I'm sure it's just some reversed Florence Nightingale thing. He is also the only guy, uh person, no alien...ugh living being of the opposite sex to pay any sort of mind to me. I care about him because he helped me, and I'm just going to be his friend. There, it's settled.
Mr. Evans- the English teacher walked into the classroom just as my internal struggle was coming to an end, and he was followed by the bell and the remainder of the students. Roman was the last one to enter, and we caught eachothers eye as he headed toward his seat in the front corner of the room by the door. His eyebrows shot up and he gave me a small smile before mouthing the word, "Vyre?" at me. I might have just shrugged off any possibilities of a crush towards Roman as nothing more than gratitude, but it felt really good to have Roman notice my new look. "Some friend you are.", I could hear my inner monologue say disapproval.
"Today, we will be pairing you up. You will exchange your short story that I hope you all wrote last night and act as editor to your partner's paper. Let's start with the back row. Julia how about you partner with Drake.", Mr. Evans must have it out for me. With three Atrians in the class he pairs me with Drake, who would tattoo "HUMANS NOT WELCOME" across his chest if he could. Not to mention that this would have been a perfect time for the universe to give me a chance to settle my business with Roman.
After the rest of the class was paired off, Drake brought his chair over to my desk and sat slouched forward with his elbows resting on his knees. I haven't had a chance to meet Drake yet, but it wasn't exactly on my To Do List. The alien looked like he had some serious roid rage. He had a hard and angry expression plastered on his face. His Atrian marks were the only thing to soften his looks. The marks reminded you that he was vulnerable. People want to hurt him, hurt his kind. Red Hawkes would exterminate the Atrians if given the chance. I understood where he was coming from; I would probably build up a wall of animosity toward the humans if I were in his shoes. I took my double spaced, times new roman font short story out of my folder and handed it to Drake.
"I didn't do it.", he said flipping through the three pages without reading it. I made a quick glance in Roman's direction only to see him quietly reading his partner's paper while chewing on the end of his pen. This reminded me of that saying about grass being greener on your neighbor's lawn.
"Um, that's okay. You don't even have to read mine if you want. It's pretty bad. I couldn't really think of anything to write, so I ended up hunched over my computer with a bag of Twizzlers at three in the morning just typing whatever. I'm sure it's gibberish." That was a lie. I had stayed up most of the night typing up my story, but I couldn't have been more content writing it. I had based the story on my life as it has been recently. My story told of my visions of an angel saving a girl from her death bed only to have her be stricken by some dangerous side effect that made her skin glow. My art was imitating life.
Drake shrugged and tossed my paper back on my desk. He looked up at me, and I felt a shiver move up my spine. Drake's eyes felt like they could move right through me, and see my secrets. "You're friends with the girl whose dad killed Nox right?", he said in a cold monotone.
He didn't beat around the bush, and I didn't know how to respond. "My name is Julia, and that girl told me she saved your life from some trigger happy Red Hawkes at the homecoming carnival.", I matched his tone.
My matter of fact response seemed to surprise him. Drake's expression softend for a moment, and I saw the corner of his lips perk up a bit. Just as quick as it had come, his softness was gone. "It would do you good to know what to keep to yourself.", Drake growled at me as he reached for my wrist in an attempt to intimadate me. It was working too; I was frozen stone cold with my mouth gapping at his bipolar mood swing. As soon as his fingers brushed my skin, the world started going black around the edges.
"Hey? You alright? What's wrong...", I could hear Drake's voice trailing off. There was a shaky fear to it that hadn't been there before. I felt as if I was falling, and the blackness closed in more and more until there was nothing.
I woke up in in my old hospital room. My whole body felt like it was on fire. Everything around me had a green tint to it, like someone had put green lightbulbs in the over head lighting. I tried to sit up out of bed but it was so difficult. I felt weak and fragile. My arms looked terrible; they were covered in bruises, my skin was that sickly translucent pale again, and the blue veins were back. When I finally managed to get out of bed, my bare feet touched the floor and felt the dust and glass on my skin. Everything in the hospital room was covered in a thick layer of dust and peices of broken glass.
"Hello?!", I called out to no one. I could hear the sound of my voice echoing throughout the hallway of my open room.
"Julia.", I heard the faint whisper of my name and knew someone needed help.
I walked out of my room and into the deserted hallway. My feet bled from the glass, my flesh felt like it was burning off, and my veins glowed a deeper blue in the darkness of the hallway. "
Not as you've seen it before." I heard a strong and confident woman say in the darkness.
I kept walking towards the voice with the hem of my hospital gown blowing gently against my knees. The burning was increasing, but I know that I must see what is going on.
"Black cyper, and you will be the one to release it on the humans.", the voice said again. Alone in the dark hallway, I suddenly felt an unseen presence, then the screaming started. A man screamed like I've never heard before. The lights went on, and a man was in front of me thrashing around, screaming with his hands ripping at his face. Suddenly he made a few gasping, gargling breathes and fell to the ground. Even with most of the skin from his face looking like he was the victim of some acid throwing attack, he looked familiar. He was a security agent. I had seen him around school, and during my tour of the Atrian sector. His uniform only confirmed it. Tears filled my eyes, and I was having trouble breathing. I had to get out of there.
I started to run in the opposite direction of the body. I could see an elevator at the end of the long hallway. The doors kept opening up and closing. Open, close, open, close. Something wasn't right. It wouldn't close all the way. There was a thin gap between the doors. I reached the elevator only to see that a hand rested on the floor. The hand had been keeping the doors from closing all they way. I moved slowly closer only to realize my worst nightmare. The hand was Emery's. She lay lifeless on the floor in a puddle of blood that bubbled up from her chest.
"Help me!", I screamed as I moved through the doors and got down on my knees. I took Emery's head in my arms, cradling her.
"Help me!", I was more desperate and the tears were rushing down my face.
The door closed and opened again to reveal Emery's father. He was wearing his security uniform and pointing a pistol at my head.
"Please, help her.", I pleaded the father of the lifeless body I clung to.
He looked at me with a cold, dead stare and said, "No."
Bang. The gunshot jolted my eyes open and caused my whole body to jerk instinctively. I sat up trying to catch my breath. It had been a dream. I looked around; I was in the nurses office resting on a cott. Drake stood over me with a hard look on his face. His arms crossed over his chest. "What are you.", he asked in an accusatory tone.