Chapter One: Envy

There was pure silence echoing throughout the opposite side of the high school. Sitting at one of the recreational benches was a young girl at around the age of seventeen, who carried an attitude like no other. She wasn't so much the class rebel as she was the bitch of the senior class. She was the one who seemed to make everyone's life a living hell, but when you've been through what she has had to go through, wouldn't you? Her name is Rikka, and she often only hung around school with her best friend Madison. No one seemed to like Rikka because of her anti-social personality, and dry humor that only could amuse a few select groups of people. For Rikka, her bad temper was due to the loss of her mother at an unexpected age. She seemed to take her anger out on everyone else around her, and often blamed them for her mother's death, as well as the loss of her best childhood friend. What she was completely bind to, however, was the fact that her best childhood friend was the same girl Rikka had been staring out for most of the lunch period. Rikka seemed completely oblivious, only commenting on Terralie's popularity, rather than reading between the lines.

"What's so great about her, anyway? It's like she gives these guys one look and have them swooning with the snap of her fingertips," Rikka scoffed in Terralie's general direction, though she took no notice whatsoever.

"I wonder what it would be like to live in her shoes," Madison let out a dreamy sigh as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Her long black hair blew calmly as a slight breeze grazed her dark skin, sending chills down her spine. "I mean, she's rich, has all the attention in the world…."

"Oh, shut up, Madison." Rikka rolled her eyes in disbelief while she listened to her friend say all the things that seemed to piss Rikka off the most. She had no idea why she had gotten so mad at what Madison was saying, but it filled her mind and her heart with rage as she continued looking over to where the group of seniors and juniors were gathered, unconsciously gripping at the necklace around her neck.

Noticing Rikka's newly developed rage, Madison's eyes grew weary as she looked at her friend. "Are you alright? You look a little off." Meanwhile, Rikka had been experiencing something rather new to her senses. She had felt a burning sensation that seemed trapped in her chest, right under where the charm on her necklace rested. Clutching it tightly, Rikka tried to gather herself together. For a few weeks now, Rikka had been going through moments exactly like these, but for some reason they had just started getting worse. She wasn't sure if it was due to her anger, or the thoughts inside of her head. Maybe they were because of the dreams she had been having lately, but she couldn't seem to put her finger on it. Something seemed off; Something was wrong in her mind, and she wished she could understand why it was happening to her. Closing her eyes, Rikka tried to will the pain away, but all that ended up happening was what seemed to be flashbacks running through her head. All she could see, however, were silhouettes of two young girls, and brilliant flashes of light that seemed almost unbearable. And then…. "Rikka? Rikka!"

Rikka's attention was finally caught as she turned to look at Madison, a now very worried expression on the Asian's face. "Are you alright?" Her friend asked once again.

"Oh, yeah. I'm just fine." Eyes blinking in a confused manner, Rikka finally noticed the sweat drops falling from her forehead and neck. What had happened to her? Her body felt tense and weak, but the burning feeling in her chest was seemingly gone. Confused, Rikka shook her head, soon standing up as if to pretend nothing had happened. She didn't want any sort of attention drawn to her in any way that revolved around what had just happened to her. Somehow she knew that this feeling wasn't going to go away any time soon, and that she'd have to face whatever came her way. Nevertheless, she promised herself she'd get to the bottom of this, and find out just what was with the visions she'd been seeing, as well as these sensations that coursed throughout her body whenever she was angry or deep in thought.

Before the students knew it, the bell was ringing for their seventh period class. This was the second to last period of the day, and once this day was done with, that was one less day they'd have to worry about, and one more day closer to the freedom of summer. Rikka and Madison had gone to their Calculus class, and unknowingly, Terralie ended up passing right by, on her way to her Honors English class. Terralie and Rikka brushed shoulders, and Rikka turned to look at whoever dared to cross her path, as Terralie seemed to fall to the ground, as if she had met the devil himself. Gasping for air, the young girl clutched onto the necklace that was around her own neck, an illuminated light forcing its way through the cracks of her fingers.

Terralie brought her head down to the ground as she seemed to curl up just a little bit, soon looking up in the hallway to find no one but Rikka, standing there in front of her, looking at her with some sort of suspicion. Maybe it was because Rikka had just experienced something similar, however less complicated than what Terralie had been feeling at that very moment. The hallways were no longer visible to the human eye, as a tear fell from Terralie's right eye, falling down to the floor, bringing what seemed like a bright light, straight up from the floor they were standing on. A glowing ring of purple and white surrounded the two girls as they looked at one another in confusion, and before any of them could ask or say a word, the ring was gone, and so was the glowing from Terralie's necklace. Shortly after, everything had gone back to normal. Terralie found the strength to stand, and right as she was about to reach out to Rikka to ask her what had just happened, Rikka turned around abruptly, pretending like nothing had just happened between the two. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her life, and to experience such a tragic feeling like she had just felt, practically broke her heart. And what bothered her the most was that this happened directly after her panic attack, as she referred to it as for the rest of the day. Why were all of these things happening all of a sudden? What was the coincidence between Terralie and Rikka?

For the last two periods of the day, Terralie had been avoiding practically everyone that made contact with her. She made up lies, telling them how she wasn't feeling well, or that she just wasn't in the mood to converse at that moment. In reality, Terralie just wanted some time to herself for once. Andrea seemed to be rather concerned about her friend, though she kept her distance, especially since she knew there had to be a good reason behind whatever Terralie had been feeling and thinking.

When the end of the last period bell rang, Terralie quickly gathered her things and headed out to her car before anyone could catch her, but before her very eyes, Tyler was standing, leaning his back against the passenger's side of his girlfriend's car. A small, yet inaudible gasp came from Terralie's lips has she braced herself for what was yet to come her way. She knew it was about her avoidance towards him, and she knew he'd demand an explanation, and she'd have to lie her way out of it. There was no way she'd tell him the truth now. She just couldn't.

"Where have you been?" Tyler asked, a worried expression on his face. "I've been calling you all week. You haven't or answered any of them, and you haven't called me back once. You're even ignoring me during our classes." His thick eyebrows started to furrow. "Is this your way of telling me you don't want to be with me anymore?"

Terralie shook her head firmly, looking down at the ground briefly as she tried to gather up the strength, and the rest of her voice to give him some kind of a response. When she opened her mouth, however, not a single sound came out. Terralie was disappointed in herself. She never wanted to hurt Tyler like this. Why couldn't she just say these things to him aloud, instead of repeating them in her mind? "I- I'm sorry."

"You know, apologies are starting to wear out their welcome, Terr. What's going on? Is there someone else?"

"No! Not at all. Tyler, you know you're the only guy for me. Please, just give me a couple days. I'll explain everything, I promise…."

Off in the distance, Rikka was walking with her brother, Brian, to his car. He had picked her up out of the sincerity of his own heart. Actually, his excuse was more of an "I was in the neighborhood" sort of thing, but that didn't stop Rikka from accepting his generosity. Though, they were caught off track by the argument that had been taking place not too far from where they were standing. They had stopped a few feet away from Brian's car as they watched and listened intently to what was going on. What seemed like small talk and a plea for understanding was soon switched into an argument with harsh words. By now, there were a bunch of fellow classmates standing in front of the school, watching the most popular girl get yelled at by her rumored boyfriend.

Before anyone knew it, Tyler had his hand up in the air and Terralie was on the ground. Gasps were heard from everyone who had just witnessed what happened, and Terralie had a hand pressed at the side of her face, trying her best to hold back the tears that were welling up inside. Under his breath, Tyler spoke only one word that was only loud enough for Terralie to hear, "Bitch." It broke her heart that it had to end like this, and she didn't even tell him about the secret no one knew but herself. Out of the corner of her eye, Terralie watched Tyler turn away from her as if to walk away, and this caused the girl to break down into tears.

Brian was soon at her side, one hand on her back and the other on the side of her bruised face. When he looked back to tell Rikka to hold on, she was soon seen walking up to Tyler furiously with a look no one had ever seen, spread across her face. "You jerk! How could you do something so horrible?!" She yelled at the younger boy, ignoring the fact that she would never really do something like this for someone she barely even knew. She went to throw a punch at him, but before her fist could collide with his jaw, he was running away from her as fast as his feet could take him. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Run!" And the next thing she knew, her chest was heating up again. 'What the hell?' She thought to herself. 'Not again…'