So I spent half of yesterday writing in my notebook to get another chapter to write on this computer and guess what? It takes me half an hour to write 2 pages o.o'
This chapter is dedicated Fanpire4000 for telling me about the song 'Never Say Never' by the Fray. It was really good!
Disclaimer: I don't own: Darkest Powers, Kelley Armstrong or any of the characters mentioned in the story. I don't even own Lily because I read her name in 'Dangerous'. Gosh, Kelley Armstrong is amazing! So, I just borrow the characters to play a little :)
Chloe PoV:
It was Monday. We had moved here on Saturday, spent all of Sunday unpacking the rest of our stuff and now the dreadful day has come on which I start at a new school. Again. My father had already packed his things again, seeing as he was leaving on a business trip in a couple of hours.
We had eaten take-out since we came here, but since I was 'old enough' now, I would somehow have to start cooking for myself. Thankfully everything was within walking distance here, so I had no problem with buying groceries. The actual problem here is... I'd never cooked a single dish in my life. Food poisoning, here I come!
The school looked nice. It was about the same size as my former school, not too big and not too small, in my opinion. It was a normal, small town public school. The principal, a man in his mid-forties with graying hair and bulging eyes sat at a table staring intently at some papers when we came in. He didn't even look up at first.
When he did look up, I wished he hadn't. During my introduction he had stared disgustedly at my red streaks before forcing a small smile on his face. It didn't look sincere. My father was in too much of a hurry to notice though. He kept looking at his watch to check the time and barely listened to what the principal said, just nodded and smiled at me every once in a while.
"...And I'm sure Chloe will find everything to her liking. No worries, Mr. Saunders, she won't be in any trouble under my watch. Of that you can be assured. No one makes trouble at my school without me finding out." The last bit he said directly to me and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his statement. I tried to clear my face of any emotion when I saw his triumphant smirk, but a small, confused frown remained.
By no means had I ever been considered a troublemaker. The teachers I had never got mad with me and my grades, even though not always straight A's, were never below a C+. I never teased different looking students, never had an attitude with adults... it might sound presumptuous, but I dare say I am a teacher's dream come true.
So, because of colored red streaks I have become trouble? That is not fair. I wondered just how many people were treated badly because of prejudices about their looks. I had never really considered what consequences looks have. I admit, I am guilty of judging people because of prejudices about their looks too, but I had never even thought about how wrong I might be.
When we were shown to my second period class, I was glad. I didn't really want to dwell on things I am guilty of. Now I had different problems to worry about. For example, finding friends in a new school and getting along with new teachers who might have the same opinion about me as the principal. Oh, and let's not forget about me seeing ghosts, spirits or whatever they are. I had been thinking a lot about what I had seen, but I still didn't really know what the matter with me was.
This school didn't have a film analysis class or really any class that has to do with movies, they had informed me, but I was welcome to join the school's video club. Therefore my schedule was nothing like the one I had before, so I had to adjust somehow. My dad, who had given my shoulder a fatherly squeeze at the news, bid me a quick farewell and with a kiss on the forehead he was gone for another unknown amount of time. Now I was all by myself.
Taking a deep breath I entered the class. It is always hard to start at a new school, but I do think it's even worse when you start mid-semester. In the beginning of the school year there are usually at least a couple of new students, so it's easier to not stick out like a sore thumb. But now, as I went up to the teacher to introduce myself, it felt like every eye was glued to me.
"Okay class, I want you all to be nice now. Miss Saunders, would you like to introduce yourself?" Reluctantly, I agreed and faced the class.
In a chick flick, the new girl would turn to the class and look right into the eyes of an unbelievably gorgeous guy, who would smile a heart-stopping, crooked smile at her. She would blush, stutter out her name and where she's from and the completely clueless teacher would assign her the seat right next to Mr. Gorgeous, who still hadn't taken his eyes off her. She falls head over heels in love with him, but of course he has this cheerleader captain girlfriend who is queen bee of the school and blah blah blah.
Sadly or thankfully, I'm not sure, my life is no movie and there was no gorgeous guy smiling at me. Stuttering was involved due to me being nervous, but even though people were welcoming, they looked rather bored.
So I smiled, sat down, and awaited the end of my first day at another new school.
In my fourth period I sat next to a nice – although rather chatty – girl called Lily. She was very excited about me having moved here and she seemed rather convinced we were going to be the best of friends. Lily was the first one to try to befriend me, so that gave her imaginary brownie points. Even more excitement followed when she found out that we had fifth period and lunch together as well.
"Hey, Chloe, you know, my boyfriend's really cool and cute and would probably like if you sat with us at lunch. His brother and he, they just moved here, too. His brother isn't cute thought, so don't get your hopes up. For some reasons, all the girls are jealous of me for being with him, but I like you and I hope you don't throw yourself at my boyfriend. No offence, really, you don't seem like that kind of girl, but I just want to make sure we understand each other." Her face was hopeful and even though I felt slightly insulted by her little rant, pity was more prominent within me. How many friends had proven to not be friends at all because she had got the guy that everyone else wanted? It is hard to lose people you think of as friends and then they turn around and are mean to you because you have what they want.
I patted her shoulder awkwardly, trying to be comforting but not really knowing what to do. "Don't worry, I'm really not looking for a boyfriend." She looked thankful and gave me a quick hug. What came next was unexpected, to me at least: She started gushing about how great he is, how sweet his texts are, etc. Wide eyed I tried to concentrate on the class instead, not needing to hear praises about a guy I didn't even know.
"Do you know the answer to that question?" a boy, whom I hadn't noticed before even though he sat right next to me, asked. He seemed a little younger than I, his shaggy red hair fell into his eyes and freckles covered his pale skin. The strangest thing were his eyes though. I probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been that close to me, but his eyes were strangely... lifeless.
I looked at my sheet, trying to see if I had written any problems down, but couldn't find any. "I'm sorry, what problem do you mean?" I smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown. There was no one beside me. I turned around, searching for a head of red hair among my classmates, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
"Lily, do you know whereto the boy next to me disappeared so quickly?" I blushed, embarrassed my question. A nagging feeling in my gut told me I was being foolish.
She confirmed my suspicion that no one had been sitting next to me nonchalantly. She seemed still too distracted about her report of her boyfriend to question me further, thankfully. How do you explain to your possibly first friend at a new school that you see things? No one could be mad at her for not wanting to be friends with a weirdo like that.
I had goosebumps all over. My first instinct was to start crying, but I didn't. Next instinct was to run screaming, but I refused to do that either. Lastly, I thought, after the third strange sighting, I should seriously do some research. As soon as possible.
I just wasn't sure what exactly to look for. 'seeing things other people don't'? Yep, I would definitely not find anything helpful with that on google.
When the bell rang to signal it was time for lunch, Lily practically glowed with excitement. She almost pushed me through the lunch line and towards an empty table. Yes, it was empty. My face must have shown my confusion because she explained:
"I'm usually never first because I don't want to be stuck with Derek, that jerk brother of my boyfriend's, you remember? But now that you are here, I don't mind that at all! Who knows, maybe he'll even be nice because you're new and everything! Oh look, there they are!" She started waving like crazy and I was surprised she didn't start running towards her boyfriend. The two boys that were coming our way didn't look like brothers at all. Actually, the seemed like polar opposites.
The smaller of the two was maybe a half-foot taller than I, slender with high cheek bones. He wore his dark blond hair in short, messy spikes and his almond shaped, brown eyes distinguished him as Asian. He had a friendly smile on his face and I guessed he was Lily's beloved.
The other guy was huge, at least 6 feet tall with wide shoulders and if it weren't for his acne, that marked his puberty, I might have mistaken him for an adult. His dark hair hung in his deep, emerald green eyes that betrayed no emotion. He was good-looking, I thought – still thinking about my prejudices – but his pubescent complexion would undoubtedly scare most girls off. Not that I was interested in changing that!
"Simon, look! I found a new friend! Her name's Chloe and she just moved here. Isn't that exciting?" The way she was looking at Simon – as I had suspected it was the blond guy – she sort of reminded me of an excited puppy that had been left alone for too long and was now glad to see their owner again. I fought hard to suppress a grin at the thought.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Simon and this," he waved a hand in his brother's direction, who just grunted in acknowledgement and settled down opposite from me ",is my brother Derek. So, how are you liking our small town so far?" As he said this he sat next to Lily and put his arm around her shoulder. A happy sigh escaped her and she looked as if she might melt.
"It's nice, I think. I just got here, so I didn't really get to explore yet," I admitted. I looked around wistfully. Here I would spend the rest of my high school time, if my father stayed true to his promise. Oh joy. Movies that play in high schools always portray different groups of people sitting together at lunch, but I couldn't really see anything that most people had in common. More so, it seemed like everyone was talking to everyone they saw. Truly small-townish. In my opinion that was scarier than the movie picture. I didn't exactly feel comfortable among people that all knew each other. I felt odd.
I found the face that the brothers didn't look as if they were brothers even more odd. "Please don't mind me asking, but are you two really brothers?"
"identical twins," was Derek's reply, who still didn't look at me. His voice was surprisingly smooth and I started blushing like crazy, for some reason.
"We're foster siblings," replied Simon after hitting Derek's shoulder. "Don't mind my idiot brother, we're still teaching him manners." He winked at me. I nodded, smiled and started eating my food, which I had totally forgotten.
Talking to Lily was out of the question now that her beloved boyfriend was here. She was consumed by his very presence and wouldn't stop staring at him. I hoped I wouldn't be like that when I have my first real relationship. It seemed beautiful and pathetic at the same time. Beautiful because she looked as if she could die this moment and be happy to have spent it with her Simon, pathetic because she didn't pay attention to anything or anyone beside him and he didn't look nearly as in love as she did.
"You know, we could show you around town, if you want us to. Tonight I have a game, so maybe no tour today. Or maybe if Derek wants to show you around...?" He shot his brother an imploring look. Derek's eyes got wide and he choked on the food he had been gulping down hungrily. He obviously didn't neglect his food like I did.
I was at a loss for words. If I said yes, I wanted to be shown around tonight then Derek might have to do something he really doesn't want to. On the other hand, if I said it could wait, then it might seem as if I didn't want to spend that time with him or worse, Lily might think I want to steal her boyfriend, even though she had warned me not to get to close. What should I do?
Good question! What should Chloe do? What would you do? Push the button and tell me ;)
Oh, and aren't you proud of me for writing more than usual? I know I am proud :)