*Ellis*

I stepped into the yearbook room and looked around. No one I knew. No surprise there. I saw an empty table and grabbed it.

I looked around again. The room was more than half full. I'd gotten lost on the way to class, so I'd taken longer than expected. I sighed quietly and dug through my bag for my book. I'd only managed to read a couple of pages when a loud scrape made me look up.

Two girls dropped into the seats in front of me. One was Hispanic, with long hair, full lips, and a noticeably low-cut shirt. The other was pale and had shoulder-length brown hair up in pigtails, hazel eyes, wire-rim glasses, and freckles.

"Hey!" the brunette said, smiling.

I stared. "Um… hi?" Who the hell were these two?

The Hispanic girl looked at her, amused. "Holly, boo, you might wanna introduce us."

The younger-looking girl frowned at her. "Sorry, who are you talking to?"

The Hispanic girl rolled her eyes and turned to me. "I'm Emily." She pointed to the other girl. "This is Granyt."

The spectacled girl smiled. "There you go." She turned back to me. "What's your name?"

I blinked, confused from that little scene. "Uh, I'm Ellis."

Granyt giggled. "You look so confused."

Emily rolled her eyes again, still looking at me. "Her name's Holly, but she goes by Granyt. Call her Holly and she'll 'end you'." She made quotation marks with her fingers.

Granyt nodded, grinning. "Yep!" She fingered the strap of leather around her neck. "A friend gave me the name because of this." She turned it around so a small rock clasped onto it was visible.

I nodded, staring blankly. And I'd thought that that kid in the hallway was weird.

"So… you're a freshman?" Emily asked, pulling out a bottle of nail polish.

I nodded, shaking off the confusion. You?"

"Sophomores," she said, already halfway done with her left hand.

I looked at Granyt and raised an eyebrow. She didn't look young, really, it was the pigtails that made it hard to believe.

"What?" she asked, noticing.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. Pointing it out would only be the pot calling the kettle black.

"Okay, kids!" a voice said from the front of the classroom.

I turned, surprised. A relatively young-looking woman maybe a bit shorter and heavier than me with a black bob was standing at the desk. Ms. Henki, I guessed.

"This class will be…" she continued. I automatically zoned out. But, just from the people, I knew that even though I'd heard the speech a million times before, this class was gonna be interesting.