ok, im not even going to think about how long its been since ive been on here.

please dont think ive abandoned this story. (smiles meekly)

im not giving up.

only two chapters to go

until

the

end

o.O

Hannah and Natalie had to go back to school, sadly, the next day.

"Come to our school with us!" Natalie cried, grabbing her backpack off the stairs.

"Oh, thats a great idea! You're going to be going there anyway, so come check it out!" Hannah agreed.

I blinked. No way.

"Er... i think I'll just..."

It was too late. They dragged me out to the car and forced me into the backseat.

"You'll love it," Natalie promised. "Everyone's so nice."

Ugh. How did i manage to get myself in situations such as this one?

We pulled up to a large, white building that read "Michael Way High" in golden letters. It was huge, spotless and very intimidating. I shrunk back in Natalie's dirty backseat.

"C'mon, Hexy!" Natalie grinned, opening the door. and unbuckling my seat belt. I didnt budge.

Hannah sighed. "Its like we're parents of a kindergardener." she rolled her eyes and glanced at me. "Hexxeeeeee" she cooed.

I didnt fall for it.

Natalie sighed this time. "C'mon, Alex. Pleease? You'll like it."

"Fine." i got out of the car stiffly. Immidiatly, people stopped and stared. I felt myself blushing and i glanced at Hannah for support, but she was already halfway toward the entrance with Natalie.

"Wait!" i ran, following them inside.

--

"Is she from that camp?" asked the chubby secretary behind the protective wall that was the office counter. I scowled.

"Yeah. Shes going to be a new student here, as soon as.... as soon as we get things squared way." Hannah hedged cautiously.

I sighed gratefully.

The lady grunted, shuffled some papers around and handed me a sticker that said 'visitor'. I blinked at it, watching her sign some more papers from the corner of my eye.

"You put it on your shirt," she acted like she was talking to a Kindergardener. God, how old did these poeple think i was? five?

"I know." i peeled off the back and pressed it firmly to the top of my sweater.

"Well... i get her first." Natalie tugged on my arm.

Hannah giggled. "Now we're divorced parents of a kindergardener."

I refused to input on this convversation.

Natalie dragged me out of the office, waving goodbye to Hannah as she went the other way, toward her first class. "We're going to Language Arts," she todl me proudly.

I just nodded. She pulled me into a brightly lit room with colorful posters explaining what "semicolons (;)" and "homophones (too;two;to)" were. I rolled my eyes.

"Mrs. Nestor, this is Alex Barlow. Shes new here."

The teacher, Mrs. Nestor, looked me over weith her dark eyes. She was thin and short with cropped, dark hair and a friendly expression. "Hello, Alex, I've heard some nice things about you."

I gulped. Uh oh.

Natalie giggled nervously. "Well, uh Alex, let's sit down." She dragged me to a deserted area of the class room and forced me to sit. i tried to avoid the sharp gazes of several judging students.

"Well, welcome Alex. Today we're going to..." her voice faded as my attention darted to other things. Why does thjat chick keep staring at me? I ducked wearily out of the sight of an african american girl with a pink jacket and dark colored jeans on. She narrowed her eyes; her gaze didnt break. 'Everyone's really nice.' Yeah, right. That explains why everyone is glaring at me like im... like im a delenquent!

Oh.

Right.

I studied the posters to keep myself from puking.

When i got bored of that, i decided to tune back in to Mrs. Nestor's lecture.

"As you can tell from this piece of writing, homophones have been ignored..."

Boring.

I glanced at Natalie. She was taking notes, but stopped when i looekd over at her. She grinned at me encourigingly then continued to write. I sighed inaudiably.

Suddenly, the muffled humming of Mrs. Nestor's speech halted and everyone shifted in their seats to look at me. I tuned back in and looked questionably at the teacher.

"I...im sorry... what?"

Snickers.

Mrs. Nestor sighed. "Do you know any past tense homophones?"

I blinked. "Er... im really sorry... but--"

"Its okay." Mrs. Nestor's gaze softened and she continued to explain. No one turned back to face her. They just stared at me. Amused, Disgutsted, Confused. A sea of expressions. I tried to calm the gnawing in my stomach.

After about a million years, the class was over. I got up gratefully and followed Natalie outsidee the classroom, where she started laughing.

"God, Alex, that was great!" she sniggered into her palm.

I hestitated. "Uh..."

"Here, lets go find Hannah." she walked toward another hallway and i followed.

"Hey, Natalie, whos this?"

Natalie and I whippeed around to see about five girls in a semi-circle, all looking generally, the same: pinkish, girly shirts, skinny-as-hell jeans, black eyes (or wait...is that eyeliner?) and sneering expressions.

Natalie didnt seem bothered. "Oh, hey, this is Alex." she gestured toward me. "Alex, this is Janisha, Kadisha, Tireesha, Kyleesha, and Namisha."

Wow. even their names are the same. I tried to hide my distaste for the conformisim and smile. "Hey."

The leader (i forgot her name) stepped forward. "Hello, Skallix."

I furrowed my brow. Natalie sighed. The other girls tittered.

"Oh im sorry," she said with mock concern. "Its Alex." She put her fingers to her mouth and widened her eyes.

Uh...

"Well, we gotta go." Natalie dragged me, again, down the hall and into another classroom, where Hannah was waiting.

"Health," She explained as Natalie left.

"Oh." i sat down in a chair.

Like last time, the class took forever. The same stuff happened: I blushed as everyone stared. I was introduced to Miss. Simmons. I sat down. I zoned out. I almost died of boredom.

La di da.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

I stared that the ceiling, trying to go to bed, sweating enough moisture to take a bath in. Tomorrow is the funeral, and i didn't even want to think about it. I just wanted to fast forward through the whole day, like that man did on that movie Natalie, Hannah and I watched a few hours earlier. The Click or something like that. Anyways... point being i could care less about my mother an her damn small funeral.

I sighed, picturing Camp Green Lake in my mind. I missed it there. i wanted to call them, but then i remembered that camps in the middle of the desert didnt have phones. Pity. I rolled on my side and stared at the heat vent. It seemed to be mocking me.

"What are you staring at?" I muttered. "You're just a stupid heat vent. You have no life."

Silence.

"I have a boyfriend and you don't. Pfffft."

More silence.

"Holy crap. I'm talking to a vent."

it reminded me of talking to the tarantula, Squid teasing me. i wondered what'd he do if he was here now. I grimaced, not wanting to depress myself. I glanced at the clock, wondering how many more hours until the black event. 12:06. Only twelve hours and fifty-four minutes to go....

it would be a long night.

im os osrry about not being on. you cant even imagine.

please forgive me and comment :-)