Disclaimer: I do not own the Darkest Powers series.
Chapter One -
Hearing the ring of my alarm clock, I grudgingly pushed my covers off and rolled off the bed.
Whoomp.
I landed on the wood flooring. Hard.
Muttering to myself, I scrambled across the floor of my room to turn off the incessant beeping of my alarm. With the beeping gone, and my alarm on snooze, I laid on the floor, pressing my face against the cool floor, trying to calm down from the momentary panic.
Panic not because of the alarm really, though I wish it was, but because of the odd dreams I've been having lately. I know they're elaborate, I remember thinking that they are while I dream, and I know that they're…different, I remember thinking that as I dream too, but I never can seem to remember what it is I actually was dreaming of after I wake up.
It's like…seeing a question on a test, knowing you know the answer and what the words would look like, but can't grasp what they actually are. It's incredibly frustrating.
I've been trying to instantly recall the dreams after I wake, it says on the internet that the more you try to recall, eventually the more you will remember, yet even that hasn't helped. If anything it seems to have made things worse. I used to vaguely think of a subject that the dream was surrounding, now I remember next to nothing, emotions mostly, but those aren't exactly helpful when out of context.
Beeeeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeee-
Slapping the alarm for interrupting my thoughts, I moved to lie back down on the floor again, but thought better of it. Knowing that if I keep this up I'd be late to school again today, and it wouldn't do me any good to start out the week by getting detention on a Monday.
Rolling over onto my back, I sprung forward, and headed to the bathroom for a much needed shower.
.x.x.x.x.x.
Looking over the clock on the microwave, and seeing that it was already 6:47, I hopped off the counter, grabbed my backpack and jacket and ran for the front door, knowing, although Liz was a kind and caring person, she wasn't exactly patient. Not wanting to push my luck, seeing as this was already a favor, I ran to the end of my driveway, ignoring the brisk cold air that bristled my senses and hurriedly tossed my jacket on.
And then I waited.
I had rushed through my morning, so I never really got around to thinking about it, but with all this extra time presenting itself at this moment...
I leaned into the street, trying to get a better angle to see if Liz was closing in on my street.
Seeing and hearing nothing, I leaned back.
With a sigh, I realized it was going to happen sooner or later, and now would be a better time rather than later in class.
I let the weekend flow over me. Let the stress of it all fall off of me like leaves, slowly drifting to the ground and dying off.
Liz, being the fantastic person she was, had come over, as she had said she would, and appeared at my front door bearing the gift of Ben and Jerry's by the pint. I'd let her in, Dad was off on another business trip, and we ate the day away while watching old movies, like Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and Victor Fleming's Gone with the Wind. I was already crying, so it suited the day.
The whole day went like that, watching movie after movie, alternating between genres, and never once talking about my mother, which I was thankful for.
At around ten at night Liz had left, proclaiming that she needed to study for and exam of some sort. Knowing her it probably was a quiz, but she'd study like it was an exam all the same.
And then I had slept like a baby, except for the restless dreams that is.
I felt better having let the day just sort of happen and then moved along with the rest of my life.
Standing on the edge of our driveway, I couldn't help but wonder if it would've been different if we hadn't moved here half way through Freshman year, Dad insisting that I needed a stable environment, even if he couldn't be there, at least the scenery would be the same to me.
If we were still moving around or in our last place I wouldn't have had Liz.
With that thought, I sobered up. Everything happens for a reason. At least I had Liz with me for it and I wasn't sitting home alone like last year.
The honking of a car horn released me from my thoughts. Grasping my backpack firmly by the strap, I swung it over my shoulder and quickly made my way to Liz's car.
She sure does have fantastic timing.
.x.x.x.x.x.
Sitting in the morning traffic, I idly listened to Liz's chatter of rattling off this weekend's gossip, who broke-up with who, what party was raided, and how Friday's football game went.
How Liz was capable of talking that much this early in the morning, I have no idea, but I did my best to "Hmm" and "Haah" at all the right times. The girl was driving me as a favor after all; best to be courteous to that sort of generosity, never know when it might run out.
Half-heartedly listening to her story of a party that went tragically south after the football game, we pulled into the school's driveway. Still trying to pay attention, I stared into the parking lot with drooping eyes, and I heard "-and you know Simon?"
I nodded; only vaguely aware of whom she was referring to. There were about three Simon's in our grade, could be any Simon.
"Well his brother Derek was there-"
And that left only one Simon. Simon Bae and Derek Souza. What an odd pair. The two rarely socialized in school, but not for Simon's lack of trying. I never really paid them too much attention, thinking it rude to pry into other people's business, but I knew that Derek was Simon's foster brother and that they had a half-sister named Victoria Enright, who went by Tori for short. Their family seemed like some sort of midday soap opera, with all of them looking completely different from each other and their personalities being more so.
Everyone knew, however, that that meant nothing. If you messed with one of them, the wrath of all of them came down upon you, and you regretted whatever you'd done in seconds.
"-and he got jumped by some guys and-"
"Wait. What?"
That got my attention. Derek Souza was huge. Big as a linebacker on our football team and nearly bigger too, at six foot something with I don't even know how much muscle he had on him. The guy was big and the guy was ill-tempered. Not someone you bother, let-alone jump.
"Yeah!" Liz excitedly turned her attention to me as she parked the car, "He was there with Simon, I saw them! And later in the night when everybody was sort of rounding up to leave we heard some shouting from outside, a low-n-behold, Derek was getting jumped by some four or five guys!"
I just stared at her. Four or five guys. Four or five guys.
"E-Excuse m-me. What?"
Seeing that she had my attention, Liz's eyes lit up as she told the story, taking on a story-teller voice as if this was the most important story in existence and she was the last person alive that knew it.
"Well. Everyone heard shouting outside, that was left inside, so I ran out to see what was up, so did a bunch of other people. And Derek was out in the street a house down with five or so guys around him with Simon yelling! Derek stood in the center of the guys, 'cause they sort of surround him in, like, a circle. And Simon was being held back by another guy as the guys closed in on Derek!"
Her eyes flashed brighter, as if she could see the story happening in front of her right now as we sat in the car.
"And then, all the guys jumped him!"
I just continued to stare at her stupidly. They what? How?
"Did he fight back at all? Or…" I let the question fade as she shook her head solemnly.
"That's the weird part Chlo," I looked back to her eyes from where I had let my gaze stray to outside the car at the sound of my name, "He didn't fight back at all. He just took it. Didn't even flinch. Just let it happen, like he was expecting it or something."
Shaking my head, I let the disturbing image of the kid I barely knew getting beaten to a pulp fly out of my head. I did not need to see that over and over today. Even if the guy was an ass, he didn't deserve that sort of…gang justice or whatever. Maybe a slap upside the head, but nothing like the story Liz was telling or the images playing in my head like a film.
Sighing, I looked over at the time on Liz's car dash.
7:20 AM flashed in bright green.
"Shit!" I yipped as I opened the door and fell out of the car.
.x.x.x.x.x.
I ran through the hallway, rubbing my hip and muttering to myself. "Liz and her six minute fast clock. Who even does that?"
Shifting through the groups of people talking and giggling together in the morning, or just sitting on the floor against the wall, I tried to get to my locker without bumping into as many people as possible. I couldn't quite understand how all these people were completely awake already. Early AM and I was fine, but anything past 6:00 AM and before 9:30 AM was a hellish time for me. I just simply couldn't do it. All classes in that general time were a waste of effort and I mostly slept through them to be completely honest.
"Maybe I shouldn't have put my math class as my first hour on an 'A' day…" I mumbled, the words more than slightly unintelligible.
Finally making it to my locker, I shoved my backpack in and grabbed my Pre-Calculus textbook, notebook, writing binder, and graphing calculator, along with my perky neon green pencil case.
Slamming my locker door shut and sighing briefly, I mentally prepared myself for this special form of torture I was about to endure. I bit my lip, thinking, Maybe I could make an excuse to leave half way through as a sort of reward break if I stay awake? Nodding my head, I decided it was a decent enough plan and began my miserable trek to the math wing.
.x.x.x.x.x.
Kneading my left temple with two fingers, I couldn't help but be distracted in this class. I didn't understand a single piece of it and just kept staring at what Ms. Blanch was writing across her dim projector. Son of a biscuit I suck at math.
Sucking in a breath and puffing out my cheeks, I decided now was as good a time as any to escape the class quickly.
Quietly leaving my desk and taking the pass with a nod to Ms. Blanch, I made my way into the hall to escape the dizzying confusion of the classroom.
Walking briskly to the wing's bathroom, I took a hard turn into the bathroom and met a very firm wall of person.
"Oomff." I gasped, falling, once more, on my ass.
"Watch where you're walking, ya 'tard ball."
Grimacing, I glanced up to see who it was I had offended so badly. Lo' and behold, it was Tori Enright, the schools resident bitch, if not my grade's. I'm not exactly sure what her problem was, but the girl was rude to many and nice to few, very few. I'd only ever really seen her get along with Liz, though there were others whom she tolerated.
Cringing even more at the thought that I may have just moved to heard bad side, I tried to ignore the piercing glare of the taller female with short and spikey black hair.
Snorting at, no doubt, my submitting immediately and avoiding her gaze, she moved as if I wasn't even there and tossed back a "Dumb blonde" before she was out of my range of sight.
Letting myself fall all the way to the ground, I laid on the carpeted floor for a moment.
God this is going to be a looong day.
Jumping to my feet with a huff, I shuffled into the spotless cinderblock bathroom as quietly as I could manage.
Checking all of the stalls for feet, I went from one end of the six stall bathroom to the other. Satisfied that the bathroom was indeed empty, I went to the sinks and washed my hands quickly, thinking of the floor I had touched moments ago.
Searching for a paper towel dispenser that actually had paper towel, I gave up and came back to the sink after drying my hands on my jeans.
As I wiped my hands, I couldn't help but let my mind drift to the look on Tori's face. The brief moment before I smacked into her, her expression looked almost…worried. What could she possibly have to worry about? As far as I could tell, life seemed to be going decently. Yet, I knew, at least a small part of me did, that not everything was as it seemed. She could have troubles and just not wear them on her sleeve.
Smacking my forehead, I couldn't believe I had forgotten about the fight her brother had supposedly gotten into. Maybe she was worried about him? I wondered. Then again, she never seemed to show any interest in either of her brothers…
"Stop it, Chloe," I chided myself. "It's none of your business, so stop worrying."
Then, like any other girl would do, I examined my reflection in the mirror skeptically.
I was short. Maybe just over 5' 2 ½", and yes, that ½ counted oh so very much to me. It was aggravating at this height. I wasn't so short that I was considered cute, but not tall enough to be able to reach things without climbing or standing on my tippie toes, making it both useless and an inconvenience.
Then there was the fact that, well, for a seventeen year-old girl, I wasn't very curvy. Sure, I did indeed have curves, but with how I dressed, they were hardly noticeable. Perhaps I should work on that? I thought, with a glance at my dark skinny jeans and fuzzy black sweater that nearly passed my bottom.
Shaking my head I examined my face. The mascara and smidgen of eye-liner I had put on this morning were exact and did actually compliment my deep blue eyes. I would give myself that one benefit, I did have nice eyes, a special kind of blue that was both dark and light. The dark bruise marks around my eyes from lack of sleep, however, made them seem almost sunken in, like I might be sick. The fact that I was pale as all get-out didn't really help the situation either.
And finally, there was my hair. A few years back I had decided it would be a good idea to streak my strawberry blonde hair with bright blood red hair dye. It looked cool, it really did, for about two whole weeks, and then it started fading and my hair started growing and it simply looked awkward. At least that was gone now though, and all that was left was strawberry blonde that reached my middle back.
So I had decent eyes and decent, somewhat uncooperative, hair. Overall, I wouldn't classify myself as much to look at.
Steering my thoughts away from the road of "Will anybody ever like me?" boulevard, I glanced back at my eyes. I really needed to get some sleep. Soon.
Thinking quickly, I tried to think of any classes I could sleep in today without too much backfire, but came up with none. It was possible to take a quick nap in my next class, but nothing substantial was possible until after I was home and my homework finished.
Feeling defeated and much too tired for the day I had ahead of me, I turned around quickly headed back to my math class, knowing full well that less than a half hour was left before my next hour.
.x.x.x.x.x.
Author's Note:
Okey dokey! First full chapter out (my apologies for it being short, but I think it's somewhat necessary heh), and nearly in time for the release of Kelley's new book The Calling! I must say I am really excited to read it haha.
Anyway! Next chapter there will be a bit of Derek, so at least there's that!
And thank you very much xxlovelaughlivexx for the review!
To everyone else, Review if you would like, and/or if you would like there to be more, because the only way I know anyone actually likes to read this is if people review haha.