Chapter 1-The beginning

The bright light of the spring sun hit my face. I didn't even need to turn over to know what time it was. The birds chirping, the sun shining, and even my inner clock told me it was 7 a.m. I rose and turned to my clock, of course I was right. I jumped up, grabbed my hair brush and began to tame the rats' nest that was my bed head. As I stood in front of my mirror brushing my hair I got a clear look at myself. My long black hair with baby blue streaks, my long angular face, my dark blue eyes; the very few qualities I was actually comfortable with on me. But with all good qualities comes some bad, I was taller than most other girls my age… not such a bad thing if you wanted to be a model, but I couldn't, seeing as I wasn't just skinny like them, I was muscular. Soccer had made me stronger but it had also made me look less appealing. I let out a sigh, once my hair was finally presentable and throwing on my signature hoodie and jeans, it wasn't that I didn't have nice clothes or anything, it just made more sense for me to wear a hoodie that to try girly clothes since I was always playing soccer it seemed. And it wasn't like I need to impress anyone else. I grabbed my backpack and my soccer bag and leaped down the steps to the main floor. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted to my nose making my mouth water subconsciously. My feet dragged me into the kitchen, where Clara had set out a masterpiece yet again for my consumption. I ate slowly, not use to getting such service, at my mom's house I had to cook everyday to get food; here I never lifted a finger for anything. I guess that is what comes of having a rich dad. My dad is some type of doctor, I can never be bothered to remember which one seeing as I for one never see him and for two what's the point?

After breakfast I swiped a muffin and an apple and headed out the door. Roger, my driver for when I was at Dad's; had already gotten my bags in and boy do I always feel guilty when he has to take them to the car. My soccer bag isn't that bad on its own; just my pads, shoes, a ball, and a couple of water bottles. But my backpack was a back killer. All my teachers, after finding out I was actually smarter than the average 10th grader had started giving me advanced work. I had college text books for math and science and then I had the normal books in ever subject. I had already finished most of my diploma exams, so school just seemed like a waste to go to now; and even with those all done and my classes in everything but 12th grade English aced, my teachers came up and gave me homework in my spares. I was so confused when it started, I wasn't really suppose to have spares since I was only in grade ten but after I passed the main courses in less than a month they didn't have much of a choice, but somehow my teachers weren't satisfied. So now I got close to a four hour homework load each day, which surprisingly only took me an hour to do. Time never seemed to be a problem for me.

With a jump I was out of the big black SUV. Roger handed me my bags and as usual I waved him off. I turned around and looked up at my school; it was a large old fashion modeled private school, you know the ones all the rich kids are sent to. Mom had wanted my closer to home, dad had wanted me at a high end school; and they both got their wish, I was close to Moms house and it was a higher end school, not the finest but like I cared, as long as they don't bicker. I trotted up the walkway to the student door and found my friends immediately.

"Hey Raine," Lyn yelled and waved my way, the first to notice me out the duo.

"Hey what do you have today?" Nicole asked, no one really ever got my schedule because it was so messed up with the different grade level classes I attended.

I looked down at Nicole; she was pretty tall, but she could never compare to me. She had long brown locks and nice green and hazel eyes. She had the kind of homely sense that attracted the "nice" boys to her. Lyn was shorter, with sandy blond hair up in pig tails and glasses always falling down her nose, she was the typical school girl type. Especially since she almost always looked like her outfits were Cosplay of a school girl and her cheeks blushed with ease.

"Ummmm… I got English, Art and computers I think." I bit my lip; of course even if I looked at my schedule for hours it did me no good to memorize it. I was always moves around week to week, constantly the new kid in classes, even though those classes were quite small since it was a private school, my school didn't really know what to do with me since I was pretty smart.

"Hey I hear there's no practice today."Lyn smiled up at me. I made an inward sigh, normally when I didn't have practice all the girls would come over and hang out at my dad's house. I never really understood the logic, weren't they all rich too? But for some reason it always ended up at my dad's house, maybe it was because he was never around, or Clara's home cooking and the heated pool.

"So?" Nicole asked, her face showing that she knew that I knew what came next.

"Yah okay fine. It's not like I will have homework." I sighed; sometimes having friends could be such a pain. I leaned back against the wall as we all stood silently for a minute outside the door. A honk broke my serene shield of the world, making me wish I hadn't been outside. Of course the honk had come from the huge limo carrying the Bitch herself; Samantha Baine. She made it almost a red carpet event when she came to school; one day I just knew she would hire people to whip out cameras and take her picture. I snorted and turned over to my friends raising an eyebrow it wasn't like many people were even outside today, was it just me or did a lot of the stuck up pretty girls all look the same? Long hair, doesn't really matter the color but of course it is "all natural" they have an oh-so perfect tan, and their faces look like they just ran into a tub of Botox needles; their faces would probably crack if they ever showed genuine emotions. Samantha was probably the poster child for all the aspiring teen models; long blond wavy hair, full pouty lips, skinny, last but not least a size two and tall (not as tall as me though). I knew I had trouble as soon as she walked towards the door, almost like how horses know when a storms coming. My instincts yelled at me to just leave and avoid any confrontation but my brain over powered it with an argument of "What can she do to you?"

I stood my ground and frowned at by friends, slumping lower into myself to give Samantha an idea of the "I don't even need to try" attitude I had picked up throughout my days in this school. As fast as; well let's face it, a sloth, Samantha slammed me into the wall and waltzed on in her graceful model strut.

"Looks like you got someone mad." Estelle purred as she turned the corner. She flicked the remainder of her cigarette butt to the ground and stepped on it with the tip of her glass platforms. She never got in trouble for smoking on the school property since her family owned the school. She ruffled her short bleached blond/white hair and showed me the black tips she probably had just put in.

"Your hair is seriously going to fall out one day." Lyn blushed and clutched her book bag closer into her, Estelle always seemed to make her nervous. It could be the gray piercing eyes encircled by purple rings and black eye liner. Or it could be how she acts and dresses, Estelle was always easy to spot in a crowd to say it kindly, from the ring of smoke that followed her to the huge fur coats and miniskirts she always wore.

"Whatever Shorty." Estelle rolled her eyes and looked at me. "Of course that couldn't have ruffled your skin princess, but what did you do to piss off that dog?" I shrugged and pushed myself off the wall,

"Probably something went wrong with Noah and she's taking it out on the first person she can lock gazes with and doesn't run away in terror or is pissing their pants." Noah was in the same grade as Samantha, both of them senior, and both of them the king and queen of looks at the school. His hair was a beautiful golden blond and his eyes so blue it made all the girls swoon; not to mention he was a football player and good with grades and of course there was the fact he was incredibly rich, the ladies hearts didn't have a chance.

"Well good for you, stick it the man…. Okay fine WOMAN, you all know you were thinking it." Estelle smiled and waved her hand at the door. I pulled my cell out from my bag and realized that we were going to miss homeroom if we didn't go in now. I let out a sigh and waved off Lyn and Estelle, getting rid of my soccer bag came before talking gossip. I smiled over at Nicole, a knowing smile showed on her face; of course we ran as fast as we could to the gym to through our stuff into the store room our team used.

"I win again." I smiled when I reached the door first and pat her on the head. Knowing she hated that, I jumped away and ran off to my homeroom smiling all the way. Homeroom always seemed like a waste of time for me; all the teachers did was attendance before we left for an actual class, was it so tricky for the first period teacher to do it? I took my usual seat in the back corner, Lyn was beside me, she was biting her nails as she studied for a math test she would have in second period, she always worried even though she would ace it for sure. Estelle was in the front, flipping her lighter in her finger tips and smiling at all the boys, while Nicole jogged in as the bell rang and flopped down in the exactly middle seat and promptly began her cat nap. It wasn't like my friends were freaks or anything but I have to say they need hobbies. Estelle had a good point, one good point… she was a drummer in her band Black Tempus. She had somehow roped me into it the few weeks of school and made me the backup singer and base guitarist. We weren't the worst band out there but suddenly Estelle had come up with the idea that we needed to go on tour.

I sighed and waited for the teacher; Higgins was always late. She blasted into the room soon after that, apologizing and then called out names. Freed from my prison when the bell finally rang, I dashed from the room "Off to class" I muttered dishearteningly.

My day passed with little of interest, Art was art, and what else can I say about it, we all just drew pretty pictures and such, some had depth others didn't. Computers I nearly deleted everyone's projects…. I was probably the last person who should be in that class seeing as I could probably blow up a T.V. just by trying to turn it on. One day Mr. Williams was going to kick me out of class; even through all I went through in class I was amazingly passing… Barely, I was guessing he would give me a fake high mark just to get me out before more damage was done to his precious computers. And then came English. I had been forced into English 30; a grade 12 class for a grade 10 to take…oh it was so much fun. I sit in the back yet in just about every class but in this one it was a nice way to stay away from the other seniors. Even if I am at least as tall as them (one whole person was taller, it made me smile each time I entered class), but still just because of my height doesn't mean they don't intimidate me. But anyways, I sat in the back, my head on top of the novel we were "suppose" to be reading, staring blankly out the window. Outside under the large oak tree a form sat, it was that of a man. His figure was nearly concealed in the shade the tree made, but I could see his golden locks. He was a larger guy, all muscles like a football play, maybe he was one I reasoned it's not like football players were really ever portrayed as people who wouldn't skip class. I shifted my eyes over to the only empty seat in class; Noah Davis? I didn't know him or anything personally, but everyone knew he was king of the school. I gazed at him for a bit, until he shifted and looked up right to where I sat. I quickly looked away, embarrassed for staring. At that point normal girls would probably blush and sneak back glances, but I wasn't exactly like all the other girls, to put it simply I could be put under a classification of a freak of nature. So I just yawned and looked at my teacher droopy eyed, hiding my embarrassment quiet well if I do say so myself. Miss Howard didn't seem to like my lack of interest in her class and gave me a glare.

"Raine, what made the protagonist act as he did?" She smirked at me; I am guessing I wasn't her favorite student. I blinked slowly and yawned again, earning some giggles from the girls on the other side of the room. I mumbled the answer, I figured since Miss Howard wasn't a dinosaur like some teachers she could hear it, and I promptly shifted my head to the side on my book and looked away from her. I am pretty sure if Miss Howard had a meter stick ruler at that point she would have either snapped it in frustration at me or attacked me with it. Neither of which happened luckily seeing as there were none in the room, she would need to go to the art room to get one. She huffed and gave up on the apparent lost cause I was and went on to another student to discuss the book with. I grinned to myself while no one was looking; she had been too annoyed with me to realize that I had the answer completely right.

Lyn, Nicole and amazingly enough Estelle were all waiting for me after school. Lyn and Nicole were deep in conversation and Estelle was taking a long drag of her cigarette when I jogged up behind them.

"Hey" I smiled.

Estelle flicked the remnants of her smoke to the ground and crushed it.

"So I hear we are heading to your place for a swim." She yawned and looked over her shoulder, noticing her ride she smiled "Meet you there" and was gone. I shook my head, why did this always happen? Roger pulled up in front of the three of us remaining and I signaled them to hop in. Hey if my house was going to be bombarded by my friends we might as well go together, don't want to waste too much gas. I laid back my head against the soft embrace of the leather.

"Raine Raine! Did anything big happen today? Because Sam was in a bad mood all day and she kept giving you glares as you walked by!" Lyn bobbed excitedly.

"Nothing really worth talking about," I mumbled. That seemed to crush her mood, but only slightly, for the duration of the ride Lyn continued to talk to Nicole as if she were animated. I sat on, not really having a care one way or another at this point. Something in the back of my mind was nagging me and it was like an itch I couldn't scratch, at least not with everyone around. Closing my eyes I ran through the depths of my mind, trying to place it, and figure out what had uprooted such a pain in my already pain stricken day. The chatter in the background seized to reach my ears in the depth of my mind. Words flew through the gentle pathway I stood on within, all recorded by my very soul since the day had begun. But nothing of the sort would be the source of the irritating thought that would not show itself. My eyes opened as the SUV pulled into the large driveway that was the current place I was to call "home". Blinking slowly I looked over at the two other girls to see if they had noticed the lack thereof of me in the car. But their breezy chatter continued to radiate, letting me off with just a sigh of the simplicity of life. I nodded my head at them telling them to go on ahead while I put stuff away and changed.

"Its not like they don't know where it is by now." I muttered disheartened as I trudged up the stairs to change. The girls always kept a pair of bathing suits in my laundry room for days like today. In my room, I stripped of my clothes while I rummaged around for my bikini. Just as I found it, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I swung around, ready to punch whoever decided to walk in while I was changing to meet… nothing. The room was completely empty. I signed, inwardly laughing at my paranoia, and finished dressing. As I left the room I looked back one last time just to be sure. Letting myself relax, I ran off to find Nicole, Lyn and possibly even Estelle if she wasn't late like usual.

The pools angry thrum was very relaxing, as I lay on the water bed in the center of the pool. Lyn and Nicole were playing some game or something far away from me, so I only heard disembodied noises. Estelle had made her appearance not to long after we got in, a personal record for her being relatively on time. And now she sat on the diving board dangling her feet and peering off into space, she was a zombie with her soul in another world at this point. But Estelle did that sometimes, no one really ever bothered to ask her why, we just all knew to leave her alone. Because she wasn't the nicest person to bother when they were thinking. If you didn't get that imagine going up to someone who looks like they have major issues and trying to talk to them. Wouldn't you be worried you'd get stabbed or something? Well in Estelle's case she would probably pull out a bazooka and fire it at your head. Well maybe that was over stating it but she would probably pummel the poor soul until someone pulled her off and gave her a cigarette. Thinking about it all just made me smile, I never really knew how we became friends, since we were the oddest people to be hanging together but we had somewhere in the beginning of the year just kind of ended up together. Estelle, Lyn and me that is, Nicole I had met at soccer tryouts a while back and we had become friends. Nicole and Lyn had hit it off the first day I had them together and from there on it was Nicole and Lyn; and Estelle and me. I shifted in the water bed and looked up at my house. It was huge, well duh, doctor plus money plus child needing housing ever second week equals big house. There we probably even hidden rooms in there that we had never found. Whenever I got bored when I was younger I would go around the house and try to figure out places a hidden room could go. Or an emergency escape exit, like if a serial killer got in and I needed to get away fast. So far I had found nothing, but I blamed Clara for that, every time I thought I found something she would need me to do something or find me and get me to go outside and play. Even though I was 16 now I still wished I could find adventure in my own house. Not that I would ever admit it if someone asked. My thinking getting out of hand I sat up and fixed my hair that was in my face. Looking around I saw what looked like a freeze frame. Estelle hadn't really moved so it wasn't a big surprise that I wasn't fazed by that. But as I looked over I saw Nicole and Lyn looked as if they were frozen mid-speech and the some of the water around them that had been recently been thrown around was stuck. I tried to move my water bed over towards them to get a closer look but it was as if it was cemented into the water. I leaned down from my perch to said water and found it was as if it was a rock. Of course this is the part most would start freaking out, not saying I didn't, but I didn't do the lame girl thing like screaming. I did the lame Raine thing and bugged out my eyes, jumped onto the solid concrete and started off a line of cusses. Then I felt it. The same eerie prickling of the back of my neck; but this time it was a bit different. Because this time when I turned around and looked up to where I felt it coming from I saw something. It wasn't clear to me at this point but somehow I knew what I had just seen was real. I saw the dark outline of a tall man looking down at me from the upstairs hall window. But when I went to shade my eyes from the sun to see better; there was nothing there. And the noise that I hadn't notice had been missing returned, with the chatter of my friends.

So I decided to finish this up today since I was home today, I felt like writing and of course since I felt guilty since i never put the first chapter :D So please tell me what you think if you read, yet again no clue when chapter two's coming out. And since I was to lazy to edit this if you find errors ummm tell me? Thanks for reading