I have an extremely valid excuse for my long absence! My PC (yes, I still have a PC. It's a family PC too, but don't judge me) has had a mental breakdown that has stopped me from doing anything that involves the internet. Sorry! Of course, as you may have guessed, it's fixed now :)

3rd person POV

One week later…

Annie took a deep breath, trying to summon up some non-existent courage, before walking through the front doors. She hadn't even properly started High school and already it was way worse than she had imagined. How could she have gone from being the oldest in the school to the youngest in a few short months? Already she was getting stares from the older students. Oh look, there's one of the newbies…

'Hi, are you looking for your classroom?' A voice behind her said.

Annie turned around. A tall, skinny girl with light brown, curly hair and freckles was looking at her.

'Um, yeah.' Annie said, blinking at the girl's confidence.

'You're in my class.' The girl said, pointing at the top of Annie's timetable, were her name and class were written across the top.

'I'm Daisy.' The girl said as she walked down the hall, followed by Annie. 'You're Annie right?'

No, it only says that at the top of my timetable.

'Yeah.' Annie muttered, wondering if everyone was going to be as confident as this girl.

***

Joey was completely lost. She looked down at the timetable, biting her lip. The timetable said her form classroom was 13B. She still hadn't found that classroom.

'Hey, you need some help?' A voice that sounded like it was made from wind chimes said behind her.

Joey turned around, and swallowed a gasp with difficulty.

The most beautiful girl she had ever seen was standing in front of her, one hand on her hip. She was tall and slender, with pale skin, the colour of cream, and bright red hair, the colour of roses. Her eyes were a light brown colour, but when Joey moved her head slightly, her could have sworn she saw a flash of red.

'Uh, yeah.' She said, finding her voice at last. 'I'm looking for 13B?'

'Oh, I know where that is. I've been here a year already.' The girl said, turning and walking gracefully down the corridor.

'What's your name?' The girl said conversationally. Joey turned around.

'I'm talking to you, silly!' The girl said, laughing.

'Oh. Um, Joey.' Joey said, blushing.

'Joey. That short for anything?'

'Yes.'

There was a pause, and then the girl laughed again.

'Okay, go to the last room in this corridor, and that should be 13B.' The girl said, pointing down the corridor.

'Right. Thanks.' Joey said, smiling.

'When's your lunch?' The girl said suddenly.

Joey looked at her blankly. She sighed.

'Your lunch! What time is it at?'

'Oh, oh, right!' Joey looked down at her timetable, feeling like an idiot. 'One.'

'Well, meet me outside the library at that time.' The girl said. 'You know where that is, don't you?'

Joey nodded. 'But…why?'

The girl smiled and rolled her eyes. 'Because we're friends now, right?'

Joey blinked. This girl was older than her. She probably had tons of friends already. Why did she think Joey was so interesting?

Whatever, she wasn't complaining.

'Okay, sure.' Joey said, nodding but trying not to look desperate. The girl started walking away.

'Hey!' Joey yelled.

The girl turned around, eyebrows raised.

'What's your name?' Joey said.

'Myra.' The girl smiled, showing pearl white teeth. 'Myra Stuart.'

***

Emma POV

I could see Joey through a gap in the crowds. She was walking behind a tall, pale girl with red hair. Just then, Joey spotted me. I waved and she waved back shyly. The girl in front of her turned around and spotted me. She bent closer to Joey and muttered something in her ear. Then she scowled, grabbed Joey's arm and pulled her away.

I blinked, puzzled by this sudden surge of unfriendliness.

'Hey.' A voice behind me said.

I turned around. A girl who I recognised from my calculus class was in front of me.

'I'm Ebonie.' She said. 'You're Emma, right?' Then without waiting for an answer, she said, 'Who's that girl you waved at?'

'That's Joey.' I said, thinking that Ebonie couldn't be a worse name for someone with blonde hair and light blue eyes.

'Is she friends with that Myra girl?'

'The one with the red hair?' I asked.

'Yeah.'

'I don't know. Why?'

'Well,' Ebonie said, lowering her voice, 'My sister Kamilla is in her class. Apparently there're some weird rumours about her.'

'Like what?' I asked, interested.

'Well, she's been to over ten High schools. And apparently, every girl she's ever been friends with has disappeared. Last year, she was friends with a girl called Lluvy Bones. She didn't make it to the summer term.'

I simply stared at Ebonie.

'And at her last school, two of her friends disappeared.' Ebonie whispered. 'They never found any trace of them.'

I swallowed. Those words brought back too many memories of my mom.

'But, there're just rumours, aren't they?' I said. 'Just people making stuff up.'

Ebonie shrugged. 'Even so, just tell your friend to be careful' And then she walked away.

I knew what Joey was like. If I told her the rumours, she'd tell me to butt out and mind my own business. I looked at the spot where Myra had been standing. What was the next rumour going to be? "Myra eats newborn puppies"? There was no way any of the rumours were true.

Was there?

I'm pretty sure that chapter was better than the first one.

R&R

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