A New Shade of Pink

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: First Day of School

The sun was bright and beautiful, shining down upon Reefside High as Liz climbed out of her car, locking it behind her as she walked towards the school, her bag hoisted onto her shoulder as she walked through the campus towards the building, her nerves already on end as she headed through the hallways, searching for the office.

When she finally located it, she pushed open the door and entered the quiet office with trepidation, walking hesitantly over to the desk as the secretary was on the phone.

Waiting patiently for the secretary to finish, Liz felt someone watching her and glanced around to see a tall, dark haired woman in the door to the principal's office. Something about her seemed familiar to Liz and it sent cold chills down her spine, but she shook her head, turning back to the secretary as she hung up, looking brightly up at Liz.

"Hello, what can I do for you, honey?" she asked in a chirpy, high-pitched voice. Liz pulled her transcripts out of her bag, handing them over to the secretary.

"My name's Liz Summers, I'm supposed to start here today," she explained. The secretary pulled the transcripts towards her before going through them, checking everything to make sure that it was up to date and asking Liz a few questions about her classes to make up a schedule.

Liz answered them as best she could, putting on her best smile. Her aunt had only agreed to let her come here to stop that lady and those creatures if she continued to go to school and keep her grades up. Aunt Kimberly technically had custody of her, but she was in Florida, training the next gymnastics team for the Olympics, so Liz lived in a small apartment by herself.

Once the secretary finished filling out a schedule for her, she handed it to Liz, along with a locker number and a brilliant smile for the new student. "All right, I think we're all set," she said. "Welcome to Reefside, Miss Summers."

"Thanks," Liz said with a small smile as she hoisted her bag higher up onto her shoulder and headed out of the office, looking down at the locker number before she turned her attention to the gold letters on the lockers, trying to find hers.

When she finally located it, Liz opened it up, pushing her lunch into it and taped a few pictures to the inside of it. One of her, her dad, and Sam outside of their house back home and the other was a picture of her, Aunt Kimberly, and Uncle Jason on the couch of a long past Christmas. Her heart ached at the sight of her brother and father, but closed it as she lifted her bag up onto her shoulder again and began searching for her first class, which was science.

Great, science first thing in the morning. This should be a piece of cake, she thought miserably.

Science had never exactly been one of her best subjects and having it first thing in the morning wasn't exactly thrilling. Liz made a mental note to drink lots and lots of coffee before she came to school each morning, to wake her up in time for science.

The bell rang and she mentally chided herself, checking the numbers on the door until she realised that she was completely turned around and headed in the opposite direction, finally managing to find the right number and pushed open the door just as the teacher was taking attendance.

The second that she opened the door, every head snapped in her direction and the teacher looked around at her, his face paling when he saw her. He looked like he saw a ghost.

"Uh . . . is . . . is this first-period science?" she asked weakly. The teacher shook his head to clear it and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, it is," he said. "You must be Miss Summers. I'm Dr. Oliver." He still looked shaken, she noticed, frowning slightly. What was the big deal? she wondered. "There's a seat for you in the back. Here's your book."

Liz took the book, thanking him with a small smile as she made her way to the back, well aware of how every single person was looking at her as she made her way to the only free seat, right in the very back.

That was fine. This was better. In the back meant being unnoticed by all of the watchful eyes. At least in theory.

Thankfully, the door opened again, pulling everyone's attention away from the new girl, who glanced up at the interruption and saw three students enter the class, obviously having run here.

One was an African American boy dressed in a blue, with a quirky smile and there was something of intelligence in his dark eyes as he headed into the room with the two others.

The second one was a blonde girl who dark eyes and dressed in yellow. Judging from the music stuff on her bag, Liz guessed that she was into music, maybe even a singer.

And then there was him.

He stood taller than the other two, much taller than Liz, dressed in blue jeans and a red shirt with brown hair that swept into his face and into his brown eyes, which shifted towards Liz as he felt her gaze and she blushed, averting her gaze from him as she determinedly stared down at her notebook, determined not to look back up until the lesson had started.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about him, about all of them, that connected her to them. And she realised that her pocket was humming.

The pocket that currently held the pink gem that she had found in the forest.

Liz frowned as she realised this, glancing towards the three students quickly before looking away as she realised that the red guy was still looking at her curiously.

"Sorry we're late, Dr. O," the blue guy said apologetically. "There were some . . . problems this morning."

Dr. Oliver nodded once. "It's all right, just take your seats, Ethan," he instructed. The three students moved into the class, taking their assigned seats as he started the lesson. Liz opened her book to the right page, but she couldn't keep her mind on the lesson as she glanced at the red boy, unable to resist the urge to look at him.

But what surprised her was that he was looking back at her too, his brown eyes firmly attached onto her. He grinned cockily at her and mouthed, "I'm Conner."

"Liz," she mouthed back. He grinned as Dr. Oliver interrupted them and was forced to turn back around to pay attention to the lesson, but Liz could still feel his gaze flickering towards her every once in awhile. And somehow, that thought pleased her.

--

Everywhere that she went that day, Liz saw the red guy—Conner—along with his friends. She could feel him looking at her, but couldn't force herself to go talk to him. Her insides squirmed and her heart beat very fast just by looking at him; she didn't want to chance talking to him.

Besides, the last guy who made her feel like this had humiliated her in front of the entire football team. And this time, Sam wasn't here to have her back. She was alone now.

Liz walked through the hallways, trying to keep to herself, but Reefside was a small city and she was the new girl. Everyone, it seemed, kept looking at her, as though she were the most interesting thing that happened lately. One girl named Cassidy even tried to get an interview with her.

During lunch break, Liz grabbed her lunch out of her locker and headed out to the courtyard, quickly slipping through the crowds and heading to an empty table, claiming it quickly as she opened up her lunch, eating it quietly as she pulled out a book, turning it to the right page as she began reading.

There was a forty-minute break for lunch, so Liz ate as fast as she could before making a quick exit for the gymnasium, knowing that it was going to be empty right now.

Changing quickly into her gym clothes, Liz out into the gym, taking a fighting stance and moving into the position that Jason had showed her.

Her body moved on its own, already knowing what position it was going to take next before the first one was performed, keeping herself alert to everything that was happening around her. Liz spun and kicked in every direction, her breathing soft and even as she sensed someone coming up from behind her.

Immediately, she launched into a spinning kick, knocking the guy who was coming up behind her to the ground. Thankfully, they were on the mats, so there wasn't much damage, but he still grunted when he landed and Liz swore under her breath.

"Oh, jeez, I am so sorry," she said, running to help him up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, looking up. Liz took a sharp breath when she saw that it was Conner. But she shook her head to clear it, offering her hand and as he took it, Liz felt a strange, electric feeling go through her that only disappeared when he released her hand. "Yeah, don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I can go get the nurse," Liz said anxiously, but he shook his head.

"No, I'm fine, not even a bruise," he told her. Liz nodded as she took a step back.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," she told him. "Not when they're practicing karate. You could get hurt."

"Yeah, I, uh . . . I got that," Conner said with a grin. Liz felt a small smile escape from her as she looked down, folding her arms across her chest as she looked back up at him. "You're Liz Summers, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm Conner McKnight," he said, offering her his hand. Liz hesitated, but accepted it as he shook it.

"I know," she answered. "We've got Science together."

"And History and English," he reminded her. Liz smiled as she looked down. "So, what brings you to Reefside?" he asked.

That was all that it took for her smile to slip and she looked away. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about that," she said quietly. The pain of seeing her father and Sam murdered right in front of her was still too raw, too fresh, too new.

"I'm sorry," Conner said awkwardly. Liz didn't answer, just kept her gaze firmly fixed on the mats. "Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"Karate?" Liz asked, looking back up at him. "My uncle taught me. Well, my aunt some too, but mostly my uncle. Well, he's not exactly my uncle. He and my aunt have been best friends since they were toddlers and they grew up together, so they pretty much call each other brother and sister, so somehow, I just got into the habit of calling him my uncle and . . ." Liz trailed off as Conner started grinning. "I'm babbling."

"No, that's okay. Babbling's cool," Conner said, but he was chuckling. Liz shook her head. "Plus, you hit pretty hard, for a girl."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Liz asked, giving him a look. "You think that girls can't fight?"

"No, I didn't mean that, girls can fight, it's just that . . ." Conner stopped talking when he saw Liz's smile and he frowned. "Is this one of those 'quit while you're ahead' things?"

"Nope. This is a 'quit while you're behind' things."

Conner grinned and she smiled back, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear from where it had fallen out of her ponytail. "So, how are you liking Reefside so far?" he asked as Liz walked over to where her stuff was lying, taking a drink from her water bottle.

Liz shrugged, climbing up onto the bleachers. "It's no so bad," she admitted. "I mean, everybody's been . . . friendly, I guess." She shook her head. "I don't know. It's not that they've been mean or anything, it's just that . . . they're putting me on this pedestal. No matter where I go, it seems like I'm the centre of attention."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Conner agreed.

"You seem like you'd enjoy it, though," Liz pointed out. "I don't want to be the centre of attention. I just want them to back off. It's hard enough trying to get used to a new school without everybody with their eyes on you every hour of the day, as though they're expecting me to fall flat on my feet at any given second." She shook her head, her thoughts turning to when she had first seen him and the look that Dr. Oliver had given her. "So . . . do you know Dr. Oliver at all?"

Conner shrugged. "Sure."

"Well, you wouldn't happen to know why he gave me that weird look this morning, would you?" Liz asked. Conner frowned and she explained. "Sorry, you weren't there. I forgot. When he saw me, I don't know, it was like . . . like he saw a ghost or something."

Shaking his head, Conner said, "I don't know. He doesn't exactly share his personal life with his students." Liz nodded, but was still perturbed about it as the bell rang.

"Shoot," Liz muttered, looking down at her clothes. "And I still have to get changed."

"I'll wait for you," Conner offered.

"That's nice of you, but I don't want you to be late," Liz said, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. I'll be all right." Conner hesitated, but nodded slowly, heading out of the gym, but glanced back at her as he paused briefly at the door.

Liz hurried into the locker room to swiftly change, dressing quickly into her regular outfit before grabbing her backpack and racing out the door, hoping that she would make it to her next class without being late.

Unfortunately, this attempt was futile, but the teacher was nice enough to understand that, being a new student, she hadn't exactly figured out where the rooms were at. Liz didn't bother to correct him.

It felt like forever until the last class let out and she headed towards her car to drive back to her apartment. Conner was standing near his two friends, but caught her looking at him and grinned at her, waving to her.

Blushing, Liz gave a small wave back before she climbed into her car, tossing her bag into the passenger seat, well aware that her heart was beating faster than usual as she pulled her way into traffic.