My name's Annabel Magnett. That's about all you need to know about me. I won't tell you when I was born, or where I live, or what school I attend. If I do, they'll find me and my friends. And if they do, all hope is lost. They won't kill us, oh no… But I should probably get back to the beginning. I will always remember the day everything started. It was a beautiful spring day. None of us could have foreseen that we would all end up in detention. Mrs. Seymour had kind of gone mad, and her mood had just gotten worse with each passing hour – or, more specifically, with each of our blunders.

Abiona Airey had been first. She's a strong and witty girl who doesn't mince her words. She's not exactly a big-mouth – rather, she waits for the right time, like a lurking snake watching its prey, and spits her venom, often a mere few words, but sharp and accurate. She's not necessarily hostile either, but the bottom line is, you don't want to mess with Abiona Airey unless you're ready to face the shaming of a lifetime. That day, we had been studying colonialism and Mrs. Seymour had said something vaguely racist I can't quite recall – but since Abiona is black, it had really pissed her, and she had come up with a very unkind, though clever comment, not something you should say to a teacher, anyways. As far as I can remember, she had pretty much overreacted, but on the other hand, Mrs. Seymour could have tried and cool things down. Abiona had remained calm at her sentence, but you could practically feel her cold anger stir inside her.

Next had been Phoebe Burns. This slender, fashionable girl with blonde hair and clear blue eyes and a smooth, pale skin, was the popular type – quite the kind who could make the front cover of Shout Magazine. She was a proud person and would never drop an argument, especially against a boy. So when some guy had made a joke implying that the more girls care about their appearance, the less brains they have, she instantly flew off the handle and they had a heated quarrel that Mrs. Seymour found herself unable to settle. When she asked Phoebe to cut it, she would not just lay low and let the storm pass over. Instead she couldn't help but brag about how there was no way such macho words should go unpunished. All it earned her was an hour of detention, while the boy got off lightly. Phoebe had cloaked herself in her dignity, haughtily ignoring the muffled laughs around her.

From there, everything had just seemed to go down the drain. Lynn Rivers had been caught exchanging notes with her neighbor, and the sanction had been instantaneous. Though I suppose she deserved it, I couldn't help but feel bad about it because I'd always appreciated her. She was gentle and kind, you know, the girl that would always find something nice to say when you feel down. She exuded peace and harmony in every way. With her brown hair dressed in a simple ponytail and her deep, dark blue eyes, she looked neither plain nor sophisticated. Actually, while Phoebe was stylish, Lynn was merely beautiful. I couldn't imagine a single outfit or haircut or whatever feature that she would not be able to wear elegantly. Somehow, she was not only beautiful herself, but she would make anything she would touch beautiful as well.

Even the class's swot, Sophie Bloom, got detention from giving an irrelevant answer when questioned. I guess she was merely distracted, but our peeved teacher clearly felt offended with her attitude. Though that girl isn't exactly the kind of company I would keep, I also felt kind of sorry since she always works so hard. With her braided fair hair and green eyes hiding behind a pair of glasses, she just looked like the typical model student. She was often made fun of by other pupils who were supposedly jealous of how successful she was with school – besides, she was pretty plump, not to the point where it was ugly, but I think she's always had a complex about it.

And finally, I, Annabel Magnett. I had failed to show my homework for the simple reason that I hadn't done it in the first place – so I'd deserved my punishment, like Lynn had. I was never the studious type, though I usually managed to get away with it. I don't know why that was exactly. Perhaps because I was a quiet girl and there was scarcely any reasons for the teachers to hear about me – or maybe that was just Mr. Chambers, our PE teacher, who would stand up for me in the unlikely event I should run into trouble. My proficiency at gymnastics served me well for that matter. He would always tell me that I was gifted, that I should go professional and even aim for the Olympics. To be honest, I wasn't sure there was anything so exceptional about myself. I could sure see that most of my classmates had a hard time, or were otherwise plainly unable to do stuff that came naturally to me – but, that's the point, if just felt so natural. They would often say that I looked down on them, that how I would act so cool showed how much contempt I felt towards them – but the truth is, I didn't feel any exceptional at all. Just a regular teenager, with a teenager's mind, and a teenager's dreams, and a teenager's concerns. I guess when people think highly of someone, they expect them to brag a bit. More like Phoebe, who acts like she's a special person, because she genuinely thinks of herself as a special person. So much for trying to blend in.

Anyways, however they would speak of me, they all seemed to agree on this – I could do virtually anything with my body. And I liked it, this sensation of freedom, just knowing that no one could stop me from moving exactly the way I wished to. I loved to throw myself in the air with confidence, oblivious to the fear of getting hurt that pinned so many people down to the ground. I loved to play with gravity, just the same way others would play with a ball or with water. It was not just about pushing myself, it was like having a secret friend – a mysterious force everyone felt, but which spoke only to me. 'Watch out, Annabel, I'm going to pull you down right now. – It's okay, I'm ready for you, carry on.' My dad used to call me his 'little monkey', which he had stopped to do seeing as how some girls were getting giggles from it. But as far as I was concerned, I didn't really mind – after all, a monkey was exactly what I was. I didn't think of it as a demeaning comparison, on the contrary. Monkeys are smart and skilful, and people make fun of them whereas they can hardly do a tenth of what monkeys can. Story of my life.

So, the five of us were detained when the day was over, and there was a heavy atmosphere filled with annoyance in the classroom. Abiona seemed determined to boycott the English test Mrs. Seymour had given us, while Phoebe was muttering to herself in cold anger. Sophie was quiet but I was pretty sure that deep down she felt very ashamed to be here, undoubtedly for the first time. Only Lynn looked more or less relaxed. As for myself, I was just daydreaming, waiting for the detention to pass by, satisfied with the few answers I had written down. I knew that wouldn't be enough for Mrs. Seymour, but I was kinda hoping the other girls would give her better reasons to get angry about. Also, it seemed like she was annoyed to watch over the pupils she had detained herself. Thus, none of us was surprised when she left the classroom, saying she would be back in a few minutes.

As soon as she got away, Lynn came to sit next to me.

'Any luck with the test?', she asked with a smile.

I shrugged.

'Oh, I dropped it. What about you?'

'I'm stuck here and there... I wouldn't mind some help.'

'Why don't you ask Sophie?'

'I don't think she would approve of someone trying to cheat.'

I gave a quick glance at Sophie. She blushed and faced away.

'Plus, that might encourage you to fill in your own sheet, don't you think?'

That was very much like Lynn – always looking for win-win situations. I nodded and made some room on the table so that she could put her stuff down. We spent a few minutes working together and we were almost done when Abiona suddenly stood up and headed for the door.

'What are you doing?' Sophie called out with an anxious voice.

'I need some fresh air. I'm gonna go outside.'

Phoebe stood up as well.

'I need to talk to Mrs. Seymour. I'm going with you.'

Lynn turned to me.

'They're going to get us all in trouble. Let's get them back.'

I nodded.

'Right. I'm coming with you.'

'I'm staying here. Hey! Did you hear me?' Sophie called from behind us, and soon she was on our heels too.

We strode along the corridors, following one after another. It was pretty funny, how each of us would offer the other an excuse to ditch detention in good faith. But I think that deep down, we were starting to feel something was going wrong around here. At that point, the only thing we could notice was how empty and silent the school seemed. We passed by the teacher's lounge, only to find there was nobody there.

'Well', Abiona sighed, 'you girls do as you please, I'm definitely out of here.'

'Maybe she got back to the classroom while we were away?' Sophie suggested.

We reluctantly made our way back to the classroom. We had to get our stuff before going, anyways. But we were relieved to find our teacher hadn't come back in the meantime.

'I must still see her', Phoebe insisted. 'I'm not just running away like a burglar.'

'Suit yourself', Abiona said, waving her off.

'I'm not gonna stand for you when she learns what you did, you know that!'

'By all means don't. It would pain me to have to thank you.'

Lynn walked straight between the two girls as she felt the tension rise between them.

'Good evening, Phoebe', she called, 'and you too, Abiona.'

'Yeah, evening girls', I said, hurrying right behind her.

We left the building with these words. I was kinda expecting the girls to go back to fighting but they must have decided it wasn't worth it because they followed us a few moments later. We walked silently through the schoolyard. This is when I really started to feel oppressed. There was no sign of activity close to us. Birds weren't singing. The street in front of the school was deserted. It was like we were suddenly alone in the world.

That's when we heard a screeching noise. We turned back. And we saw it.