Chapter 22- Cole

I was reluctant to go to school but Galen seemed like a good guy and I trusted him. I went to my first period class and sat down. I bent over and started getting my stuff out so I was looking down when I heard someone clear their throat in front of me, clearly trying to get my attention. I sat up and looked up, surprised to see a girl I didn't recognize. "Yes?"

The girl looked down shyly. "Um, is it alright if I sit here or is it taken?" She gestured to an empty seat next to me.

"It's an empty seat, no one sits there and it's the only seat left in the room so it's pretty much the only place for you to sit." She nodded and silently took the seat next to me. I watched her as she sat and got her things out, really taking a good look at her now. She had short black hair that wasn't really short but still pretty short. I didn't get a really good look at her eyes but I think I caught a flash of blue. She was really thin and about a head shorter than me. Wow, she's really pretty, surely I would remember seeing her before, she must me new. She caught me looking so I politely looked away. "So, are you new?" She nodded. "What's your name?"

"Amber." Her voice was velvety soft and quiet, very shy.

"I'm Cole." She nodded and then paid attention to the teacher as the class started. I kept glancing over at her all during class but she never looked my way. When the period ended I got my stuff and turned to her to say something but she was already up and walking out the door. Damn, she's fast. I hope I run into her again later. The next class was uneventful and boring then I went to lunch with Sam, Daemon, and Cora. So much had happened since I saw Sam and even more so with Daemon. Daemon didn't even know about the Syrena thing. I wonder how much Cora has told Sam. I took my usual seat with them and we started chatting, mostly Daemon asking how my birthday was and Cora giving me subtle looks to not give too much away. I was in the middle of telling Daemon that my father was back in my life, without going too much into it that is, when I saw Amber standing off to the side, looking a little lost. I got up. "I'll be right back." I went over to Amber. "Hey."

She jumped and looked at me. "H-hi."

"Do you need somewhere to sit?" She gave a small shrug. "You can sit with me and my friends if you don't have somewhere to sit and someone to sit with." She just looked at me for a moment before slowly nodding. I smiled and led her over to the table, introducing her to everyone as she sat next to me. After introducing everyone, I went back to telling Daemon about my Dad. Once I was done I turned my attention to Amber. "So, where did you move from?"

She didn't look at me. "Um, Arizona."

I started asking her about Arizona but she didn't seem to know much about it which didn't make sense if she had just lived there. "How do you not know?" She just shrugged, still not making eye contact with me or with anyone for that matter. I looked at Cora and we had one of those strange mind reading twin moments. Me:This doesn't make any sense to me. You? Cora:I think she's lying. Me:Why would she lie about that though? Cora:No clue but she's definitely lying. There's something off about her. I think she might be Syrena. Me:What?! No way! Cora just shrugged and that was the end of that. No one noticed our little exchange since it happened in the course of a few seconds. I turned my attention back to Amber and was about to say something when the bell rang. I looked away from her to grab my stuff and when I looked back to where she was she was gone. The rest of the school day went by without me seeing her again but with me unable to get her out of my head.