Chapter 1
Charlotte bolted straight up in her bed as the alarm rang nosily from her nightstand. She wiped at the light sheen of sweat on her face. Her bangs were so damp that they were sticking to her forehead. Her body felt unnaturally cold and as much as she tried, she couldn’t stop trembling.
Gently, she lay back down in the bed, taking deep, steady breaths to try and stabilize her breathing. She pressed her fists to her temples and fought to remember her swiftly fading dream, but the harder she pushed, the farther it drifted from her. There was a disheveled middle aged man, screaming for her. He needed…something. And trying to warn her? His pale green eyes were what really troubled her. She had never seen so much terror in anyone’s eyes before. That’s where the nightmare seemed to drop off.
Charlotte’s breath quaked as she let out a gusty sigh. Her favorite pair of jeans and a purple tank top lay on her dresser. She frowned but pulled on her clothes anyway, even if her shirt made her look like a bruise. Wincing, she yanked a brush through her tangled hair. Charlotte never did much with it since it was too long and thick to manage. Instead, she scooped the auburn mess up into a ponytail, and used one of the decorated silver and purple clips to pin back her bangs.
A glass shattered downstairs and was followed by a string of muffled curses. That would be her aunt. As clumsy as she was, Charlotte always thought she would at least try to be more careful.
She turned back towards the mirror and smiled. She didn’t like to think she was vain, but that would be hypocritical because she couldn’t deny that she was pretty. Her skin wasn’t flawless but it was a glowing bronze and she had light brown eyes flecked with bits of green and blue if you looked close enough. Charlotte frowned, looking closer in the mirror. Still, her pores were too large and her eyebrows too thick. An angry looking pimple on her chin stared at her, almost like it was mocking her from the mirror. Neither ugly nor beautiful, just a little above average. She had plenty of imperfections, but she liked how she looked. Sort of.
“Charlotte!” Her aunt yelled from the kitchen. “Aren’t you up, yet?”
“Coming,” Charlotte sighed, trudging down the stairs. Her aunt wasn’t much fun in the morning still she loved her more than anything in the world. Crystal had taken her in when she was only a baby. She gave up her whole life to raise Charlotte.
Her aunt was sitting at the dining room table, sipping her cup of morning coffee, wearing a pink bath robe and a towel around her hair. A second cup of coffee was sitting beside her and Charlotte smiled at Crystal, taking the mug and sipping it gratefully.
“No boys remember,” Crystal reminded her. “There is hardly a decent man in the world. You should know that more than any other.”
Charlotte nodded her head. She was used to Crystal’s frequent speeches about how she didn’t need a man. Crystal’s ex husband ran out on her for a woman half her age. Needless to say, she had never really gotten over the heartache.
“No boys,” Charlotte repeated, agreeing. “Have I ever shown interest before?”
Crystal laughed. “No. Not really. That’s what worries me.”
Charlotte shook her head and grabbed the keys to her aunt’s spare car. “I’ll be home straight after school,” she reminded her. Crystal was constantly worried that Charlotte would end up in a car accident, or worse, actually go out with friends and have fun.
Crystal yawned a little but got out of her chair, shooing Charlotte out of the house. She was allowed to drive her aunt’s old minivan. Embarrassing as it was, it was better than enduring countless headaches and an endless amount of ridicule on the school bus.
Heat wafted around her as soon as she got in the van, making her sweat instantly. The cracked and ripped off white leather picked at her jeans and shirt and the radio didn’t work anymore, but at least she had something to drive. Even if it wasn’t her first choice as far as cars go. Charlotte turned the air conditioning on to the max and reversed the spluttering piece of junk out of the driveway and towards her school.
It didn’t take long to get to her school. In fact, about four minutes, and yet it took forever when she used to walk. The moment she parked her car she was swamped with her ‘friends’ telling her how much they had missed her over the summer. Charlotte nodded and smiled, but mostly kept quiet. No different than usual. Everyone was bragging about what they did over the break and Charlotte might have joined in except she hadn’t done anything except stay at home and work. Crystal had let her hang out with her friends, of course, but she never would have taken them on a vacation. She probably had enough sick days built up that she could have taken them to Hawaii for a few months.
“I went to the beach,” a snooty voice said from behind her. Charlotte knew exactly who that voice belonged to. It was none other than Mia Stanton, the school slut, although no one would ever say that. To her face. Charlotte wanted to roll her eyes and walk away then, but of course, she just smiled and listened. “And I met this guy, Philippe. He’s going to our high school this year and, naturally, asked me to…show him around.” As if the innuendo wasn’t already obvious enough, Mia winked.
“I need to go guys,” Charlotte spoke up. “I don’t want to be late to class.”
“Of course you don’t,” Mia laughed, hand on her hip. “Ms. Goody two shoes never late to class, never drank a beer, and never kissed a boy!”
Charlotte’s face turned a deep crimson color as the others laughed at Mia’s joke. She turned on her heel and walked to class. Mia was always making stupid jokes about her. Of course she would act like it was no big deal, sometimes even laughing it off, but she couldn’t deny that if she had the chance to strangle Mia one day, she might actually do it.
Kyle was already in their first period class, nose stuck in a book. His navy blue square rimmed glasses sat on his nose, to close to his eyes. The watery cobalt color of his eyes was magnified by his thick lenses and she fought back laugher at the comical image. Kyle was her neighbor and good friend. She couldn’t survive high school without him and Melissa.
“Hey, Charlotte. Having fun with Mia?” He asked, never looking up.
“I’ll still never know how you do that,” she laughed, ignoring the last part of his comment, mostly for his benefit. He glanced at her so she could see him roll his eyes.
“I’ve known you a long time, Char,” he replied. “You’re only the person I’ve ever met that actually walks on their tiptoes.”
She smiled and sat next to him just as the warning bell rang, echoing in the small, stifling classroom.
Students filed in, faces flushed with excitement at seeing their friends and starting the new school year. Well, Charlotte was excited about starting the new year.
“So what do you think about Mr. Bean then?” Kyle asked, folding the corner of the page and putting his book away.
Charlotte groaned. Mr. Bean was the dreaded Chemistry teacher. One of the reasons so few people took the class. He was old, about sixty, give or take a few years. His hair was gray. Not a white or silver, just flat gray peppered with black here and there. And his eyelids seemed to sag around dull black irises, as if he was tired all the time. Add a pot-belly and wrinkled skin that seemed to fold around his body and you had our teacher. He looked boring at best. And his teaching methods were no more exciting than his appearance.
“I’m sure he’ll make our year here full of joy,” Kyle smirked.
Charlotte glared. She didn’t even want to take this class but Kyle had practically begged her. He, apparently, wanted someone else to suffer with him. Charlotte laid her head on her palm. Misery loves its company.
