Young Writers Society

Dimitri

Adonis and Keeto had disappeared off somewhere, leaving Dimi as the only boy in the girl's dorm. Which was fine with him, of course, though he wouldn't have minded Adonis sticking around - that boy was a good piece of eye candy and Dimi had enough girls to share. He wasn't that greedy.

In fact, he was willing to pass on the dark haired loon who had done something to make Lilah start acting as crazy as her.

‘‘But the ants, they were everywhere. I couldn’t even get them off of me,’’Lilah whispered as Dimitri squeezed her shoulder to try and offer her some comfort. And because hey, touching a girl and still not getting a slap to the face. Dimi could definitely get used to that.

‘‘Come on, let's get you up,’’ the girl with the crazy hair suggested. ‘‘We can take care of this before you need to deal with that RA. Trust me, she’s no fun.’’

Dimitri helped to pull the blonde to her feet and rather reluctantly let go of her when she was successfully standing on her own again.

‘‘So you’re Lilah, huh? ‘Been looking for ya, though I never thought we’d run into each other quite like that. I’m your roommate, Nyx’’

"There goes my good first impression," Lilah replied, recovering some of her normal spunk. "But it's nice to meet you."

Nyx laughed and put a hand on her hip as she tipped her head slightly to the side. "As long as that was her freaky power and not yours then we're good. I control wind - or air. I'm the wind master! And I make things fly around."

Dimitri decided Nyx was another spunky girl and a good addition to their group. He flipped the Rubik's cube out of his pocket and rapidly unsolved and re-solved it. "I'm Dimitri, master of the Rubik's cube," he announced with a smirk. "It's actually kind of a lucky charm..."

Lilah folded her arms - crossly? - over her chest and sent Nyx a reproachful glare but she was staring at Dimitri and probably missed it. Dimi was trying to decide if this was one of those things which Lilah did early which didn't really make sense when Nyx laughed and said:

"And I thought my power was lame. That's all you've got cube boy?"

"I don't think it's lame," Lilah objected. "And he does other things as well."

"You-" Dimi snorted and tried hard not to break out into uncontrollable laughter. "You did it again. You were glaring at her before she even said-" His control ran out and Dimitri laughed loudly.

"I wasn't glaring-" Lilah objected.

"Come on then, what else have ya got?" Nyx asked.

Dimitri sucked in a breath and managed to stop laughing enough to tell her: "I can do ballet."

Briony Carter

"Well you could try and help out at least," I said to the copper haired girl.

She looked down at the brunette uncomfortably and shook her head, "I'd love to, but trust me. It wouldn't go well for me." I looked at her for a moment, her voice didn't really seem to match herself well, and somehow, it looked like her freckles were disappearing right before my eyes.

I ignored it though and sighed exasperatedly as I reached for the girl struggling to pull herself up. Before I could grab her she snapped her arms away from me "Don't touch me!" she practically hissed at me. I raised my eyebrows in surprise a bit as I looked to her still scrambling to get up.

I looked up towards where the other girl had once stood but she had joined the other group of people, including the girl with a dyed pixie and some boy who seemed to be talking about something else entirely.

My other self pulled her up sharply from behind before the brunette could pull herself up. When she was up she practically dashed into our room as I followed her. "Hey, what's your deal roomie?" I knew people acted strange sometimes, I mean I acted strange most of the time. But I didn't expect anyone to act anything like this.

As I closed the door behind me I looked to her curled up on the bed, backing herself away from me. "G-get away from me. You're not safe." Her eyes were wide and she looked at me bewilderingly. Almost as if she saw a ghost of some kind.

"Well, if your going to be like this. Can I at least have your name? I'm Briony Carter, and this lovely lady," I said as I pointed to my current duplicate, "Is my duplicate. You can call her Melody." the girl in the corner's eyes glanced between me and her as she nodded.

"Brennan, Cora Brennan..." I nodded and walked to the other side of the room, just straightening my sheets. It was always a habit to do some kind of busy work, I was glad for it too as she just sat there silently.

It was awkward, I had hoped my room mate might've been bubbly, energetic, someone I could grow close to and someone who would've pushed me to get out of my room. But apparently Cora might just push me out of my room, but not because she was social.

I looked over my shoulder at her, she seemed a bit more relaxed I guessed. I wasn't really sure, she wasn't shivering, or screaming like I had heard in the hallway at least.

"Hey Cor... I'm going to go out for now, check out the campus. Alright?" She nodded, not even looking at me as Melody stepped towards me and I felt myself become full again.

I smiled in relief, but a little tired as I was once together again. It always strained me, but this time was a bit more straining for some reason. Melody had seemed a bit out of it after touching Cora, but I had just assumed I had separated from her to long. She had clawed at herself a little, even had that same glazed look in her eyes as Cora.

I dismissed her strange behavior though as I gave up trying to figure it out and looked to Cora one last time before I stepped out of the room. I needed some fresh air, things just didn't seem to add up.

At least now I could see where that copper haired girl went after whatever happened in the hallway went down. Something about her interested me.

Lilah

My hand reaches out and smacks the alarm before it has time to go off. I crack my eyes open. The digital clock on my desk reads 4:30, a solid fifteen minutes before I should probably wake up Nyx. I’m tempted to fall back asleep- yesterday had been a long, and rather crazy day- but I really did need to get my run in if I wanted to be even semi-functional in first block. Why did I actually agree to go back to school?

Still, I convinced myself it would be okay to doze for another minute and thought over yesterday. Last night had been great- after the whole I-may-or-may-not be going crazy thing. Dimitri didn’t hang around too much longer, and despite Nyx’s lighthearted jabs, he never gave a straight answer as to what his actual ability was. But we got a mini-ballet performance out of it, so I call that a win.

It’s so weird how nice everyone seems to be- even the girl I touched wasn’t intentionally mean- and I still didn’t even remember half the names of the people I met. Back home, everybody knows everybody and their cousins, and once you’re labeled as odd, people tend to limit their exposure.

After another minute I finally shrug off the soft covers and slide out of bed. I lean back, and my back lets out a ripple of satisfying pops as I fall into a bridge. Much better. I roll back into a sitting position, give my neck one last good crack, and then grope about for the sneakers and backpack I kicked under the bed last night. I didn’t even bother trying to change or unpack last night- Nyx and I had maybe ten minutes after Dimitri left to talk and agree to go on a run together before I crashed. I was out before she even turned off the lights.

‘‘There you are!’’ I say softly with a grin as I manage to find my last sneaker. I gather up my things and tip-toe into the bathroom. Light on, I unzip my bag. ‘‘Oh jeeze!’’ My nose crinkles at the smell. Everything needed to be washed- even my remaining two pairs of ‘clean’ clothes. The whole bag smelled of summer sweat, and somehow all of it was covered in the same dust from where the circus set up. I groan, but pull out my running clothes- simple blue shorts and a grey T-shirt with a maroon logo from my one disastrous attempt at basketball. The sleeves were gone, and sides were now gaping holes that stretched all the way to my belly button. At least I would have clean school clothes, though I’m still trying to get over just how creepy it is that someone on the was able to buy a whole bunch of stuff that fit.

I change into my clothes, pull my hair into a quick bun, and step out to wake Nyx. ‘‘Hey,’’ I say, giving her a gentle shake, ‘‘you still want to go running?’’

She starts, and I feel a slight breeze move through the room. ‘‘Ummph… give me a minute.’’

‘‘I’ll wait for ya downstairs.’’ I head out the door as she flings off her covers. The corridor is silent as I head towards the stairs. I guess there are even fewer early birds than I expected When I make it to the front lobby, however, I discover that Nyx and are are in fact not the only ones awake.

The girl from last night was curled up in the corner of one of the couches. She’s not crying anymore, but she looks… out of it. Her dark hair hangs about her pale face, and deep circles have settled under her eyes. And though she’s staring straight at me, I get the feeling she doesn’t know I’m here.

‘‘Hey,’’ I say softly. She slowly blinks, and then somehow her eyes get even wider when she registers that I spoke.

‘‘Go away.’’ I think she was whispering, but it came out more like a hiss.

‘‘Wait, no I’m just sorry about last night. I don’t tend to think before and that really seemed to upset you- or at least that was the impression I got…’’ Where was I going with this? Ah well, wouldn’t be the first time I forgot what I was going to say.

I take another look at her disheveled appearance. ‘‘Did you get any sleep at all?’’ Instead of relpying, the girl unfolds her legs swiftly darts past me and heads for the stairs. I closed my eyes before feeling something slither around my ankles, but thankfully was able to keep from otherwise reacting to whatever she was trying to show me.

‘‘Do you make a habit out of pulling stupid shit?’’ My eyes fly open. Nyx has a quasi-glare on her face, but I think it’s more of a morning mood. ‘‘You should’ve figured out by now she doesn’t like being touched- or near other people.’’

I shrug. ‘‘I thought she’d be in her room. Well, I didn’t think that most anyone else would feel the need to be up before the door’s unlocked. Hey, did you get her name?’’
Nyx shook her head. ‘‘Chris mighta”

‘‘Who?’’

‘‘Chris- the one that joined us after Ballet Boy showed off?’’ I stare at her blankly. ‘‘The redhead girl that left as a guy?’’

‘‘Oh, right. I forgot.’’

Nyx smirked at me. ‘‘So I will not be asking you if you remember homework assignments.’’

‘‘Ugh, class.’’ I mumble as we wait for the worker to unlock the door. ‘‘Don’t be surprised if I get kicked out today.’’

‘‘Dude, we’re literally doing paperwork today.’’ Nyx says as we walk out and start some light stretches.

‘‘I know. I don’t do too well with the whole paying attention thing, or the sitting still thing, or- you know- school.’’

To which Nyx has no real reply. We finish some warm-up stretches and then set into a steady jog around the campus. Our pace was a little slower than my usual, but relaxing. It’s still rather dim, and the air is crisp and tastes of salt. Nyx doesn’t seem to be one to talk while running either, but her presence is a welcome comfort and a nice chance from my usual tendency to run alone.

It only takes a few minutes for the morning drowsiness to completely leave me and for my window of clarity open wide. Everything is in focus, from the distant cries of the gulls to the rhythmic thumping of my heart. I turn over all the events of the past 24 hours in my head, finding a way to neatly put it all down in a letter to send to my mom.

-Cora-

The night ticks by slowly, and I curl into the corner of a sofa in the common room. By now everyone has left, and aside from the ticking of the clock, there are no other sounds.

No other real sounds, that is.

A phantom cat with claws like knives cuddles with me as dawn breaks, and I watch it play on the coffee table when someone comes downstairs. A pang of guilt runs through me when I realise it's the blonde girl from the night before. I want to apologise, to explain, but every minute I'm around people, I get more anxious, so I slip past her and dash up the stairs, praying that my roommate has somehow disappeared overnight.

Of course, she hasn't, and I avoid her sleeping body when I squeeze through the door. Without a word, I open one of my suitcases and dig a towel out, taking one of the uniforms with me as I head for the showers. After a bit of exploring, I find them, and smile when I notice that they're deserted. I undress slowly, turning on the water and letting it heat up. Throwing the towel over the door, I step into the warm spray of water and sigh in contentment, free from my hallucinations at last. The scent of my shampoo fills the air as I wash my hair slowly, rinsing the suds out with care.

Finally, I shut off the water and wrap a towel around myself, stepping out and drying off. The steam clears as I dress, and as I towel my hair dry, I study my face in the mirror. It seems to have gotten more gaunt since I've gotten here, and the dark circles under my eyes have deepened. Even my skin seems paler, despite my being in California. The dark colors of the uniform emphasize my pale eyes and skin, giving me a wraith-like appearance.

I shrug, knowing that I can't do anything to fix my appearance. Grabbing my things, I head back to my room, where the hallucinations start creeping back. They're not really as terrifying, though- the phantom kitten comes back, and so does a pool of white goo that follows me around. It grows on me after a while, and I name them Thing One and Thing Two.

When I slip back into my room, my roommate is up, and she smiles hesitantly at me.

"Good morning! Cora, right? Where were you last night?" Her voice is bubbly, and she smiles at me again after she's done speaking, and I resist cringing.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm Cora." My eyes flick to the kitten and the goo for support before I take a deep breath to go on. "Listen, about last night-"

Briony nods encouragingly. "Yeah? It's okay that you didn't come back. I was just curious."

I reach an arm out to the kitten, and it pads over, wrapping itself against my arm. It feels wonderfully real, and soft, and I go over to sit down on my bed, petting it absentmindedly. I grab my brush and begin to work it through my still-damp hair with the other hand. When I look up, Briony is watching my with wide eyes, and although she tries to smile at me, I can see her swallow nervously.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. I know there's nothing there, but to me, there is, alright?" I babble nervously, unable to stop talking. "It's my power. I make people dream, and not just when they're asleep. I make them dream when they're awake, too. And it happens whenever someone touches me, or gets too close to me, or I'm scared, or anxious, or angry- or any reason, really." I force myself to close my mouth and watch for her reaction through my eyelashes.

"Well, that makes sense, I guess. Is that why you said that you couldn't room with me?" Briony- I think that's what her name is- nods at me, wonderfully understanding, and I offer her a tiny smile back, out of practice.

"It's one of the reasons. The other is that I'm more powerful- or more out of control- when I'm asleep. I could make you hurt yourself in... in a very permanent way." I shudder afterwards, looking away again. The kitten purrs against me, and I smile down at it, cuddling the sweet thing.

Briony sits down on her bed cautiously. By now, there are voices in the rooms on either side of us, but I pay them no mind. "So... what are you seeing now? And why does you seeing things relate to your power?"

I shrug. "I don't know exactly, but I think it's my subconscious thoughts made reality." A tense silence fills the room. "Well, reality for me, anyway. They're pretty terrifying, usually, but when I see a kitten-" I nod down at Thing One, "-it's pretty nice."

She grins at me. "A kitten, huh? That makes it a bit less creepy. Do you think you could get me to see it, too?"

I bite my lip. "It's not a good idea. I've never tried to use my power before. I might end up hurting you."

Briony frowns. "How could you hurt me? Scare me, maybe, but it won't kill me."

Her words make me retreat back into myself a little. "You'd be surprised," I mutter. The kitten and the goo vanish, and are replaced by the sound of water- or maybe blood dripping. I try to keep my expression from changing too much, but I'm pretty sure I don't succeed.

An awkward pause fills the room, but Briony bounces up. "Well, that sounds like a story for another time." Pulling out a uniform, she turns away from me and changes quickly. Flipping her hair over her head, she pulls it into a ponytail.

"Great, then. Let's go down to breakfast before all the good stuff gets eaten, shall we?" With a bright smile, she breezes through the door and I follow after her, avoiding the curious stares I get from one or two of the other girls.

As I walk down the stairs, I wonder if I can get a real kitten, and if Thing One is a terrible name for it.

Harris arrived at class early that day. The teacher wasn't even there yet, in fact the only way he'd gotten into the room at all was because he'd picked the lock. The history class reminded Harris of the classrooms back in Chicago, except less dirty. A bookshelf lined the right side of the class, stretching halfway to the roof. Harris could pick out a few books by Howard Zinn, but the rest of them he'd never seen before. At the front and the left sides of the room, two whiteboards hung on the wall. An office chair sat in between them, Harris had picked a seat at the back of the class, but now he stood, walked over to the office chair, and sat back down, spinning the chair around in lazy circles. Then the classroom door opened with a click. Mr Hodge walked in carrying a load of books, then stopped and stared at Harris. Harris stopped spinning and raised his hand in a greeting. Mr Hodge kept staring.

''You aren't supposed to be here. How did you get in...?''

Harris shrugged. Mr Hodge apparently decided to let the matter go as he walked over to his desk, which sat in a corner of the room, and dumped the load of books he'd been carrying onto it. He gave Harris a grim smile as he sat down.

''Well as long as you're here, you better get started on class work. Here.''

He got up and placed a stack of papers and books on a desk. Harris stared at the pile, then got up and walked over to the desk Mr Hodge had placed the books on.

''I'm Mr Hodge by the way.''

''Harris.''

''To be honest I don't mind you breaking in to the room, just don't let any of the security guards see you. They don't tolerate any breach in protocol.''

Harris nodded then set in on filling out forms.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

About an hour and a half later Harris was done with all the forms and still the only student in the classroom. Harris checked the time and realized it was only seven. He must have gotten up at five thirty. The thought made him tired and he found three chairs to lay on before falling asleep.

Harris was woken by the sound of chattering and the wind. He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes before looking over at the two students that were most likely staring at him. Again he raised a hand in greeting. They were two girls, one was on the skinnier side with glasses and platinum blonde hair. The other looked like a cheerleader. From behind him, Mr Hodge piped up.

''Hello. I'm Mr Hodge, your history teacher. You are?''

''Hi I'm Lilah.''

''Nixie Blackwell. Call me Nyx.''

Somewhere in his sleep deprived mind, Harris wondered if Nixie was a Russian name, but he dismissed the thought and curled back up on his chairs.

''Hey kid. You gonna sleep all day or what?''

Harris mumbled half awake,

''I can try.''

''Don't''

''Well. Never say never.''

Mr Hodge cracked up and Harris got the vague impression that he'd end up liking the guy after all. Mr Hodge regained his composure and addressed the two girls.

''Well if you want, you two can get started on your forms for today.''

Nyx refused, muttering something about it being too early. Lilah took the forms with exuberance.

Harris went back to sleep. In another hour or so class would start. Better to get sleep now than in class.

Briony Carter

When I had woken up in the morning, it was quiet. I wasn't used to such a thing, usually there was some sound. The waves had been too faint to even hear then. But now as I walked to breakfast with Cora, things were starting to wake up.

I smiled a bit to myself as I looked to the wet grass, the still rising sun, the birds chirping. It was kind of nice, peaceful. As I surveyed the campus in daylight this time, it looked much livelier. To my left was Cora, nervously fiddling her thumbs from time to time.

I had just woken up when she had walked in, I still remember the conversation with her trying to explain her powers. I tried to wrap my mind around it, controlling dreams, hallucinating kittens. Hurting me? I mean come on. But either way, she still seemed freaked out about it. So for now I decided to try and keep my distance. I had thought it’d be hard for me, settling in here, but not being control of your powers and in a new place must've been harder for her.

I slowed my pace a bit, just enough to stay a little behind her and examine her. Her eyes had rings under them like she hadn't been sleeping for days. "Hey Cora? “As I spoke she jumped a little bit surprised, she must've been lost in thought, possibly with another kitten or maybe even a puppy.

I took a deep breathe, still a bit uneasy about saying this. "If you... need anyone to talk to, just know I'm here for you alright? I may not always understand, but whatever you need to say, I'm open ears." I smiled at her, the same shaky smile I gave her this morning. She didn’t say anything except nodded silently at me, contemplating what I had said probably. I hope she’d take what I said into real consideration, I wasn’t good with these types of situations, but I knew at the end of the day that at least I could listen.

Soon we arrived at the mess hall. When we first entered through the doors we were hit with the fresh smell of bacon in the morning. We headed towards the breakfast line, a pretty decent amount of kids were here already, but I was guessing some either would choose not to come or end up sleeping through breakfast entirely, it wouldn't be the first time either I was guessing.

We glided through the line seamlessly, not speaking a word as we both got our trays with our food and then our drinks. I got orange juice, and she got milk, which I assumed might have been because of the imaginary kitten from this morning. "So where are we going so sit?"

"How about over there," She gestures over to one of the farther off tables, away from where a lot of the other students have already sat down. I nod, following her lead and then sitting across from her at the table.

I took a bite of my apple and look across from her. Her plate was only filled with a considerate amount of bacon and a piece of toast. "So... Where are you from?" I watched as she took a moment of eating a few pieces of bacon before answering as she gulped down a sip of milk to clear her throat.

"I'm from NYC. New York, New York you know?"

"Guess you should be eating this Big Apple then?" I said as I held out the apple as if I was going to give it to her. She smiles slightly, and then going back to eating her bacon. "I'm from Texas actually, but everything's bigger in Texas."

Our breakfast dissolved into a pretty lengthy conversation with a few awkward stops here and there. But it went much better than I had expected when I had first met her last night. She still glanced behind her or at her leg or something, as if something else was there. She even scratched her arms red a bit, almost as if something had bitten her like a mosquito, but besides the redness from her nails there was nothing. I didn't mind these weird little quirks though, if it had to deal with her power then so be it. She wasn't a bad or even crazy person after I had gotten to know her.

I looked down at my watch, the minute hand crept closer and closer to when classes started and the familiar dread that had started to turn my stomach upside down ever since I had received the acceptance letter had returned. It was still early, but we had basically finished our breakfast already. “Hey Cor, what class do you have?”

“Science, the teacher is Mr. Schultz I think. What about you?” She started licking her fingers of the bacon grease and my nerves eased up a little bit. At least I wouldn’t be alone.

“Yeah Schultz, and same. I saw those two girls, the runners from this morning. You know the ones we passed as we left?” Cora looked away as I mentioned them. I wasn’t sure why, but she looked a little guilty.

“Yeah I remember.” She mumbled as she grabbed her tray and stood up.

I then grabbed my own things and followed her, “Yeah, I think they have Hodges. I saw them heading towards his classroom through the window. Anyways, we should get going then. No use just sitting around in here.”

“Yeah,” and with that we were back out on the campus walking towards the Science room.

Trixianna Argyle

Trixie looked at Kaito and grinned cheekily.
"Snow White huh? How charming. So, should I just start calling you Little Princess or does twinkle toes sound better?" Kaito laughed.

"Nah. Neither sound good. Although Prince Charming would be heaps better!"

Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes. "Nah mate. It's Twinkle Toes or Princess now. There is no changing it." The both of them laughed and continued on to the library which they eventually found and spent the next few hours exploring.

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Trixie woke up covered in sweat and with Arena shouting at her.

"Hurry up Trixx! Get up and get dressed or you'll miss breakfast!" Arena threw on her shoes and left Trixie to get ready.

The window was wide open and Wren was nowhere to be seen so Trixie assumed that Arena had let him out. She ran and got through a shower, excitement and adrenaline making her move faster than ever. She threw on a cute Snowy Owl shirt and a pair of boot leg jeans. She then threw on her joggers and rushed down to the cafeteria, running into Kaito, quite literally, half way there.

"Ow. We have got to stop meeting like this Twinkle Toes." Trixie joked.

"Haha very funny. I thought we agreed on Prince Charming?" Kaito retorted.

"How about we just go get some breakfast. I need to grab a bread roll for Wren to snack on throughout the day. He pecks my ear if I dont." Kaito nodded in agreement and they both proceeded towards the cafeteria.

Once there got there Arena waved at Trixianna and called her over.

"Hey. I was unsure if you'd make it in time so I grabbed you a plate." She gestured to the tray beside hers. "I didn't know what you liked so I got you eggs with toast and a bread roll for Wren."

"Thank you so much Reen. I really appreciate it. If I hadn't gotten Wren a bun my ear would be bruised from him pecking at it all day." Trixie laughed as she sat down next to her awesome roommate. "By the way. Did you let Wren out this morning?"

"Uh? Yeah I think so? He might have just left when I opened the window to cool the room down and let some air in." Arena laughed.

"Yeah. He might have left then. I'll leave the window propped open at night from now on." Trixie then proceeded to eat the rest of her breakfast and put the roll in a snap lock bag she kept in her pocket. "Anyway. I'm going to head to history. See you later!"

She then jumped up and ran to her room to grab her bag and books for first and second period. As she left the room, Wren came flying at top speed towards her and landed in a tangle amongst her hair.

"Oh dear. Wren we need to get you help with your landings!" She laughed as she detangled him on the way to class.

Bela Singh

I walked into the room and saw lights flickering under the crack to the door to the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and smoothed down my top, knocking gently on the door.

"Hello?"

Nobody answered so I walked in to see Keigan, covered with bubbles... asleep in the tub.

I swore to myself, I didn't know how to wake her up with startling her and getting me soaked, or her sinking in the water and choking.

"Keigan," I gently placed my hand on her shoulder.

She gasped awake and I poofed into a bird. She shot up towards the ceiling, levitating herself, and then thunked back down to the bottom of the tub. I flapped around, trying to talk but instead only chirping.

"Bela," she laughed, grabbing a towel to cover herself, "You gotta," she wheezed, "shift back."

I flitted towards the ground, feeling that weird tingly feeling as I shifted back.

"Keigan, you gotta be more careful. You scared me. Are you okay?"

"Fine." she stared at me.

"I'll just," I paused, "give you some privacy." I twisted a lock of dark hair around my finger before inching my way out of the bathroom.

I sighed, taking out my school clothes for the next day, it was just a black chiffon skirt and a dark, dull purple blouse. The color was pretty with my skin and it didn't stand out too much. Next I took out my nightgown. It was short sleeved and a dark gray satin with buttons going down the front. Yes, it looked like it was for old ladies, but I loved it.

"Keigan, I have to shower," I called meekly, knocking on the door.

She emerged in shorts and a tank top, everything in the bathroom was cleaned up.

"T-t-thanks." I stuttered, ducking in and shutting the door behind me. I stepped into the nice, tile shower, turning on the warm water.

I began shampooing my hair, which took like 10 minutes because my hair was so thick and curly. Then came conditioner. I pondered Keigan, she was somewhat strange, always flirting. Was she gay? bi? Something else entirely that I had never heard of?

I turned off the hot water, grabbing my towel and drying off my hair and my body. I stepped out, pulling back the shower curtain, and put on my bra, underwear and nightgown.

I walked back out, into the room.

"Goodnight," I said, and then I turned out the light.

*****

Day 1

The alarm went off and I groggily got out of bed. Keigan floated herself into her chair and we both got ready.

Keigan made conversation as we got ready and I put on some makeup.

"Why are you putting on makeup?" she asked.

"Um." I continued doing eyeliner.

"You look great without it."

"Thanks." I could feel my cheeks getting hot.

I turned on the curling iron and just curled a few pieces of hair that had gotten frizzy, neatening the dark curls.

"Ready to go?" she asked as soon as I had put away the curling iron. I nodded meekly, straightening my clothes and walking out the door. She wheeled, obviously.

"So what do you have first period?" I asked, looking at my schedule.

"Uh... chem. You?" she said.

"History. With Hodges."

"I heard he's really boring," she said, laughing. "But I have him second period."

"Cool," I said, looking at the rest of it.

"I better... you know," I pointed to the History/English building in front of us, "go, like... yeah. Bye." We split up and I hooked my thumbs through the straps of my backpack.

I sat in Hodges class as he explained the rules to us and told us what materials we would need. I sat there, biting my lip, kinda annoyed. Teachers did that every year, they put stuff for you to get on their "class lists" like notebooks and then on day one they said you would need a three ring binder to use every day. And sometimes, they didn't even do notebook checks or take up folders the way they swore up and down they would on day one, so you found yourself organizing everything your own way anyway.

I huffed to myself and a few people looked up around me. I sank down in my chair,

"Sorry," I whispered. A tall, lanky girl with blonde hair and brilliant green eyes looked over at me and gave me a reassuring smile. I immediately felt somewhat better and I nodded in her direction.

"Oh I forgot to call attendance." I continued to space out as Hodges said everyone's name, until I forgot he was even talking.

"Bela?" A girl tapped my shoulder and I shifted into a red cardinal bird, twittering and flying, settling on my desktop.

"Bela Singh, present," Hodges wrote down that I was here and I shifted back, sinking further into my seat as people stared at me. My cheeks were on fire and I could already see kids whispering about what happened.

The girl who had tapped me waved to get my attention. She had long, brownish blonde hair and her eyes stared off vacantly, like she couldn't see or she was constantly spacing out.

"I'm Eliza. I'm really sorry, You were the last on the roll and you were the only person who hadn't been called. For the record, I thought it was pretty cool. What did you turn into?" she asked.

"Um, a bird," I replied, whispering.

"Oh, cool. I can see energies, like electrical energies, but other than that, I'm blind. But yeah, that was really cool."

"Thanks," I said, smiling.

She settled back into her seat then, not really paying anybody any attention. I got the impression that she wasn't used to being nice and she had only talked to me because she felt bad.

Next class was chemistry and much less eventful. I had a lot of people in this period that I had had in History and some of them were still laughing at me. I just kept my head down and wrote down the reminders to look over slips and the chem textbook.

Finally, the class I had been anticipating, art. I was happily invisible in this class and Mr. Malady even let us start sketching out a still life.

"Hey Bela," Keigan said as I walked into class, "You're in art, third period?"

I nodded, relieved to have someone I knew and didn't judge me. Keigan wasn't my favorite person ever, and sometimes I felt awkward trying to answer her never ending list of questions, but so far she wasn't whispering about me and she was actually smiling at me.

"Thanks," I said, "We should sit together."

Jay Bennett

The alarm went off on my phone, it was a whoopie cushion farting.

I woke up, bleary eyed, and grinned.

"Oh my god, Jay," Kaito laughed, "Really?"

We were both rubbing the sleep out of our eyes and laughing. We only had thirty minutes until we had to be out the door, I looked over at the girls building through the window. It looked like they had all been up for a while, all the lights were blazing. On the flip side, I could hear light footsteps above us who were just beginning their days.

"Hey Kaito, do you have eyeliner?"

"Uh, no?"

"What about lipstick?" I called, and then I began to laugh. Kaito grinned at this.

"Yeah, definitely, let me just get my makeup bag," he replied, joking. I knew he and I would get along just fine. I made jokes, he laughed at them and went along with it. It was great.

I put on a shirt that showed a dinosaur evolving into a person and grinned, I loved funny t shirts. Next came a leather jacket, jeans and converse.

We walked out the door and I paid no attention. To anything. That is, until I got to fitness.

I nodded at Kaito and we walked into the gym, sitting on the bleachers. There were a few girls in the class and one in particular caught my eye. She had blonde hair and brilliant green eyes, she was very athletic and also... beautiful.

"Nice shirt," she said, laughing. "I love how you're wearing the nerdiest t shirt and shoes ever but your jeans and jacket say 'James Dean'."

I laughed, she had a sense of humor too. "Believe me, I'm mostly nerd. I just need the leather jacket to hide my skinny arms. Not sure why I even signed up for this class."

The bell rang then and everyone got up to leave, taking forms with them.

"I'm Jay," I said, "Like a jaybird, tweet tweet. But I don't have a twitter, oddly enough."

"I'm Lilah," she said laughing, "And I don't have a twitter either."

"Good," I replied, exhaling mockingly, "Phew, I'm glad, that twitter stuff... it really messes you up. That's hardcore stuff."

Lilah laughed again and then she turned to me, "What's your last class?"

"Band."

"Oh wow, no way, what instrument?" she asked.

"Well, I play guitar normally but I'm hoping to learn how to play the tuba."

"Why the tuba?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing, it's huge. Like I've never seen a bigger instrument with more street cred. Like 'Oh look at me, I'm a tuba,'. I mean, you just don't mess with a tuba. The flutes look at the tuba and they run away. Besides, it's called a tuba. Toooooba.ToooBAH. TUBA."

"Oh my gosh," she started laughing so hard she nearly snorted. "You're great."

"What instrument do you play?" I asked,

"Not sure yet, we'll see." she smiled, holding the door open first.

"Age before beauty," she said.

I scoffed, "I'm clearly the beauty," and she giggled once more. I loved making her laugh and she had a great smile.

I definitely liked this place, I felt like I had actually made some friends.



Sorry, my posts are both really quick but I know people were waiting on them.

Keigan Halter

I rolled next to Bela till I found a desk that I could actually fit under and she pulled up a chair for the other side.

"I'm so glad I don't have this class alone," I whispered as the teacher entered the room. He was young and very hot and I could see every girl and maybe a few boys stare at him as he entered capturing all our attention with his beauty.

"Okay class, I'm sure a few of you took art took art as an easy A, but I'm not one for passing grades out left an right."

Crap.

"Now please turn to page 45 in you text books an start copying down the definition of "Aesthetic"." He turned his back an started to print his name on the chalkboard in beautiful cursive.

"Dude I suck at art this is the worst, maybe I'll just drop out and do gym." I said with a smirk making Bela and me giggle.

"Excuse me," Mr. Malady announced causing everyone in the class to jump. "What is your name?" I pointed at myself "Yes are you stupid, now what is it?"

"Keigan," I said looking him dead in the eyes, this is the first day of class he has to be kidding me.

"Well don't you have a last name?"

"Halter, sir." I replied crossing my arms.

"Stand up." He said leaning onto his desk.

"I'm sorry?" Is he trying to be an ass?

"You heard me, you have legs now do it?" Hes asking for it.

I stood shakily putting most of my weight onto my hands leaning into the desk still looking him dead in the eyes.

"Keigan you don't have to do this," Bela whispered holding my arm.

"Hey you! I don't to make you look like an idiot as well do I?" He shouted.

Now, I'm mad.

My hands started sweating and I could see the pencils shaking in the cups among the tables. My teeth clenched and this is when I could see him started to get concerned. A girl across the room started to scream and my hair whipped around my face as everything in my mind froze and everything in the room came into motion. I hovered into the air as papers whipped around and pens flew as the tears slid down my face.

"Keigan stop!" Bela screamed grabbing my arm and putting me down.

I landed with a thud coming back to life and saw the looks of my classmates faces. they all looked at me like a monster. I was a monster. Bela pulled me into my chair and quickly rolled into the hall and collapsed into tears before escaping to the stairs. Good way to make a first impression.

Dimitri

"Here, let me help you with that."

"Mmm, okay."

The girl in the polka dot bikini arched her back as Dimitri sprang into action and poured a great big dollop of the sun-cream into his hand. He didn't tend to bother with it himself so he had no idea how much he was meant to rub into her skin. Was this enough? Too much? He was only concerned because if he got it wrong then the totally hot girl wouldn't ask him to do it again and what teenage boy didn't want to be asked to touch a girl everywhere her skin was exposed?

"Oh, that's super great, thank you."

"Sure, it's cool. I mean if I can help with anything else-"

"Well, now that you mention it, I would so hate to get burned anywhere. Do you mind doing my-" The girl touched her bikini top suggestively and Dimi felt his heart hammer in his chest. She untied the halterneck and slowly, slowly-

Beep--beep

"No... no!" Dimi tried to cover his head with the pillow but it was too late, the magic was gone. "Dude, she was going to take her bikini off!" he complained to Harris as he launched the pillow somewhere in the direction of the other bed.

"Uh... sorry?"

Dimitri groaned and face planted his bed. He heard Harris get out of bed and go to the adjoining bathroom. He flipped over and checked his phone. It was early but not ungodly and as the dream faded, Dimi's head switched on and he pushed the covers back and rummaged in his suitcase for a towel, some soap and some clean underwear.

When Harris came out of the shower, Dimitri had already stripped off and was standing by his bed in just his socks.

Harris quickly averted his eyes and Dimi laughed. "I've got a lot of brothers. Some sisters too but Adi's learned to stay out of my room. You like it early huh? Well that's okay but what are we gonna find to do at this time?"

"I'm going to class," Harris mumbled.

"Hah, you're funny. Good one, dude."

Dimi had a quick shower but by the time he stepped out in his clean underwear (no socks this time) his roommate was gone.

"Strange kid," Dimi mumbled to himself. He went to the breakfast hall and ate a lot of food and talked a lot and moved as little as possible before he had to drag himself to the science lab.

Of course the next question was which good looking babe (or hunk) he was going to sit next to. He saw the crazy dark haired girl from the day before and a redhead who he vaguely thought had been there. They made a weirdly hot kind of pair but he didn't feel like being at the mercy of anyone's weird nightmare power thank you very much.

There was the asian kid from the previous day who'd just entered and was looking around like him but Dimi was looking for someone a little bit more entertaining and less spoken for. He could only assume that the guy had found his girl and even if he hadn't, chances were he didn't bat for both teams.

Then he saw her. Wavy, caramel hair, skin all smooth and creamy. Hello beautiful.

Dimi strode over and planted his most charming smile on his face and asked, "Is this seat taken?" at almost the exact same moment as Kaito said, "Hey Arena, mind if I sit with you?"

Arena looked a bit unsure of who to talk to first and Dimi let out a loud sigh and reluctantly decided to be the gentleman. "Well, since you guys already know each other-"

"We do," Kaito agreed quickly.

Dimi shrugged and swung into an empty chair at the next desk and waited glumly for it to be filled by some Frankenstein or Medusa.

Chris -- Period 2 (science) and period 3 (band) then about to start period 4 (theatre)

The first two lessons had almost lulled me into a false sense of security with the history and science feeling very much like... history and science. They were both classes I'd taken at my old school and other than a girl turning into a bird, I didn't notice anything too weird going on. But maybe I was still half asleep.

I sat behind Nyx and her roommate Lilah in History and it turned out we had Science together as well. A blonde guy with a constant smirk on his face sat next to me in science. I was awake enough by then to make introductions and I found out his name was Aaron, just as the teacher was saying we were going to need to work in pairs for lesson one.

"You any good at this?" Aaron asked but his eyes kept flickering to Nyx and Lilah at the desk next to us.

"If I was, I'd be in the advanced class," I told him, slightly irritated by his attitude but not enough to actually try and piss him off.

He snickered and shrugged. "Well as long as you do all the carrying and running up and down, I'll tolerate you."

Yes, it was just like my previous school.

The third class though, that was different. I'd never had the option of band as a class before and I was really looking forward to doing something that would give me some instant cool points (and which I might enjoy at the same time).

"So what's your instrument?" A guy with jet black hair was asking a girl as I walked in.

"What's the coolest instrument to learn? That one's mine," she replied with a self assertiveness that made me take a second look at her. She had dirty blond hair and a slight build, quite ordinary in some ways but her olive skin was a pretty contrast with her dark brown eyes.

"Maybe the electric guitar?" I suggested. The girl's head immediately tipped in my direction but her eyes were looking somewhere over my shoulder.

"Is that what you play?" she asked.

"I'm a first timer too," I admitted.

"Guess there's nothing you can teach me then," she replied with a dismissive tone.

"No, I... I guess not."

So things got a bit better from there but I'm not going to be a famous rock-star any time soon. Of course, the next class was the real challenge. Theatre. A class I would never have dared to attend before coming here. Theatre. I was actually seriously going to get to act ad be as loud and flamboyant as my fluttering heart longed to be and the best part was, nobody would ever be able to trace those actions back to me.

It was probably a good thing I didn't have a roommate. It was certainly easier than trying to explain why my wardrobe contained both male and female versions of the school uniform and why I was now debating whether I should use the girls' or boys' bathroom to change.

In the end I decided it would be less embarrassing to get caught walking into the girls' bathroom as a guy than it would be to be seen walking out of the boys' bathroom as a girl.

Somehow I managed to get through the door and make it into one of the stalls without incident and a few minutes later I was at least the right gender, if still wearing the wrong clothes. I'd never changed in a cubicle before and let me tell you, it's not easy, especially when you've got to put on something as tricky as a bra. I got it upside down on the first try and cursed softly as the time between periods trickled quickly by. There was no way I was going to be on time; I'd have to get faster at this.

So I got the clothes on and I stepped out and should have been running to class but I stopped long enough to give myself a quick pep talk in front of the mirror.

"Okay. You look good. You're going to be good."

"You go girl!" Some other girl called out of a cubicle and I blushed and hurried out of the bathroom. I'd spent ages deciding just who I was going to be for Theatre but in the end I'd settled on a girl I'd met during the summer when we played a season of basketball together. My skin was an olive shade and I had long, purple hair. I looked easily a year or two younger than I am but that was cool - all the better to hide myself.

When I got to the classroom, I was out of breath as I burst through the door. "Sorry I'm late, I had to go to the bathroom," I announced loudly to the teacher (and the room). I resisted the urge to blush and waited for instructions.

"I see," Ms. Hamilton said dryly as she checked a piece of paper on a clipboard she was holding. "And your name is?"

"Christie," I replied quickly, having rehearsed it in my head all the run over.

"I don't have anyone by that name on here..."

"It's that one." I pointed to Chris on the list. "That's what I go by sometimes."

"I see," Ms. Hamilton said again and my heart thudded in my chest as I expected my whole plan to be exposed. But she simply ticked my name off and carried on with her lesson: "As I was saying, we will be breaking out into small groups and giving our own interpretations of the short passage. You can build on it as you see fit-"

Feeling relieved, I hurried over to Nyx before remembering that I didn't know her and probably should avoid her.

"Hey, nice hair," she said. Of course, it would have been rude to walk away after that and Christie, I decided, was not rude.

"Thanks, yours is cool too," I replied. "I'm Christie."

"So I heard." She smirked and I felt myself smiling back. Remembering who I knew as Chris and who I knew as Christie wasn't going to be easy. It would be simpler by far for them to have different friends but not talking to Nyx would be impossible.

Lilah

Thankfully history had gone off without a hitch. I was about halfway though my stretches when Nxy and I both realized that neither of us had actually been graced with a formal tour of the campus. Then, of course, came a mad dash of showers and clothes-changing and running around like chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off until we found the history room, a solid hour early. And somehow, some guy was crazier than us and had already managed to fall asleep in class by the time we arrived.

Hodges had been easy-going the entire class. He didn’t even seem to mind it when I eventually got up and paced as he went over his little introductory spheel. The only downside is that his voice tended to drone on and on and on when he talked about supplies. Still, by far one of the best teachers I’ve ever had.

I assumed I had whatever I needed- once again courtesy of Crowe- but I hadn’t had a chance to send my old pack through the wash yet, so all I bothered to grab was one of the spirals left in the desk drawer and a pen. Plus, that Bela-girl seemed sweet, though a little skittish- hopefully we’d be able to catch up later. Who knew shapeshifting was an actual thing?

Science was an entirely different matter. Mr. Schultz was a bit of a hardass, and was none too pleased with my lack of supplies. I was surprised that Nyx still offered to be my partner; she had seemed pretty excited that her friend Chris was in our history and science class, but I was so grateful for it once we finished paperwork and started out mini-lab. I’m not sure if anyone else would have been nearly as tolerant towards my multitude of questions- especially since I hadn’t even met anyone else in the class aside from Chis. And frankly, I’m not sure Chris counts, considering we didn’t exactly talk last night.

But now, I’m walking out of my favorite class, next to a guy with the craziest sense of style I’ve ever seen

‘‘Clearly I’m the beauty,’’ Jay says with a scoff and a mock bow. A giggle bubbles up inside me. I wonder if he noticed I started laughing before his joke.

‘‘Okay, Handsome, then we’re just gonna pretend that I meant wisdom before youth.’’ Jay grins and takes the door as I walk out in front of him. ‘‘So- question: I thought we weren’t allowed to wear jeans and casual stuff. How’d you get away with it?’’

His smile seems to get bigger. ‘‘They can’t tell me not to wear something if they don’t see me leaving with it.’’ Then, suddenly he’s gone!

‘‘Jay?’’ I gasp, mouth gaping wide with shock. I reach forward to where he had once been, and feel my hand hit something solid. Jay flashes back into vision, only now his fingers are laced around mine. That’s what you can do? That is so cool!’’ I exclaim with a laugh, giving his hand a squeeze.

‘‘I can’t hold it super long, but long enough for the RA to not have a chance to send me back up to change. What’s your thing?’’

Jay’s reassuring grip on my hand doesn’t loosen in the slightest, so I start swinging it to the rhythm of our walk. ‘‘Hmm...’’ I try to think of a way to explain it. ‘‘I’m a little premature in my reactions to stuff.’’ His puzzled expression isn’t a good sign. ‘‘It’ll make more sense when you see it. Which might be soon, or maybe not. I don’t know when or why it happens, but it’s guaranteed to happen every day. So, yeah, pay attention and you might get lucky.’’

Jay laughs and shakes his head. ‘‘Whatever you say, Age.’’

I roll my eyes, and the two of us wander inside and down to the band.
We can hear the music before we even make it to the door. It has some sort of swaying three-pattern that just seems to force a smile to my face. I peel away from Jay and lean into each accented note until I’m doing this skip-dance thing down the remainder of the hall. ‘‘Do you know what this is?’’ Jay shrugs, but he’s smiling again.

The band room we enter is a sight to behold. To our left is the director’s office, with all sorts of plaques and weird pictures- including one of a bunch of students with the Easter Bunny- hanging from the door and adjacent window. Past that is a cupboard covered with posters and a massive speaker sitting on top of it. The back of the room has windows that give full view of a small court-yard, and is lined with all sorts of drums and other percussion-y things like xylophones. The right side of the room has a few doors that led to other rooms- probably where they stored equipment and instrument cases- and another cupboard/speaker set-up.

The wall to our right is indented. A sink sits on the far side, and a long whiteboard hangs closest to us, and it looks like no one bothered to erase the notes scribbled on it from last year. One corner was boxed off: the top part is titled ‘Word of the Day,’ and had still been left blank. The bottom part reads ‘Quote of the Day’- and apparently the quote for today is ‘I’m gonna be on you like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm.’

‘‘It’s ‘Lost Lady Found,’ ’’ Jay says, pointing to a large screen set up on the other end of the wall.

‘‘Never heard of it… What the hell?!’’

The director is standing on his podium, flipping through what I assume to be a score of music. That’s not what’s odd- what’s odd is that his baton is floating out in front of him, keeping time to the swaying melody of the music.

The director looks up after my outburst. “Pretty sure he’s a telekinetic then,” Jay whispers into my ear.

The director- Mr. Ebert if I’m remembering right- sets his score down on his stand and practically bounds over to us. The baton puts itself away as he greets us. ‘‘Newbies!’’ He says with a smile. Geeze, he’s such a short man- I couldn’t tell while he was on his podium. ‘‘Your names?’’

“I’m Jay.’’

‘‘Lilah,’’ I say. The little man nods, but he’s already got an absent-minded look on his face.

"We’re probably not going to play anything today, but we might pass out Midway March for everyone to look at. We’ve got to take care of paperwork and and liability forms, and I’ve got to put together a roster by instrumentation, which takes most the class since we’ve got to go down the row. So just sit in the general area of your section.’’ Ebert makes like he’s about to go back to his score.

‘‘Um, sir?’’ Jay asks. ‘‘Where is that?’’

‘‘What are you playing?’’

‘‘I’m hoping to play tuba!’’

He makes a gesture towards the back of the room. ‘‘Back row, somewhere in the middle. And you, Lily?’’

‘‘Lilah,’’ I correct him. ‘‘And I don’t know what I’m playing.’’

‘‘Well what’d you play before?’’

“I didn’t?’’ I shrug. “Band seemed like fun- I mean I can read music from when my mom tried to impose piano lessons on me, but that was a while ago.”

Mr. Ebert fails to conceal his groan. “Go… wander back into the percussion section,” he says, once again looking towards the back. ” He stares at the couple of kids gathered around a snare drum for a second, and then mumbles “You gotta be kidding me!” He flicks his wrist, and then two cymbals I hadn’t noticed before crash into each other behind the kids.

“Reece!” Ebert yells as the kids jump. “Spit that gum out! If I catch you in my band room with gum again then you’ll spend the rest of that day in the hall!”

Stetson Cassidy

"I never got to fully explain myself. I really didn't mean to touch all over you earlier, I was running too fast and didn't have time to stop." I kept going on, apologizing for my mistake, but when I glanced at Arena, she was just staring at me, eyes narrowed. Suddenly, I got anxious. "Huh?" I asked dumbly, as if she said something I didn't hear.

She laughed a little, and then said, "I didn't say anything. I was just listening to you." Her gaze had shifted firmly to the floor, and wouldn't look up at me again. The corner of my mouth turned up. It was the kind of thing I knew about, the code. The crush code, specifically. There were a few easy signals that a girl gave you when she had a crush on you, and one of them was the extreme poles of eye contact, where she'd be all-eyes one second, and none the next.

But some of it depended on interpretation. Who knows if she really had a crush on me, or if I was just distorting the signals. So I said nothing about it. We talked all the way down to the cafeteria, and all the way back. She did most of the talking after awhile. I liked talking to girls, it was one of the things I enjoyed the most; but they always did the majority of the talking. I liked to just walk alongside them with my hands in my pockets, making eye-contact and nodding, and listening to what they had to say. Arena seemed to have a lot to say.

At one point, she mentioned music. Something she'd been listening to in her car, Fifteen by Taylor Swift. "Taylor Swift?" I asked her. "What else, then?"

"What else, what?" she asked, tangling her finger in her hair.

I laughed. "What other music? Justin Bieber?"

I thought maybe I'd been too sarcastic, but she kind of smiled. "No," she said. "Thomas Rhett?"

That made me smile.

"What about you?" she asked me. "You like music?"

My head went back a little bit, and I made crazy eyes at her. "Like music? I love music." She smiled a huge smile. There were dimples in her cheeks, and they lit up her face.

"Really?" she was asking.

"Yeah, eighties, nineties," I said. "Anything's good, though." I started singing Elvis, and she shoved me with a Stet, stop it!. Then we were back at her dorm room. She reached out with one lightly-tanned arm and pushed open the door, looking back at me in the process. She gave me another smile, like she couldn't help it.

"See you around, then," I said, giving her the food we'd grabbed. I returned her smile, almost getting lost in her blue eyes. Our hands touched. She kept looking at me, as Trixianna came around behind her.

"You're not staying?" Arena's roommate asked me.

"Nah," I said, hands going to my pockets. "Should get back before my roommate shows up." I figured Aaron would be drunk or high, if not both.

"Alright," Trixie said. I gave them a wave and then walked away down the hallway.

~*~

The alarm sounded, and my eyes snapped open. I groaned, reaching around for my phone. It was wedged under my chin, and I hastily clicked the volume down to zero. I rolled out of bed before I decided to stick my head back under my pillow, and stumbled into the bathroom in only my shorts. I rubbed my chin, where the imprint of my phone lingered. I sighed. After zipping my khakis, and my fingers tripping over the buttons on my long sleeved button-up shirt, I stood in front of the mirror again. I looked like a complete prep-boy. It was a little embarrassing, for reasons I couldn't put my finger on. I put a little gel in the front of my hair, and then stepped back into the bedroom.

Aaron was still passed out on the bed. As I walked by, I clocked his shoulder and slapped him in the face. He was startled awake. "Did you just slap me?" he slurred. "I'll kick your ass." Then he fell back onto the bed, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"It's the first day of class," I told him. "Y'don't wanna be late, do you?"

He didn't respond, so after peering at my schedule, I set off for science class.

As it turned out, I was severely late. Almost by ten minutes. I ambled through the door with sleepy eyes, and was met with more than a few stares. The teacher stopped mid-lecture, glancing at me with slight resentment. Bewildered, I looked at the clock. I had sworn I set my alarm for the right time. From the front of the room, there were a few giggles. "Get kissed?" I heard a guy shout out.

Eyebrows shooting up, I rubbed my chin, remembering. "Slept with my phone," I coughed out, to which there was an outburst of laughter.

"Sit down," the teacher commissioned irritably. I did as he said, and hastily took an open seat next to a boy, who I recognized to be Dimitri.

"Hey," I mumbled to him. Then I realized that I had one sleeve rolled up, and one not. I quickly rearranged my clothing so it made sense.

There was a cheery smile on Dimitri's face when he saw me. "A little late, don't you think?"

"Keep it down," I said, as the teacher shot me another glare. Dimi crossed his thin arms, still smiling. "Hey, Dimi," I said, realizing I had nothing to write with, "Mind lending me a pencil?"

"Sure thing," he said, rifling through his things loudly. Then he held a pencil out to me.

"Thanks," I said, giving him a polite smile and taking it. I couldn't believe how this first day had started out; I probably had just made the worst first impression in the history of Oceanside. I grimaced at this thought.

Sitting back in my chair, I realized that Kaito was here, too, and next to him, Arena. Arena caught me looking her way, so I hastily started up a hushed conversation with Dimitri.

"So," I said, in barely a whisper, leaning closer to him. "How's my chin look?"

He glanced at me, furrowing his brow. "Like someone just ripped a bandaid off it," he replied, in a louder whisper. I shushed him, moving my hand downwards slowly in a gesture that said keep it down.

I subtly looked at my face in the backwards-facing camera of my phone. My chin didn't look too bad. I was further examining it when Dimitri reached his face over next to mine and hit the camera button, snapping a picture of us. He snapped another one, sticking his tongue out.

"Hey," I said, "quit that."

"Please quiet down," the teacher stressed sternly. I still didn't know his name, nor what he was going on about at the front of the room. With his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth, Dimitri got to work on a Rubik's cube in his hands. I watched out of the corner of my eye, but pretended to take notes. I drew bad stick figure art on my paper.

"Got the whites," Dimi muttered, the cube clicking around, then, "Got the reds." Then he let out a little laugh. "Just like Cowboys and Indians," he mumbled with some realization in his voice. I swallowed back a smile and kept my composure. "You better watch out, teacher-man," Dimitri was saying under his breath, "because..." Then, with a flick of his wrist, the Rubik's cube was complete. "Yes! Pow! Look at that, buddy, I can do the cube faster than you can do your--"

I started laughing, unable to help it, but before Dimi could finish, a shadow was standing over us. It was the teacher, red-faced and furious. I was trying to conceal my laughter and bite it back as the teacher began to lecture us. "This is your second strike, gentlemen. If you keep acting out, then you're out, you hear me? This class isn't some lackadaisical joke; that is something you'll find out quickly. Now keep your mouths shut, or your asses will be in detention." He shot us both a fiery glare before stalking back to the front of the classroom.

The bell rang.

I gave Dimi a clap on the shoulder as we walked out of the classroom together.

History class was much more subdued, to my relief. I wasn't out to make any enemies on the first day, especially teachers. By the time we got to fitness class, I definitely had some energy to burn. I carried a duffel bag full of sneakers and athletic wear into the locker room. There were already a few guys in there. Among them were Aaron, Kaito, and someone who was stripping off a James Dean jacket.

Aaron stripped off his shirt, and Kaito did the same. "Man of the hour," Kaito said, nudging my arm as I walked by. I claimed a locker and tossed my stuff into it.

"Literally," the guy with the James Dean jacket intoned as I was pulling up my shorts. He had a British accent. "Weren't you the guy who was almost twenty minutes late this morning?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Yeah," the boy mocked in a low voice, and then laughed. Dimi walked in just then, followed by a guy with a good build and jet black hair.

"Nice tats," Dimitri said, pointing to my shoulder after I took off my shirt.

"Probably fake," James Dean said with a chuckle. "I'll bet your little sister did it."

"If I had a little sister, she'd beat up your ass," I told him coolly. A chorus of ooooh's echoed in the locker room, even at my lousy comeback.

Aaron smirked. "Maybe you oughta chill out, Stet," he said. "Or Jay might get so nervous he'll evolve right back into a dinosaur." The other boy--Jay--kind of gave a quick fake-laugh, before he suddenly disappeared. We all looked around, just as Jay appeared again behind Aaron, giving him a light shove in the back.

Aaron stopped suddenly and whipped around, and though he and Jay were the about same height, he seemed to tower above him. Suddenly, the playful banter had turned serious. "Don't touch me," Aaron said, his muscles tense.

"Whoa," Kaito said, trying to joke around, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm outta here." He walked out of the room. I followed, glancing back at Jay and Aaron. Jay still had on a lop-sided grin, like everything was a permanent joke, and Aaron had on a dangerous smirk.

"Hey, Van Amsberg," I said to Aaron, nodding my head towards the door. I knew that if he tried anything stupid, his emotions would literally get the best of him. Aaron stepped towards Jay quickly, and Jay flinched slightly. With that, Aaron smirked and followed me out the doors. In the gymnasium, there were already a bunch of girls and guys, stretching and talking. I spied Arena, in a pair of tight black shorts and an athletic tank-top that was stretching against her chest. She bent over at the waist, putting her hair up in a ponytail.

Kaito elbowed me. "Got the hots for Arena Potter, huh?"

"Who wouldn't," another guy said, which got a chorus of laughter and subsequent dirty jokes.

"I don't got the hots for her," I said.

"Sure you don't," Kaito said.

"I don't."

"Sure you don't."

I crossed my arms, ande then looked over to see Arena walking our way, her cheeks pink, ponytail swinging back and forth. She smiled, teeth showing. I exhaled, and caught Kaito raising an eyebrow at me. I punched him in the shoulder as Arena got to us.

"Hey," she greeted.

Briony Carter

First and Second period didn't really lead up to much. It was kind of boring actually, well this one guy was late by 10 minutes, but it was nothing compared to the one tried to sneak into class. I assumed he had invisibility because the door just sort of swung open mysteriously, unfortunately for him he closed the door rather loudly, causing everyone, including the teacher, to turn back and see him materialize out of thin air. I think his name might've been James or Jake or something like that. I wasn't entirely sure.

I had spent those first two classes with Cora, no one else really sat by us during them. They tried to distance themselves away from us, but that was to be expected after what had happened yesterday. I wasn't surprised, but it did cause me to doubt a bit about hanging around Cora. I liked Cora, she was sweet, but I didn't want to be known as just the girl who hung around her all year.

There were various other characters who seemed to catch my eye. A guy that looked to be over 6 foot, possibly out of some vampire Goth book, he also had an English accent interestingly enough. There was a guy who... I believed to be Japanese? Then this girl who was in a wheelchair.

I don't think I had ever seen a more diverse class in my life. It was quite strange, but pleasant none the less. Well of course those were the people in my first two classes. My 3rd period class different people than the others. I separated from Cora also then. She had Art, a class which I had first wanted for 3rd, but then changed to my last class. It gave me a bit of breathing room from her though, my head had been pounding all day, almost nonstop I’d assume.

I hope she was doing well regardless though, I wouldn’t want her acting all skittish, or something happening to one of the other students. That would be horrendous to find out about. I shivered at just the mere thought at what could happen. I don’t know why I felt so attached to Cora right now, I had only just met her last night, I guess it might have been because of Keeley. I always tended to baby her, or try to take care of her. I must’ve been doing the same to Cora.

Well at least Cora didn’t have to endure this. Fitness was torture, literally. It was just like a boot camp, I assumed the teacher had to have been some kind of Ex-military or Marines or something of the like. The class was doing pretty well to keep up though. I lagged a bit which rewarded me with a few extra push ups, but I could handle the pain.

I made the mistake of splitting into, myself and Melody and dropped down to give him 20. “You think your funny don’t you? Give me 40 each Carter!” Coach Helms screamed as Melody and I started to do 40 push-ups... That was not fun at all, I felt so tired after doing them and after Melody I had become one again. I was going to feel so sore in the morning, I was regretting it already. Some of the other kids looked at me a bit apologetically, but the one who turned invisible just looked at me and laughed, giving me a splitting motions with his hands. I rolled my eyes and just continued on with the rest of the class, running laps, jumping jacks, and so much more pain.

I leaned against the wall gasping for breathe by the end of it. Most people headed straight for the locker room, but I just leaned against the wall trying to catch my breathe. “Having trouble keeping up Carter?” I nodded looking towards the voice, he seemed familiar, and I might’ve saw him at the registrations office the day before.

“Yeah, apparently trying to be efficient doesn’t get you much. It’s Briony by the way. And you are?” He had black hair, and blue eyes, which seemed at the moment a bit common for a lot of the guys here strangely enough.

“Matthew, people call me Matt. Don’t worry though, you’ll get used to these kind of things.” He reassured me. I felt a bit nervous around him, I was usually nervous around people. Always self-conscious, but he seemed friendly enough.

“I sure hope so,” I shook my hair loose after taking off the rubber band in my hair, “and you’ll be taller than the British guy soon enough if you keep trying to.” He shot me a glance as I stepped away from the wall, heading towards the locker rooms. “I’ve got to go anyways, guess I’ll see you later Matt.” I glanced back and smiled at him.

No one else had really talked to me the other two classes so it was nice to finally hear someone else’s voice besides the teachers talking to me. I quickly got changed back into my clothes, heading to my last class before lunch.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect except that the teacher had made the girl in a wheelchair from my science class stand up. Apparently pencils and pens and even notebooks went flying everywhere. It was crazy, but it happened. Powers weren’t developed, but teachers were still…. Well teachers.

When I got there, I was a few minutes late. I had taken my time getting ready. Mr. Malady hadn’t been happy at all. He was probably one of the strictest teachers of my life. He talked about “Art not being an easy class” and how we had to “earn our grades” and how if you wanted n A, you’d need “blood, sweat, and tears.”

I didn’t know who was worse, him and Coach Helms. I sighed though. As I looked down at my watch, 11:35am. Freedom seemed to be far away from sight. I started to drift off to sleep though as Mr. Malady spoke about upcoming projects and what we were going to be doing this year. I struggled to keep my eyes open as Mr. Malady’s voice droned on in the background and soon just became white noise.