Chapter 1
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP…
“Uuuhh…” Her right hand reached out and felt around for the alarm. She pulled herself up into a sitting and stared hard at her clock, “..Oh noh, seven AM already?” She stumbled out of her bed, oblivious of the night before. The telephone rang. She sat at her desk and picked up the phone. “Hello?”, she asked and rubbed her left eye.
“Hey, Kessira. Can you give me a ride to school? My father thinks it is too dangerous for me to walk by myself. With the disappearances lately and all.”
“I guess… Hey, Mari, I need your help.”
“Name it.”
“Well, I had this strange dream last night. And there was a symbol… I know I’ve seen it before. But where, I don’t know. It’s important. I need to find out what it was. And I know that you are into all that strange stuff.”
“Can you remember it enough to draw it for me?”
“Um… I think so. I’ll show you when I get to your house. ‘Kay?”
“Okay. Well, I have to start getting ready. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Kessira pushed the ‘off’ button on her phone and sat it down on the desk. She moved towards the closet and pulled it open. She shifted through the closet and pulled out a pair of flares and a red spaghetti-strap shirt. She quickly dressed and put on a little make-up. She walked toward the door, leaving her belly-length hair loose. She picked up her car keys as she went past her bureau.
Kessira jetted down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her older sister, Angelique, was already eating breakfast. She looked up and said, “Hey. Seems like someone finally decided to wake up.”
Kessira walked past Angelique and opened a cabinet. She replied emotionlessly, “Everyone says that.” She got herself a bowl of cereal and a cup of orange juice.
Angelique got up and walked to the living room. She stopped in front of the mirror and put a clip in the back of her shoulder-length, wavy black hair. Angelique looked into her chocolate-brown eyes for a few seconds and admired her tiny nose and her tan skin. “Damn, I’m gorgeous.” she said to herself and smiled. Her facial features looked nearly identical to Kessira’s. The only difference was that Kessira had much paler skin. She tugged down on the back of her short, black skirt. Then she walked out the door.
Kessira came into the living room to get her bacpack and a piece of unlined paper. The room had a wood floor and was dimly lit by one lamp by the window. She sat on the left arm of a black leather couch and started to draw the symbol she had seen in her dream. When she finished, she took a moment to stare at it; it still made her feel strange. After a moment, her fixation broke and she walked towards the door. She skipped over the side of the porch and walked to her car, a black convertible. Once inside, she started it and drove towards Mari’s house.
Mari was sitting on the swing on the front porch of her old, white two-story house. Mari was reading a book, as always. She looked up as Kessira drove up. Mari smiled and slid her book into her backpack. She stood up, swung her black backpack over her shoulders, and walked over to Kessira’s car. She was wearing a loose, lime-green shirt and dark-blue jean flairs with 1-inch green line down each side. Mari opened the right door and got in. Mari smiled and said, “Hey. So where’s that symbol.”
“Here,” Kessira replied. She pulled the paper out of her bag and handed it to Mari. Then Kessira started her car and started to drive.
Mari put her backpack on the floor. She took off her glasses and brushed back her chin-long strawberry blond hair with her right hand. She stared at the symbol; she had never seen it before. For a moment she was silent. Then she raised her clear mediterranean-blue eyes to Kessira. “I have no idea,” she finally said. She continued, ”But I think that there is a book or two somewhere in my room that might help.”
“Good,” Kessira replied,”I’ll drive you home after school and we can look then.”
Kessira pulled into her parking space in the school parking lot.
“We’re a little earlier then usual,” Mari commented. She pulled up her backpack and opened her door. Kessia opened her door and stepped out. She started towards the school. Mari followed, swinging her backpack onto her right shoulder.
Martinsville High School(MHS) was a flat, two-story building. The top part was a light brown color and the bottom was off-white. The music hall was at the far right and the main entrances were at the left. To the far left was the football field. There were two main entrances, parallel to each other. A little off center was the flagpole with red and blue benches about 25 feet away on either side. Through the entrance on then left, there was the gym straight ahead. Through the right entrance, there was some old pictures and awards in a glass case and the auditorium a little bit to the left of straight-ahead. Further down the right entrance was a wax figure of John Wooden in a glass case(it’s creepy. He graduated from MHS in 1927; the school was dedicated to him when it was rebuilt). Both entrances go past the office and end at Spirit Hallway. To the right on Spirit Hallway led to the music hall; to the left was the Well (an eating place with picnic tables; named because the school’s symbol is an artesian well), the cafeteria, and the stairs to the upper gym; ahead on Spirit Hallway was the IMC (the library), some class rooms and lockers, and some stairs and cross-walks. Upstairs were basically just some more lockers and classrooms.
The two girls walked into the right entrance. They turned left on Spirit Hallway. Three girls waited for them on the stairs.
“Hey,” Kessira muttered as she began to walk up the stairs. She dropped her backpack on the third stair and sat down.
A tall, strong-looking girl with long, wavy dark-red hair said, “Hey, Have you seen Kae’s hair? It’s like purple or something.”
“I don’t care, Veronica,” Kessira said, looking somewhat annoyed. She was tired of everyone being mean to Kae. Kae wasn’t that bad.
“Hola!” said the purple-haired girl as she approached, holding her books against herself.
Kessira smiled and replied, “Hola.”
Veronica faked a smile. There wasn’t anything really wrong with Kae. Veronica was just too serious. Kae is what some would consider a ‘freak’. Veronica’s other friends, especially Angelique, would not like it if she befriended that girl. Veronica never let herself give Kae a chance.
Kae stood silent for a moment. She smiled at Veronica and walked up the stares. She sat next to Mari and they started talking about something. Veronica stood up and pulled her hair back over her shoulder. “I’m going to go find Breil,” she anounced. “Bye.”
Mari and Kessira glanced up, “Bye.”
A Japanese girl walked up to the base of the stairs and said chearfully, “Ohayo gozaimasu, minna(good morning, everyone)!!” Her voice lost it’s ebullience, ”Where’s Breil and Veronica?”
“Veronica just left. As of Breil, I haven’t seen him yet. Veronica’s looking for him,” Levenia replied, busy with french-braiding her long blonde hair.
“Um… Mia-sama, are you okay?”, Mari asked when the Japanese girl’s face turned red.
Maiko clenched her fists and said outloud to herself, “Oh no, she doesn’t. Breil is MINE. When will she understand that he is not hers? He can’t even stand to be around her. The only reason he doesn’t tell her to backoff is because he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings. But I’ll hurt more then that if she doesn’t give this up!” With that, Maiko took off towards the IMC.
“Well.. he’s not exactly Maiko’s either,” Levenia said after Maiko left.
“He doesn’t want either of them,” Kessira reminded everyone. She looked at Kae and raised her right eyebrow.
Kae’s face turned red.
“Oh, leave Kae alone,” Mari said. She smiled at Kae.
Kae sighed, “I know how Breil feels about me, but I can’t do anything about it. If I did, Miako and Veronica would both hate me forever. I don’t care about Veronica, but Miako is a really good friend. Friends last longer then boyfriends.” Kae quickly changed the subject, “Anyone get the homework for Algerbra done? I need to copy someone’s before first period.”
Maiko pulled herself out of the pool and squeezed as much water out of her chin-length black hair as she could. A small-framed, blonde girl from the Freshman class touched Maiko’s arm as she went by and said, “You did very good today, Mia-sempai.” Miako smiled slightly and grabbed her white towel. She wrapped it around the lower half of her one-piece plain black suit and headed toward the swimming locker room.
She walked in and quietly went past everyone to the very back. Maiko quickly took off her suit; she wanted to get a drink before the bell rang. She put on a little white shirt that had Lina Inverse holding a crystal ball on the back and the words “Slayers: Dragonslave” in Japanese writing on the front. She stopped in front of the mirror and put on some white eyeshadow & light-pink lipstick.
A few minutes later, Maiko came out of the locker room and went down to the Well. She got a cherry-peach poweraid out of the drink machine. She opened it and was about to take a drink, when she noticed a boy standing against a wall, starring straight at her. Maiko nearly stopped breathing. “Wow,” she thought, “what a babe. He’s perfect…!”
The boy smiled at her. He had spiky blonde hair and the greenest-green eyes. He looked foreign, Australian maybe. Maiko’s hand shook; she feared she might drop the drink if he came near to her.
“That would be very embarrassing,” she thought, tightening her grip on the bottle. The boy walked towards her. Maiko couldn’t help but smile. “Hey,” she said.
The boy bowed his head, “Konnicha wa.” He smiled and continued, “Sorry, I know I’m a dork. It’s probably the wrong language.”
Maiko shook her head and said in her Japanese accent, “No, it’s right. I’m Miako.”
“Would that be Miako-sama?”, the boy asked, kissing the top of her right hand.
Miako grinned, “No. It’s Mia-chan. Sama is only used when the speaker is younger then me or has high respect for me.”
“I have respect for you, My lady.”
“Call me what you want. What shall I call you?”
The boy’s smile faded and he paused a moment, “Um… Josh.”
“Josh?” Miako asked, biting her lower lip, “It doesn’t fit you.”
“Yea, I know.”
Just then the bell rang.
“Well, I have to go to my astronomy class.”
“Astronomy? Me to.”, the boy smiled again, “I’ll walk with you.”
The two started walking. Miako looked over to Josh and asked, “Why haven’t I’ve seen you in there? The trimester is almost over. New here?”
“Yea, on Tuesday. Maybe after school you can show me around town.”
Miako was way ecstatic. She tried to remain outwardly calm. She grinned, “Yea, sure. Meet me at my locker, # 962. It’s left of the library.”
“Okay,” Josh replied as they walked into the planetarium.
Miako sat on the second seat to the right, next to Mari. Mari looked over at Josh, who had sat in the first seat. Josh looked over at her and smiled. Mari just stared at him. She narrowed her eyes and thought, “I have a bad feeling about that guy.”
Mr. Goens noticed Josh and came over to him. Josh looked up. Goens looked annoyed at having enouther new student. Goens said,”You missed yesterday’s test. Borrow someone’s notes and study for it. You will take it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?? But I have never had an Astronomy class before, and I still have to do a lot of unpacking to do. I need more then a day.”
“Take it tomorrow or take an F,” Goens replied. He stood up and started to dim the lights.
Miako looked at Josh, struggling not to lose sight of his facial features. She touched his hand and said, “I can help you unpack and study right after school, then I’ll show you around. ‘Kay?”
“Okay, thanks, Mia.”
The next sixty minutes were very boring for Josh and Miako. They were both thinking about what they were going to do that evening. Miako was thinking about getting closer to Josh, but Josh had something else in mind.
Meanwhile, Mari couldn’t stop worrying about Miako. Near the end of the period, Miako was half asleep when she felt a touch on her hand. She looked up to see Josh looking down at her.
“Wake up, it’s almost time to leave,” Josh said.
Kessira rested her head on her arm and sighed. American History had always bored her. She tapped her pen on her paper pad. She was more then happy when the bell rang. She jumped up and walked quickly to her next class, English 3A. She walked in right before the bell rang and sat in the second seat, row 3. Mrs. Johnson stood and said in an airy voice, “Class, we have a new student today, Josh Orrtev. Everyone, say hi.”
“Hey,” Kessira muttered without looking back.
“Okay, Josh, this was a good time for you to move here. We were just about to start our last unit. This one is over historical vampires,” Mrs. Johnson said.
“Oh, yay,” Kessira muttered. She was so tired; she could barely stay awake.
Josh cringed. “I hope the stuff in this unit isn’t accurate,” he thought to himself.
The girl in front of Kessira turned around said, “Kessira, check out that Josh guy. He’s Hot.”
Kessira looked behind her. Her eyes fell on Josh. She bit her lip and thought calmly, “Maybe it wasn’t just a dream.”
Chapter 2