Chapter 4

“Hi, is Adrianna home?” I recognized Jackie’s smooth voice all the way in the basement.
“Yep, come on in.” Dad said. “Adrianna!”
“Coming,” I said, throwing a breakfast bar into my bag and throwing it over my shoulder as I climbed the stairs.
“You’re wearing that?!” Jackie said, her eyebrows rising.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Have a good day, Adri,” Dad said. I smiled and nodded, giving him a hug and leaving with Jackie.
“I’m going to help you get ready, okay?”
“I’m good to go,” I said.
“Not in that, you aren’t,” she said. “Do you want everyone staring?”
“I look how I normally do,” I answered.
“And that’s just it. No one looks normal here. Our ‘normal’ is completely whacked out, Halloween style.” She said with a smile. “Come on, I’ll give you an awesome costume.” She grabbed my forearm and led me to her house, taking me down to her room and having me sit on her perfectly made bed. Her room was massive; her walk in closet was nearly as big. She pulled out a pair of black cat ears and a cat tail, having me put them on. She was gentle with the black eyeliner, and didn’t speak as she put it on. She just had me close my eyes. It was a cold liquid, the expensive kind, and she applied it with quick skill. When I opened my eyes, I looked like something out of a Halloween magazine, and the shadows under my eyes were barely visible. There were whiskers painted in it on my cheeks as well, little dots on my upper lip. She pulled out pink eyeliner, drawing a cold triangle on my nose for the cat nose.
“Voila,” she said. “The perfect cat,”
“Thanks!” I exclaimed, laughing. “Wow,”
“Ready to go to school?” She asked.
“Sure!” I said, standing. We left the house, walking to the end of the street where a group was gathering.
“That’s our group,” she said. Max turned and smiled at her, waving. She blushed.
“How long have you two been together?” I asked. She turned to me and blushed even deeper.
“A very, very long time.” Was her answer.
Dark eyes followed me angrily as I walked closer. His dark hair made his pale skin stand out shockingly, his black eyes following my every move. I returned his angry gaze every few moments, and when we started walking, he fell behind me. I could feel his eyes on me all the way there. I considered confronting him, demanding what his problem was, but decided to let it go and learn what I could from the people he knew. I didn’t want an uninformed argument.
The bell rang; I pulled my schedule out to look at my first period. It was an art class, taught by a Dr. Alucard. Room 1705? How big was this school, anyway?
I looked up to see a large wall of smooth black marble with Hallow’s High School chiseled neatly above the large archway. There were soaring glass towers on either side of the school, with one long sky bridge between them. It seemed impossible that it should hold, being so long, but there it stood.
“Hey, Jackie, where’s room 1705?” I asked. I turned to glance at Salex, and saw him flinch, his back to us. He walked away stiffly, completely ignoring me. Well, let him do what he wants, I thought. It’s not like I was interested anyway.
“It’s up in the left wing tower, top floor. It’s stairs, I’m afraid. Climbing up there should merit a physical education credit, if you ask me.” She said. “Salex has it, just follow him,”
“I don’t think he likes me very much,” I said, folding the paper up and pocketing it.
“That’s just Salex for you,” she laughed. “He’s a bit bipolar.”
“Really? He was acting kind of like this last night,” I said, confused.
“Catch up to him, quickly! He’ll warm up to you eventually,” When I turned back to look for his tall, dark form, he was gone.
“He’s gone,” I said. “I guess I’m on my own…” when I turned back, Jackie was gone. I sighed, turning to go into the school with the last few students.
A few minutes later, I was running up the stairs as fast as I could, my leg muscles burning, my lungs screaming for me to stop. This, of course, meant the bell rang when I was nearly halfway up the tower.
The stairs were made of white marble, but the wall of the tower was glass. I hugged the inside wall; I hated heights, and this wasn’t helping at all.
About five minutes more of dashing up the stairs left me wheezing and coughing as I clasped the handle of the classroom. An older-looking man with graying hair and glasses, tall and thin, turned to look at the door. I opened the door quickly, trying not to sound like a fish without water.
“You must be Adrianna,” he said in a tenor voice. He smiled at me. I smiled back, still trying to breathe. I looked around the classroom; my face was probably tomato red by now. What a great first impression, I thought sarcastically. My eyes picked out that dark-haired form sitting in the back of the classroom, his eyes focused on me with some emotion written on his face I couldn’t understand. He looked almost angry.
“You can sit back there by the young man in the black. Go ahead and get acquainted, quickly, I’m going to start the lesson.” I nodded, my throat dry. I walked to the back of the classroom, sitting next to him. He stiffened, as if someone was running an electrical current through him.
“Hello, Adrianna.”
“Hi, Salex,” I whispered. “Call me Adri, Adrianna is… well, really long.”
He just looked at me, as if to say, Do you really think I care how long it is?
I rolled my eyes, ignoring his reaction and trying to listen to Dr. Alucard.
The class period passed quickly, and when the bell rang, Salex stood and walked past me, backpack over his shoulder. He left a trail of an AXE-like smell, one of coconut and sweet coffee. I was confused, but ignored it, taking out my paper and looking at the next class. I asked Dr. Alucard where it was; he directed me. I sighed; I had sprinted down the tower stairs, nearly killing myself several times in the process. I had to sprint all the way across an open area with trees and grass, seeming as if lunch was being set up. This school was like a labyrinth. I made it to the mouth of the hallway the class was supposed to be in when the bell rang, giving it up and walking the rest of the way, catching my breathe. I understood what Jackie meant now- it really was as good as a physical education class.
“Ah! There’s the new student!” A pale, young looking man stuck his head out of the classroom doorway. He had bright red hair and reddish-brown eyes, as well as a perfectly white, friendly smile. “Come in, quickly, quickly, we’re about to start,” he ushered me in, offering his hand.
“I’m Mr. Feonicks,” he said. “You must be Adrianna,” I shook his hand, looking around the room. It was decorated in blacks, reds, and golds, the whiteboard at the front of the classroom completely untouched, though there were three markers there: red, black, and yellow. I assumed they didn’t make a gold whiteboard marker. Everything seemed ridiculously angular, straight, almost OCD. He was dressed in black dress clothes, his black church shoes shined to perfection. His hair was extremely red, like you only see with hair dye, but his roots were the same color. I was alternating between two possibilities: either he dyed his hair and was extremely eccentric, or it was naturally that color and he was OCD and a bit wild. His hair seemed to have gel in it, but it was messy, in a way that looked formal. It was a very different look for a teacher, compared to the previous period’s Dr. Alucard, but he pulled it off well. I nodded.
“Yep, I’m Adrianna.”
“Unbelievable,” I heard someone whisper. “She’s in this class too?”
“Apparently. Now shut up.” I turned to look at the two who had been talking; it was Salex and a boy I didn’t recognize. The boy had blonde hair and deep brown eyes, and looked at me with scrutinizing eyes. I watched him carefully. Salex’s arms were folded, and he watched me with careful anger as I found an open seat. Everywhere I went, I was turned away.
“Someone already sits here,”
“This seat’s taken,”
“They just didn’t come today,”
Mr. Feonicks sighed.
“I assumed you would all be a little more welcoming. Salex, Dawson, you two have some room on your table. Share,” Salex looked peeved, and the blonde boy looked blown away. “Now,” Mr. Feonicks’ voice turned hostile and dangerous; the room rose in temperature instantaneously. They readjusted themselves; I felt completely out of place sitting next to them. The class passed slowly as they both stared at me, even though the assignment had been given. I knew how to do it, though it took me some time and a few pieces of paper, since my handwriting was large.
“Having any trouble?” red hair appeared next to me out of nowhere, surprising me.
“N-no,” I lied, though there were several problems I was having problems with.
“She’s having trouble with sixteen, twenty-two, thirty-seven, and forty-one.” Salex said smoothly, his assignment already finished. I looked up at him, shocked. Why would he care what problems I was having trouble with?
“Well, Salex, since you’re already finished, why don’t you help her?” Salex turned angry black eyes on Mr. Feonicks.
“Re bai ne kert sva re an,” Salex said angrily. I couldn’t even recognize the origins of the language they were using, much less the meaning of their words.
“Er temo! Ku ner de va!” Mr. Feonicks barked. Salex growled, looking at Mr. Feonicks venomously, then to me. His expression changed to indifferent as he looked at me. But he didn’t really look at me; he was looking at my papers. His slim, pale fingers took it gently from beneath my hands, examining it with cold, bored eyes.
“Sixteen had a number error in the original written problem,” he said, going on to list the problems with the others and showing me how to do them correctly. He was careful not to make physical contact, and pointed with his pencil. I couldn’t help but wonder why.
Later on, once I was finished and Salex had begun ignoring me again, Dawson, his blonde friend, kept glaring at me. Salex commenced glaring at him; it was like this until the end of class. I wondered how such an unlikely pair could be friends.
I pulled my paper out to find my next class; I got directions as the bell rang, sprinting to class. As I stepped into class, I ran into the black-clad chest of one of the boys Jackie and I walked to school with. I struggled to remember his name, or even if we had been introduced, stuttering out an apology. His chain necklace and tan neck were all I could see for a moment, and then he was helping me to stand.
‘Whoa, are you alright?” he asked, my head spinning from the smell of his cologne.
“Yeah, I’m so sorry!” I said, completely embarrassed. Leave it to me to mess up on my first day.
“Hey, it’s fine,” he smiled down at me, still wearing his dark mirror sunglasses, even though we were inside. “Watch out for Salex, though. He looks pretty much like me but with pale skin, and he’s seriously angry for some reason.”
‘Yeah, I know him.” I said. “I had to sit by him in my last two classes.”
“You walk to school with Jackie, right?”
“Yeah, you do too, I recognize you,”
“We never got introduced,” he laughed, watching me carefully as we went down the steep spiral stairs to the classroom. “I’m Jeff,”
“Adrianna,” I replied. “Call me Adri,” from here, it looked like the whole room was just a large concrete area lit by candles. Shadows played on the walls with the dancing light, making everything a bit eerie.
“It’s unusual, but you get used to it,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.
“How can you wear sunglasses when it’s this dark?” I asked.
“I just can,” He answered. We walked to where the rest of the students were, a man in a white karate outfit standing at the front. Unbelievably, Salex’s eyes were focused on me, glaring, as per usual now. As we drew closer, he looked away angrily, heaving a sigh and staring at a point on the ceiling.
“Just stand back here,” Jeff whispered. “Coach doesn’t like being interrupted.” I pressed my back against the wall, finally getting a good look at the teacher. He had a shaved head and pale skin. Wide set blue eyes were hung above a pointed nose, and thin lips floated above his cleft chin. His eyes flew around the room, then came back to settle on me.
“Oh, hello,” he said with a British accent. “You must be the new student,”
“That’s me,” I smiled somewhat, lifting my hand in a half-wave to the people who turned around and looked.
“What was your name again?” He asked. “I’m terrible with names,”
“I’m Adrianna,” I said.
“Any preference for nicknames?”
“I go by Adri,” one pair of eyes focused on my with deadly anger; they burned into me fiercly, as if trying to destroy me. I turned to glare back at him, hoping he would look away when I did. Instead, he held my gaze, glaring at me with a look dark enough to kill. I shivered internally, still glaring at him. The shadows on his face made his cheeks and eyes look sunken in part of the way, as if he were deathly ill.
“Stop staring, it’s rude,” he said.
“At least I don’t act like somebody’s stabbed me whenever you’re around,” I snarled back.
“Keep this up and you’ll fail math,” he retorted.
“Who said I needed your help?” I asked angrily.
“A little birdie told me,” some of the kids from our math class snickered, as if it was an inside joke I didn’t get. It was clear he was witty, observant, and his tongue was as sharp as a razor. I shut my mouth, ignoring him, some of the students still giggling.
The teacher went on with the lesson, demonstrating difficult moves and having some of us try them. I was thankful he didn’t pick on me because I was the new kid, but I thought too soon. They had pulled out mats so that a fall wasn’t as hard, and he demonstrated a 540 degree kick.
“Now, I need someone to repeat this move. No one? Hmmm… Adri, would you like to demonstrate?” Some of the kids laughed, as if I couldn’t do it. I ignored them and removed my shoes. Salex only looked at me with curiosity in his eyes. He wondered if I could do it.
“Sure,” I sighed, dropping my backpack and striding to the front of the classroom. I stood on the mat and wound my body up like he had, executing the kick like I had when I had taken martial arts as a child. There was a stunned silence as I turned to look at the teacher, folding my arms.
“What else do you want me to pull off?”
“Let’s see how well you do with…”
“Competition!” Jeff had cupped his hands around his mouth to make a megaphone, magnifying his voice.
“Alright, competition. Get into pairs.” Jeff ran up to me, smiling.
       “I’ll be your partner,” he said.  “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,”
       “You don’t have to,” I tried to assure him.
       “But I will,”
       “You don’t want to,” I said as he threw his shoes by his bag.  He came at me jabbing, and I took his wrist and elbow in my hands, twisting them behind his back, pushing the back of his knee with my foot and sending him to the ground.
       “I told you so,” I said in his ear.  He only smirked.
       “Adrianna wins her first round.  Who’s next?” Coach called.  There was a grunt, and Salex stood over a boy twice his width and the same height.  The larger boy wheezed; Salex looked over at me, unimpressed.
       Eventually, I came head to head with Salex; he was alert, and had watched me fight over and over, since his fights were over quickly.  I didn’t know how I could beat him, but he seemed to be limping on his left leg slightly after one of the more recent fights.  From what, exactly, I didn’t know.
       He stood in front of me, jacket and shoes off, staring off into space.  I waited for him to attack out of nowhere unexpectedly, but when he didn’t, I waited more.  I waited until I was certain he wasn’t paying attention, and then went to kick his left knee.  As soon as my foot should have met his leg, he grabbed my hair and had jumped from one side of me to the other, kneeling on my legs with one of his and using his other hand to grab my wrist and twist my arm around my back.  I felt like a pretzel.  He bent to speak in my ear, just like I had to Jeff.
       “Nice move.  Next time, you shouldn’t wait so long.”  He was gripping my hair hard enough to make tears spring to my eyes.  I hated losing, and I felt humiliated.  He let me go; my shoulder was sore, and my knees felt like jelly.  He hadn’t gone easy, that was for sure.  He stalked off the mat silently, slipping his shoes on and grabbing his backpack.  He flew up the stairs silently, like a shadow, before I could even get up.  I heard the door slam shut, and he was gone.