Natalie walks into the the english classroom at exactly 8:40 a.m. She sits down in her usual spot, dropping her english binder and her copy of The Scarlet Letter down on her desk. She sees Isabelle come in, wearing a black leather jacket, black pants and a dark, greenish grey shirt. With her straight black hair and stunning dark brown eyes, she looks fierce as she enters the room. Until she trips over a desk and almost face plants into the floor.
Isabelle clumsily comes and sits down in the desk beside Natalie, looking embarrassed.
"Wow. Are you going goth?" Natalie asks.
"I don't even know. I just put this outfit on," Isabelle says. "Why? Does it look bad?"
"No! It's nice!" Natalie looks around, then moves closer to Isabelle. She lowers her voice, then says, "You wanted to talk about . . . That night?"
"Yeah."
"Shouldn't we wait for Thalia?" Natalie asks.
"Thalia told me she wasn't coming to school today."
"She doesn't usually skip. Do you know why she's not here?"
Isabelle's eyes flick around the room. Then they focus back on Natalie. "Melissa's been arrested."
"What?" Natalie yells. Some of the other teenagers in the classroom give Natalie dirty looks and tell her to shut up. "As in Thalia's sister, Melissa? With the brown hair and pale skin?" She says more quietly.
"Didn't Thalia tell you?" Isabelle questions.
"No. My phone died on the way to school, and I was too busy trying to avoid all the people in the halls. They've been coming up to me and randomly hugging me, saying, I'm so sorry you're friend died! It's annoying. They're making me feel worse."
"People have been accusing me of killing Kayla and hiding her body!" Isabelle says. "That's so unfair. Why am I suddenly the killer and you're the saint?"
"I dunno. So, what happened to Melissa?"
"All Thalia told me was that Melissa was arrested and that her parents left to go meet her at the police station. And Thalia's at home. They just left her there."
"We should visit her after school."
"Yeah, Thalia asked for us to come by later today."
"The teacher's coming everyone!" Scarlet, an overly dramatic girl in their class, yells to everyone.
Some of the kids laugh. Scarlet Lefèvre always announces when a teacher comes. No one really knows why. She's an overachiever, and comes from France. She has dark reddish-brown hair, light olive skin, and always wears classic, preppy clothes. She also speaks french really well, and learned fencing when she was seven years old. Even though people act as though she's some dumb, goody two shoes freak, they're kind of scared of her. One time she pushed another student down the stairs when they'd tried to cut a bit of her hair off as a prank. The student wound up in the hospital with a broken leg, a sprained ankle, 12 stitches in their forehead, and a month in a rehabilitation centre.
Isabelle and Natalie share a glance, turn back to their books, and pretend to read, right as the teacher walks into the room.
"Hey! Mr. Stings! Good morning!" One of the kids calls.
Mr. Stings, the English teacher, grumbles something unintelligible and sits down in his desk. He looks up at the class.
He glances at Isabelle and Natalie. "How nice to see you two reading the book I assigned to the whole class!" The other students shuffle around in their bags and retrieve their copies of The Scarlet Letter. "Bonus points for you two!" he adds. Natalie and Isabelle share a small smile. They found out a long time ago that if you pretend you're reading the class book when the teacher comes in, he gives you extra marks for participation.
"Thank you so much Mr. Stings!" Isabelle calls out.
People look at her with hatred. They're too smart to say anything though. Mr. Stings never believes anyone except himself, and to try explaining something to him when he hasn't been there to witness it would be stupid.
The room goes silent as people begin reading. The clock ticks loudly for every passing second. Natalie rubs her eyes and sighs. Now that she has time to think, the full shock of her best friend's murder hits her like a bus.
Kayla and her were very close. Their parents were good friends, and because of this, the two of them have known each other since they were born. Kayla always seemed to know how to make Natalie feel like she was special. They used to pretend they were long lost sisters. They had the same straight black hair, hazelnut coloured eyes, and always seemed to think alike. The only thing that separated the two of them was the fact that Kayla had pale skin and Natalie had light brown, caramel coloured skin.
Now that Kayla was dead, Natalie felt like she had lost a part of herself. On the other hand, she felt like she was free as well. There were times when Kayla could act like your BFF, but there were other times when she could act like your worst enemy. She knew stuff that was personal, and wasn't scared to use it against you. She could hurt you a lot. Sometimes it felt like she was stabbing you with a knife, and she wasn't afraid to twist it. Kayla had said some really nasty things to Natalie before she died. But Natalie always forgave her. Every time.
But not anymore. Kayla couldn't just die and leave Natalie alone. She knew she could count on her other friends, but she didn't share that special bond with the rest of the girls that she did with Kayla. She felt something special when she was with Kayla. But now she's disappeared, and Natalie's lost. She doesn't know what to do. Before Kayla went missing, Natalie was angry at her. A lot. And now Kayla was dead.
She was gone.
Forever.
