DUSK TILL DAWN

2

silence is the most powerful scream

The girl sitting next to Neve was the embodiment of sunshine. She looked and felt like positivity - it basically radiated off of her. She was beautiful as well. The prettiest blue-green eyes Neve had ever seen, with bright blonde hair that was a dark brown at the roots. Her smile was pretty as well, nice and big as if she'd just been given the best gift on Earth.

Realizing she had yet to respond to the girl, Neve's cheeks grew a dark red color. "Um," She began, "I'm Neve."

It was second nature for her to respond with that name now. She was no longer Genevieve Majors, the little blonde girl with pigtails who befriended anyone and everyone. She was now Neve Mellark, the redhead who stayed to herself and talked when needed.

When she first changed everything about her, she had a rough time. She wanted to befriend people despite the trauma she'd lived through - doing anything she could to get her mind off of what had happened to her. But instead, she couldn't, due to her aunt's strict orders of keeping to herself.

The more people she trusted, the more of a chance her father could find her. The thought didn't make too much sense to Neve, as there was no way a seventeen-year-old in a small town high school knew her father and would help him get to her.

Neve didn't even know if her 'father' was still alive. Even though he was never found by the cops, there's a chance he knew coming after her was too much of a risk and moved on with his life - with hopefully a lot of guilt - or even got killed by someone he got mixed up with that managed to overpower him.

She didn't know, and she tried not to think about it too much.

"It's so nice to meet you! You're a senior this year, correct?" Cloe asked, bringing Neve back to reality.

She'd hoped by her short responses that Cloe would get the hint that she wasn't in the mood to talk, but it seemed that if she had, she didn't really care.

"Yeah," Neve softly responded, hoping that the bell would ring soon.

As if her prayers were answered, the chiming of the loud bell rang. Students filed in last minute, filling in whatever seats they could to avoid getting in trouble on the first day of school. She was thankful for this because Cloe seemed to get the message and turn her body to the front.

"Clo!" Someone exclaimed, and Neve watched with envy as a girl with brown curls ran to the back of the room. They embraced Cloe, the two hugging as if class wasn't supposed to start.

"I feel like it's been way too long!" Cloe exclaimed just as happily, the two giggling as if someone had told them a funny joke.

Neve wanted nothing more than for class to start, feeling quite envious. She'd never had that - even when she was able to have friends. She couldn't have someone to hug and giggle with in a platonic way (if these two were platonic),  and she didn't have a best friend she could look forward to seeing.

Looking down at the empty notebook in front of her, she tried to focus on anything but the blonde and her friend. Her eyes danced anywhere and everywhere, the seconds feeling like minutes as she waited for class to begin.

"This is Neve!" Cloe suddenly exclaimed, catching Neve's attention. She glanced over to see the blonde looking at her, her brunette friend looking over as well.

"Oh, you're so pretty!" The dark-haired girl exclaimed. "I'm Celina, but you can call me Cece!"

"Nice to meet you," Neve quietly but politely told her, turning her attention to the front. She could feel their eyes on her, but thankfully before anything else could be said the teacher at the front finally began class.