Upside Down and Inside Out

Chapter 6: First Day of School Part II

Recap from Part 1 of Chapter 6:

I took out the school map that the principal gave me earlier on, and tried to figure out my way to class. Ashton was long gone... The bell rang quite some time ago.

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By the time I finally got to the biology lab, which was my first class, nearly half the lesson was gone. All eyes were on me as I knocked and opened the creaky wooden door. The teacher, a slim middle-aged man dressed smartly, frowned before quickly replacing it with a grin as he looked at me. "Ah you just be Alison Smith. Must be tough finding this little lab tucked away at the corner eh? Well just you wait. One more year, and you'll be in the grand biology lab just down the hall. But I must say, I am impressed." I raised a brow and stared cautiously at him. Turning his attention from me to another girl, he said, "How long this time, Drew?" Clicking a button on her watch, she said, "11 minutes and 16 seconds." "And we've a winner here! 11 minutes and 16 seconds. That was indeed fast, Alison. Please take a seat anywhere you want to.", he replied, while smiling proudly at me. Wow, sarcasm much? I stared at him before settling in a seat in the middle. I never liked sitting at the back or front. The back was too chaotic and hard to see the board, while the front allowed no privacy or freedom from the teachers. Middle was just perfect. Not too far, not too near. Just right.

I sat down next to a blonde girl. She turned and smiled sweetly at me. "Oh hello. I'm Faith. Pleased to meet you.", she said, while shaking my hand warmly. I smiled back at her. I always appreciated such people for friends, the friendly and out-going type. Returning the smile again, she said, "Don't mind Mr Young, he is just really quirky. By the way, you were really quick and efficient in finding the lab. Did you know, that on my first day, I was so late for biology, that I came halfway through his second class? Because of how obscure the junior lab is, it's now become a 'past time' for us to count how long a new student takes to arrive." I laughed softly. That sounded like such a cute game.

Lesson carried on really quickly, and I copied notes at record speed. Thankfully, I was a quick learner, and memorized pretty much everything in that lesson itself.

Faith eagerly took my schedule from me, and compared our classes. Squealing softly next to me, she whispered, "We have all the same classes except the classes that you have advanced in!" I smiled, "Looks like you're stuck being my tour guide then." She nodded, before turning back to her work.

The lessons progressed on as per usual, and thanks to my new 'tour guide', I had no trouble attending all my lessons on time. When lunch finally came, I breathed a sigh of relief as I followed her into the cafeteria. It looked more like a middle-class restaurant than a school canteen to me, but that was all the better. Weaving through aisle after aisle of tables, she finally stopped in front of one in the centre, where 3 guys and 3 girls with ridiculously blonde hair and pale skin were seated at. Faith cleared her throat, "Guys, this is Alison Smith. She's the new girl and my new friend."

All 6 of them turned to look at me, each scrutinizing me with careful eyes, probably determining whether I would suit with them or not. The girl with the blonde-est hair came over and hugged me. "You smell really good", she said. "Erm thanks?", I replied hastily. Dragging me over, she sat down and patted the seat next to her. "I'm Chloe.", she said, while smiling gently at me. After a short round of introductions, I learnt that the 3 blonde boys were Alex, Jake and Nate, short for Nathenial. The 3 girls were Chloe, Annabelle and Claire.

As we bought our food, I looked around. Peering out of the window, I saw what looked like someone holding a gun from a very far building and aiming it in the school direction. I squinted slightly, and followed his/her trail of vision. The gun was aimed directly at Chloe. The trigger was pulled. My eyes widened as I heard the muffled bang, and I saw the bullet flying in our direction. I could see the bullet coming. It whizzing through the wind at top speed. A shattering sound could be heard as the bullet smashed through the glass panes. A few more seconds, and Chloe was going to die.

Time seemed to freeze as I dropped my tray and bolted and jumped above the meter high bar-styled tables to grab the bullet in my hand moments before it reached Chloe. I looked at my hand. I was pinching a gold bullet, and my hand seemed to be fine. Shock radiated through the canteen, and Faith ran over to me. "H-how did you do that?", she asked. I shrugged, placed the bullet on the table, before pointing at the direction of the gun men. "I can't see anything.", she said softly next to me. "What are you taking about? He's right there, running down the stairs of a building called... H&M.", I replied. She raised a brow. "H&M is 10km away from here my dear, you must be seeing things." I shook my head. All around me, security guards and medical personnel rushed to me and Chloe. "Are you okay, miss?", a security guard asked me. "I'm fine.", I said. "The police are on their way." A sense of familiarity washed over me. It felt as though all this had happened before.

"-And you just saw the bullet whizzing over?", the police man asked me again. "No I didn't", I replied calmly. I had no idea why, but a gut feeling told me that whatever I just done was not explainable, and the policemen would just think I'm mental. "Look, I have every right to keep silent. I'm but a mere victim slash witness, whichever you call it, and you've no right to interrogate me. If you waste anymore of my precious time, I'm calling my lawyer and I'll see you in court.", I replied, annoyed. The policemen chuckled. "Well then thank you for your time mam, have a great day!" I nodded dejectedly. It was already late noon, and I was extremely tired. Catherine had rushed over earlier, and she had been all panicky, but suddenly turned hostile when she saw Faith standing next to me. Faith had the same reaction, and she looked at me, asking me silently for permission to leave. I'd nodded, and the moment she left, Catherine was back to her usual bubbly self. When I left the police station, Catherine's car was parked right outside. She was sitting inside, reading a book. When I knocked on the window, she looked up at me and smiled, before unlocking the car doors.

"Talk about a rough first day eh?", she said softly next to me. "Tell me about it", I replied while rolling my eyes. The drive home was silent, save for the soft classical music playing in the background. When we reached home, I ran to my room, looked the door and leaned on the door, before sliding down and sitting in a crouched position, with my knees tucked up to my chest. Tears streamed down my face. What was happening to me? How did I managed to catch the bullet, how come only I could see it, how come I could race from one end of the huge canteen to the other in seconds? Lots of questions rushed through my head. Lots of them. There was nothing to guarantee that tomorrow would be a better day. No one to tell me that everything would be alright. I must be turning into a freak, I thought. What else could explain all these things happening to me?

I didn't want to go to sleep, I would just have another freak dream. I didn't want to go out and get more freak stares, I didn't want to do anything except die. I jumped out of the open window, and ran exuberantly to the hills. I don't know what overcame me, but in mere seconds, I was sitting calmly in a Forrest with great ancient looking trees that were twenty times my height. "Why? Why did you have to do this to me? Why couldn't you just kill me with my family? Why? Why must I be in this world by myself as a freak? WHY?", I screamed to no one in particular while looking up at the sky. "What did I do wrong?", I asked while breaking down. "I just want to live my life like a normal person, I just want everyone to forget what happened, I just w-want to go home.", I mumbled softly. The tears streamed down my face endlessly. Images of my parents and my sister flashed through my head. Why had they died? Because they came into a car crash. And why were they in the car? Because they were going to see Catherine Miller. Damn you Catherine. Damn you. It's all because of you. I could feel the rage bubbling up my chest and turning from sorrow to fury, as I punched the nearest tree. I braced myself for the pain, and expected my hand to start bleeding, only to see the great oak tree topple back. It resulted in a chain reaction, and oak trees started toppling over like dominos. "Shit.", I whispered to myself, before turning around and speeding back home.

I panted as I shut the windows. Isn't this just great? Another sign of my freakiness. I was exhausted. What with punching trees, catching bullets. Freak my life, was the last thought I had, as I staggered to my bed and fell into deep slumber, once again too tired to care about anything else.

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Psst! You there. Yes, you. The one reading this right now. I've a dare for you. Okay? Too scared to accept? Then I suggest you don't continue reading this. It's not for the faint-hearted. Ready? Here goes. I dare you to vote and feedback on this chapter.

And yes, I'm going to count how many chickens there are ;)

Loveeee,

Me <3

13/04/13 11:57AM

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