Shadow Girl

Chapter One

I stumbled out of my bed on a Monday at five o'clock in the morning, stepped outside the front door, and into the woods behind my house. There was a brisk fall wind at my back as I walked toward the big, flat rock to meet my friend. My best friend. I sat on the rock and waited for her return, and as always, the black wolf appeared by my side. I knew she didn't understand English, but Shadow seemed to hear me when I had something to say.

"Good morning, Shadow," I spoke softly.

Shadow stretched and yawned, her yellow eyes deeply contrasting with her black coat. 

"Today's my first day at school. I don't have any friends there, but after school I'll be back to do my homework." I leaned forward and hugged Shadow, her icy yellow eyes fixed on me. "Wish me luck!" I got up and waved to her.

Shadow watched me intently. I looked back at her, wishing I could bring her with me. Today was going to be all over the place without her. I took a deep breath in and stepped onto the school bus that was parked in front of my house, my backpack on one shoulder.

I took and empty seat towards the back of the bus and soon I was at my new school. I pulled open a big door and walked quietly inside. My makeup had cooperated for once, thankfully. I took my schedule out of my bag. My first class, science, was down the hall.

I went to my locker and fought with it for a bit until I finally got it to open. I put my backpack in my locker and brought my science textbook into the classroom.

"Stand at the front of the classroom so I can assign seats, please," Mr. Blair said.

The class nodded as he pointed to tables and said our names.

"Alex," Mr. Blair pointed to a table in the back of the room. "Next to her, we'll have Alisha."

The black-haired girl sat next to me. "Hi, I'm Alisha."

"Hi, I'm Alex," I tried not to sound nervous and smiled. There were two other people I didn't know on the other side of the black table. One a boy and one a girl.

"Let's start with a lab," the teacher passed us each a packet filled with directions and questions at the end. "Go ahead and get started."

I grabbed a test tube from the middle of our table and cleaned it out. My group did the same and we mixed different chemicals that resulted in different colors.

Suddenly I felt my weight shift from under me and I was flat on the floor. I slowly rose back up, noticing everyone had seen me. Embarrassed, I sat down, my face reddening. I felt as if I couldn't breathe. Like I was being choked. "Mr. Blair, can I go to the bathroom?" I asked at last. I just needed to hide for a moment. 

Everything will be okay after that, right? I silently asked myself. Mr. Blair nodded and I bolted out of the room.

I stared at myself in disgust when I saw my reflection staring back at me in the mirror. My clothes were covered in blue, green, and yellow stains from the chemicals. Sadness and frustration filled me. Way to make a good first impression! I thought sarcastically and rolled my eyes. I brushed some of my hair over my eyes so that no one could see I had been upset. I grabbed the handle of the bathroom door and pulled it open.

"Hey," a girl's voice said. 

I looked up. Alisha. Had she been there the whole time? "Hello," I said, hiding behind a smile. 

"I wanted to check on you...you know...to see if you're okay."

I just nodded, but said nothing and started down the hall to the main office for a change of clothes. Alisha followed behind me. What does she want?

"Are you really okay?" She asked again.

A sigh escaped my lips. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive. I'm. Fine." I said sternly, wondering why someone would even care about me. I wasn't the type to just break down crying in front of someone. Today couldn't possibly get any worse. Sometimes I knew I was being over-dramatic, but others truly were terrible.

"Okay. Well, I'll see you later, maybe."

I looked at her. She was nice, I knew I'd never know why she was intent on me being okay. I didn't understand it. Alisha was gone. I shook my head and went into the office.

"Here you are," Pam, one of the women in the office said.

"Thanks," I faked a smile and changed.