The Future Land

Chapter One: Elizabeth

          Elizabeth Kent isn't the average girl one would find at West Dane High. Far more mature, she's sophisticated in comparison to the other girls and usually keeps herself organized. By nature, she's chill and usually relaxed and often her hair would be pulled back in a ponytail. As a dark-skinned individual, her black hair and deep brown eyes fits well with her complextion. She's only sixteen years old, and already was a part of the more academically-inclined students in her school. She's the quiet type, the one who always kept a close-knit circle of friends, who always avoided having to interact with the...lesser mentally competent of her fellow students, and even teachers. At least, that's her nicer way of calling them stupid jocks and uptight rich kids.

          English class had only just ended, and she managed to survive a whole forty-five minutes without being irritated by the more popular kids in her class, and even got as far as reading a few pages ahead in The Tempest, another one of Shakespeare's plays that the teacher had them read alone in silence for the class period.

          She had only begun to pack up her books when she noticed the teacher was with a small group of kids across the classroom out of the corner of her eye. But rather than any sort of discussion progressing, both the teacher and the kids had been staring at her, still-faced and emotionless as it felt like, in that instant, they saw more than just her face or the clothes she wore. She felt almost violated, like they were taking a peek at her soul or gazing into her mind as if curious to know what she was thinking. On the outside, however, she showed little reaction, trying to shrug it off as a ploy to freak her out as she stepped out of the room and out into the hall. And to some extent, they succeeded.

          For a few seconds, Elizabeth thought to herself. Usually, it was the other students who would do something like that, try to bother her to get some sort of reaction out of her. But this time, even the teacher was in on it, and it really did begin to dwell on her mind before she was suddenly snapped out of her trance by a hand gripping her shoulders and a familiar voice.

          "So you like walking into lockers now? And without a book in your hands, no less!" A sarcastic voice shouted from behind her over the conversations in the hallway. It belonged to her friend, one of her few, Charly Kingsley. Just like Elizabeth, he was dark-skinned, but his skin was clearly lighter and his hair just naturally curly, even she couldn't help but want to play with it occasionally. His deep brown gaze locked with Elizabeth's as he grinned, just about ready to smack her back to reality.

          "You seem out of it, Liz, wake up! It's only Wednesday, you don't get to sleep in." A few shakes to her body, and suddenly Charly got a reaction.

          "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" They had stopped in the middle of the hall, forcing the students around them to walk around awkwardly, some bumping into them as well. Elizabeth had to push Charly towards the wall to avoid being in the way.

          "So how's things with you-know-who?" Charly asked, his curiosity clearly piqued.

          "You say it like she's Voldemort or something, 'she-whose-name-shall-not-be-said'." Her retort struck Charly hard, leaving the boy standing in silence for a few seconds.

          "It's not my fault that when I say her name, you shush me all the time."

          "Maybe because you say her name when she's around, and you're always loud." Elizabeth couldn't help but grin a bit, already starting to walk away. "Go to class, I'll see you after school."

          "But-..fine." With that, Charly strolled off, leaving Elizabeth to herself.

          The encounter with her friend had left Elizabeth thinking about Lee Torres, a girl she'd been crushing on for a couple months now. Thing is...they're pretty good friends, for better or worse. As thoughts became daydreams, she brought her earbuds to her ears, deciding that listening to music would keep her mind off of the soul-gazing incident earlier. Halfway through her thinking about herself with Lee in a number of scenes, Elizabeth wondered if she was even at school today, taking a peek into the classroom as others walked in. And there she was, sitting in the middle of the row closest to the windows. Lee was the type of girl to sort of distance herself from others for her own leisure, yet was able to interact with anyone just as freely. Elizabeth took the seat two spaces to Lee's right.