Danger Level 10

i

It had been a week since the new girl had arrived. Her presence put Grace on edge and her attitude wasn't helping Grace feel any better about the girl. Grace still wasn't sure if she was afraid of the girl because she seemed harmless enough and she hoped that for once her instict was wrong. But she knew all too well that looks can be deceiving.

She hadn't spoken many words to Nicolette for two reasons, one being that she was still getting over the shock that she had such a high danger level and two, Nicolette seemed to not like her very much when all Grace was trying to do was be polite. She wasn't used to someone being so flat out rude, besides her sister of course but the they were sisters so it was normal, it irked her. She didn't know whether to be afraid of the girl or just be cautious for any signs of her being a danger.

"What are you thinking so hard about Grace?" Nick asked as he sat beside her in their English class. "I um- okay so remember when I told you about my 'gift'?" Grace began, using air quotes when she said the word "gift". Nick was the only person in the group she could trust with this information because he was the smartest besides her in the group, she knew he would probably find it more interesting then assuming she was crazy. "You mean how you can tell how dangerous people are?" He said a little too loudly for her comfort, causing her to flick him in the arm and shush him.

"Well last week I met the new girl and I was told to show her around the school. Nick, she's a ten. My entire body locked up and I felt like I was shutting down, how is that even possible?" She spoke quickly, the more she thought about it the more it pushed her off the edge. Nick's brows furrowed and he covered her mouth with his hand to keep her from rambling, "Wait a fucking minute, a ten? Are you sure that maybe you don't have an attraction scale? I don't see her as being dangerous and I know you like girls and all so-" Grace then covered his mouth and clenched her jaw as she glared at him.

He smacked her hand away from his mouth and gave her a look. "Right, sorry you're still hiding in the closet even though it's hella obvious." He rolled his eyes and Grace just gave him a look that said "shut up". He removed his hand from her face and they both turned away from each other, turning towards the front of the class to act like they were paying attention.

Nick nudged her and slid a folded piece of paper towards her, she unfolded it to see his chicken scratch hand writing.

(Italics is Nick, Bold Italics is Grace)

Maybe you should find out why??

Right and how am I supposed to do that? Casually mention I can sense she's dangerous and ask why she's dangerous? She's going to think I'm a nut job.

Well you could do that or maybe you could get to know her and eventually she'll trust you enough to say something and you could use those clues to figure it out yourself. Sometimes I wonder how you're smarter than me.

That's a good idea, I should try that out. If I could just find a way to talk to her. Got any ideas?

She slid the paper over to him and watched as he read what she wrote before he looked up and shrugged. She let out a sigh and payed attention to the teacher for the rest of class.

- * - * - * -

Nicolette stared down at the desk blankly. She had only been there a week and she already hated it. They had fucked up her schedule, she was supposed to be in Calculus but somehow ended up in Statistics. It was a petty thing to just hate the school for but it's not like she wanted to move here in the first place. Her sister, Maya, had convinced their mother that it would be a great idea so that's what they did. One day they just packed and left, she was used to it by now but she had just gotten comfortable in New York, she actually thought they would finally settle in one place but she was let down again.

Her eyes glanced around the room as she tapped her pencil on her desk waiting for the rest of the students, she had gotten to the class way earlier than everyone because it's not like she had any friends to hang out with before school started like everybody else did so she figured she might as well get to class early. The scowl she had on felt permanently etched onto her face as she looked at all the cheesy posters along the walls.

She was a bit startled when all of a sudden a girl in dark clothing just entered the room and took the seat beside her. She was even more caught off guard when the girl turned and smiled widely at her.

"Hi I'm Lianna! Call me Lia though." The smile never left her face as she spoke and Nicolette couldn't help but think about how Lia reminded her of Grace, the girl who showed her around on her first day. A part of her wanted to be rude to her like she was to Grace but the other part of her felt bad for being rude so she just decided she'd be nice to Lia. She seemed just as much as an outcast as Nicolette was so she figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if she was nice.

"Nicolette. I don't really go by anything." She responded which earned a nod from Lia. "If you're worried about the class or anything, you shouldn't be. The teacher is really chill and we don't really do much." This statement earned her a bewildered look from Nicolette.

"Yeah I know it's a math class, you'd think we'd be swamped with homework. But unlike some teachers, Mr. Lawrence actually understands that we have other classes that like to make us suffer with homework." Nicolette let out a laugh as Lia spoke and leaned back in her seat.

"I guess that's a relief then. I'm not even supposed to be in this class." She ran a hand through her messy hair and Lia shook her head, "This school has a habit of fucking up schedules, I'm sure they'll fix it soon enough. When my friend and her sister first transferred here in sophomore year they somehow ended up with almost nothing but electives." Lia let out a small laugh at the memory and Nicolette smirked a bit, giving a small chuckle.

"You don't really sit with anyone at lunch. Actually now that I think about it, I never see you at lunch. But if you want you can join my friends and I at lunch. We eat under the bleachers on the football field." Lia offered, "But only if you want to." She clarified again.

"Yeah sure, that sounds alright." Nicolette gave a small smile.

She had only been there for a week and she was already going back on her word. She swore she wouldn't make any friends and just finish her senior year without any problems. But even before she started school she knew that it was a long shot and probably wouldn't happen.