~ Before the Clock Struck One ~

Chapter 1

~*~ Chapter One ~*~

~*12:10 pm*~

Trillium Catholic High School:

A typical day, nothing special was going on. Inside classes the teachers droned on and on about their various lessons, and the students put on a good "I'm listening to every word" charade while secretly doodling random stuff all over their notebook pages.

And then the lunch bell rang.

The hungry kids quickly spilled into the locker-lined halls, overflowing with bottled-up chatter and energy. Virtually unseen among this overwhelming mass of other uniformed students, Gypsy silently exited her classroom and joined the flow. Once again she was wishing that she could just skip straight to her next class, or at least find a hidden corner somewhere in this crowded school where she could curl up alone with a good book.

Gypsy was an ordinary girl, with extraordinary ideas. She was quite tall compared to others her age, and a little more mature. She was thin, but tough – a bit of a tomboy. She had long, wavy brown hair, fair skin, and bright hazel eyes. She worked hard, studied hard, and read practically everything she saw.

According to her, lunch hour was such a waste of time – so she never bothered to pack any food. The only good she ever got out of lunch break was the relief of escaping from being the only female in her construction technology course. A class full of immature guys on dangerous machines got very annoying, very fast.

She walked down the hall, head down and eyes averted, being overly thorough as she self-consciously removed the sawdust from her clothes, not wanting it to draw unnecessary attention. Not wanting to become the new victim of humiliating gossip.

The school was huge. Almost 1,000 students in all. It had at least three different offices, a wide open courtyard-type area just outside the offices, pristine white hallways, an average-sized gym, a large cafeteria that doubled as an auditorium, a rather small library, and hundreds of different rooms with hundreds of different class options, all well-funded by the government.

It was totally different from what Gypsy was used to, having been schooled at home with her family for most of her life. If she were to describe this new atmosphere; she would say it was like a giant, sterilized rat maze.

How can someone be surrounded by so many people, and yet feel so lonely? she wondered glumly. Grabbing the binder for her next class from her locker, she pasted on a smile and went looking for someone she might be able to sit by to pass the time.

Meanwhile, a similar kind of day was occurring at another high school over 230 kilometres away...

~*12:17*~

Stone Lake Public High School:

Aaron wasn't your average kid – though he attended an average school. He was tall, heavily built, strong-willed and stubborn, but gentle at heart. He had short dirty-blonde hair and clear blue eyes. He worked well with his hands, had a head for anything technical, and loved to be active and get messy.

He had just finished a period in the construction room; it was lunch now, and he was hungry. As he slogged his way through the traffic-filled, cream-coloured halls, all he could think about was quickly getting the teachers their lunch and then going to chill with some friends and eat his own food. He hastily brushed the sawdust off his clothes, dropped his stuff off at his locker, and went straight to help out at the café.

When he arrived he called a cheery "Hello!" to the two lunch ladies, Mrs. Yari and Mrs. Lawrence, and then he got straight to work. Aaron's friends began to show up shortly after that. Lauren and Dan, the wannabe comedian, arrived first. After that, Melissa and Tori came, and they all started helping out the older women and creating a storm of pleasant chatter. Lastly, Aaron's oldest friend, Jimmy showed up, coming back from making a food delivery to the office.