Night Terrors

Teenagers

The guard eyed him suspiciously. Kevin looked back at him from his side of the car and wondered what his deal was. There was something else in the guard's look as well but he didn't really care to place it. Up front his parents were still talking to one another as his father handed the guard his identification. Kevin didn't think they were paying enough attention to notice the guard's look. He decided to follow their example and turned his attention back to his music and his thoughts. Thoughts about how he didn't want to be here, how he didn't want to change schools, how he didn't want to be the new kid. Switching schools was always rough, but he had feeling that switching high schools was going to be horrible in particular. In elementary school, switching had been no big deal. You just found a kid on the playground and started playing. Now he would have to contend with egos, drama, and cliques. As they drove through their new neighborhood Kevin's thoughts went back to the guard, and the way he had looked at him. Kevin suddenly realized what the second thing in the guard's look was, it was fear. He didn't understand why, he was not imposing or intimidating in any way. He was a tall lanky kid who looked like one good breeze would blow him five towns away. He looked around the neighborhood, the streets were lined with nice houses and well maintained lawns. The streets were also dead which seemed a little odd. That changed however, as they turned onto their street. As they rounded the corner and came towards their house that still had the sold sign posted in its front yard they came upon a gaggle of teenagers. A gaggle was the only way that Kevin could think to describe it, there were at least fifteen of them. The group had an equal split of boys and girls and as they drove by all the teens stopped what they were doing and looked at him intently, it was like he was the new attraction at a zoo. Kevin's dad had no sooner pulled into the driveway and turned off the car when the group started heading their way. By time Kevin and his parents got out of the car and started heading for the door they had all stopped on the sidewalk at the edge of their yard except for one.

The one that approached was the prettiest girl Kevin had ever seen. She had curly, shoulder length, brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a denim jacket and skirt combo. She smiled as she reached him and he saw she had braces. They didn't take away from her looks or make her look dorky, as a matter of fact, he thought they made her look cuter.

"Hi, I'm Lisa," she said when she reached them and stuck out her hand. Kevin took it.

"I'm Kevin," he replied.

Behind her, the rest of the teens still stood where they were on the sidewalk and watched the whole exchange with keen interest.

"How old are you?" Lisa asked.

"Sixteen," Kevin replied.

Lisa smiled.

"Well, I just wanted to be the first to welcome you to the neighborhood," she said.

"Thank you, will your parents be around to introduce themselves as well?" Kevin's mother asked.

Lisa smiled again.

"My parents are out of town right now," she replied.

"Oh, well what's the school like here?" His mother asked.

"It's okay, we attend the high school that is in town, outside the gates, but don't worry Kevin will fit in just fine. Us community kids are very close," Lisa replied.

"See you in school Kevin," she added and turned around. When she got back to the sidewalk all of them departed together.

"Ok, that was weird," Kevin said to himself.

The next morning when Kevin left for school he came outside to find all the teens waiting for him.

"You can walk with us," Lisa said.