The Four

Chapter Four

AMANDA

I'm still stuck on question 7.

Honestly, I think Mr Roberts put one of those unsolved questions in just to confuse us.

I tapped my pencil on the table until it snapped in half.

Glancing around the classroom to see if anybody had noticed I could see that nerd Emily get out of her seat and walk out of the door.

Zoe ran after her, quickly followed by the rest of Mr Roberts maths class.

Tucking my peroxide-blonde hair behind my ear I rushed after them.

We ran down the stairs, and out into the school playground.

I pushed through to the front of the croud to see Emily climbing the side of the building, Zoe and Mr Roberts yelling at her to get down.

She didn't listen, climbing almost robotically to the top of the Maths block.

Once she was at the top she stood for a moment before crumpling to the floor.

The new boy Will and Zoe rushed forwards and I found myself following them.

I heard Will say "Is she ok?"

Zoe mumbled some words under her breath and I swear I saw her eyes turn black.

"No broken bones. But she-" She turned to look at Will and must have seen me.

She stared at me for a while before blinking several times, almost as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Uh, Zoe? I know I'm amazing and all, but your best friend just fell from the top of a building." She kept looking at me. "So quit staring!"

That seemed to get her attention and she turned back to Emily.

Feeling out of place I walked back to join the croud that had grown considerably since... well, since a genius walked out of a maths lesson and threw herself off the top of a building.

I could see several people on their mobiles, either calling an ambulance or calling their friends to come and gossip about the girl being driven away in the ambulance.

Soon there were sirens and Emily was being loaded into the back of an ambulance.

Once the panic had died down and the ambulance left the croud thinned. I could see Zoe and Will standing close together but not touching.

I wonder if they're together...

Honestly Amanda. There's been a serious injury and you're busy thinking about gossip? Compose yourself.

I walked up to them.

"-but when I looked at her it was like she wasn't normal. Will, I don't think she's..."

She stopped talking when she saw me.

"So, any ideas why geek girl went all Kurt Hendricks on us?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

Zoe just stared.

"You know, how he jumps off the building in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol..." I am SUCH a dork sometimes.

Yes, I spend most of my free time watching films and TV shows, and I read comics and eat popcorn. But nobody knows that. Nobody knows the real me.

Thats probably why I'm so popular.

"I'm still not getting it." said Will.

"Emily would have got it." Zoe said quietly.

So this Emily person that jumped off the building, I hear she's like, some genius who remembers everthing. But whatever. It's not like I would be hanging out with Zoe and friends for a second longer than it took to get all the gossip.

"Amanda." said Zoe.

"Yes."

"Is there something that you're not telling us?"

"Like what? Theres lots of things I don't tell you Zoe, because, if you haven't noticed, we're not exactly best pals."

"Ok, this is going to sound really weird, and if I'm wrong it's going to be really awkward. Amanda, are you human?"

What?

Why wouldn't I be human?

Are we talking metaphorically not human or actually not human?

"I... don't understand."

"Are you stronger than other people? Can you do things that other people can't?"

"I dunno! Why wouldn't I be human?"

Zoe and Wills faces were serious.

"What, you're going to tell me I'm a wizard and send me to Hogwarts? Because newsflash Zoe: Magic isn't real!"

And with that I turned away and walked back to civilisation.

It wasn't until that afternoon when I was cleaning the house that I stopped and thought about what Zoe had said.

But because I found it hard to think over the sound of hundreds of glass alcohol bottles clinking into the bin, I decided to tidy the study.

The study is not an actual study of course, because in all my 16 years on this planet I have never seen my mother sober enough to work. But it's where we store all the paperwork and books and other random crap that we don't use, and it's usually quiet.

Between the towering stacks of books and junk I felt safe.

I started sorting the junk into piles and filing paperwork into cabinets.

I had a nice rythm going until I came across a very official looking file.

It had a gilted crest with a shiny insignia.

I opened it.

My mouth dropped.

I had to show this to Zoe.