Familiar Faces [a donnie darko fanfic]

Chapter One

"You're Donnie Darko aren't you?" I asked. The mysterious boy nodded back at me with a smile.

"And your name is?" He asked in return.

"April Hepler," I told him. The bus started to fill up with people. Donnie and I had been the first stop.

"That's a lovely name." He smiled at me. "You know.. I'm surprised we haven't talked before."

"Me too," I admitted, twirling a strand of hair around my finger. "It's a bit funny how things work. You see someone around but you never think you'd talk to them. Does that make sense?"

"Yea, more than you'd think. I get what you're saying." A girl walked down the bus aisle and bumped into his shoulder with hostility. "Hello Gretchen," Donnie muttered through gritted teeth.

"I take it you don't like her very much?" I wondered.

"She lead me on to make me think she was in love with me. I caught her kissing the same jerk who made fun of her. It didn't make sense to me at all." He clenched his fists. "Then she told me to get lost and that she'd never love someone with problems." His voice grew even softer and shaky.

"I wish I could punch her," I grumbled. Donnie chuckled and assured me not to worry about it.

Without haste, the bus stopped in front of the school. "See you later, Darko," I said.

"Bye, April." He gave me a warm smile and his eyes sparkled. We headed off in separate directions to homeroom.

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"I saw you with Donnie," my best friend Bayley commented. "Is he as strange as everyone says?"

"Not in the least, he's actually very sweet and open," I told her. "He wasn't rude or anything."

"He's pretty cute. I like the color of his eyes and the way he smiles," she swooned.

"He's a bit mysterious if you ask me," I spoke softly. Bayley shut her math book and tucked it away in her backpack. Everyday after school, we hung out together and got caught up in each other's lives.

Our homework assignments were tedious and dreadful. They were always lengthy and required us to put all the effort we possibly could.

"I give up," I stated, throwing in the towel. "I don't have time for this stress."

"Yea, this homework is bull," Bayley chuckled. "One day I'm just going to set it on fire." She flipped through the papers in her binder as I left the room for a drink.

"Do you know Gretchen?" I asked as I came back. Bayley half nodded, half shrugged.

"Why? I didn't know she was important. She's a bit rude." She stiffened.

"Well she was acting rather hostile to Donnie when we were on the bus. She bumped into him, I think on purpose. That's when he told me how she led him on and then dumped him for some jerk. Then told him she didn't want a troubled boyfriend." I sighed and collapsed on my bed.

"That makes me hate her even more, that little twit," Bayley flustered. "She thinks she's the shit and that she'll get special treatment because of her mother being stabbed."

"She should've just stayed where she was," I remarked. "I don't think very many people want her at our school."

"It's because everyone can see how she's using the problem as a means of getting attention." Bayley cracked her knuckles and leaned back against the bedroom door. "It's a bit sickening."

"I just hope that she doesn't hurt anyone again." I clutched a pillow to my chest and felt reality slip away.

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