The Phoenix Project

The Phoenix Project

By Summer Gasaway

Teaser Chapter

This is the teaser of what's to come on The Phoenix Project. I hope you enjoy if you do read!! Please just consider this and leave comments. You don't gave to love it, but I just want comments on this in order to make it better :)

The Spark

I force open the glass doors to my high school and let the waves of chaos consume me. I am shoved back and forth as two boys chase each other through the hallways and I'm slammed into a group of junior cheerleaders who stand in the middle of the hall.

"Watch where you're going, freak," one snaps.

I scoff and push past her, shoving her against the locker as I pass. She whimpers in pain and I smirk.

A part of me wants to go back and apologize but the other part says, "She deserved it. Serves her right for calling me a freak."

I sigh and shove people aside until I finally reach the archway that symbolized the junior's hallway.

I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding and started down the almost barren hallway. I can finally see the bright gray floor that reflected the blinding white lights from the ceiling, filled with little scrapes of rubber from numerous confrontations with the ground. A handful of students speckle the walls of long tan lockers as they prepare for the war of the school day.

I skim the lockers, looking for mine.

The combination twirls in the lock when the hair on the back of my neck stands up and a knot in my stomach forms. I slowly open the metal frame and stare into the confines of my locker, camouflaging myself amongst my peers.

I cautiously grasp my books and glance at my mirror in an effort to see what was causing my uneasiness.

Nothing.

Just an empty hallway with some guy I've never seen before digging in his locker a few feet away. I shake my head and push it to the back of my mind.

*****

By fifth period, my day had gone from bad to creepy. This random guy keeps staring at me. So far, he's in all of my classes and whenever I catch a glimpse of him he pretends he wasn't.

My neck prickles every time I feel his eyes on me and it gives me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I take my seat in the middle of the classroom.

"Stay away from him, Katie! He's clearly dangerous and creepy! You may end up like one of those girls that tries to be nice to the creepy guy and ends up dead...or worse!" says one part of me.

"But it could be on the other end of the spectrum. He could like you. He could be completely harmless. Not to mention that he's really cute," says the other half.

I tilt my head slightly to glance in his direction. Half of me was right, he is kinda cute. His dark brown hair hangs loosely above his blue eyes that stared at the teacher intently.

"What?" the first half interrupts. My attention averts to my desk.

"Like you? PAH! Who would like you? You're a weirdo. A freak like that girl said this morning,"

I hang my head and avert my attention to my desk.

Stop. Make it stop.

My fists clench together and my muscles seize up. A heat in my stomach courses through my body. I can't even hear the class anymore. My gut twists.