Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

LOMD Chapter 5 - The New Girl in Town

Chapter 5

THE FIRST day of school was never easy for anyone. However, starting a new school where everyone knew each other already was far harder. Registration took less time than expected. Vivienne's parents registered her by her old name — Vivienne Minthe. It was back to being the Minthes for the time being. Vivienne didn't have a chance to ask her father how they ended up in Remin but from what she gathered, they were safe here from the forces in Manna City. Vivienne quickly found out why.

Remin was a provincial town far from Manna City, both in distance and in culture. Vivienne didn't see a single newspaper except the local paper with headlines about the local farmer's market now offering fresh apple cider and grilled corn. It was like the town had been frozen in time — they had ancient desktop computers, landline phones, and the cellular signal frequently failed.

It was quaint in a way. Remin didn't care about the celebrities and the politics that dominated the papers in the more affluent towns. They had their own little world to focus on. That could be why her parents chose to flee here, where they were unlikely to be found or recognized.

By 8:30 AM, Vivienne was already placed in her first class of the day — AP Biology. Schoolwork was never hard for Vivienne, though having missing several months of classes, she had a ton of catching up to do. It had been late spring of her Junior year in high school when she had been picked. Now she was starting out her Senior year a month later than everyone else.

As the teacher drones on about photosynthesis and how the energy from the sun was trapped by the chlorophyll, Vivienne felt her attention waning. As the teacher drew green cells on the blackboard, her eyes drifted around the room. Vivienne noticed a mousy girl sitting in front of her with kittens embroidered onto her sleeve. She had a magazine on her lap of prom dresses open on her lap. Vivienne wondered it was in preparing for the autumn ball that she had seen fliers for as she entered the school that morning.

In her third-period gym class, as Vivienne looked for an empty unused locker to put her gym clothes in, she was suddenly elbowed up against a wall.

"Excuse me?" Vivienne asked, barely able to recover herself. Her sneakers and gym bag were scattered across the floor. Somewhere in the distance, she heard several other girls giggle at her dismay.

*Excuse you, you mean," a voluptuous brunette replied as she smacked a piece of chewing gum between her teeth. "You little thief. Why are you in my locker?"

"I'm sorry," Vivienne said, apologizing profusely as she tried to reach for her gym bag. "I'm new here. I was just looking for an empty locker."

"Indeed you are," the brunette said and kicked Vivienne's bag across the locker floor. "Check her bag, Sam, make sure she didn't take anything."

Sam was a pretty blonde girl with large bug-like eyes. She began rummaging through Vivienne's gym bag. She wrinkled her nose at Vivienne's shorts and a ratty old t-shirt. "Nothing but garbage in here, Zissa, babe." Sam's gigantic eyes then landed on Vivienne's necklace. "Pretty nice piece of jewelry for a poor little refugee don't you think?"

"Jewelry?" Zissa suddenly demanded. "Where's my ring?"

"Give me back my bag," Vivienne hissed with her most authoritative voice. "Give it back, or you will regret it."

Sam laughed and threw Vivienne's bag on the floor. "Let's go Zissa, before she starts crying."

"No," Zissa said, her black dagger-like eyes not leaving Vivienne for a second. "Not until I find my ring."

Vivienne wasn't sure what exactly happened next. As Zissa reached for her bag Vivienne jumped back. She didn't mean to touch Zissa at all but because she was by far the taller one and Zissa was all curves and heels, Vivienne's hand went right smack into her cheek. Zissa lost her balance and went face down onto the sticky trash covered locker floor.

"Ow!" Zissa shrieked as she pressed her palm into her rapidly reddening face. "She hit me! The little freak!"

There was a crowd gathering. Vivienne had a feeling she did something horribly wrong.

"I didn't," Vivienne whispered. There wasn't a single sympathetic face to be found. She had a sudden feeling that she was now not just facing one mean girl but a mob of them. Vivienne grabbed her gym bag off the floor and ran for the hallway. She ran out the nearest exit and hid behind a row of garbage cans. There, she felt the hot tears forming at the edge of her eyes. She just wanted to go home. Where was Sallen, Daniel, even Allison?

Vivienne wasn't sure how long she was sitting outside, but then she heard footsteps growing close. She sat up to attention, with her arms raised, ready for a fight. A small figure came around the corner.

"There you are," the girl said. It was the mousy girl sitting in front of her in AP Biology — the one with the smiling kittens on her cashmere sweater. n her chubby arms, she was cradling Vivienne's sneakers. "You forgot something back there. You are the new girl right?"

Vivienne nodded, trying hard to disguise the fact that she had been crying. She had recently fought off monsters far worse than a group of high school mean-girls.

"Let's go back," the girl said, taking Vivienne's hand like she was a little kid. "My name is Nicole, by the way. Don't worry about Zissa. She has dealt with much worse than what happened back there."