Cunning Darkness

Chapter 1

"Hey, Christie! Wait up!" Bri shouted as she pushed her way through the crowded hallway.

I stopped, agitatedly swiping at the dark brown hair in my face. "Hanna, you're going to make us late to class."

"There is more to life than your perfect record you know," she huffed.

"I know," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "But I don't want to get detention either."

"Detention shmemsion. I've been to detention a ton of times and I'm still just as amazing as I've always been, aren't I?" She asked, nudging me with her elbow. I grinned.

Oh, I know. Our friendship was one of those opposites attract kind of things. We were nothing alike and my aunt and uncle really didn't agree with me hanging out with her. They said that if I did, the next thing they knew I would be wearing all black and fishnet stockings too.

"I don't know. I can't see through all that ego," I snarked back.

She looked at me with a look of fake shock. "Whatever do you mean?" She asked with a flourish of her hands.

"Pfft. You know what I mean miss-let's-get-caught-skipping-class-so-I-could-tell-everyone-how-awesome-I-am," I replied, smiling at the memory.

While I had been going here since ninth grade, she had just came last year. In the last class on the first day she came, she came bouncing into the gym and interrupted our dodgeball game to announce how amazing she was and how we all needed to bow down to her. She came up to me and introduced herself as the future queen of the school and we instantly became friends. And, true to her word, she became the most popular girl in school and the most swooned after by all the other cool kids, despite the cliche girly clique she had to outshine.

"What?" She defensively exclaimed. "It's not my fault no one knew me yet."

"It wasn't their fault either," I reminded her. "You were new after all."

"But that was how I met the insanely hot Mathew Sanders," she dreamily replied.

"He also turned out to be a huge jerk." I rolled my eyes. Sometimes, she really does make me wonder.

She sobered instantly. "Oh well. It was better to date and find out he was a massive jerk than to not date him at all," she sighed.

I rolled my eyes. "I swear." We finally entered our shared home room and sat next to each other in the back. People instantly moved closer to Hanna. "With that attitude, you'll end up dating every guy in the whole school, or at least try."

She grinned, winking at the guy next at her who almost drooled in return. Gag. "I don't know about that Christie." She looked back at me. "How are you supposed to find who you're truly supposed to be with if you don't actually try?"

"I'll try when I find a guy I like."

She pouted. "Promise you'll at least talk to a guy, you'll never know unless you do."

"Sure," I replied to appease her. She would never let it go unless I do.

"Promise?"

I smiled. "I promise."

The teacher came in and quieted the class down. "Since it's the first day of school I don't really feel like holding any actual lessons and I know I don't have to hold your hands. You know the rules. Just do whatever you want as long as it follows school rules and it doesn't get me in trouble."

Instant chatter started to surround us. A guy approached. Brown hair went across his forehead and tried to cover his eyes, and like Hanna, he wore all black. "Hey," he greeted with a small smile. He was completely focused on Hanna.