Nyctophobia

Chapter 1

The bus was already pulling away when I reached the stop. I could make out a few kids in the back seat laughing at me as I tried to catch the drivers attention.

And this I thought bitterly, is why I should have just continued to homeschool. Dad's at work. Great. That's just great.

It's not like the school is that far away but I didn't want to walk into class smelling like B.O. The other kids will probably already laugh at me. "Oh wow, her eyes are pitch black." "Look, the devil decided to pay us a visit." Trust me, I've heard it all before. Yeah, so I have black eyes, why should they care?

I approach the school parking lot and halt. It's huge. I went to elementary school but decided to homeschool after some... incidents occurred. This school is nothing like the small elementary though. Large glass windows split the building in sections. The beige concrete making it look like clay mansion. Cool. I would totally be checking it out more if I wasn't so nervous. Chewing on my bottom lip, I made my way through the crowds to the front steps.

The cliques were so obvious it could have come straight out of a 80's movie. There were the Preps, standing in class groups on their phones talking about the latest gossip. The Geeks/Nerds(I can never tell the difference between the two), with laptops out playing some game with robots. The Jocks, all extremely cute looking guys with good hair and muscles. Most of them were laughing and pointing to the Preps. Everything here was so... utterly predictable. At least I knew where I fit in.

The final group. The Norms. People who are just casual, no special talents, no gorgeous faces, and no reason to strive for attention.

My first class was biology. Whoop-dee-doo. I made my way down the halls. They had these endless ceilings that made you wander if the building used to be one of those old churches. I found the class pretty easy seeing as it was right next to my locker. My locker. Another weird coincidence that will make kids call me the devil. I just happened to get locker number 666. I am having great luck today.

The classroom, was boring. There is no simpler way to put it. Beige walls, beige desks, and beige carpet. Wow, who's the designer for this place? I take a seat in the back row. To my left is an empty desk but to my right a girl sat. She had shoulder length brown hair with blonde highlights. She sat engrossed in her cellphone.

The tardy bell rang and the biology teacher, Ms. Dell stood from her large desk in the corner. She had bright red haired tied up in a ponytail. She was actually very pretty, for a teacher. It was only when she started speaking that I realized my mistake.

"I just received an email from the counselor that we just received a new student. Genevieve, would you mind standing up and introducing yourself?" My mistake. Joining school in the middle of the semester. I stood.

"Uh, hi. I'm Genevieve but everyone calls me Vivi. So, yeah." I was definitely going to receive the award for 'biggest loser.' Everyone was staring at me. Well, at my eyes. I heard a couple of whispers, "holy crap, is that even possible?" And "she should wear colored contacts to cover those up."

"Thank you Genevieve. Oh, I guess you want us to call you Vivi then. Well Vivi, is there any hobbies you like to do? Where did you move from?" Ms. Dall actually sounded interested. Ugh.

"I like to read. Mostly fantasy but horror too. I was actually homeschooled through middle school and freshman and sophomore year." Good, I managed to get a couple of sentences out. Now that my shock was wearing away, my freaking anxiety was starting to kick in. Did I say too much? What if people judge me because I like to read?

"Thank you Vivi. You may sit down now." I sit down. "Today we will be entering into our cell unit..."

And I spaced out. I always do. I'll just study super hard for assignments and tests. I'm fairly smart so it's all good. I turn to the girl sitting next to me. She had abandoned her phone and found a new hobby of staring at me. I notice she has dark eyes too. Nothing as scary as mine, but they were a very, very dark shade of brown. I gave her a small smile and looked back at the board to make it seem like I was paying attention.

It started raining really hard. It's about mid-November so that's pretty normal. The winds weren't too bad, which is good.

I glance around at the other students. One in particular catches my eye. He was tall. Like, Empire State Building tall. Okay so not actually that tall of course but I mean, really tall. He had a bit of acne but that's not what caught my eye. He had hair so blonde that it looked white. And it was nice hair. Sorta short of the sides and long on top. Really nice.

"Okay, it's partner study time. Remember to please only talk to your partner. Quietly. You're dismissed." I must've spaced out for longer than I thought.

"Hey."

I jumped. I was not expecting someone to talk to me. I turn my head to find the girl staring  at me. She had a friendly face. "Yeah, hi."

"Wanna be my partner? Seeing as I don't think you have one yet," she drawled. "Unless you were planning on asking Lachlan. Ya know, the one that you've been drooling at the entire period."

I blushed.

"It was a joke. So do you want to get started or not." She seemed very amused by her little 'joke.' I nod and move my desk to face hers.

"Are you really not creeped out?" I ask her.

"About what? You weren't staring at him that long." She seemed amused once again.

"By my eyes?" Dangerous topic, yes. Your probably thinking, how bad could it be? It's bad. Not only are my eyes black, but the irises are a little larger than most's. So the creepy factor is a ten.

"No. They just look like giant olives." She smiles again she was really pretty. "Oh yeah, by the way, I'm Ford. Kind of forgot to tell you."

"Hm. Nice to-" I cut off. Remember how I said that it was raining but the winds weren't that bad? I take it back. They're bad.

And the power went out.

And I heard the voices.