Relinquished Darkness

Chapter 2: Amara

After the lunch bell rang to dismiss students onto their next class, I got up from the grass and threw away my bar wrapper in the nearest trash can. Since I never took off my headphones, no one seemed to bother me or try to talk to me in the halls. No exceptions of course, the halls were just as noisy today as they were yesterday. I barely heard my music over the screeches of other students. I finally gave up, pressed paused and put away my headphones. Earlier I heard a group of kids talking about what type of clubs were being offered. Looking around the hall, I tried to find the one club I was interested in. I had about 5 minutes left, according to my phone, before my next class begins. Shoving my phone into my jean pocket, I pushed my way through the cluster of kids and stopped in front of the yellow bannered both. "Creative Writing" seemed to include a lot of shy kids. Four kids, 3 boys and 1 girl, awkwardly hung around the outskirts of the booth. I quickly looked down at the sign-up sheet and scribbled in my name. I was #1 on the list. I chuckled to myself, knowing that at least I wouldn't have any competition on getting in. From the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the 3 boys, looking at me with a shy grin. He immediately looked away and blushed when I made eye contact. He was cute, maybe I'll get to know more about him or at least his name, anyway.

Lowering the pen, I turned around and preceded down the hall. My next class was college algebra. The classroom was located in the second building the school had to offer. Midnight Cress reminds me of a college. The layout of the buildings, the open fields, seems to be a lot of space for just a high school. Since I was currently walking out of the first building, all I had to do was turn right and cut through the courtyard, which only consisted of open fields, stone path, and a mural on the side of the 4th building, and my building would be in plain sight. The 2nd building consisted of all the mathematical courses, as the 1st consisted of all reading/writing courses. Walking into the building, I made a sharp right, careful not to hit my side against the railing, and jogged up the stairs. Once I reached the second floor, my classroom was the first door on the right. I genuinely love algebra, though I know this class isn't all algebra I find a satisfaction in having to take it. Walking in I took my seat and immediately was staring at the hazel eyes of no one other than Kai.

"Hey there" Kai said while maintaining his puppy dog eyes.

"Helloooo Kai, are you excited for today?" I asked while chuckling. I couldn't take him seriously while he was looking at me like I just stepped on his tail.

"Listen, I don't understand how you have the energy to sit through class without completely knocking out"

"Honestly neither do I but ---

Our conversation was interrupted by the sounding of the bell. Class was about to start. Kai gave me a wink and turned around as soon as our teacher began to talk.

"Good afternoon class, todays class will be cut short as we have to rally up in the auditorium for an announcement"

The class broke out in a cheer and Kai swung his head back, grinning like a mad man.

"Today is a beautiful day Amara"

We both started laughing as soon as the words left his mouth.

I like Kai. He's easy to talk to and doesn't try to intrude in your personal drama. He's an excellent drummer, or so I've heard from his own mouth, since only the best of the best could be part of "Death Wish", his band. Personally, I've always had a fascination with stepping out of my comfort zone and learning how to drum. The feeling died once I realized how expensive drum sets were, but hey the thoughts still protrude my mind here and there, so I'll live vicariously through Kai and his talent. On top of having a killer hobby, Kai wasn't bad to look at either. His hazel eyes complimented his messy ash-blonde hair and he definitely had a Colgate smile going on.

"So, what do you think the announcement is going to be about?" I said.

"No idea, I heard about some senior trip they want to test out. Might be that. " Kai responded as we both stood up and followed our classmates.

"Maybe" I whispered back.

Into the hall, down the stairs, all I was engulfed in was silence. My brain just won't stop replaying memories. Memories I wish I'd forget. It feels like I'm in a constant state of drowning. My demons have nowhere to go but up as I try to find out what went wrong, for the hundredth time, in my head. By the time, I was out of auto pilot, I was in the auditorium. Glancing around, I notice multiple teachers standing around. They all taught senior classes from what I can tell, so maybe Kai suspicions were right.

The last two hours of school dragged on. After 10 minutes of a miserable attempt at silencing the students, our principle finally announced a senior trip to Orlando's Disney World. By the time he was done, we had gone over the price, the date, the behavior expected, bus assignments, and where to get our forms if interested. The school must have gotten a good amount of funds, considering we also have an even bigger trip planned at the end of the year for seniors only. They call it Grad bash.

Shuffling out of the auditorium, simultaneously with about 700 hundred other kids, was least to say a mission. It was finally time to go home and pretend to do something different then my normal routine.

Yay. Eat, Sleep, Repeat.

Day after day, nothing but my food and homework changed. I see the same people, feel the same emotions, follow the same routine. I've been anxiously waiting for the week to come to an end, not for the weekend but more for the ending of club rush. I'll finally have something to do after school to get me away from my dreaded household and my thoughts.