The Secret Inside

Chapter 02

"Here's to another fabulous year!" Mrs. Martinez beamed and flashed another fake smile at the crowd.

The class applauded accordingly and it slowly died down when Mrs.Martinez raised her hand to silence the room.

"Classes start in about ten minutes." Some groans came and Mrs. Martinez waited patiently. "I expect you all to be to your classes promptly, since this year we are going to be much less tolerant of tardiness." More groans resounded through the room.

"Also, I would like to welcome Mr. Alvaro to our school, as he has just arrived from Toronto. I know that he will receive a warm Leighton welcome." Mrs. Martinez concluded her speech a couple minutes later and left the stage.

I looked over at Jess and Aurora who weren't paying any attention whatsoever. They were whispering furiously and glancing over to the left every few seconds. It was probably some guy that had caught their attention. I chuckled under my breath and looked back to see that students had started jumping down from the bleachers, regardless of the teachers trying to control the situation. The room was outrageously loud at this point. I looked over to Jess and Aurora who were both texting away on their phones. I pulled my own phone out of my backpack to check and see if Chance had texted me back yet.

Nothing.

I sighed and looked around to see if I could spot him anywhere. The whole school was packed into the gym for a "welcoming assembly" and there was no way to spot any one person since the huge crowd seemed to blend together. I don't think my school was necessarily big, but we had over a hundred kids in each class, so that's still a lot to squeeze into our little gym.

I felt a rough shove from the side and I grabbed on to the bottom of the bleachers so I wouldn't fall down and end up embarrassing myself. I looked up to see Jess and Aurora starting to make their way down the bleachers. I scrambled after them and suddenly stopped in my tracks. A weird sensation kind of like pricking or pinching suddenly occurred at the base of my neck. I followed the feeling over to the other side of the room and met a pair of narrowed amber eyes for a split second before breaking eye contact through the crowd of people. I continued down the bleachers behind Jess and dismissed the situation. Kids were weird in high school, there's was nothing out of the ordinary about what just happened, I reassured myself. I continued down the bleachers and almost dropped my phone when someone nearly ran me over.

"Could you watch where you're going?" I snapped without looking up from my phone.

"You should realize who you're talking to." An eerily familiar voice scoffed back.

I turned around slowly, dreading what I already knew.

"Why hello Laila, it's been so long, I've really missed you." She mused.

It was Nikki Gray.