One

Hawthorne

The car ride was filled with silence. I just couldn't deal with all of this bullshit.

"Okay, I know you are mad about this, but it isn't our fault, we made a promise to your parents."

"Actually, it is your fault. They aren't here, remember? It's not their choice to make, it's yours." I saw the gates of Hellthorne up ahead and squeezed my seat belt a little tighter. We rolled up and it looks exactly like you would have imagined. Prestigious, orderly, perfect, my worst nightmare. There was a large building with the school sign in front of it and students entered it, laughing and chatting. It disgusted me. I made a gagging sound for my own amusement.

"This is it. Grab your bags and call me every day."

"You're not walking me in?"

"Umm... I can't. The sun is bad for my skin, remember?" I looked up at the sky. Cloudy. I looked back at her, just in time to see her staring at the ground, as if there was something there keeping here inside the car. I let it go, because I didn't want to leave her on worse terms. I grabbed my bags and said my goodbyes. She drove away and all I could do was watch, as my own chance of survival disappeared out of sight.

"103, 104, 105, 106!" I spoke aloud as I searched for my dorm room. Room 106. I unlocked the door and went inside. The lights were off, but I could hear someone rumaging through things. "Hello?" I tried turning on the light, but the bulb seemed to be out. It flickered on and I saw a dark figure standing by the window. Before I could even move, the light was off and on again and it was gone. I took a breath in and took a look around. Must have been my imagination.

The room is small. A freshly blank bed was to the left made for myself. I put my bags down on my bed and looked at my roomate's side. It is bright, bursting with colors. The walls are lined with posters of bands I didn't know, pictures of girls smiling and laughing, and a couple kissing a lot.

I remebered Ashton, his dyed blond hair, the cute little smirk he always had on his face, and the way he smelled. I miss him.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a key jiggling around in the lock. I went back to my side of the room and tried to look busy. A girl walked in. She was average height with medium length dirty blond hair. She looked distressed, as if she had been crying. "Oh! Hello. I thought you weren't getting here until tomorrow." She tried to put on a smile and pretend like nothing was wrong. "Sorry, that was rude of me. Hi, my name's Ana, and you are?" she looked at me, waiting for an answer.

"Payton."

"Payton? That's a nice name. So, what have you seen of the campus yet? I could show you around if you'd like." She looked eager to do so, and I couldn't say no to the offer.

"Yeah, that would be great. Could you show me to my classes tomorrow also? If it's not a bother?"

"Yeah, I would love to. Let's go." Her eyes brightened up at the idea and I could tell she was lonely and going through something. It gave me a sense of achievement to see her face lift into an almost smile.

We left the room and the dorms. She showed me around campus. I saw the cafeteria, library, school, girl's dorm, plaza, and the lounge. "Here's the boy's dorm." It was a tall brick building with a sign that said, "Oğlan House" A group of guys came out of the dorms walking towards us.

"Look busy!" Ana whisper-yelled at me.

"What, why?" Before she even gave me a chance to figure out what was happening, she pulled me into the bushes. "OW!"

"Shhh!"

The group of guys came over to us and one of them said, "Ana? What are you doing in there?" He had brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a stubly beard.