Rising Star: Book 3 of The Orion Series

Grey Burgers And Tri-Colored Rainbows

Revulsions, compulsions, silent rotations

We'll visualize this death like a sweet spring rain

Cauterizing the pain

That's kept you dead all these years

You'll discover I'm disposable

The fevered emotions hard to pin down

So sell me a lie

Something sweet like a lullaby

For me to rest my weary head on

--From the song Infinity, lyrics by Orion Bauwens

FRESHMAN YEAR

I hate this. This is lame. And this stupid school song everyone is singing is even lamer. I'm refusing to participate, looking around at everyone.

I can't believe the enthusiasm. This isn't even the fucking first day of school and everyone is brainwashed already. They taught us this stupid song, in this stupid auditorium, and now everyone is singing it like their life depends on it. Or like they might win a medal or something. Honestly I'm getting a headache from everyone's scream-singing.

"I could write better lyrics than this..." I mumble to myself, crossing my arms.

"I know, right?"

I look to my right. Sitting there is a boy my age. Well, of course he's my age, because we're the incoming Freshman class. Duh.

I'm intrigued immediately. First is the fact I've never seen him before in my life. A majority of the kids here I recognize. Our stupid ass school district in Michigan isn't that big...so either this guy is a total new transfer, or he went someplace that wasn't Dunham.

Which would be crazy. That would mean he came from Treegrove, which is on the other side of town and is a shit hole. Most people who come from there end up dropping out of high school when they're old enough.

Secondly I'm surprised by how this guy looks. His hair is long-ish, stringy, hanging in his eyes. It's black--freshly dyed. His eyes are some of the darkest eyes I've ever seen. You can't really tell the difference between his iris' and pupils. He's dressed head to toe in black to boot.

He's also pale. Like, a porcelain doll pale. Like--is he gonna faint?!--pale. As I can't help but stare, I notice how red his lips look on account of his paleness. It's then I notice he has a lip ring. I look back up to his eyes, and I can't tell if he's wearing light eyeliner or if that's just an effect from his black lashes against his white skin.

The boy looks at me, smiling softly. He's slumped in his chair, as low as he can be without falling out of it. His arms are crossed, too.

I smile. "Pretty terrible."

He sits up a little straighter, his dark eyes looking at me brightly. He seems...happily surprised I'm talking to him. "I'm sure we could sneak away. I wanna smoke."

My smile slips away. "I...don't smoke."

The smile leaves his face, too. He then shrugs nonchalantly. "Suit yourself."

I watch in awe as he somehow manages to slip away through a crowd that is a couple hundred people deep without being noticed, just a black ink smear against the background.

~

"Jacob Larson."

"Here," I say immediately raising my hand. "Please call me Jake."