Seraphim Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Yeah, maybe I should cut down on the ice cream before bed.” Serafina reached her locker, grabbed the lock and turned the dial. Her combination lock popped open with a bang and she opened her locker. It was completely devoid of anything inside. With a sigh, Serafina fished locker decorations out of her overstuffed bag and tossed her books inside her locker.

“Cat magnets again?” Katie opened her locker, the one right next to Serafina's, put all of her supplies away and started to decorate the inside as well.

“You know me, the animal lover.” Serafina smiled. She found that from a very young age she had a connection with animals she could not explain. She loved them and they were drawn to her. Stray cats would line up on the porch in the morning waiting for her to come pet them. Her mother, on the other hand, hated cats. She chuckled as she thought of this stark contrast.

“Did you get into portfolio class with me?” Katie asked. Serafina marveled at how Katie was still able to carry a conversation even with her head deep inside a locker.

Katie and Serafina had been friends since the third grade. They had gone through all of elementary school and high school together, taking many of the same classes together, and they were hoping to both apply, and then be accepted, into the same college.

Katie and Serafina were very alike in their beliefs and wanted to be artists like Wyland some day. The girls both loved to paint, and Serafina especially loved to use her face as a canvas. Serafina was very into makeup and loved to show off new looks on her eyelids. That morning she spent twenty minutes perfecting her silvery smokey eyed look that made her bright green eyes pop.

The girls were also both conscientious of the impact they had on their world and did their best to promote being environmentally friendly by joining the school's Environmental Club. Like Wyland, they hoped to someday use their notoriety to help the environment.

“No, I'm going to take portfolio class in the spring,” Serafina said.

Serafina put the pictures of her family and friends up with the magnets and then put an organizer at eye level so she could see herself in the mirror. Serafina took out a mini brush, pulled it through her hair a few times, and then put it in one of the pockets of the organizer. She was fixing her necklace in the mirror when Katie leaned on her locker door.

“You're not primping yourself for Ian, are you?” Katie asked. Ian and Sera had dated for only a few months before he dumped her for a senior girl.

Serafina pursed her lips. “No.” He's a jerk.

“Sera, get over him. We need to find you someone new.”

“I am over him!” Serafina said.

“How about him?” Katie pointed down the hallway behind Sera.

Serafina looked from Katie to the mirror where she could see over her shoulder that a new student had arrived. He had light brown hair, deep, brown eyes, he was tall, thin, and had well defined muscles. Wow, this guy's pretty cute, Serafina thought.

Sera turned around and looked in his direction. “Whoa, swoon.” She feigned a swoon and leaned against her locker, her arm over her head like a fainting silent film star.

This new student looked like he didn't know anyone. He had stopped at the first set of lockers and was scanning the locker numbers in search of his own. As alone as he was, he seemed to have this outer glow about him, and soon people started to gravitate to him. The captain of the football team, Keith, and his friends crowded around him and shook his hand.

“I'm Michael,” he said.

That was all Serafina heard of the conversation, because just then he glanced at her and she got completely lost in his deep brown eyes. He kept glancing at her while he spoke to Keith and then Christie when she popped over too. Michael caught Serafina's eye again. So lost was Serafina in Michael's eyes that she didn't even hear Katie when she called her.