Possessed

Chapter 2: The New Girl

The morning light filtered through my flimsy white curtains, lighting them up in an orange glow. I dragged myself out of bed reluctantly and headed to the bathroom inside my room. Looking at the mirror, I brushed my teeth and straightened my hair for school. It was going to be my first day at Maplewood Academy and I was dreading it. I never really was very social and preferred to keep to myself most of the time.

When I had changed into skinny jeans and a white shirt along with black ankle boots, I shuffled downstairs. My parents were already up. My dad was sitting on a chair in the dining table, having his cup of coffee and reading the newspaper while my mom was making pancakes in the kitchen. The smell of maple syrup invaded my nostrils and my stomach growled.

My dad looked up when I neared.

“Good morning, Aries,” he smiled at me, wrinkles forming on the corner of his grayish-blue eyes.

I replied back with a smile, just as my mom hurried towards our table with a plate of hot pancakes and a jar of maple syrup. She set them down on our table and motioned for me to sit down.

“Have your breakfast, there’s enough time before you need to run off to school.” I rolled my eyes at her. My mom thought breakfast was a very important meal of the day and made sure I had something to eat every morning. Nodding my head, I pulled up a chair and sat down.

We ate our breakfast in silence. My mom broke the silence first.

“Aries, you have bags under your eyes,” she fretted, taking a sip of her coffee, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes,” I lied.

My dad raised his eyebrows at me, “Are you sure?”

Did I look that terrible? Both my parents were acting as if I looked like a zombie……..which I probably did.

I started, after munching my food, “It’s just that…I woke up last night after a bad dream and came downstairs for a drink of water and I think I heard,” I hesitated, unsure of the credibility of my words, “whispers.”

My mom and dad exchanged glances. Yes, there they go. They obviously didn’t believe me.

“Honey, I think you are just stressed,” my mom told me while my dad nodded along.

“Yeah, me too,” I quickly agreed, before waving goodbye to them and walking out the door.

Why? Why did I even mention that? They probably think I’m going mental or something. Shaking my head, I walked down the street and towards the direction of my new school. It was so close to our house- just two blocks away- so I told my parents it would be fine if I simply walked to school every day. After all, the exercise would do me good.

Disoriented and lost in my thoughts, I bumped into someone’s behind, who turned back at the contact. I looked up to see a beautiful tanned girl who looked to be about my age and had long black hair cascading past her shoulders. She had doe-like eyes with a dark brown color outlining the iris and a soft, light hazel immediately following towards the centre of the iris.

“Sorry. Didn’t see where I was going,” I apologized.

She laughed quietly. 

“It’s alright. Are you new here?” her eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Yes,” I answered eagerly. It was true that I wasn’t one to socialize but it was equally accurate that I didn’t miss a chance to make friends when I had one.

“I’m Odette. Odette Swan,” she said, smiling at me.

I nodded, “I’m Aries Avelda. “

“When did you move in?” 

“This Saturday,” I replied, “Do you go to the Maplewood Academy?”

I was hoping she would reply affirmatively. It would be nice to have a friend rather than be alone on my first day here. I wasn’t disappointed.

She nodded, her shiny hair reflecting off the morning sunlight.

“Great. I live down the street, so I’ll be walking to school every day….” I began.

“Maybe we can go together?” she suggested.

I gave a quick grin, relieved. “Yes.”

We both began our short trek to the school, chit-chatting on our way.

I found out she had a small sister named Kylie who was five years old. She lived here with her dad, since her mom had died in a car accident when she was only ten.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped when I heard about her mother.

She smiled sadly, “It’s okay. I’m quite used to it.”

We reached the huge entrance to the academy. I saw an enormous Maple tree providing shade, in the middle of a green meadow off to one side of the yard. There were kids of all ages bunched up in crowds here and there in the courtyard which also had a stone water fountain in the middle as an ornament.

I mentally counted myself out of their cliques as I took in girls who had way too much makeup for me to see their actual faces, the typical jocks and cheerleaders and of course, the nerds. I shook my head, sighing to myself. Where would I actually fit in?

“Don’t worry,” Odette spoke up from behind me, as if she’d read my mind, “I have great friends here. Come on, I’ll introduce you to them before the first lesson begins.”

She grinned at me and motioned for me to follow her, a spring in her steps as she led the way. I already liked this girl, I thought, smiling to myself.

“These are Elaine Rose and Aaron Sanders, my best friends,” Odette introduced me to them.

We were standing in a long hallway lined with steel lockers on both sides. I found myself facing an extremely good-looking tall boy with blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes and an adorable dimple on one side of his face when he flashed me a smile. Next to him was a girl, who was inches shorter than me, with dark brown hair and vibrant green eyes.

I smiled shyly, “Hi.”

They both replied with a smile on their faces. Okay, this wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was pretty easy to make friends here. I noticed the guy named Aaron looking me up and down, interested.

“What do you have next?” Elaine chirped. She seemed to be the type who was always lively and cheerful.

“Umm….,” I looked down at my schedule that I knew I soon had to memorize, “English first. You?”

“Goody. We’re in the same class. Come on, I’ll take you there. Aaron and Odette have science together. We have Mrs. Howard as our English teacher. She’s wonderful, one of my favorites. I’m sure you’ll love her,” she went on happily. I waved goodbye to the remaining two as we walked away.