Beasts Within Me

Chapter 1: The New Kid

My alarm blares next to my ear, reminding me that today was a weekday and getting ready for school was a must. Carefully, I reach my hand out to turn off the alarm, bringing me a peaceful calm until I heard Ren Clarkson's, my childhood friend and brother, alarm go off from the other end of the hall. I grabbed my pillow and covered my ears until I was finally asleep again.

I felt someone gently shaking my shoulder but decided to ignore it.

"Alex," came a gentle voice from above me. I ignore her.

Once again, she shakes my shoulder, but with more force this time. "Alex!"

When I didn't reply or acknowledge her existence, she harshly pulls my blanket off me and threw the pillow that was covering my head away. "Alexandria Wynters, get your ass off the bed and get ready to go to school!!!"

"One more hour, Maria," I yawned and stretched. "I don't want to get up so early . . . "

"Nuh-uh! I know the tricks you like to play and they're always obvious. Besides, you don't have an hour to sleep in. You only have twenty minutes left before you two have to leave," Maria says from the stairs.

"TWENTY MINUTES?!" I shrieked, kicking myself up. I needed more time to get myself ready as it is and since Ren hasn't woken up yet, that'd mean I have to rush before he wakes or else there'd be no telling how long it could take until he gets out of the bathroom.

I disappeared out of my room and ran into the bathroom like my life depended on it. I brushed my long, silky, black hair and put on make-up. I looked in the mirror again after doing the finishing touches and see my purple eyes looking back at me. When I remembered that I was running short on time, I quickly ran to my room and grabbed my backpack, but my eyes widened when I looked at the alarm. I had a whole hour left until Ren and I had to leave! I looked longingly at my bed, but knew that the sleep had been driven out of my body.

"Unbelievable," I whisper while walking down the stairs.

"Good morning Alex!" hummed Maria, literally dancing in the kitchen for her success at waking me up.

"Yeah," I grumbled. "Whatever you say, Maria."

I sit down at the dinner table and watched her in the kitchen as she cooked. Maria came over and set down a huge bowl of blueberry muffins, which she knows I love, and walked back into the kitchen. I smiled, already feeling like today was going to be great. My mouth waters as I took in the sweet smell of the muffin and began to pop them into my mouth one-by-one. From upstairs, I could hear Ren slamming his door open and running from his room to mine. I heard my door slam open this time, followed with a slight pause, before hearing his footsteps come down the stairs in a hurry.

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

Ren's disheveled brown hair told me that he had just woken up. "Alex, I don't have my calculator with me and I need it for my college algebra homework that's due today! Can I borrow yours for a while?" he asked, walking up to me fast.

"Of course!" I answered. "BUT! If you break it, I'll make you pay the full price for my calculator plus interest."

"Whatever. Thanks, Alex! You're a lifesaver." He ran back up the stairs to do the homework, I'm assuming, that he never did yesterday.

I looked back over to Maria, who's still humming away in the kitchen. From what I had been told, a few weeks after I was born my parents, who were friends with Maria, dropped me off at her door with no explanation why other than my name, and disappeared into the night. Even now, Maria doesn't know whether they are alive or not, so she raised Ren, her child, and I together.