Twilight Shadows

Chapter 1

I woke up on my fancy, four poster bed. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the digital clock on my night table. It read 7:30 AM. 

Just great, I thought. Another day of school. 

At least it was the second last week of school, so it's almost going to be summer break. School was honestly easy; wait, I take that back. School was the complete opposite of that, after what I've been through. As if I needed to be reminded again.

~💖~

In Grade 5, during a field trip to the Natural Museum of History, the whole class had lunch in one of the cafeterias. I still remember that I sat with my "group" -  basically Jocelyn, Tina, Marlene, and Riley - at one of the tables closer to the edge of the room. Then, as I went to buy my lunch, Clarissa's squad came over with their lunch. Since we were technically "rivals", we literally hated each other's guts. 

"Ooooo..." Clarissa snickered. "Look who it is! It's Stephanie the Sucker!" Clarissa's squad snorted like pigs.

I tried my best to ignore them, but I was already triggered.

"Clarissa, I think that some of your ugly MAKEUP is leaking into your BRAIN! Just because you lost to me in the Fashion Contest DOESN'T mean you still get bragging rights." I glared at her. Clarissa turned tomato red just for a second, but then her skin tone returned back to normal.

"Well then." Clarissa said, trying to contain her outrage. "EAT THIS, SUCKA!"

Clarissa threw her hotdog, which was smeared with ketchup, onto me. Her goons followed suite. Soon enough, I was covered with slimy ketchup, and some bread crumbs were stuck to the ketchup. I looked absolutely HIDEOUS! Just when I was about to head to the washroom to clean off, Clarissa shot me one more death stare, and dumped her apple juice on me. Since I was already turned around, you know... I looked like I soiled my pants. Blinking back tears, I headed towards the washroom, heat rising in my face. I closed my eyes.

I WANT TO GO DIE IN A HOLLLLLLE!!!!! I screamed inside me. JUST KILL ME NOW!

Frankly, when I opened my eyes, I was already in the washroom. A tingling sensation filled me up, like I just experienced something strange. "What..." I gasped. In the mirror, where my reflection was supposed to be, was a girl my age, with flowing blonde hair and bright green eyes, and no mess on her clothing. It took me a while to realize that the girl was actually ME. But what really caught my attention was two great black feathery wings on my back. I reached towards my back, but before I could even touch them, they faded. I thought I was seeing things, but I had to remember that I am completely sane.

I walked towards the door to exit the washroom, and glanced thoughtfully at the mirror again. I smiled to myself, and headed back to the cafeteria. As if school wasn't hard enough with all this crazy stuff going on...

  ~💖~  

"Honey, please get ready for school!" My mom said, opening up the door and peeking in. "It's already 7:30! School starts at 8:30!"

"OK, Mom..." I said, still half-asleep. I yawned and rubbed my palms against my face.

My mom took a look at me, and half-smiled. "Don't you remember what day it is today?"

"Yes, Mom..." I stifled another yawn. "It's June 21."

"No, I don't mean that." Another smile. "Guess whose birthday it is!"

That was when I snapped out of my trance. "OH. MY. GOSH!!! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN? I'M TURNING 12 TODAY!!!"

"Yes you are, sweetie! Now let's get you up and runnin'." Mom said happily. "I've got a huge breakfast for you downstairs!"

Breakfast was amazing; it included ALL of my favourite foods, such as ice cream (in da mornings, XD), pancakes with an exceptional amount of maple syrup on it, and a natural berry smoothie. Didn't I ever mention Moms were the greatest? Well, Dads too, but Moms are DA BOMB!

"Alright, honey! Tina's at the door... Looks like you're going to walk to school with her! We don't want to keep her waiting, so hurry!" Mom said cheerfully. "Have a great day at school, sweetheart!"

"Have a great day too! Love ya!" I rushed outside of the house with all my supplies to join Tina. 

"Wassup, bestie? Looks like SOMEONE overslept, didn't they?" Tina smiled. "Another day of school. Boring. OML, AND we have Mrs. Smith!!!"

"That sucks... Mrs. Smith is the strictest teacher ever! AND we have her for math, which is rotten luck..." I moaned.

"Well, at least tomorrow's going to be a better day. I hope." Tina said, walking with a slight bounce in each of her steps. 

"Yeah..."

"Did you finish your homework for her though?"

"Yeah... WAIT. A. MINUTE!!! DAMMIT, I FORGOT TO BRING THE HOMEWORK!!!" I sprinted back to the house, but apparently Mom already went out to work, and the house was locked. I moaned, and cursed under my breath. 

Oh, please, please, PLEASE let me open this door, I thought. To my surprise, the door opened up with a click and I ran inside, finding my homework floating in the air, drifting towards me. I nearly fainted, but the urge to go to school and not get scolded by Mrs. Smith (again) was too strong. I grabbed the homework out of the air and rushed outside the house.

Lock the door, I thought. The door clicked and was locked. I stared, open-mouthed, at what I've done. I didn't even touch it!

"HEY," Tina called. "ARE YOU GOING TO SCHOOL OR NOT?"

"YEAH, I AM," I called back. "COMING IN A SEC!"

 ~💖~

Tina and I got to Springfield Academy just as the last bell rang, signaling the students to file into the school. We joined the lineup, and walked into the school.

Ahhhhh, I thought. Air conditioning.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!" Someone called from behind. I turned to look who had shouted out the comment.

Oh, my heart nearly stopped when I saw who had shouted the comment out. It was Dylan. OK, lemme just put it out here. Dylan is the BIGGEST. JERK. EVER! I know for sure that he has a crush on me, but I absolutely think that he's disgusting.

I bit my lip and kept on walking until I reached my locker. There was a black envelope that felt like silk that was on my locker. Strange, I thought. Who would've sent this?

Out of the corner of my eye, I found a black-clad 8th Grader who had hazelnut hair and piercing blue eyes. My legs felt queasy. I was staring at my crush, Noah. I felt myself blushing. With shaking fingers, I opened up the black envelope slowly.