A Daughter of Poseidon (EDITED)

Chapter One: "How was your trip?"

C H A P T E R   O N E : "How was your Trip?"

I bolted upright in bed with a start - the third night this week that I've had chilling nightmares. I hadn't slept a wink after I woke up, averaging about three hours of sleep per night. Let me just tell you, that is not enough sleep to function properly.

The dreams were all the same series of events:

My mom was gone. She just vanished before my eyes with a horrible vacant expression on her face; and just as I would scream out for her, a boy clearly older than me, but still young, would call my name as he drowned in thick, tar-like liquid. His black hair would blend in as he sunk until the only thing I would see were his peircing green eyes - Those eyes that would haunt my dreams and even conscious-state for days.

I lay in bed trying to decipher whatever the dream meant, and who the boy was, until I heard the birds chirpping outside. Soon after, the sweet bird-song was interrupted by the irritating beep beep beep of the alarm on my phone. I groaned as I sat up, my hair sticking out in all directions.

I didn't think it was fair that no matter how little sleep I got, I would still have to get up and go to that Hell of a high school. It wasn't like I could avoid it though, I had to convince myself that my one and only friend, Dawn, needed me. Of course she didn't, but pretending that someone did always helped me get out of bed.

After I had gotten up, I dressed in my traditional skinny jeans, surf-shop t-shirt, and converse. My hair was an unmanageable curly, blonde mess, and brushing it would only anger the beast. I simply ran my hand through it briefly and called it a day. As soon as I was done layering some mascara onto my lashes and brushing my teeth, I ran downstairs to try and say goodbye to my mom before she left for work. But, I knew I was too late when I saw a scrap of paper lying on the kitchen table.

It read:

Dear Nahla,
I had to run some errands before I went to work . I'm sorry I missed you again, but have a good day at school. I'll be back around nine or ten tonight, so make ramen for dinner. And make sure you actually do your homework for once.
Love, Mom

I don't think she's gone a single day since I started high school where she didn't have "errands" to run before work. She never gets a day off. My mom juggles three different jobs everyday so that we can afford our appartment and other bills. I had a job at the local supermarket so that we could get a discount on groceries, as well as so we could actually buy groceries.

My mom and I were on our own. My dad disappeared after he found out my mom was pregnant - at least that's what she told me. I used to pretend that he was more than that, that he was some superhero that didn't want to put my mom and I in danger - or that he was a prince in an arranged marriage to save his kingdom. It helped me cope with the fact that he didn't want anything to do with me. I know better now, he was just some deadbeat who knocked up a girl and left her alone, there were a million and one guys out there just like him. He's nothing special and neither am I.

I grabbed a poptart on my way out the door. With my backpack over my shoulder, I trudged down the street in the bitter March air. As it bit into my ears I wished I had brought I jacket, but I had a knack for a lack in planning.

As I reached the sketchy street corner that was our designated bus stop, I saw Dawn sprinting at full force towards me and some other kid who was always there really early. Her pens were falling out of the front pocket, which was unzipped, and her auburn hair was whipping wildly in the wind.

She was only a yard away when she tripped over a crack in the concrete and face planted into the sidewalk. She quickly stood up, pretending nothing happened, as she strut to me.

"Hey Dawn," I chuckled, "How was your trip?"

"Ha ha. You are so funny," She rolled her eyes at me, while also wiping some snot from her nose. "Did you come up with that yourself?"

"Well, yea I kind of did, but I'm sure it's been used before. Believe it or not a sense of humor is pretty easy to come by." I said nonchalantly as I scrolled through the feed in my instagram, even though there was no new activity. "You should try and get one some time."

She didn't say anything back to me, but she did stick her tongue out at me, mocking me.

=========

We sat in silence as we waited for the bus, it was too cold to talk.

Once the yellow, monstrous death-trap pulled up, Dawn and I were practically racing to be the first one to get into the warm safe-space. Our usual seats were taken up by two new kids that I had never seen before.

Slightly annoyed that they were sitting in the only open seat with a fully functional heater, I plopped down - rather loudly to show my irritance - in the seat behind them. The two newbies were a girl and a boy. The girl was honestly really pretty with fairy-like features, her nose was pointed slightly and her cheeks were dusted with light freckles. She had a flower lain delicately in her hair, though I thought I noticed an obvious green tint to her skin. The boy had a mop of curly brown hair with a red beanie to cover most of his head, and his face looked very innocent with doe-brown eyes.

The ride was normal at first, but the boy kept sneaking glances over his shoulder at me. They weren't the kind of glances that came with someone who thought you were cute - No - they were more like "I know who you are and you are in trouble" kind of glances.

I was getting creeper-vibes from this guy, and so I did the stupid thing that only people in horror movies and myself (apparently) would do:

"Hey there," I smiled, "My name's Nahla. Are you two new?" I actually thought talking to the creepy beanie kid would resolve the already odd and awkward situation. Little did I know that this kid would change my life in the weirdest way.

"Yea we're new." He said sheepishly. I had caught him staring, and now he had to acknowledge me like a normal human. "This is Juniper and I'm Grover."

~~~~~~

Hello! This is the end of the first chapter and I would like to thank you for reading. This is actually a lot like the first two chapters of my first book, but just so you know the big changes don't happen until around the middle.

Anyways, what do y'all think of the new cover?

Alright that's it.

TTFN (TaTa For Now)

-KT-