The Absence of Truth | S. Stilinski

II. | chemistry

II. | chemistry

                    BEACON HILLS HIGH School. It was smaller than we were used to - almost homely. Beside me, Presley walked to the front doors with purpose. We hadn't told Mom or Sarah what we'd seen the night before in the woods. That was partly because we could have gotten killed, and partly because Sarah had gotten home early in the morning from her job at the police department to tell us that a grave robbery last night had left a corpse without a liver. The station was wondering if it was a psycho Lydia Martin on the prowl.

I had to jog to keep up with my brother - his long legs and quick pace kept me on my toes. When we got close enough to the school to slow down, I put a hand on my chest. "Dude, chill out. It's just our first day of school. We've done it before."

"Uh-huh. Except we usually don't start our first day sleep deprived and trying to avoid three weird kids who were seemingly in the middle of the woods at night to get murdered. And we don't usually have our first day in the middle of the school year." He led me to the front office, where we both got our schedules. "There's about an hour before class actually starts. I've got to go meet the coach and see if he'll put me on whatever team matters around here. See you at lunch?"

"Sure, yeah," I agreed swiftly, greedily grabbing my schedule and looking over the classes. By the time I looked up to get a glance at Presley's schedule, he was gone.

So I wandered. For such a small school, I was amazed with how many crannies there were to get lost in. And the students - they were a handful too. Most of them were amazed with the fact that a new student had joined. While trying to find my locker, I was stared at by way too many people.

When I decided to actually start my day, I made it to locker 1674, and was quick to open it to inspect the inside. Plain, cold metal stared back at me. Remnants of past sticker glue stained the inside of the door. I shrugged off my backpack and took my time filling the locker until my bag was full with nothing but a notebook and pens to last the day. I'd have time to come drop off textbooks as teachers handed them to me.

The first day of school was different in every city I'd lived in. Before this, we'd lived in Miami, where the sun was too overbearing and the students too uncaring. Florida had been good, but it was nothing compared to the relaxing slowness of Beacon Hills.

I slammed my locker shut, sent a smile to the mousy blonde next to me who was busy stuffing her own books into her backpack, and made my way to class early so I could meet my teacher. Mr. Harris, read my schedule. Chemistry. Easy.

-

"I trust you can fully recite the periodic table, Ms. Holmes?"

Mr. Harris was an ass. I decided that the minute I walked into the room, and I was seriously trusting my judgement as he handed me a few papers and a hefty textbook. "I've got some of it memorized, but not all of it. Will there be a test?"

A nasty laugh spilled out of him. "Will there be a test?" He mocked. The laughing died down and he looked at me over the rim of his glasses. "In this class, everything is tested. If you can't handle that, then I'm sure we could have you moved into a different - perhaps easier - class?"

Part of me wanted to accept that offer and stay far away from this man for the rest of the schools year - no - my life, but I knew if I did that then I'd just be a coward. Also, I refused to be stomped on by some mousy man with a bad taste in ties and a rude disposition to the world. Mr. Harris was an ass, but I was ten times a better person than him. "Oh, no. I'm perfectly content in here. Thanks for the offer, though."