Phoenix

chapter one: Life

My name is Phoenix Pacem, silent tears spilled from my hazel eyes as I stood by my mother's grave, I was already 10 minutes late for my first class and I knew the world hated me but this was just cruel; the heavens opened, and it poured down. I felt the rough material of my jacket over my head as I flung it to shelter my hair, my knees buckled as I raced to the nearest building I could see, a large, abandoned church. Curling my worn fingers into fists, I banged on the magnificent oak doors as loud as I could. "Please let me in! Come on, I'm cold and it soaking out here!" After the third time doing that, practically by magic the doors cleared, and I raced inside, no one was behind the door but I wasn't thinking about that. I shot straight over to the staircase and sat, waiting out the storm until it was OK to walk to school. Minuets turned into hours as I fell asleep, all alone in this ancient sanctuary, as far as I knew.

As if the word halted, my eyes opened, I reached for my phone, eight missed calls from Allison and six from Daniel. Ali and Dan had been my best buddies since I could remember when Ali adopted her puppy Nacho who was now four and when Dan lost his shoes on the swings, they were the best people and I had to get back before they worried. They both knew today was my mother's birthday and I go here every year to talk with her and put flowers on her grave, my father didn't handle her death well. Five years he's been drinking and I've been doing everything, I had an after-school job as a nanny and I did most the shopping, to be honest, Ali and Dan were more my family than anyone else, Christmas's and Birthdays were spent at Allison's house and her parents were everything I never had. Ali and Dan had told me we were going out tonight to take my mind off today.They knew how much I missed my mum and how hard her birthdays are but they promised tonight would be good.

Throwing the doors wide open, I left the church, as I did a silhouette passed the top of the stairs, I was preoccupied so just brushed if off as my eyes playing tricks and left over the hill and down the path to school. I knew the path like the back of my hand and could do it with my eyes closed by now, when I was eleven I used to go there every Saturday night when my father was asleep, no one knew excepted the old groundskeepers, Michael. That was five years ago, and he had long departed, now when I go up there it's just me, mum and a bunch of ghosts but I never got lonely, mum and I always seemed to have something to talk about but just as i was getting lost in my train of thought, my phone buzzed; it was Dan. I let it ring out because I was already on my way back, without even seeing him I already knew he was fiddling with his fingers as he did when he was nervous, ever since he was a kid that was what he's done, one time Ali and I wanted to sneak out to see a band we adored and he classically sat in a chair ruffling his copper hair back and forth and interconnecting his fingers together, in the end he came because he didn't want to be left alone.

The school was in my view point and even though I knew it was lunch and I had already missed half the day, as soon as they saw me they ran and hugged me, Ali rolled her eyes and smiled, her cat-like glasses falling on her nose, "OK Phii, you have missed half the day, wait till Mrs Pelham sees you!" Dan and I laughed at her; we all knew she was right.

"Yup sure seems like things ain't gonna go well for me, anyway, at least I'm here now"

The day went fast after that, The usual Maths and English and meeting with those two afterwards at Ali's house, she had told me she bought the perfect dress for tonight and she would show me when we got to her room, Dan, Being typical Dan wore jeans and a button down and Allison wore a gorges navy, velvet dress and her blond curly hair let loose over her shoulders. Walking over to her closet, she swung the knob and reviled a striking two piece dress hidden in jewels, the outfit its self was a rich lilac colour, as for my ebony hair, it was left in easy curls delicately falling from my head and simplistic silver hoops in each ear. Dan had informed me Ali had planned on taking us to a house part a few blocks down, Ali had consistently been a perplexing one, such a smart ass and yet so dangerous, Dan and I could hardly keep up with her and hands down, she was the wackiest of all of us. On my fourteenth birthday she took us to a theme park and made us try to go on all the roller-coaster we were two young for, let's just say Dan didn't go on any of them and on my fifteenth birthday she took us to a discarded 'haunted' house and made us do a tone of dares, we got kicked out an hour afterwards, not so disagreed after all.

Grabbing the hair spray off her dressing table, Ali finished off her expression, and we all shuffled out on the path to where ever Ali had organised us to be, I cleared my throat a little and glanced at her, "So, Ali, Where precisely are we going and are we invited?" Ali laughed at me.

"Come on Phii, don't ya trust me?" I did, but she constantly implied to know where all the party's are and to always be right, one of these days she would get us into some big trouble.

"Yes, I do but how did you even hear about this?" A sassy grin and glint of the eye said everything; she clearly would not answer me.

Arriving at the party ten minutes later, I realised exactly where I was. Towering in front was a boring beige building, a pair of trimmed back hedges that stood at the doors (they were supposed to look like hearts) and a luxurious pool that had turned in to a high school as about thirty teenagers were wallowing not so gracefully within the waters. I was at Cole's house. How the hell could Alli think that taking me to my ex boyfriend's house was supposed to be good for me. Just thinking about the devil seems to make him appear as a looming shadow slinked behind me, ugh, oh how his perfect, punch-able face just made me want to throw up... on him. His Frosty eyes looked me up and down, "Hello Phoenix," I think he wanted me to respond, in his dreams. "Phoenix! Wait, just a second!" Making sure to make a create a point, I swung my hips and strolled over to the pool, I was about to jump in when a Guy wearing a black suit caught my attention, if I genuinely wanted to establish a point to Cole, speaking to another boy would certainly do it, "Hi I'm phoenix, you?" He stared back at me, his lips a rich crimson, They matched his eyes... "Ace." He grinned.