Area 51

Chapter One

I walked through the school's hallways, brushing a few long black braids behind my ear. I sighed, too tired and anxious to deal with the drama of high school. I suddenly felt someone jump on my back and wrap their arms around me.

"There you are, Diamond!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

I laughed as the girl let me go and walked in step beside me.

"I see you're in a good mood," I joked.

"Someone tried to make fun of my name," my best friend said. "They said it sounded like grizzly bear. So I told them that if they didn't back off, I'd call my bear friends."

"Griselda does not sound like grizzly," I scoffed. She gave me a look. "Okay, maybe a little bit."

Griselda laughed her beautiful laugh that everyone loved. Along with her cascading platinum blond hair that went down to her waist, she also had perfect porcelain skin and a slender figure, so everyone loved her. And not just the guys. If someone didn't like her, they were jealous of her and tried to make fun of her. It never worked, though. Griselda's the kind of person who can't be brought down by taunts and cruel words. In fact, I've never seen her get sad, much less cry. I've only seen her get angry. But that was because someone was trying to make fun of me. No one ever made fun of me after that.

"You realize you just passed your classroom, right?" Griselda asked, leaning towards me a little.

"I'm not going to class," I muttered.

"So you're...skipping?" she asked quietly, her eyes filling with confusion.

"Yeah," I said. "Skipping school."

"But you're already here."

I sighed in mild frustration. Griselda could be a little stupid sometimes. I didn't know if it was on purpose or if she genuinely didn't understand.

"Not for long," I whispered to her, smirking.

"So you're leaving school," Griselda said, understanding dawning in her eyes. She chuckled softly. "That's not like you, Diamond."

"Yeah? Well, it's not like the school to have people from the government here."

Griselda suddenly looked very serious. She had seen them, too. The strange men in military uniforms, armed to the teeth with lethal weapons. They were only in the main halls, and they watched everyone, scanning faces and such. And if you stared at them too long, they'd search you. It made me really uncomfortable.

"You're right," she said in a low voice. "I think it has something to do with all these people saying they'll invade Area 51."

"Invade's such a professional word," I scoffed, walking towards the emergency staircase. I looked around to make sure no one was watching. Luckily, most of the students were in their first-period classes, and the teachers were in their rooms. I quickly opened the doors to the stairs. "'Break in' is a better way to put it."

Griselda walked onto the landing with me and quietly shut the doors.

"The school's surrounded by woods," Griselda whispered, looking down the stairs. She looked at my white backpack. "Once we get out there, you'll have to take your backpack off and put in in front of you, or else the sun might reflect off of it, giving us away. Once we're far enough in the woods, you'll be able to put it back on. It should take us about fifteen minutes to get into town-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I interrupted. "Not only are you making this sound like a heist plan, but you also sound like you've done this before."

Griselda smiled mischievously.

"This isn't my first time escaping authority," she said simply before running down the stairs.

I sighed before taking off after her. I noticed I could only hear one pair of footsteps. I looked down and saw that Griselda was practically bouncing down the stairs on her toes, not making a sound. So I did the same. Well, I tried to do the same. It was difficult, and I almost missed a step a few times. Griselda got to the bottom of the stairs before me, and turned to wait for me.

For a split second, I could have sworn her usually grey eyes were completely black.

My foot missed the step, and I fell forward. I yipped, but knew that if I screamed, we would be caught. I closed my eyes, bracing myself. But instead of hitting the cold floor, I hit something soft and warm. After a moment, I looked up to see that Griselda had caught me, and I had fallen into her chest.

I felt my face heat up, but I couldn't move. I stared up at Griselda, who gave me a warm smile.

"You really are short, Diamond," she said.

"Oh, shut up," I snapped. I finally let go of her and tried to hide my blushing face. "I'm not short, you're just six feet tall."

Griselda giggled at how flustered I was.

"Come on," she said, turning to the escape doors. "We still have a school to escape from." She looked back at me, giving me a slight smirk. "And there's an amazing coffee shop I've wanted to take you to for a while."