Audrey

Audrey arrived at school plenty early as she usually did. It wasn't difficult since her morning had already started several hours ago. Getting up early wasn't something that necessarily came easy to her but she had been doing it so long she was use to it. The benefits of her schedule were also undeniable. Upon parking she stepped out of her truck and pulled out her worn backpack. Fluidly she slung the bag over her shoulder, shut the truck door, and turned to make her way to the building. A passive smile rested on her face as she made her way up the path.

Kyle

Kyle had yet again been up late. His job at the grocery store required it though. Meat packing wasn't a glamorous job but it helped pay the bills. With a yawn and curse he got out of bed and got ready, which only took a matter of minutes. The drive from his house to school didn't take long and before he knew it he was there.

Maggie smiled greedily at the mirror before her. She'd arrived to the school fairly early and had already been acquainted with her first block teacher who had given her her locker numbers when she arrived. She didn't really feel like sitting in the cold classroom all alone so she stayed in the hallway, listening to the soft buzz of chatter around her as she checked her make up one last time.

"That just might do it..." She spoke to herself, winking at herself in the mirror before slamming the metal door shut. With a tug at her sweater and a quick swivel, she was facing the north side of the building and walking down the hall back towards her first block where people were quietly piling in at this point. She bit her lip, a nervous habit she had when meeting new people. Her mother had often scolded her for it, saying that she needn't be so nervous around people, it only made things worse.

Maggie sighed and released her lips from the prison of her teeth and put on a soft expression, one she hoped conveyed content and welcomed friendship. With that, she entered the room and took her seat at the front of the classroom, pencil and paper already on her desk.

After making a brief stop at her locker Audrey went ahead to her first class, though it wouldn't start for awhile yet. For a moment she stopped to talk with a few people she knew, though their conversation stayed short. Upon arriving at class she took a seat in the second row, behind Maggie. "Good morning!" she said with a polite smile as she sat down.

Kyle

Kyle went to his locker where he started looking for a can of coke he knew he had stashed away. After a minute or two he gave up and made his way down the hall to the vending machine. He could hear the echoing words in his head of those who had always ragged on him for his messy locker.

Maggie looked up from doodling on her notebook when she heard Audrey greet her. Turning around she gave the girl a toothy grin. "You know, when we met at that Open House thing, I didn't honestly think we'd have almost the exact same schedule. It's like... we were fated to be, yanno?" She began, already moving past pleasantries.

"You know, I saw a weird rumor online last night. Some of the girls that graduated last year were saying this teacher is a total pervert." She explained. "And everything you read on the internet has to be true." She added, sticking her nose up in a dramatic way. She snickered to herself before laying her head down on Audrey's desk. "So... uhh... Were you at all interested in joining the choir?" She asked.

Wait... what if she feels obligated to join just because I asked?

... Her head shot up to look Audrey in the eyes, her eyes as wide as a deer's in headlights.

"I mean, you don't have to. I just... It's just... I... I was going to join and... having a friend would be nice. But if it's not your thing, that's fine. I'll just... I'll find someone in the choir or something." She mumbled, her face falling as the smile turned into something more awkward and tame. "Actually, no... forget it. I'm just... being annoying again." She stammered, suddenly turning back around with a speed that could provide good AC if she could keep it up. Her head fell down to her desk and she picked up her pencil to begin doodling again, having lost all of her courage.

Audrey

Audrey found her rambling charming and funny. As she listened to her ramble on she tried to not laugh. It wasn't what Maggie was saying that she found so amusing rather how she was saying it. When Maggie turned away Audrey leaned forward on her desk. "I hadn't considered Choir because I don't think I'm that good. But maybe, if you wanted, you could coach me. So that I might actual have a chance at getting in." She said in a low and slightly unsure tone.

Daniel finally came to the end of the winding path on the walk to the school, one of his black earphones pressed into his left ear and blasting out Bring Me The Horizon. Adjusting his backpack to a more comfortable position he slowly makes his way to his locker, students walking at a much quicker pace passing him. Daniel wasn't in any need to rush, he had time. He carefully opens his locker and shoves his navy blue backpack in. He yanks the earphones from his ears, pulls his iPod from the back pocket of his pants and slips his iPod into his bag before grabbing his books for his next class and shutting his locker. He continues on the path to his first class, walking into see a few, mostly girl, were already seated. He walks to his seat in the centre of the back row and takes his seat, staring aimlessly at his desk.

As usual, Jacqui had been at the school quite early, where she sat in the school library escaping into one of the many books the library had to offer, the books to her next class sat next to her. Adjusting her glasses the teenager looks down at the white watch on her left wrist for the time and decided she should go toward her first class. She places the library book back in its rightful place, snatches her school books and heads towards the classroom

"I hadn't considered Choir because I don't think I'm that good. But maybe, if you wanted, you could coach me. So that I might actual have a chance at getting in."

Her head still on the desk, pencil in hand, Maggie blinked. She wasn't really sure if what she'd just heard was in her head or not considering the quiet tone in which Audrey spoke but she knew she didn't want to pass up the chance of having someone she at least partially knew in the Choir.

"Girl, I can coach the ever-living crap out of you." Maggie replied as she eagerly swiveled her body to face Audrey's. "Besides, you have to start somewhere, right? I'm sure you'll do fine. Though..." She paused, trailing off as she thought of what to say next, "I think our first lesson would have to be on projecting." She explained, chuckling to herself. She gave her new friend a soft smile, hoping it would at least make the girl feel a bit better about her singing voice.

"What kind of singing experience do you have? Like... Sunday Church singing, singing in the shower, singing in the rain... Yanno..." She explained, stopping herself from singing the song, "Singin' in the Rain."

Alexandria wakes up to the sound of her alarm going off at precisely 5:00am, and she immediately dreads the day. She can tell something is going to go wrong, like always. Her father is home from work today, which is the worst possible thing. She needs to go get ready, but she doesn’t want to face him, who knows what he could do next. Not many people have an actual fear of their parents, but sadly, Alex is one of the people who do. She drags herself out of bed and looks in the mirror, gross. She races across the room to grab her makeup to pile onto her face and erase the insecurities.
When it’s time to go to school she races out of the house, past her father who is staring at the television screen as if in a trance, without making eye contact and gets into her car. The school is only a minute away; luckily, she cannot wait to see her friends.
As she gets out of her shiny black car, she takes a deep breath as to prepare herself for the day. Try not to blow your cover today she thinks to herself as she does every day. She starts to walk up to the school and hopes the day goes as planned; perfectly.

Audrey

Audrey drummed her fingers on her desk as she thought. "I guess I only ever sing at Church and when I'm driving. As long as there isn't anyone else in the truck with me, of course." She said then giggled. "But anyways, yeah, I'd really like it if you could help me out. I need to try new things anyways. I'm bad about not wanting to." She remarked and then let out a long sigh.

Kyle

Kyle cursed and kicked the vending machine after it had taken his money and failed to dispense his drink. "Is a coke to much to ask for?" He grumbled at the inanimate object. With a glance to his watch he saw that he still had some time till his class so he pulled out some change and tried again.

"Hurray!!!" Maggie shouted, causing the entire room to look at them. "Ahh... S-Sorry." She stammered, her cheeks growing rosy red.

She giggled at Audrey once the embarrassment subsided and grinned at her. "When do you wanna start? I'm pretty flexible so whenever's good for you is good for me. Except after 7. My aunt is a super stickler about dinner. Something about how Nana raised her. I dunno. I don't ask." She asked, explaining her situation a bit.

Nestled underneath the tall, shadowy oak of the school campus, Liz spent her school day as usual...wasting it away.

Even as the sun's rays basked and sizzled against her pale, ghostly complexion, the girl couldn't help but feel no warmth at all piercing her frail skin....skin marred with several cuts, several red and black scars, the grisly results of her melancholy scraping across the fragile flesh in the form of a razor blade or a lit cigarette, the searing...hellish agony giving her some sort of release, some sort of comfort as the blood trickled down her arms and fell from her slender fingertips. She had covered the scars with various tattoos, just as she hid her tired, bloodshot eyes behind tousled strands of hair dyed blue, ugly streaks of red bristling around an orb of emerald green like crimson lightning. Thick, black chasms weighed deep under her eyelids as a result from countless nights left awake lamenting and trapped in lachrymose, and clenched between her lips was yet another cigarette already lit, bent and crumpled.

"Another year....." She muttered to herself in a sigh, an exhale of thin white smoke to follow. She really had no cares at all if smoking wasn't allowed is school, nor did she give a shit what her "parents" would say about it. All Elizabeth ever cared for...was herself. Her focus remained attentive on the sketchbook in her lap, barely even noticing how much time had passed at all as she was zoned out, entranced in two of her loves...art and music. Her pencil kept moving between her two fingers as Crosses by Jose Gonzales played softly in her ears, each stroke either broad or slender creating her masterpiece before her very eyes, a vision pulled from the confines of her imagination and spilled out unto the cream white page. Once she was done, she looked down at her creation, a detailed sketch of a girl sitting beside the ocean, rather pleased with it. Just a few more finishing touches on the shading and whatnot and she closed her book setting it aside and switching off her Mp3, stuffing it in the pocket of her flannel before resting against the thick trunk and yawning.

He nodded his head as the music flowed through the speakers of his headset, loud and clear as a bell. Mr. Mr. by Girl's Generation. Despite considering himself an American, the girls in the band were extremely attractive and listening to them sing made his day. He smiled, big and cocky, and chewed the gum his mother had given him that morning.

"Maybe this'll keep you from talking back this morning." She'd told him. He chuckled and walked on with it. Thinking back on it, she was being sort of weird. Why the hell would that even matter? It wasn't like his teachers really hated him. He shrugged and continued on, pushing his hands into his jacket pockets and trudging onwards.

The only reason he was even willing to go to school was because of the social aspects it held for him. Girls... Bros... Hot teachers... The usual for a 17 year old boy. He frowned at the thought of having to do schoolwork at least halfway decently to keep that going but it faded when he noticed Liz sitting by the oak tree. With a big grin on his face, he rushed over, pushing down his headset as he did.

"Liz!!" He shouted, waving his hands wildly at her, procuring a few glances from those lingering around the outside of the building. Realizing that she probably couldn't hear him, he kept quiet as he run over to her, sliding in next to her. In his head, he thought it must have looked really freaking cool. But in actuality he just looked like he fell on his ass... again. He propped up his head with his arm and looked up at her, his head rather close to her lap. "Howdy, Pardner." He grinned, looking up at his lab partner.

"Liz!!"

"Ugh..."

Just as the cool autumn breeze had bristled her hair and sent the dead leaves falling before her vision, her eyes shot open with a dismaying glower towards the source of such an obnoxious, squeaky voice. "Herny..." She muttered the name in a hushed tone under her breath, a bothersome sigh given afterwards with yet another exhale of smoke. Yes, it was Henry, her (begrudgingly) lab partner. The Asian transplant seemed to blend so well into his newfound culture, and yet, to Liz he still stuck out like...well..what else? It was these kind of people however, the fluffy, flirty, cheery kind....that got on her ever loving nerves.

There wasn't much of a reaction at all to the dolt sliding into home base (I.E. danger close), nor to his goofy grin and his fanciful greeting of, "Howdy, Pardner." Instead, Liz just took another drag on her cigarette, exhaling with a half-hearted greeting, "Sup, Alien." That's what she called him, simply because. She sat with her legs curled into her chest, her head resting on her knees as she merely stared at the ground with gloom.

He blinked, looking at her as she sat there, unperturbed by his advances. He'd known this would be her reaction but it still left him with a big bruise on his heart. With a quick short sigh, he smiled at her. She probably meant to insult him by calling him an alien but somehow he felt flattered. After all, nicknames meant they were getting closer right?

"Hey Henry!" Another female shouted from the sidewalk and Henry's head perked up to wave at her with a bright smile.

"Hey, Caroline." He greeted her before turning back to Liz. Henry twisted his body and pulled himself up to sit next to Liz with his legs crossed, indian style. With both hands on his knees, he grinned at her. "What're you listening to?" He asked, leaning in towards her, pressing his ear near her headset to try and get a listen.

By that time, she decided to shove her earbuds back in and flip on her MP3. Her music had switched over from the previous song to Mt. Washington by Local Natives, the soothing vocals and the rather ghostly acoustic guitar lulling her into a sense of serenity, a calming touch to her frazzled nerves...along with the bittersweet taste of her menthol cigarette she took yet another drag off before flicking away discarded ashes. "Just the usual." Bluntly she replied to Henry, still not getting the notion she didn't wished to be bothered in her only moment of peace. Either that, or Henry was just that damn persistent. Pretty much was the latter.

How was it he was so cheery, so optimistic? He had to be an alien. Only an alien wouldn't get the notion of personal space, yet Liz was too tired to even give a damn if he was leaning close to her. She sighed snuffing out her stubby cig on the ground and flicking it away off the tip of her fingers, still that distant glower to her eyes. "So....how's life?" Stupid question really.

"I'm late... I'm late...!

Mina paid the taxi cab, as she ran towards the school building, as she got there. She noticed a few people standing outside the building. It might have been possible that Mina wasn't actually late to school. Mina looked around, walking towards the closest students that she could find. [Liz, Caroline and Henry] "Hey you guys.. I was wondering. Am I late to class or something? Like, my alarm clock rung at a bad time.. or maybe it was just that the timer was wrong...? Ugh, I need to rest.. I'm so tired.." she'd say with a pout, resting her palm on her forehead while staring at the other students. Mina offered them a small smile with a friendly wave, being the weird girl, people didn't talk to her as much.. but since this was High-School, she had to make some friends, right?

"Hello there, guys. I'm sorry for barging in like that... I can leave if you guys want..

Audrey

Audrey's cheeks flashed a blushed red when Maggie drew the attention of everyone in the room. Her hand clapped over her mouth to suppress her somewhat embraced laughter. "I'm usually free after school. My schedule is pretty open these days. Other than my classes of course." She said to what she believed to be her newly acquired friend. "Look at me trying something new." She giggled.

Kyle

Having finally gotten his coke Kyle made his way back outside. Once outside he leaned against one of the walls and popped open his drink. As a quick breeze rolled past him he caught a whiff of someone's smoke. The all to familiar smell ignited his previously suppressed cravings. He looked over to where he assumed the smell to be coming from. Underneath a tree sat several people. Kyle recognized a few but could only remember the name of one. Liz was the girl with the cigarette, he knew it. The other two weren't smokers, at least not from the looks of it. He considered going over and bumming one from her but the logical part of his brain told him that it would only destroy the progress he had made to quit.

Guh...what was this? The annual K-pop convention?

"Yeah...I'm gonna go. Laters." She gave a curt wave to the two transplants, stumbling to her feet and brushing off the leaves before shoving her hands in the pockets of her faded gray skinnies. If it wasn't for Mr. Sunshine (Henry) and the Drama Llama (Mina) badgering her this whole damn time, she could've finished her other cigarette, but now, there seemed no point. Flicking it away, she sighed shrugging her shoulders, the clip and clop of her lace up combat boots resounding against the rustling of the wind through the trees, all while the sun hid behind thick gray clouds billowing amidst a stark autumn sky. It was as she passed one of the entry ways to the school, she recognized a fleeting, familiar face from the corner of her eye.

Kyle was...well... he looked easier to hang out with to say the least. Judging from looks, he wasn't all rainbows and daisies and knew the tough, gritty side of life...similar to Liz...someone who didn't live in some fantasy. She only knew the muscle bound behemoth because a few weeks ago, he helped Liz out after some punk pulled a gun on her...of course...Liz was just trying to score more weed. Dude would've blown her head off if Kyle didn't step in and beat the shit out of him. She owed him for that...and for not ratting her out to the cops...or God forbid her foster douche Robert.

Somehow, she found her way over to Kyle and was standing beside him leaning against the concrete wall, not a single look towards him. "Hey..." She spoke in a monotone, demure hush. "I was eh...just gonna say thanks. Didn't know the dipshit was packing. And...thanks for not narking on me to my folks."

With light and airy piano key stroke and soft guitar strums, the music he heard softened his heart and caused his grin to turn into a soft smile. "I don't have to see you right now..." He blinked at some of the lyrics, what he could hear of it, and leaned back to get a look at her.

"So, how's life?"

She asked him and he sat for a moment to ponder it when another girl appeared on the scene.

"Hey you guys.. I was wondering. Am I late to class or something? Like, my alarm clock rung at a bad time.. or maybe it was just that the timer was wrong...? Ugh, I need to rest.. I'm so tired.."

She, uh... she could certainly say a mouthful. He chuckled for a moment before turning back to Liz. "I'd like to answer in full, but to ignore her would be in bad taste." He told her, giving the already annoyed girl a small wink. Turning back to the asian girl, he responded, "Nah. School doesn't start for another like... 15 minutes. You're good. In fact, if you wanna take a nap like Liz here, I could watch over you. I won't make a move on you. Scout's Honor." He explained, holding up three fingers as if to prove he was a scout, which he was. He just didn't make it to Eagle and had no drive to. He ignored her last statement of her leaving as if her asking had been a waste of her breath.

Though, somehow during this Liz had managed to slip away. He'd have to find her later. Probably during Lab. She had a way of leaving when she probably knew he didn't have the heart to walk away from anyone.



Maggie smiled brightly at Audrey's response. "Of course. High School is what making new friends is all about, right?" She responded, reaching a hand over to shake the other girl's head side to side. "You're a weird one, all right." She told her playfully, hoping that her voice conveyed that. If she made someone cry on the very first day, she'd fucking cry herself...

Kyle

Kyle's eyes casually tracked Liz as she walked up and took her place next to him. He hadn't forgotten the blue haired girl or what had happened a few weeks back. Numerous times he had pondered over the situation and how it could have unfolded if he hadn't been there to step in. The thoughts were bloody and unsettling. Never had he questioned if he had done the right thing, protecting people was practically second nature to him. If some douche got mouthy he wouldn't hold back from beating a little respect into him but picking on peaceful and or helpless people was never an okay option in Kyle's opinion.

"No problem. And I didn't turn you in or tell anyone cause you don't seem like the kind of idiot that would go and hurt someone else. If you need a little something to help you escape this shit hole world for awhile that's cool by me, just don't let it effect others." He said as he stared off into the distance, his gaze resting on nothing in particular. "Just don't mention to anyone that I was on that side of town and we're even." He added.

Audrey

Reaching out Audrey poked Maggie in the ribs. "Your calling me weird? Maybe you should take a look in the mirror there missy!" She teased the girl. Taking a look around the class she noticed that there weren't that many people present. "Did we really get here that early?" She remarked.