1 Chapter 1

Note: Story is told from Tala's perspective

"Hey, bitch. Catch!" A girl shouted across the school gym, laughing hysterically straight after.

Of course, it's her. The queen bitch of the school, Crystal Stevens. Whys is she even here in gym class? I thought cheerleaders practice during this time.

She has been torturing me since I can remember. Freshman year of high school has been a living hell. The school hallways, bathroom, classrooms, and locker rooms just aren't safe anymore from her vicious claws. Her eyes can attract anyone, boys and even girls.

Well, who could resist the charms of Crystal Stevens? She has an airtight schedule foe her everyday life. Gym every morning, cheer practice in the afternoon and dance practice after. I couldn't believe she could do that every day. She really is an amazing person, well except she's a bitch.

"Hey, nerd. Your out. Why don't you go sit on the bleachers and watch the professionals do it?" Umm okay, it's just dodge ball. I will gladly sit done and watch all of you fakes play this game.

As I was sitting down the bleachers, I saw another person approaching me. "Of course you're the first one out. Tala, you suck."

If it was some other person who said that to me, I would have been furious but it was just glasses. "Hey, glasses. You out to?"

"How many time do I have to tell you? It's Joseph Stevens young lady. My sister giving you a hard time again?"

I know what your thinking. Why am I best friends with the devil's brother? Well for starters, he isn't an evil incarnate like her sister. Joseph was the very first person who talked to me at school. When I was seven, Joseph, Crystal, and I were in a class together. I saw Crystal doodling on the desks when the teacher suddenly returned. She tried to frame me by putting the crayons on my desk. The teacher wasn't sure who did it so she asked everyone in class if they have witnessed this unsettling and gruesome crime.

With just Crystal's gaze, she turned everyone against me. At the end of the day, I would be the culprit. I would be punished but someone spoke up. This little kid raised his hand and took the blame for me. This is how Joseph and I became friends. Just Kidding!

He did raise his hand but it wasn't to take the blame for me. He pointed at me and immediately told the teacher that it was me who drew on the desk. The nerve of this kid. I hate him and that girl. I didn't know that at that moment, our friendship is going to sprout.

He talked to me at the end of the class and told me without any hesitation that Crystal, her sister, bullies her to. Our bonding moments usually consists of bad-mouthing her sister which really takes the stress out of my system.

"Hey, there's a party after school. Do you want to go?" Asked Joseph. As if I would go to a party.

"Of course, I would love to go. I can't wait to drink and party like there's no tomorrow." I said sarcastically.

I would rather read my books and study for next week's test. Geometry problems aren't gonna solve itself. I pity Joseph though. He's going to be alone. His parents are out of town on a business trip which leaves Joseph and Crystal in charge of their mansion. Wait a second. Is that why he asked me?

I turned my head around and froze when I saw Joseph looking straight at me with a huge smile on his face. "Don't tell me you want to sleepover at my house?"

"Oh, Tala. You really get me. I didn't even need to ask." Of course, you didn't. I know what you're going to say before you even say it. I know what you're going to think before you've even thought of it. And of course, you can stay over. You're my best friend. I would do anything for you.

I was starting to get sentimental but I started to feel like there was something fast approaching. There was a ball about to hit my face and it was coming at a rushing speed.

"Sorry, nerd. Hey Joseph, can you please pass the ball?

Wait a minute. Why is she acting as nothing happened? "Hey, aren't you going to say sorry?" I said while pointing my fingers at her. This BITCH! At that moment, every insult, every name-calling, and every horrible thing that she has done just started coming back to me. I lost my composure and I finally want to do something about it.

I stepped out of the bleachers and step by step, I started clenching my fists harder and harder. A single punch would do the trick I think. One punch to end it all. I walked closer and closer and closer.

My fist was about to hit her face when I suddenly stopped. I can't do it. I can't hurt someone just because they've hurt me too.

"Hey! What are you kids doing? Ms Torres and Ms Stevens, detention for both of you." Mr Summers, our school PE teacher, said. What this is unfair. She was the one who hit me with a ball on purpose. Sure, I was going to punch her but I stopped. There's not a single scratch on her.

"Hang on. This is unfair treatment. It was my sister who physically harmed Tala. She's always been bullying her." Joseph defended me and kinda threw her sister under the bus.

"Ms Torres and Ms Stevens, detention for both of you. End of story."

Great. Now I have to explain to aunt Helena why I got detention. On top of that, I have to stay in school even after school hours. I've had enough of this place. I just can't wait to graduate and go to college and be with my kind of people with Joseph.

The bell has rung and now its time for detention. Class 201 is where the school delinquents and troublemakers spend most of their time and now I will be one of them. My reputation is tainted. A 4.0 GPA and perfect attendance are pointless now that my record is unclean.

I opened the door of the classroom. Its paintings and designs captured my attention. Beheaded humans and skull figures are these even allowed to be in school?

I could see five people in the room. The one in the right is William Kingsley, the school's new star basketball player. He took everyone by storm during the freshman tryouts. He is well built, strong, but lack a little bit of intelligence. Oh and he's not only good at basketball, but he's also good at every sport you could imagine.

The person two chairs back is Samara Wang. She is also a freshman and the ladies call her plant lady. She's always with her plants, even now. I don't find her love of plants weird though. She always tends to the school garden. Her flowers and plants are magnificent and they emit these kinds of aromas that add happiness to my day. It's weird though. Why is she here? What could she have done to end up here?

Okay onto the next person. Oh, it's him, Antonio Hernandez the school's delinquent. He is pretty quiet and calm when you don't provoke him. Just a bump on the shoulders or hearing his name can easily trigger him and initiate a state that we call 'the beast mode'. I heard he attacked a school janitor this morning because he got his shoes wet from mopping the floor. I guess that's why he's here.

And now let see the nest one is... Oh crap. "You! You're the reason why I had to stay at this place while I could have been preparing for the party!" Yep, you've guessed it, Crystal Stevens. The head cheerleader and basically the mean girl. She's basically the stereotypical bully cheerleader you know from movies and tv shows.

Oh and lastly, he looks oddly familiar. "Hey, Tala. Where have you been? I've been waiting for hours." Oh, it's him. What is he doing here? He didn't get detention.

"Joseph, what are you doing here?"I surprisingly asked him.

"I'm staying at your place remember? Do you really think Aunty would let me stay at their house without you there?."

At least now I've got my best friend with me. It's not going to be as boring as I thought. I sat beside him and did some homework. I hope I don't have to stay here for more than an hour.

The room was as quiet as the night sky. It was so boring but peaceful at the same time. As expected, everyone was on their phones to pass the time. However, Mr Crowe, the teacher looking after us, had a different idea.

"Ok boys and girls, who are ready to gather up some flowers for science class tomorrow?" he asked as if insinuating that he needed our help to do his job. "Come on guys, stop tapping and swiping on your phone and be with nature for once."

Mr Crowe snatched our phone in our hands like an eagle swooping to get prey on the ground. "You will get your phone when you've helped me get some flowers. Okay everyone, into the woods we go."

Of course, everyone followed. To get our phones, our life, back, we decided to help our weird and slightly crazy science teacher Mr Crowe. You might be asking, why is he crazy? Well, let me tell you. Mr Crowe loves science experiments that explode or create fire. One time, everyone had to evacuate from the school because of one of his experiments that went wrong. It created a big explosion and set the science lab on fire. Luckily the school managed it on time and no student got hurt.

We walked to the back of the school in search of these wildflowers that he wanted us to find. Each of us was given a list of flowers to gather. I admit, this place creeped me out a bit so I searched with Joseph. "You okay Tala, you seem scared," Joseph noticed.

"Me scared, no I'm not. I'm not scared," I said nervously observing everything and flinching at every sound that I hear. I told myself that to get away from this place as fast as early as possible I just need to find everything on my list. Okay, daisies and snowdrops. Those seem easy to find.

After fifteen minutes of searching, I've finally got them all. Its time to meet back with the group and head back to school and finally go home. "Hey everyone, you all got the flowers?" William asked.

"Yeah. Now we just need to wait for Mr Crowe, and we can get out of this place," I replied. "Where is he anyway, he should have been here before us since he knows where all the flowers are."

We started to worry. Mr Crowe is not the kind of person to leave his students. He must have been lost but that's unlikely, he knows this place like the back of his hand. "Okay weirdos, I'm leaving. I have to go to a party" Crystal informed us. "Mr Crowe can find his own way."

"Crystal, are you that evil. Mr Crowe might be lost or even injured in these woods. We are the only one who knows he's here. Everyone should search for him and if we don't find him, we'll call for help," Joseph suggested. Wow, that was impressive of him. I've never seen him stand up to his sister like that.

"The nerd is right. Lets split up and search for him. He couldn't have gone that far," William suggested.

Split up? You mean I'm going to search by myself. I have to somehow persuade the group not to do that. "It's getting dark and we don't know our way around. Isn't it better to stay together and search for him?"

"You have a point Tala. Okay, guys why don't we search for him this way. This is where he went to search for the flowers." We followed William and searched in the direction where we saw him last.

Where could Mr Crowe have gone? Did he get lost or was he taken?