1 TMSN - Chapter 1
I can't remember my birth parents, they abandoned me when I was only a baby. Since then, I have been bouncing from foster homes to foster homes, until one family took me in; Joe and his daughter Joy. They have been the only Family I've ever known; the only people who have loved and cared for me. But I'm still not happy - I want to know my birth parents and why they left me. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm their daughter.
My name is Shadow Thompson. I'm 17-years-old. I have red eyes and white hair. I also recently got a tattoo on my hip that says 'Courage' and got my nose, eyebrow, lip and ear pierced. I know, typical goth look, right. In addition to that, I am currently dealing with a bad case of depression. Why? I couldn't deal with the fact that my parents. Sorry, my birth parents, left me. Who could do that? Leave your child I mean. I do love my adopted family terribly, but I would still like to meet my biological parents.
I started self-harming when I realised that they weren't coming back and that they didn't want me but never had the courage to tell anyone.
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It was the first day in a new school that changed everything for me. Joe, Joy and I moved to a small town called, Mount Kingsley, and Joy and I were going to Mount Kingsley High School (MKHS).
"It's going to be okay girls, I'll be here after school to pick you up," Joe Explained, smiling at us gently, reassuring us for the exciting, yet nerve-wracking day that beheld us.
"See you later daddy," Joy says, giving Joe a quick kiss on the cheek before hopping out of the car.
"Bye Joe," I say holding out my fist. He gave me a fist bump and wished me luck as I got out of the car and walked beside Joy to the front office to get our forms and everything else we needed for school.
"Stop playing with your nails," I whisper to Joy who was busy picking her nails, a nervous habit of hers.
"Sorry, how are you handling the big change so far?" Joy asked me, probably feeling bad for being in her own world, feeling guilty for not asking sooner. I sighed.
"Okay, I guess. Let's just get this day over and done with, aye," I reply, faking a smile to show I was 'fine' while I was itching to cut this pain and depression away.
"Yeah," she says smiling back as we walked into the office to be greeted by the staff at the desk.
"Hi, I am Shadow Thompson and this is Joy Thompson, it is our first day and we were wondering where we could get our form, timetables, and anything else we need," I said, plastering a fake smile on my face. Man, I could be an actress.
"Yes, we have them right here, along with your locker numbers and combos," she smiled, looking between Joy and I. "My name is Ms Kook. Come by here if you need anything," She explained, handing over our books and forms.
"We have three classes out of five together - Marine Biology, Geography, and English, as well as one line of free periods," I said, as we compared classes on our way to our lockers, which happened to be next to each other.
"Well, we might want to get ready for English so we have time to find our class and settle into seats,' Joy advised. I nodded, stuffing books into my lock and my bag, while Joy did the same.
When we found our English classroom, we walked in to see a teacher sitting at the desk in front of an empty classroom.
"Hello, are you our English teacher?" I asked as the teacher looked up at us. My breath got caught in my throat - he was hot.
"Yes. You must be the new students, well I'm Mr White, and you two ladies are…"
"Shadow and Joy Thompson, Sir" I respond, pointing to myself and Joy. Mr White nodded.
"Well there are two empty seats at the front when the whole class is here if you guys want to take a seat," He says, indicating to the two seats he was talking about.
Nodding, Joy took the seat closest to the door, while I took the one closer to the teacher.
"So are you guys full siblings or…" Mr White asked, looking up from the papers he was marking while we waited for the rest of the class.
"No, I'm adopted," I replied, "But her and her father are the closest things I have to a family," I said, smiling at Joy, who smiled back while the teacher nodded.
"Yeah, we get that a lot but we don't mind," Joy answers, not meeting the teacher's eyes.
"Okay," He said, just as the bell went and students started filling into the classrooms, taking their seats, staring at Joy and I. A few even started to whisper among each other, stealing glances at us. They were probably gossiping. I glared at them. No one respects the new students. We were fresh meat and I had a feeling some people were going to let us know that.
As class began, Mr White kept looking at me - I swear he was. But then again I was admiring him too. I mean it's not every day that you get a young, smoking hot teacher who actually notices you.
I started to zone out, thinking about home and what it would be like if my birth parents hadn't left me - which is a constant thought for me. Suddenly, I heard a voice calling me.
"Ms Thompson," Mr White called, making both Joy and I look up at him. He was looking at me though. "Come to my office during the break," He said, bringing me back to reality.
"Yes, Sir," I mumbled shyly, embarrassed that I got into trouble on my first day of school.
"I promise I won't let dad find out, shadow," Joy whispered, I nodded in thanks, giving all my attention to what Mr White was teaching.
"What about the teacher?" she whispered.
"I'll see if I can get out with a warning and use the new student excuse," I whispered back. Joy nodded and went back to taking notes.
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After English, Joy and I split ways. She had maths while I had photography. As I walked into my photography class, there were already a few students in their seats, so I took one of the empty ones at the back and waited for the teacher and the other students, to enter.
When the teacher walked in, she took attendance and let everyone start on their portrait task. She then summoned me to her desk to talk about what the class was working on.
"Shadow Thompson, I am Mrs Wine. The task that we are currently working on is a portrait task, this is all the information you should need, but if you have any questions, you are more than welcome to come back here and ask me, Whenever you want," Mrs Wine said passing me a few worksheets that had the information and performance standards of the assignment.
Nodding, I went to grab a camera and started to snap some practice pictures of plants and other stuff I found around the school to get used to the feel of the camera.
After about twenty minutes of walking around and taking pictures around the school, I started to make my way back to class to transfer the photos on the camera onto my laptop.
"You're really good," A girl in the class commented, looking over at my computer. I was editing a photo that I took of a deep rose with water droplets on the petals.
"Thank you," I said, looking up at her. "My name is Shadow Thompson," I greeted the girl who had the dirty blonde hair.
"Janette March," she replied with a smile, her green eyes lighting up.
"Well, Janette, what do you want your portrait to portray?" I asked, wanting to get to know her better.
"I'm thinking either horror or despair," she answered, "What about you?"
"I don't know, I was thinking love or happiness," I replied. Janette is a pretty dark person, I thought.
"Well, that should turn out pretty good," she said, giving me a smile. I nodded and went back to my work before the bell rang and I had to go find Mr White.
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After I put all my books and laptop into my locker, I went to find Mr White's office. After asking one of the teachers where his office was, I followed the directions she gave and ended up in front of an office door in the English block.
"Come in!" Mr White shouted on the other side of the door. Opening the door cautiously, I poked my head in to see him at what I figured was his desk, typing furiously on his laptop.
"Hi, you wanted to see me," I said, stepping into the room.
"Yes, close the door behind you," he commanded, not looking up from his laptop. I did as he said and closed the door behind me.
Taking a seat at the other desk, I sighed watching him furiously typing, his muscles flexing beneath his button-up shirt.
"Now, was my lecture boring this morning?" he asked, closing his laptop and turning towards me.
"No, I was just thinking about stuff," I say casually, looking up at his electric blue eyes.
"Well, here is everything you missed," he said handing over a couple of pieces of paper, full of notes from the lesson this morning. "Don't zone out again Sadow," he warned.
"Thank you, Sir," I said, " I promise I won't do it again,"
"Well if you do, it won't just be a warning. Rest assured, your father will hear from me if it happens again," he warned. I nodded, thankful that he wouldn't tell Joe about today.
"Thank you so much, Sir," I flashed a genuine smile at him.
"Well go and enjoy the rest of your break," he smiled, gesturing to the door. I nodded and made my way out of his office, but not before thanking him again.
Once I closed the door behind me, I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. Shaking my head, I sighed and made my way to my locker to collect the things I would need for geography.
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During Geography, we were all having a discussion about power sources. The lesson primarily focused on the most efficient way to get power. Most of the class went for gas while a few of the other students, including myself and Joy, chose solar power. So, the teacher - who happened to be Mr White, decided to put on a video for the remaining hour of the class about different power sources and different ways people live on those sources.
"Shadow and Joy Thompson can you come over here please," Mr White called. He seemed to be everywhere I went, was it destiny? I shook my head, he was a teacher and I was just delusional.
"Yes?" Joy asked once we were at his desk. Mr white looked at her making her look down. Then looked at me and held my gaze, before shaking his head slightly and handed us some worksheets. There seemed to be a lot of catching up to do. I was already dreading coming to this school.
"This is the assignment the class started last week, so you're not too far behind but I suggest working harder to catch up a little bit," he advised. Joy and I nodded, listening carefully.
"Thank you, Sir," Joy said, smiling gently before going back to her seat.
"Yeah, thank you, Mr White," I repeated, smiling warmly, then going back to my seat to join Joy.
While researching my chosen topic for the assignment, which was water pollution, I couldn't help but notice Mr White watching me while I was working. Upon realising, a faint smile tugged at my lips. How did I know he kept looking at me? I don't know, I totally didn't steal millions of glances at him in return. Unfortunately, it ended all too early. The bell rang, signalling that it was time for our second break.
"I'll call dad to come pick us up," Joy said, pulling out her phone as we both had the last few periods free. Because of that, we were able to leave early.
"Okay," I said, nodding, as we made our way to our lockers to get our bag and put our books away.
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"How was school?" Joe asked as we hopped into the car and headed home.
"Eventful," I replied, looking out the window, smiling,
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