1 Chapter 1: The Girl with the Strange Eyes

It was 6:30 in the morning on a Monday, the first day of school. My alarm clock woke me up at the exact time I placed it in.

"Wonderful".

I grabbed my glasses, my school uniform, & my backpack. I leave my room & go make myself breakfast.

"Good morning" greeted my aunt as she came out of her room.

"Morning" I greeted back at her.

"What's for breakfast?" She asked me.

"Milk & cereal" I told her. "We ran out of eggs & have very little strawberry jam."

"Why didn't you remind me when we went to the grocery store?"

Aunt Isabelle is the type of woman that appears mature yet tries to be appear funny by being sarcastic. With a job as a secretary at some big company in the city, she's professional at being punctual and organized (outside of the apartment that is).

"By the way, I'm gonna drive you to school today" she informs me as we eat.

"Fine by me" I simply respond.

"Also, I want you to start getting involved with your school" she adds. "Like joining a club, for example".

"Why do I need that?".

"Why wouldn't you need it?" she points out. "You could learn new things, showcase your abilities, ideas, & your image".

I understand that my aunt wants me to be the best at school, but there's more to it than joining clubs. All the stuff she's suggesting sound like a popularity contest, something I'm already terrible.

"Enough talk" she interrupted. "Come on, you're gonna be late for school".

We left our apartment & headed out the door. My aunt started the engine of her car as I got in.

"Off we go" I muttered as we left to Gardner.

The city always appears to be covered in smoke, fog, and crap in the morning. The only beauty that one can actually see in the city is what's above it. In the summer, I would go to the rooftop of my apartment building & get a view of the sky while listening to music on my Walkman. Summer was the only time I could get away from everything, my escape route from the misery & boredom at school.

"We're here" my aunt called out as she stopped near a large building with decent architecture.

Aunt Isabelle got lucky enough to get me into a private school known as the Gardner Academy for Better Education. It was an educational institute founded in 1851 by some rich aristocrat named Alton Gardner. It's located around the more suburban area of the city. I could have gone to a public school in the city, but my aunt instead paid lots of money to have me attend one that had better resources, where I would supposedly flourish.

"Pay attention in class, don't forget your homework, & please join at least on club"my aunt started quickly as I got out of the car.

"But-"

"Have a great day at school!" She waved as she left the parking lot.

"Great, my troubles have just begun" I began to think as I stepped inside the school.

The first day of school and I already hated it. I knew that I was going to end up with the same kind of classmates no matter what.

"Hey look, its calico girl" I heard someone call out.

"Calico girl, what a wonderful nickname".

I was born with Heterochromia Iridum: a genetic condition in which one of my eyes ends up having a different color. In my situation, I have green & blue eyes. It's one of the reasons why I'm bullied: for looking different. I go to my given locker and open it. I then check my schedule to see what classes I had today. The very first one, was the American history class with Mr. Chapman. His class was on the 3rd floor, meaning that I will need to take the stairs. I feel the shot of a spitball behind my neck, only to turn around & find the crowd of students that fill up the school.

I walk up the stairs (which surprisingly takes only 2 minute and 30 seconds if you run for it) and enter room 325: history class.

"Please don't notice me" I say to myself as I try to find a desk that would be far away from the the people I have for classmates. I find one desk on the far right corner. As I sat down on the chair, I heard a whistle.

"Well look who's here".

It was Trent Sawyer, the jock of the classroom. Aside from being a popular kid, he's a total cretin with a stuck-up attitude.

"If it isn't calico girl" Asked the obnoxious Ashley Bowen. "How's it been freak?"

Ashley is Trent's female counterpart, with the same attitude and . She's pretty, manipulative, & just plain mean when no known notices.

"Bug off" I tell her.

"We haven't seen you all summer, so we thought you like disappeared or something" said one of the obnoxious Donovan twins.

"Yeah, you know, like for forever" said the other.

Leslie and Lindsay Donovan. Twin sisters with the possible IQ of a bird, a pigeon to be precise. They're the type of airheads who'd probably still think that the world is flat.

I simply ignore these bullies as I pull up Don Quixote, a recent book that I got from the library. Their comments were like mosquitoes, always trying to hurt me every time they got the chance. There exists 3 reasons as to why I end up getting bullied:

No. 1: I have a rare set of eyes.

No. 2: I'm a nerd who spends most of her time reading.

No. 3: I'm a living nuisance to all.

"Good morning class" Announced the teacher as he entered the classroom. "My name is Heinrich Klaus, and I will be your history teacher as of now. You will be address me as Mr. Klaus or Professor Klaus. Either one is fine."

Mr. Klaus looked to be in his 30s. He wore glasses, and had a full set of brown hair slicked up with gel. He looked almost like a university professor.

"What happened to Mr. Chapman?" one of my classmates asked.

"We won't be with us this trimester, unfortunately" He answers. "Therefore, I will be substituting him for the time being".

With him in the room, everything was in order. I was already sick of hearing more of my classmates taunts. After going over the lesson plan & reading some of the material, class was done. Up next, I had science. The teacher, Mr. Powell, looked like he came from drunk anonymous. I'm guessing it must be because he wakes up early in the morning.

"Today we will be going over the safety rules" he stated in a tired mood. "Then we'll go through the Scientific Method".

It was boring & dull.

Afterwards, I had Algebra. I disliked math since I was small, but had no choice but to learn it. I improved in understanding it as the teacher taught us. I just wished that the lousy idiots in my class would stop interrupting it every second. Another thing that bugged me was every time I raised my hand for a question, everyone kept looking at me. It sure must bug them to see a girl with with different eye colors. It's not just in math, but in the other classes as well.

During P.E, Mr. Fitzpatrick & Ms. Jennings just had us do exercises at first. After that, they let us choose what sports we wanted. All I did was run in circles around the track since I had no one else to play with. After all, who would want to play with me?

I had lunch after P.E . The school provided quality food like sandwiches, hamburgers, mystery meat, typical salads, & more. As I formed in line, I ended up grabbing a salad, a ham sandwich, a juice box, & an orange. During those 15 minutes, I sat at a lonely round table. Since I'm one of the few people who's qualified to be a "circle table kid", I might as well take it. In school, I'm either the ghost or a bother to people. They don't notice that I'm around when they talk crap about me. When they do notice, they start talking smack in front of me.

The next class on the list was Spanish. This time, I had a different teacher. His name was Mr. Aguirre. My previous teacher, Mrs. Alba, must have gotten a new job somewhere else. She was a pretty good teacher to say the least. This guy was big, robust, & and kinda fat. Even though I enjoy learning my own second language, it seems kinda boring to say the least. Most of the kids in the room act like nimrods at moments & don't take it seriously. Once the teacher left, Zack Lawson pulled out another one of his pranks to "brighten up" the mood. He got up & placed 2 tacks on his chair so when Aguirre came back, he would get his butt pinched by them. All of the class laughed when it happened, everyone except me of course.

"What a bunch of idiots"I muttered to myself.

I know how to speak my native tongue, I was raised talking Spanish. I was only in the class so that I could learn more about my culture. Yet these bimbos waste half of the time doing stupid crap.

After Spanish, came Language Arts( or the English class as some would call it). The teacher there was Ms. Winfrey, apparently one of the youngest teachers the Academy has hired. Being the first day of school, we had to introduce ourselves. In the class, there was Trent, Ashley, Meghan, Rebecca, the Donovan twins, Zack, the tough Billy Hogarth, & of course, me. Ms. Winfrey had us work on the organization of how literature sets up its frame, such as characters and plot as well as themes and tone.

"Next class, we'll be covering more about character plots and conflicts" he explained as the bell rang.

I went running down the stairs towards my most favorite class: Art. Art was the only thing that allowed me to be free. I could express myself in whatever way I wanted. I got my art supplies and went to room 115: the art room. The teacher was no other than Mr. Albert Font. He was said to have come from France, but he doesn't seem to have the accent.

"Today, I will have you draw and express who you are as a person in the format of a folder" he stated as he wrote the word EXPRESSION on the chalkboard.

With that said, I spent the rest of the day drawing who I was. I drew thorn roses crafted around the pillars of my scenery, & snakes & statues demonstrating the vision of the world I lived in. It was all done by the end of the class as he bell rang. I took the bus home since my aunt worked late at night. Like always, I have to deal with the obnoxious kids who are riding with me. One of them was the obnoxious Zack Lawson.

"What up, freak?" He asked as he sat on the other side of the bus.

"Go away" I replied.

"What you reading?" He asks once more.

"Book of Nona".

"Who's Nona?".

"None of your business" I answered.

"Damn, what's your damage?" he sarcastically asks.

"The only damage I got with you is your obnoxious attitude" I remind him. "I know you're the prankster who's always putting tacks up Aguirre's desk".

"You think I give a cow about that, cat eyes?" He questioned me as he got mad. "That buffoon can eat my shorts for all I care & you can't do squat about it".

I was gonna say something, but it wasn't going to be worth it. I knew what Zack & the others could do to me, so for the good of everyone I remained silent. Out of all the kids in the school, I'm the number one targets for bullying. Calling me names, knocking me out of the way, & throwing spitballs. That's my life so far.

Once I got to my stop, I went to get my bike and headed out into the city.

Everyday after school, I head down towards nearby places from the west side of the city, such as the park and the public library. By 3:35 pm, I was down by the park. I pulled out my portable radio to listen what song was on the radio. It was "Message in a Bottle".

"Peace & quiet" I thought as I pulled out my homework.

I don't know why, but I enjoyed staying outside more than staying inside. I stayed over there for about 30 minutes. After that, I decided to leave and head out back home. Just as I was leaving, I found a shining item on a nearby tree. As I approached, I noticed that it was covered in dirt.

"Wonder what this could be".

After scraping off the dirt surrounding it, the shiny object was revealed to be more than some shiny thing. It was a bronze sphere. I don't know why, but now I had the urge to find what's inside of this thing, as if a voice kept telling me to open it.

Looking around, I realized that it could be opened by shifting its circumference. after three shifts, the sphere opened from its top while steam spewed out of it. Inside I found only sand at first. As I reached my hand through the sand, I got hold of something. Pulling it out, I found what appeared to be some sort of necklace.

"No, An amulet".

Its charm was an obsidian stone shaped like a isosceles pyramid. It had a strange symbol written into it. As I touched it, I felt something strange. It was like a surge of energy going through my body; I began getting glimpses of strange imagery upon contact.

Looking at the time, I left the park went straight home. I placed the amulet in my backpack, with its sphere case.