1 Chapter 1

One

It was happening again.The strange yet somehow familiar tingling sensation that I had started experiencing over the last couple of weeks.

Starting from my chest,it grew in strength as it spread outwards to overwhelm my stomach,my limbs,and even my head.It was a mixture of cold and hot,all wrapped upinto one.Almost like an anxiety attack,it caused my heart to beat ten to the dozen.

Unlike an anxiety attack that came,thick and fast,when I was feeling low,this sensation only seemed to arise whenever I was feeling angry.And right now,I was angry.

I don’t just mean the kind of angry you get when someone eats the last bowl of cereal or buys the last pair of shoes you’ve been saving your pocket money for weeks to buy.

I mean,the kind of angry you get when someone has wound you up so tight you’re either going to cry or hit them because it’s all you can think of.

That was just how Lola Richards made me.She was a stuck up know it all with a celebrity complex in designer boots.But really,she was no better than the rest of us.

And right now,she was hovering over me as I sat at my desk,waiting for maths class to begin.And it was the only time I prayed class would start already.I hated maths.

Her hand gripped the back of my seat,and she leaned so far over that the ends of herbleached blonde hair swept the surface of the table.I’d have loved to wrap it around my fingers and pull hard enough to rip her nasty brown roots out.

“You just can’t stay away from him,can you?”She snarled into my ear.I heard the tinkling of girly laughter coming from the Lola-bots(three girls who dressed like Lola,acted like Lola,wanted to be Lola)behind her.

Bile rose in the back of my throat,and my hands tightened into protective fists.

I knew who she was talking about.It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.She was talking about the star of the football team,the most popular guy in school,and my best friend.

“When will you get it through your thick,ginger skull?”She continued to whisper,none too quietly,in my ear,“Beast isn’t into you.”

Of course,his name isn’t really Beast.His name is Peter,but all the guys on the football team call him Beast because he’s good at the game and built like a brick wall.To everyone else,he was a bad ass,but to me,he was just Petey,the guy next door who had been my friend ever since,well,I couldn’t remember when.We’d been friends for as long as I could remember.

I clutched the edge of my desk,trying desperately to keep control over myself.One more outburst and I was destined to be expelled from Gilford High-or as I liked to call it-Hell.

Don’t get me wrong.I’m not a bad teenager.I’m what most adults would call troubled.I guess that’s what you get when your mum ups and leaves you with her best friend,and you have no idea who your father is.

Nicola(my adopted mum)always did her best for me,but when you’ve spent your entire life labelled as the orphan,you begin to get bored of being bullied and lashout.

“Are you listening to me?Freak!”Lola yelled,slamming her free hand down on the desk in front of me.

Her outburst caused me to jump,but I quickly became still again,hiding behind the red curtain that was my hair.It cascaded in loose waves all around my face.

I gripped hold of the pendant that always hung on a silver chain around my neck.

The pendant itself was made up of a cluster of small gemstones,each one a differentcolour and shape—purple amethyst,green emerald,red jasper,black onyx,pink rose quartz,orange topaz,brown-black tiger eye.

It was the most precious thing I owned,not only because the stones were precious but also because it had once belonged to my mum.Touching it always seemed to calm me.I drew in a deep breath and tried my hardest to keep it together.I wasn’t aboutto let Lola f-ing Richards get under my skin and get me kicked out of school.

“Hey!”Lola snapped,jabbing me in the shoulder with a red-tipped finger.Those awful press on nails were just another thing to add to the list of reasons why I hated Lola,“I’m talking to you.”

“Miss Richards?Miss Winters?Is everything alright here?”Mrs Iverson’s authoritative voice caused both of us to look up with a start.The other students who had been watching the scene out of the corner of their eye quickly looked away.