ღChapter One - Freaks and Misfitsღ

Secrets. We all have them. But these four are hiding something big

ღChapter One - Freaks and Misfitsღ

Life is full of secrets. Some are kind, and some are cruel. There are secrets that people hide with the covered scars upon their wrists. There are secrets that people chose to ignore, just to escape their reality. Some are stuck in the twisted cruelty and get too absorbed in lies that they begin to believe it themselves. Then, there are some who chose to keep secrecy with mystery.

Still, it doesn’t matter how these secrets are kept. The prize will always be to find these secrets and uncover the truth. But, will what you find be that of a kind secret? One with innocence that leads you to happiness? Or will you find a secret that is haunting down to the very core?

From cuts on her wrist to a mysterious disappearance, these four have secrets no other person in the school should have to be burdened with. Their life is full of secrets, ones they put in place themselves.

But those secrets are far from kind.

***

“I’m so sorry!” The little red head scrambled to collect the books that had fallen. She was skittish and clumsy, that much was obvious, but beneath all that, it seemed as though she was running from something. “I’ll watch where I’m going next time”

Before the little red head could scurry off, the girl with light chestnut hair reached out to her. The redhead dared to look back, showing a look of terrified eyes. The other retracted her hand, unsure why this person was making such a face.

“Uh, could you show me around? I’m new here and I don’t know very many people” The girl with the chestnut hair asked politely and shyly.

The look upon the redheads face softened up as she straightened herself out, even offering a light smile, which was obviously forced passed her pretty lips. “S-sure. My names Mia” She replied skittishly.

The other girl smiled back, offering her hand out for a shake. “I’m Sophia. It’s a pleasure to meet you”

Mia only looked at her hand, not taking any effort to take it, but seemingly observing every crevice of her palm. “Y-yeah...so, um, where are you going?”

“Oh!” Sophia fished out her schedule that was crumbled up in all sorts of ways within her pockets. It was a mess, slightly damp too from all her sweating. She was worried that this place would turn into another nightmarish hell for her, just as the last school she’d attended.

With a trade of the schedule, Mia was taking her down the hallways full of popularity, freaks, and misfits. Sophia observed what she’d gotten herself into. It seemed to be a nice enough school, but who was to say it was all an act. Life is full of secrets, after all.

She came to a halt just as Mia did. The redhead looked around her, confused, then let her eyes rest on that of a boy. Her eyes looked on him, a tall teenager, maybe their age, fiddling with things in his locker. The look on the girl's face only deepened with fear, and Sophia had yet to figure out why.

“Mia,” Sophia began, thinking that maybe she was stuck in her own fantasy. But the redhead lifted her head up immediately and looked at her with a neutral expression. “You were, uh, I don’t mean to pry, but you were staring at that boy” She gave a weak gesture over to the boy, who was just looking at the contents of his locker, not moving, just standing.

The redhead sighed nervously, looking back over to the boy. “Thats...um, Kalen...”

“Is he bad?”

“Well, not exactly...I mean, he’s nice, or at least, was nice”

Sophia didn’t exactly know what that meant, but figured she must be right. That boy was maybe an ex boyfriend of her’s or something. With another nervous sigh, taken by Mia, they walked forward to catch his attention.

“This is your locker” Mia said, being sure to keep as far from Kalen’s side as possible. “Your first hour’s with me, so, I can wait and take you there myself.”

Sophia nodded with approval. “Thank you, I’m just going to put away a few things” She explained as she gently placed each object into the metal container.

The boy beside her, Kalen, watched her with a frown. From the corner of her eye, she saw his attire. It consisted of nothing but black. Black jeans, a black shirt, black sweater, even his eyes and hair were tinted with black. He was a strange person, she knew that for sure.

Suddenly he shifted from his usual place and walked further beside them. Mia, the only one who knew the mystery, hide further behind Sophia. “New student, huh? Figures they’d put you here. How annoying” He groaned as he walked passed, looking at Mia with a frown.

Once he’d passed, Sophia was struck with curiosity. “Who was that?”

“Kalen, I told you that”

“No, I mean, what’s his story? Why are you so...afraid of him?”

The redhead laughed at that. “I’m not afraid of him...I’m a afraid of everyone” She mumbled those last words with her head down and gazing at the detailed tiles in the floor. Then she brought her head back up. “Look, in middle school he was an okay guy, but nowadays he’s just flat out rude. It’s not like he bullies people, but he definitely doesn’t care if he hurts your feelings. To be perfectly honest though, I’m surprised he was at his locker” Her eyes shifted to his locker as she mentioned it.

And the curiosity she felt only deepened more. “Why’s that?” Perhaps it was a little much, and maybe if she hadn’t been so curious none of the events to follow would have happened. But, it is safe to say that everything started to unravel with one single question that changed the lives of four misfit teens. “Why are you surprised that he went to his locker?”

Mia averted her eyes once more, her face showing of slight concern and deep sorrow. “He never comes to school unless it’s for a test or he needs the attendance points. For the most part, he skips school all day. It’s like he doesn't’ even care”

Maybe it was curiosity that brought her closer to the truth. She felt the desire to know more, to know what the secret was. It was hidden from her, so she had to dig deep. Even as far as figuring out the school's biggest mystery. But, that curiosity most certainly killed the cat. Upon knowing the truth, there was no turning back. With the secret exposed to her, she understood the two kinds of secrets in life. All of those with innocent secrets of kind gestures and surprise birthday parties, were not what she would be facing.

What she found was death, sorrow, depression and guilt. All of which she had to endure. But, she knew the same pain. As did three others. Each one with a secret that they hid deep within themselves. They ignored the truth, did what they thought was best. But, that was no way to heal the fading scars.

A boy of Japanese descent, but with strange blonde hair, sat beside her in third hour history. He smiled at her, knowing she was new. “My name’s Yuu”

She smiled at him, knowing that things were okay. “I’m Sophia. I just transferred here today”

The boy, Yuu, nodded. “I heard. Well, you picked one hell of a time to drop in”

Sophia tilted her head at that reply. “What do you mean?”

He sighed, sitting back, and formulating what kind of response he wanted to say back. “Well, see that empty space back there?” She turned around to see it. One single desk directly behind her. “If you’d come any later, like on one of his good days, you’d be sitting back there instead and I’d be next to Kalen”

She pirked up at the name. Kalen seemed to be popping up everywhere now, through her curiosity and now in one of her classes. “Hey, can you tell me about Kalen?”

His brows furrowed right before his lips pursed. “Why?”

Her face beamed with red as it got hotter. “I, uh, just wanted to know...that’s all”

Yuu looked at her with equivocal eyes. “Are you talking about the school’s biggest mystery, when he disappeared for five months?”

She looked up to his eyes, widening her own. “That’s a start” But she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He disappeared for that long?

“Well, one day in middle school we were all having fun. He has a thing for magic, so he was really, really good at it. Everyone liked watching it because no one could figure it out. See, Kalen’s one of those sorts of guy that everyone likes, it doesn't matter from what background you're from or what you're social status is. He’s friends with freaking everyone! Or, at least, he was”

“But wait, when does he disappear? Why is he not so nice anymore?”

“Calm down, calm down” He joked. “I’m getting to it. So, it was just an average day, right? He does his magic thing on a request of one of the girls and he’s having a great time. Then, we all go home, do homework whatever and come back to school. He’s absent. And we all just think he’s sick right? So we don’t really think anything of it. That is, until he’s missing for about three weeks and one of us finally asks the teacher. And guess what the teacher says?” He waited, but received no response. “You're no fun”

“Please, just continue”

“Arlight. The teacher says he’s taken a temporary leave from school. We all just accept that, like maybe he’s on some kind of trip he failed to mention...but then things get...weird”

“Weird?”

“Yeah. A month passes, but his sister, Hannah, is still at school. She has been going to school ever since the teacher told us that. Either his family went on a trip without her, or he’s seriously missing. A few of us went to his house, but he wasn’t there and his family just told us to leave. We started to think that maybe he’d died and they were keeping it a secret. But, as it turns out, he wasn’t dead”

“So where was he?”

Yuu smiled at her. “If you can figure that out, you’ve uncovered the schools biggest mystery. No one knows where the hell he went to. All we know is this. One day, he came back, like, five months later. When he did, he was not happy at all. He was kind of...he was just different. A few girls ask for his magic tricks, but he declined. Some of us asked him where he was, he just attacked us. Eventually no one wanted to be around him because he was just so down all the time”

“Huh? So, he disappears, then reappears and he isn’t the same as before? What do you think happened?” Sophia was drawn into the secret with even deeper curiosity. A mystery, she wanted to solve it.

“Probably alien abduction” A voice joked behind them, but it was full of seriousness.

They looked behind them to see Kalen sitting there. Sophia’s face went red, but Yuu only smiled. “I didn’t think you’d show”

“Yeah?”

“We were just talking about you”

“I heard”

“Uh, so, where did you go?”

“None of your goddamn business. And seeing as it isn’t any of your concern, don’t tell other people that crap”

“Crap? Were you or were you not gone for five months”

Kalen grumbled, sitting back in his seat. “I was”

“Then it isn’t a crap story. Face it dude, you're sudden change from everyone's friend to whatever the hell this is” He gestured to all of him “is a seriously dramatic change. What the hell happened that’s so bad that everyone has to feel pitiful for you”

Sophia looked back and forth between them. They were both glaring at one another, Kalen’s glare only deepened when Yuu mentioned that. He quickly stood, slamming his hands down on the desk. It made Sophia jump and got the attention of everyone in the room. They started to whisper, spread more rumors, some were even giggling.

“I don’t want anyone to ‘pity’ me. Whatever I do is my business. I have the right to do whatever the f**k I want. So don’t throw things like ‘pity’ at me or ‘whatever happened to me crap’ again. You have no f*****g idea what happened. So keep your goddamn mouth shut!”

With a quick slam on the desk he left, pushing passed the teacher who stood in the doorway to stop him. “Get back here! I’m marking you truant!”

“Do whatever the f**k you want, old man!” Kalen shouted back into the classroom.

The teacher groaned and went back to the front of the room. Others, the giggling ones, only hallard more into strong laughter.

Quickly after the ordeal, the teacher gathered everyone back and corrected last nights homework. All the while, Sophia’s mind was occupied with the mystery. And before she knew it, all of her thoughts were of him and questions about him.

“--and I mean, for the most part school life isn’t all that bad. Sure you have your usual social hierarchy, but what school doesn’t. Hey, Sophia, are you even listening?” Since their meeting, and only a few hours that passed, Mia felt relatively comfortable with her and began to open up. And for Sophia, she opened up rather too quickly.

“I am...I’m just trying to find Kalen”

They were sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch. As they sat there, letting Mia talk for both of them, Sophia looked around for the curious guy in black. She wanted to know more about him. Trivial things, sure, but she wanted to know what everyone did. Where did he go?

Mia gave her a look of disgust as she let her eyes search the large room. “First of all, why? Second of all, he doesn’t eat in here. He always goes outside by this tree in the courtyard. Technically you're not allowed back there, but what does he know about rules” She grumbled bitterly.

“I was just wondering...thats all” She scanned the room one last time before her eyes landed on Yuu. He sat with others wearing football jerseys. They were each fighting over a ball and hitting on cheerleaders who only smiled and giggled.

“Yuu, huh?” Mia smirked

“Hmm?”

“You were staring at Yuu. Do you like him or something?”

Sophia quickly brought her hands up in defense. “No, its not that. We just...we were in history together earlier and he told me some things about Kalen”

“Oh really? Guess he told you about his mysterious disappearing act”

“Yeah...he also said something about Kalen being a great guy before...he disappeared”

Mia leaned forward. “That’s exactly it. He turned into a completely different person when he came back. It didn’t even seem to phase him that he was being rude to all of his friends. I’ve never seen someone get so many enemies in one day”

“Guess he gets a lot of rumors then, huh?”

“He isn’t the only one” Mia sulked back into her seat, looking aimlessly at her tray. “Yuu has a rumor too” She quickly said, bringing her head back up before Sophia could even question it.

“Guess everyone does then, huh?”

“This one’s big though. See, he lives with his grandfather, and for as much as that old geezer likes American’s, he couldn’t stand it if his bloodline was tainted” Mia explained. “And that’s Yuu. He and his younger siblings are mixed with ‘American’ blood. So it’s said that their grandfather is horribly cruel to them and that’s why Yuu has to get really good grades”

“What about their parents?”

“Gone. Yuu doesn’t talk about it, but we all know the story so I guess there’s no need to. His mother married an American when they were living her, against her father's will. When she got pregnant, her father disowned her and she ran away with her husband. They lived a good life together with their two children, until the third pregnancy. Apparently while giving birth to the twins, her body gave out and she passed away the same night. As for the father, he became so distraught with it all that he went insane and killed himself. Yuu was fifteen and went to his grandfather for help. That’s where the story ends. Only Yuu knows the rest”

“That’s awful” Sophia put her head down. She wasn’t aware something so cruel could happen, or at least, she never thought she’d see it for herself.

“Well!” Mia jumped up. “Lets head out to the courtyard then”

Sophia nodded. “But, I thought we weren't allowed back there”

“Yeah well, if you're so gung ho about seeing him I’ll show you the way. But, don’t expect me to go into the courtyard” Mia smiled.

Sophia did the same, not sure why she was willing to allow her to break the rules. And as they got further down the hallway to the courtyard, she couldn’t even step forward. Though, Mia assured her the teachers didn’t really pay much attention, she still felt very uneasy about progressing forward.

“Well, see ya!” With a quick laugh, Mia was off.

Looking into the courtyard, she took one step in, looked around, the progressed forward. Unaware of where to go, she slowly looked around for any sign of the mysterious boy. Her heart began to beat rapidly, but she couldn't tell if it was because what she was doing was dangerous or...another thing.

“Get down!” Suddenly, a figure pushed her to the ground, covering her mouth and hissing at her to be quiet. She did just that, unaware of the strange person on top of her. When the apparent danger was over with, he let her up. Her eyes widened with surprise. “Are you an idiot? If you do that you’ll get caught”

She stared blankly at him. “Caught?”

“God, you are stupid. Teachers wander the halls and if they see you they won't hesitate to call you in. A lot of students used to sell drugs back here so its kind of a hot spot. Do not do that again!” Kalen glared at her deeply.

“If you keep yelling they’ll find us” She countered quickly.

His glare only deepened. “They can’t hear through walls, idiot. What the hell are you doing here? Wait, you're that new girl who sits next to Yuu in history” He made a mental look.

“Uh, yeah. I just...”  She stared down at the grass in disbelief. Now that she was there, in front of him, she couldn’t say a single thing.

“Just what?” Kalen became increasingly impatient with her and stood up. “If you have nothing to say, scram”

“Wait!” She rose her hand up to grab the side of his shirt. The long sleeves she wore, slide down her small, pale arm. In that action, it revealed the fading scars of many years. All of that pain and suffering, the torment she tried to escape, a fact that even she hid from.

Kalen looked at those cuts for the longest time, until she pulled her arm back to the comfort of her chest, shielding it from his eyes. “Let me see!” He reached out to her, pulling her sleeve up and looking at the cuts. Some were new, some were old. But one thing was certain.

It was selfharm.

They were quiet after that, sitting side by side one another. “I’m sorry you had to see that” She broke through the silence sheepishly. “It probably isn’t real pretty, huh?” She couldn’t even bare to bring her gaze to the same level as his, but, as she saw through the corner of her eye, he also had his head down.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if it’s pretty or not. It doesn’t change the fact that it still hurts” His voice was salome, at the same level as hers, quiet, but still with a sense of understanding.

“Still, as a girl having my skin cut up isn’t exactly appealing”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Huh?”

“If you knew it wasn’t appealing, if you felt gross, then why do it at all?”

“I...don’t know”

“Was it to mask the pain?”

Sophia tried to speak, but paused. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t to mask the pain, but then again, that was exactly why she did it. The whole point of it was to drown away the pain. So yes. It was to mask the pain. “I don’t know”

“If you were told a rumor, would you believe it?” He asked suddenly.

She thought about that a moment. Would she? After all the false rumors told about her, would she fall for the same trick? “No”

“99% of rumors are fake. Those are just made to fill in fun for those who pray on the weak. That’s what I’ve noticed anyway. Things like that, lies I mean, destroy people. It doesn’t matter if they’re about other people, or yourself. Those lies will still consume you until there’s nothing left. I know that, yet I...” Kalen took a deep breath. “You know that girl you’ve been hanging around? Mia”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“There are a lot of nasty rumors about her too. Bad ones” He explained. “Things like, she’ll sleep with any guy as long as they ask her out”

“Why are you acting like this now?” She asked, watching him stand up.

He sighed. “I don’t know. Usually I don’t have this long of a conversation with anyone in one sitting. It goes against my policy”

“Policy?” He began to walk away, but she stood up to face him. “Wait. I wanted to ask you before...they say you disappeared for five months, where did you go?”

His expression looked as if it were full of pain and sadness. There was a glint of regret in his eyes, deep down he was afraid. “Tell me why you cut yourself”

Sophia looked down at her wrist, rubbing her thumb along the healing wounds that were deep in her skin. “I...can’t”

“Then I can’t tell you where I was. It’s not like it was my choice. If it were my choice of where I went I would have chosen...nevermind. Just, don’t ask me that question anymore. Everyone stopped asking a long time ago and I enjoy the silence”

With that last bit of conversation, Kalen left the courtyard. Sophia stood there, looking off into the bright sky above her. Three others, just like her. They all shared the same sorrow deep within. She wanted to find the truth for each of them. The rumors, the stories, and the mystery. Each one told a tale and it was something that must be found.

So she searched, until she realized it was their very own lament.

Author's Note

Let me know what you think!! All thoughts are greatly appreciated > Suggestions, comments, likes, anything and all. ^=^

Reviews

[Unpeeled_Banana]

This is a great story. It is very readable and steady-paced.

Some suggestions I'd like to make... you give exposition on Mia and even Kalen in the beginning before even addressing the point-of-view character Sophia. Although beginning books with a mystery is good, this comes off as a bit rushed.

It could also benefit the story to make the dialogue smoother. As I read it, I can picture it as some type of anime-dialogue, which may be what you were going for, however in a book it can come across as frilly and unrealistic. Then again, I am not sure if you are going for that.

Due to time issues, I have to leave it here but I look forward to reading more.

[Miren Kaisen]

Thank you for the suggestions!! ^=^

Yes, I was kind of worried it sounded too animeish. I wrote a lot of light novels for about a year before I started writing fiction. And actually this story started as a light novel taking place in Japan right before I changed it. As for the chapter, its supposed to reveal each one's "secret" and I do worry that I rush it a bit. I've just written and rewritten this so many times juggling all the info is becoming difficult.

But thank you again for the suggestions, it is very much appreciated. I will definitely work out my dialogue and the pacing of the book.