Chapter One

If you had a criminal record, if you were expelled more than once, if you were kicked out of or ran away from home, if you had so many brothers and sisters that you couldn’t afford dinner or if your parents simply didn’t care about you or couldn’t speak English well enough to get you into a good school, you were a student at Blue Sky Academy. Blue Sky Academy was home to every delinquent known in Sydney, Australia.

Located on the outskirts of the Inner West, from the outside in it looked like the prison many of its students ended up in or walked out from. Electric wires lined the brick walls that barred the outside from seeing its large oval. Cameras lined each and every corner. The hall was made from grey brick and the wooden floors inside of it creaked and snapped occasionally. It was dank and not many of its students wished to be there.

The principal was a prudish woman. Her name was Miss Harrison. She was close to forty-four but still insisted her title be spelt with ‘i' double ‘s’. Her nose was slightly pointed and her eyes looked too close together, especially when she wore her thick black rimmed glasses.

The vice-principal was a short annoying round man who talked down to everyone. He had no neck and a large bald patch which he covered unsuccessfully with a toupee. It could have worked had he not covered his natural grey balding hair with a jet black hairpiece. Funnily enough his name was Mr Naturale.

They, together, ran the school as if it was a prison. Or at least they tried. Neither of them had any experience with felons and they were dealing with some of the best. They thought the students were nothing of great significance and had the parol officers, police officers and ambulance on speed dial.

On quiet days, on the parol officers would be called.

Three months into the school year, Blue Sky received its first new student of the year.

Miss Harrison had found nothing unusual on the girl’s record apart from the fact she moved around a lot and was a runaway making her own way in the world. Miss Harrison wasn’t bothered by that. She would be the twentieth runaway at the school and seeing as it was a public school there weren’t many payments to be made.

“Send her in George.” Miss Harrison called out to Mr Naturale. Soon the tubby man came in with a girl about a head taller than him. She was roughly sixteen with long silky brown hair, tied up into a high ponytail.

“Good morning Miss Rae. Take a seat please.” Miss Harrison frowned as the girl timidly sat down beside the desk. Mr Naturale took the seat beside the girl and stared at her body with his beady and lustful eyes. “So what is your full name again?”

“Jennifer Patience Rae.” Jen said smiling nervously. She hated small spaces and the principal’s office was extremely small with a small desk squashed against a wall, two chairs and a filer.

“Wow.” Mr Naturale smiled clapping his hands then rubbing them together, his eyes feasting on her like a greedy pig feasting out of a trough. “How terrific! What an ethnically colourful name.”

Jen wasn’t used to being disparaged, nor was she used to being ogled at so openly. A frown came to her face. “Thank you?”

“Just confirm for me, why couldn’t you produce any guardian signatures?” Miss Harrison asked quickly before Mr Naturale could say something else idiotic and pointless.

“I don’t have any guardians. My parents died when I was five and I only have a very distant Aunt in Sydney.”

“Runaway?” Mr Naturale asked.

A brief flash of emotion that neither principal nor vice could describe passed over the girls face. “Sort of.”

Miss Harrison wrote down something else. “Well you’ll be in year ten this year Miss Rae.”

“But I should be in year eleven.” She said, frowning.

Miss Harrison just scoffed and continued. “Your books are in the library. Your electives are music, motor shop and photography. For everything else you have your classes.” Harrison’s face became serious. “Now remember Miss Rae, one screw up and the police will be called quicker than you can say, ‘I didn’t do it’. You get expelled from Blue Sky Academy and you won’t ever be accepted anywhere else. You leave Blue Sky Academy and you won’t be accepted anywhere else.”

Jen nodded without saying another word but in the back of her mind she was thinking how Blue Sky was an obvious death sentence.

“Now off to rollcall.” Miss Harrison shooed Jennifer away.

“Goodbye now, Miss Rae. I shall see you in English class.” Mr Naturale grinned at Jen, the tips of his yellow teeth pointing awkwardly as they slid in and out of one another.

Jen stood up and picked up her guitar case. Her long wavy brown hair fell down the back of her blue short sleeved shirt elegantly, the tips making it just to her black jeans. She had high heeled school shoes and wore a white long sleeve under her shirt. On her ears she had two massive silver plates hanging down and a long necklace with intricate patterns on the silver pendant. However what set this girl apart was the way her dazzling green eyes reflected off every surface even with the light mascara surrounding them.

******

Zeke Jonas was the ring leader of the only gang in Blue Sky which no one would go against. Out of the twenty-five kids in year twelve at the high school he was the one to know. Tony Arcadia was his right hand man, younger in age but just as well liked and just as powerful. Mysterious Williams was their quiet follower, the same age as Tony at seventeen. Although he followed them without question, Tony and Zeke often went to Mysterious for advice on every action they took.

Greg Hill and Angel Stavropoulos were the hit men of the group. Pure muscle, the fifteen year olds were both more muscular than they were tall and more brute strength between them than some adults possessed in their entire lives.

Saint was the youngest at twelve. He was pure, innocent and had no gang affiliations previous to hanging out with the other five boys. He had no strength and wasn’t altogether that bright, however no one in the school would ever pick on Saint. If they did, there was a chance they would wake up in hospital with more than just one broken bone.

The new girl, who didn’t know where she was going when the bell rang, found almost all the student were dispersing and none of them were helping her get to class. Jen growled in frustration. She had no idea how to get to her first class and no map to guide her around. The feeling of helplessness stirred deep within her and then the feeling of anger.

Jen hated being helpless.

Her eyes sought out for someone to help her. Hundreds of students were running around either jigging or going to class.  She saw some cutting the electric fence outside the oval and lifting themselves over. Finally she saw the six boys sitting around chatting underneath a tree on the furthest side of the school.

Jen collected herself and walked over to them. When she got close enough, she could see the fruit of the apple tree and saw the youngest of them, Saint, climbing onto Greg’s shoulders to get the fruit on the highest branch. “Hi.” she said nervously. “I was wondering if one of you could tell me where I’m going.”

The boys all exchanged glances. Greg dropped Saint to the ground and himself and Angel walked over to Jen, standing on either side of her intimidating. Jen didn’t flinch but kept her gaze locked with Zeke, the one she picked up as the leader.

Tony smirked a wickedly handsome grin with the idea his good looks would send her swooning as it did for the other girls. He wore a Japanese bandana around his head and only one strand of his brown hair fell over it, just reaching his blue eye. He had defined muscles and looked agile. “Depends where you came from.” he grinned.

“Rollcall” she replied.

Zeke laughed. “Well didn’t we all.”  With his hands in his pockets he grinned showing off his white teeth. He had a black beanie on over his black messy hair, his eyes were a topaz brown and even while wearing the shapeless school blue shirt she could tell he was more muscular than his friends.

“Can you help me or not?” she was getting frustrated.

One of the boys tapped Zeke on the leg from where he was sitting. Zeke looked down. “What?”

The boy rolled his eyes. Jen seemed to notice him for the first time. Slumped against the tree, she was drawn to him as soon as she noticed his existence. When previously, she forced herself to stare eye to eye with Zeke, she was now eye to eye with this boy. He was gorgeous with grey eyes and black hair. However he had gotten all the tips of his hair dyed red. Jen shivered when she looked into eyes for they showed nothing but fear and hurt in the deepest parts of them.

“Oh yeah…” Zeke said pulling Jen out of her daze. “I would like you to meet the boys first. I’m Zeke and this is Tony. These guys are Angel, Greg and Saint. This woodpecker here is Mysterious.”

“Jennifer.” Jen said realizing she hadn’t said her name before that. “Now may someone please show me to class? Its music.” She adjusted her guitar case and waited.

“Mysterious?” Zeke looked at him waiting. “Didn’t you do music last year, Mystery?”

Mysterious nodded.

“Excellent! Escort our new friend Jennifer her to music class please.” Tony nodded with the same smile he had worn before and still, Jen did not swoon. Instead, she stared at Mysterious.

Zeke chuckled as Mysterious raised an eyebrow curiously and shrugged. He stood up and waved his hand beckoningly.

“Go Ed!” Saint cried out before receiving four separate smacks upside the head.

“Who’s Ed?” Jennifer frowned as soon as they were out of hearing distance. They had left the tree where the boys were sitting and were walking into the winding halls of the building.

Mysterious chuckled before tapping her on the shoulder. “I’m Edmund.” His voice was deep and husky.

“Oh.” Jennifer’s frown deepened. “Why do they call you Mysterious then?”

He rolled his eyes without answering. Edmund watched her as she struggled with her guitar case. He held out his hand to take to it. Jennifer refused politely but Edmund insisted quietly. When she kept refusing he sighed. “Please? I don’t offer often.”

Jen was going to simply refuse just to hear his voice again. However she surrendered without putting up much of a fight. “Okay then.” She handed him the case to him and he picked up with ease. Jen shook her head in confusion. Jen had never let anyone hold her guitar case and he had just simply asked and taken it off her.

She clasped her necklace and held it tightly. Edmund noticed this and looked at her hand. She already figured he didn’t really talk so when she saw his questioning look she bit her lip.

“It’s a good luck charm of sorts.” she said quickly. “It’ll protect me.”

Edmund dug into his pockets and pulled out a small charm. He handed it to her.

Jen looked at the small object in her hands. It was a red crystal in the shape of a heart. It was trapped in a shining black metal. “Is this your good luck charm?”

He shrugged and kept walking. Jennifer was no trying to give the heart back to him but he just shook his head.

“What? Do you want me to keep it?” she asked incredibly. When he simply nodded Jennifer was shocked.

“I…I can’t.” she attempted to shove it into his pocket.

“It’s a welcome gift.” he muttered as they came to a stand still behind one of the buildings.

“Thank you.” Jen muttered back. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s gorgeous.”

He shrugged sitting down on a little cement step, the guitar case beside him.

“You really are mysterious.” she noted before blushing.

His lip curled into a smirk but he acted as though he heard nothing. The second bell rang, signalling all to be inside class and Jen joined him on the steps outside a small little garden. “So when is the rest of the class coming?” she asked staring at the key chain.

Edmund shrugged then pointed out to the oval.

Zeke, Tony, Angel, Greg and Saint were walking towards them. “So your first day, huh?” Greg smiled sitting next to her. “And look at this, you’re already jigging. Jeez, I thought you’d be a good example.” Greg was the same height as Jen, which was a head shorter than Tony, Zeke and Edmund. He had reddish brown hair which was gelled into spikes and big brown eyes. He was half Portuguese and half English but he hadn’t had contact with his family since his eleventh birthday.

Zeke looked at Saint. “Go to class.” He told the twelve year old.

Saint rolled his eyes. “Aw come on Zeke. Just this once?” he had fluffy blonde hair and blue eyes. Saint got his nickname for he was the only person in Blue Sky Academy to never have done anything wrong and to not have any completely horrible tale with violence, abuse or debt. His parents had died over a year ago and he was stuck with his cruel Aunt who didn’t want to pay for his education and secretly hoped someone would bully him. All the boys looked out for him.

“Saint.” Angel warned. “Get to class.”

Saint sighed waving goodbye. “Nice meeting you Jennifer.” He hurried to class with his bag on his back and even though he tried to be fine, he appeared quiet upset.

Angel looked at Jen and casually explained. “He thinks we don’t like him when we do that.” Angel had brown hair tied into a small pony tail on the back of his head. He had black, red and blonde streaks flying all through it so appeared different every time he ran his fingers through it. His eyes were blue but had thick black rims around them. He was Greek and had a sad past but when he was homeless he found Greg. The two had moved in with his hectic cousin Sophie Pappas and her fourteen year old daughter Alicia.

“Well one of us should get an education.” Tony joked. “Anyway, he’s the youngest and most innocent. We can’t let him cut class or else our little Saint will be tainted.”

“Yeah we already have a fallen Angel.” Greg nudged Angel slightly.

“You guys tricked me.” Jen stood up. She looked angrily away from them and picked up her guitar case and started to walk off.

Edmund shook his head fervently before slapping Tony. Tony looked from Edmund to Jen then called out after her, “No we didn’t. This is where Mysterious went for music all of last year!”

Edmund sighed standing up as Jen walked away. He looked truly disappointed and ashamed.

Zeke felt bad too. “Mysterious, take her to music now and stay with her. And make sure Saints in class.” he ordered.

“And leave us a lighter.” Greg added.

He dug around his pockets and threw Greg a red lighter before chasing after Jen. “Would you mind if we made a quick detour?” he asked quietly, his husky voice hypnotizing Jen once more.

“Yes. I do mind.” she said trying to hide her weakness in her voice. She wanted nothing more than to go on a detour and she had no idea as to why.

“Do you know your way to music?” The whole school was empty. Everyone had left or gone to class.

“No.” she looked disappointed but was secretly happy, for reasons unknown and none understood. She didn’t mind spending time alone with Edmund. The boy made her feel safe. That was a dangerous thing for Jen to feel around anyone. Edmund stared at her for a few minutes until she sighed. “Okay…detour it is.”

Edmund slipped his hand over hers before grabbing the guitar case off her.

“You know I’m more than capable.” she argued. Jen didn’t know if she liked or hated Edmund more. But his voice was too enthralling to think about it and she yearned to hear it again.

Her wish was granted. “I know.” He smiled as he continued walking, as if he had a secret she didn’t know. Jen was even more annoyed by this as she thought he knew what he was doing to her.

Jen shook her head and growled. She was on a mission and these boys were ruining it already.

Edmund frowned and picked up his pace. Saint was sitting behind a dumpster behind one of the larger buildings in the school with a cigarette pressed to his lips. He was about to light it too. Edmund and his silent ways snuck up on Saint and tapped him on the shoulder.

Saint looked up and sighed. “Aw crap!”

Edmund held his hand out and Saint, knowing he was busted, handed the lighter and the cigarette to him.

“I don’t understand why though. You and the other boys do it.” Saint argued feebly.

Edmund raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Okay so maybe you guys don’t smoke in front of me but I’ve seen the lighters.”

Edmund rolled his eyes.

“Really?” Saint frowned as if he knew exactly what Edmund was saying.

The older boy just nodded as Jen watched on curiously. He speaks with his eyes, she thought.

His eyes flickered to a classroom just to prove Jen’s point.

“Okay.” Saint sighed. “I’ll go.”

Edmund smiled rubbing Saints shoulder before the boy left. “You smoke?” Jennifer asked with a small frown on her face.

He shook his head. “I like playing with fire. But Greg, Zeke and Tony do. Just don’t tell Saint. I told him none of us do.”

Jen nodded losing all respect for the boys. They entered a music lab with pianos, guitars, two drum kits and a microphone. An elderly lady sat asleep at the head desk and no other student was there.

“You’re kidding me.” Jen frowned looking around the empty classroom. “Isn’t this a school?”

Edmund looked amused. He nodded then grabbed a marker from the desk. He wrote on the board. ‘Why would juvenile delinquents show up to school first thing on a Monday morning when they know they have Mrs Tarnette as a teacher?’

Jennifer looked at the teacher. “Is she that bad?”

‘On Wednesday and Thursday’s, she is alright. Our theory was that was when she and Mr Tarnette had relations.’

“Ew.” Jen sat at a desk so Edmund grabbed a chair and sat opposite her. He strummed his long fingers against the table and Jen looked at the rings on his fingers. He had one on each, all in silver and black stones. One of them had a pentagram on it and that one sat firmly on the middle finger of his right hand. She looked up at his ear and saw hoops in his cartilage as well as his lobe, all in pure silver.

Before she could ask him anything about his jewellery, he pointed at the key chain which she was still playing with and gave her a questioning look.

“Thank you again. I really do like it.” Jen affirmed him.

Edmund smiled softly. His smile never seemed to reach his grey hawk eyes making it always seem like something was missing.

“Can I ask…?” Jen started but Edmund laughed. It rung out hollow and sad. He shrugged and shook his head.

“You’ve never told anyone why you don’t speak?”

Edmund raised an eyebrow then looked as if he was thinking. His silence was only disturbed his fingers tapping against the table as if they were tapping against the keys of a piano. He then spoke slowly, thinking out each word he spoke, “Whatever I said fell on deaf ears.”

“I hardly believe that.” she said before she could control herself. Jen questioned herself. Something was definitely wrong with her today. Edmund watched her and frowned. “I mean, your voice… has no one ever told you it was hypnotic?”

“Please don’t ask.” he whispered just loud enough for her to hear.

Jen nodded, understanding. The two sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Edmund put on his question face and pointed to her.

“Me? What about me?” she asked carefully.

“Where’s your family?”

Jen bit her lip unsure of how to answer. “Please don’t ask.”

Edmund nodded, understanding her just as much. Then Jen asked something which she was meaning to ask from the morning. “Has anything weird happened around here?” Edmund’s eyebrow instantly darted upwards in a blur. “Like people going missing or people dying without any explanation?”

Edmund thought seriously about it for a minute. “Do you know that actress? Sarah McCann? She was at a premiere in London. Her body appeared in Newtown fifteen minutes later.” Edmund explained.

Jen averted her eyes for a second then looked back at him with a smile. “I heard about that. No one knew how it happened. But I mean more around the school. Kids and teachers.”

Edmund was even more confused. “Um… Eddy Belwink. He went missing a month ago but we all think his Dad just found out about the earring. And Saints girlfriend and Eddy’s twin Lisa also disappeared without a word of warning. But I think the step-mother got to her. She hated Lisa because she was Daddy’s little girl.”

“Was Saint friends with Eddy?”

“Yeah.”

“Interesting.” Jen nodded.

Edmund’s face became deeply concerned. “Why do you ask?”

“Just asking.”

“You’re odd.” Edmund said. They spent the next half hour just chatting idly until the bell rang waking the music teacher up.

“Class dismissed!” she yelled as she heard the bell but was quite shocked to find there were students actually there.

Jen laughed and was about to pick up her guitar case when Edmund beat her to the punch. He grabbed it and waved his arm beckoningly.

The two left the room and neither of them saw Mrs Tarnette’s grey eyes turn inky black.

Only if Jen had…

Author's Note

Spelling etc... the usual...