Is My Life Supposed to Make Sense?

 

I sat up, brushing off my clothes. The bell began to ring, and students quickly filed in. I put my hand on my head and attempted to stand up. The slam onto the pavement had taken a slight but headache-inducing toll on my skull.

“Are you okay?” I saw a hand reach down. I looked up to see an African American girl. She was almost on her knees so she could reach my head. She towered over me. She had blue-rimmed glasses in front of cheerful dark brown eyes and had her black hair tied into a poofy short ponytail sticking out behind her head. Without thinking, I took her hand. She immediately yelped and fell back. Crap. I forgot I was below freezing to humans. “You- you’re so cold! Are you okay? You’re like a walking ice cube!” She stuck out a tentative hand and touched my arm again, and snatched her arm back.

“I’m naturally cold,” I said. “Thanks for helping me up.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to drop you after trying to help you up. I was just…”

“Freaked out, I know. Most people are,” I said. I sighed, waiting for her to sneak away like the others did.

“No, I was surprised.” She held out her hand again. I smiled, but didn’t reach out. She reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. I could see her wince and shiver. “My name’s Jenine. Jenine Dunn. I’m a tenth grader here.”

“Uh… Lindsay Smythe,” I replied, surprised. No other human had stayed with the knowledge of my temperature, looks, and… cynical personality. “I’m a tenth grader, too. Again.” I added, mumbling.

“Huh?” She asked. I looked up to see her confused expression; she had not heard me.

“Nothing. Shall we enter the building? Class is starting soon.” I quickly changed the subject. She gave me a curious nod but followed me into the building.

 

*            *            *

 

            I sat down in my first period class. Jenine took her seat next to mine, as we shared the same first period. I glanced around the classroom, seeing whom I had to work with. Then, I spotted on the other side of the classroom, the boy I had lost this morning. He had pieces of gray chips on the tip of his nose, indicating it was his face that had taken a tumble onto the ground. For some reason, seeing him soothed me. I was about to call to him, when a woman with pine green eyes and light brown hair stepped into the classroom.

            “Good morning! For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Ms. Bellum,” she said. I ignored the rest of her words, only carefully looking at the boy. Suddenly, everyone stood up at once, scrambling. It seemed they were grabbing partners. I ran forward, seeing this as my opportunity to become the boy’s co-worker, when an arm shot out and grabbed me. I turned to see Jenine, holding down a shiver as her hand touched my skin.

            “Partners?” She asked with a smile. I could not say no to her cheerful and friendly expression, so I nodded with a smile. I didn’t even know what we were doing. I turned to see the boy standing next to a partner. I sighed. Jenine followed my eyes to the boy. “Are you looking at him? He’s the new kid. Apparently everyone knew about him, and they were all so excited to see him arrive. He seems like a lucky boy, though. First thing he did when he arrived was trip right in front of Joshua Willet! Lucky he’s not a girl, or that would have been horrible for his reputation,” said Jenine. “Not that I care much about Joshua or anything,” she added quickly. I was subconsciously taking in all the information, and filing it away for the future.

            “Do you know his name?” I asked. Jenine opened her mouth, but slowly closed it. She had a confused expression as though she were pushing to remember something.

            “I… I can’t recall. C-something. It starts with a C,” she said. I nodded. We sat in our seats. Jenine asked if I wanted to read Tempest¸ but I told her she could read it aloud. I didn’t pay much attention to her reading. I had read the original version of the Tempest before, from William Shakespeare himself. With it, he had given me a copy of a book he never published called White Flowers. I suddenly frowned to myself. When did I remember that? I thought I didn’t know anything before then. Was I regaining my memories? The thought hurt my head, which was still aching from the visit with concrete. I forgot about it and pretended to read my book. After a few minutes of ‘reading’, I looked back up to the boy. I carefully took in all the details of him. I was truly intrigued by his mysterious personality and appearance. Suddenly, he looked up from his book straight at me. His awareness of my watching him surprised me, but not nearly so much as his sudden turning to look at me. As soon as he looked at me, I recoiled and fell backwards off the back of my chair. I slammed onto the ground with a thud. Jenine looked at me in surprise. “Are you okay? Why did you suddenly fall out of your seat?” She began to laugh.

“Uh- nothing- I--” the entire classroom had their eyes on me, including the boy. Many students were snickering. He turned back to his book.

“Lindsay, are you okay?” asked Ms. Bellum. I nodded slightly. How had he known I was looking at him? There is no way he could have noticed I was looking at him, especially since I was slightly behind him! There was certainly something mysterious about that boy. I quickly grabbed onto Jenine’s outstretched hand as she tried to hold down her laughter at my clumsiness. “Do you need to go to the nurse? Here, I’ll send someone to go with you. Jacob, go!” A boy with medium-length chocolate hair and dark brown eyes stood up. He walked towards me.

“I’m Jacob. Are you okay? How clumsy of you… I saw you trip in front of the school as well,” he said with a smirk. I walked into the hallway, ignoring his smart remark. A long line of black lockers stretched along the empty hallway. “Hey, wait up!” Jacob followed me out of the classroom. “You know, maybe we should make up a name for moments where people do embarrassing, clumsy things. How about a Lindsay Mo--” I had had enough of this tough guy act. I turned and threw my hand at his throat and pinned him up against the locker.

“Hey! Wait, wait wait! My- my throat!” I pushed him up higher. His feet were now about a foot off the ground.

“I don’t know who you are, and I am pretty sure I don’t want to know. I know more about humans than you know, and right now, I know you aren’t a tough person at all. So drop the tough guy act before I break your neck.” I said, and dropped him. He fell with a slam onto the ground. He held his neck, coughing uncontrollably. I walked away.

“Geez… You have one big temper.” He coughed again. “Sorry about that. I just, you know--”

“Wasn’t thinking like a normal human? I understand the stupidity of the human race.” I said, turning. I sighed, figuring I should make enemies at the start of school. I reached out my hand. “Drop the tough guy act and maybe we can hang out.” He looked up, puzzled, but smiled and grabbed my hand. I smirked to myself.

“AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!! HOLY CRAP!” He grabbed his hand, yelping in surprise at the freezing temperature. I laughed maniacally and walked away. He looked at my back with a frown.

 

*            *            *

 

I walked towards room 301, the Band Room. I slowly approached the door, then considered not opening it and just leaving, and then figured it would be excessively irritating to conceal myself for the rest of the day. I sighed and walked in, holding a tiny black box near my side.

As soon as I unsuspectingly walked through the opening, I was bombarded with a barrage of clamor pounding on my sensitive eardrums. I winced, shivering slightly, realizing I would have to deal with this onslaught every day. I took a random seat.

“Class, sit. Sit down! Ryan!” yelled a tall woman with short dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She was quite slender, wearing long, black pants that made her look even taller. I pulled out my flute, and laid it on my lap. “Hiya! I am Ms. Farr, but you can call me Ms. Ana. First thing we are going to do today, is seating arrangements. We will sort out the losers and the almost-losers,” she said, giving us a smile, followed by a chuckle. “Let’s try the flutes first. Annie, you first.”

            I closed my eyes, hearing the sweet high sounds of a scale through the room. There was a slur of notes and a misplaced flat. I had been playing flute for thirty years and probably before that. The sounds stopped with a squeak.

            “Very nice. I can see you practiced last night! Try to work on getting those fingerings correct,” Ms. Ana said with a wink. “Daniel, you next.” I tuned out the rest of the noises, serenely closing my eyes as I tried to ignore the rest of the instrumental failure. “Lindsay? Why don’t you try?” I opened one eye and saw her looking expectantly at me. I sighed, rolling my head. The loud pop unnerved many students, but Ms. Ana looked completely oblivious. I pulled the mouthpiece to my head, and carefully blew a flawless scale, and a tranquil music vignette.

            After I finished, students were watching me wide-eyed, some even with mouths agape. The teacher was frozen for a second, then shook herself and began clapping.

            “Bravo! Bravo! First chair, no doubt!” She exclaimed eagerly. It was the same as it had been for the part thirty years.

            The rest of the class continued in the same manner. Two minutes before the bell rang, I had packed my instrument and was sitting the back of the classroom. The sounds of immature students slamming the base drum with all their might and students laughing with each other echoed throughout the room, which was already built to echo sound and make it appear louder. Nothing very interesting had happened this class, except for the fact that I received a stand-partner named Rusty, a tall boy with blue-gray eyes hiding behind brown-rimmed glasses and messy dirty blonde hair. He seemed excited to be my stand-partner, although I wasn’t nearly as elated.

           

*          *            *

 

            I approached a light green room, which had decorations from different cultures surrounding the door. I ignored the colorful array of items and entered the classroom, which was completely dark except for a lit japanese lantern in the back of the room, a few strung up lights on the ceiling, and several stars that which helped in brightly illuminating the room. Suddenly, all the lights flickered off and I felt a hand touch my shoulder. It didn’t surprise me nearly as much as it did the being itself.

“Aiya!” A high yelp echoed in the dark room. “Alright, you got me. But keep quiet so I can get someone else!” I stayed silent until all the oblivious students filed into the room, only to be surprised when the lights flickered off and one cried out. As soon as all of the students had filed in, the lights flickered on and a tall human in a black cloak approached the front. He threw off his cloak, and revealed to be a woman with short, spiky black hair and hazel eyes. “Welcome, my students. To… Social Studies!” A few students chuckled. She smiled to herself. “I am your teacher, Miss Michaelson. I will be learning you today. First things first… I have not planned who will be sitting with whom. So, pick who you are going to sit next to, because you only have one chance!” Students scrambled up so quickly, some chairs fell backwards onto the ground. I stayed in the same place, waiting until everyone sat back down with partners. Soon, I was the only one left without a partner. There was no one left, and a student noticed, pointing to me.

“Miss Michaelson? She doesn’t have a partner,” he said. She glanced at me.

“Oh, the ice cube. I’m afraid there’s no one left. I heard we will be having a new student, though. He can be with you,” she said. I nodded, taking a seat next to an empty desk. “His name is, uh… C-something?” I immediately perked up. I had heard of a C-something before- the boy I was looking for.

“Has he already arrived at the school?” I asked. The teacher shook her head.

“I don’t believe so, although I don’t usually watch things like that,” she said. I sighed, sliding down the back of my chair. “Anyway, take out your workbook pages from yesterday; we are going to finish the four pages in class today, along with two for homework. I know, it may seem like a lot, but it pays off in the end,” she added the last sentence after a collective groan echoed throughout the room. I never enjoyed History, but it always seemed so elementary. Suddenly, I felt a finger touch my back. I turned around, and saw a boy with dirty blonde hair. He was on the short side, shorter than me. Even though I had never seen him before, he looked familiar.

“Do you have the answer to number #47 on the first sheet? I can’t figure it out,” he said. “My name’s Cory. Who are you?” Cory. C-name. He looked like the boy I had been following, and after realizing this I became intrigued instantly. I had realized that this wasn’t the boy I was looking for, but I had a glimmer of hope that they knew each other or were related.

“Do you know a boy who looks similar to you, but with chocolate brown hair?” The boy cocked his head to one side and gave me a confused look, before shaking it briefly. I nodded, disappointedly turning back. “Thanks. 1687.” He gave me a confused look, probably wondering about the second part of my reply. “Oh. Uh, the answer to 47.” He looked at his paper.

“Oh!” He said after a second. He scribbled something down on his paper, smiling in triumph.

 

*            *            *

 

I scrambled down the stairs, and into the closest classroom on the left. I planted myself in the nearest chair. The seat next to it was empty. Every other chair in the classroom was filled up- I found I rather liked the recurring solitude in each classroom. The classroom was dotted with posters and pictures of animals and organisms of all kinds. The room had a slight green tint to it, and had a door to the left wall. A window neighbored it. A tall man of 40 or so walked into the room just as the bell rang. He had light brown hair, which was graying slightly, and had old, worn out glasses rested on his nose. He looked as though he had taught well for many years. He had a green shirt with darker green stripes going down it tucked into his khaki pants. He had a slight trace of beard on his chin, as though he had just shaved it, and had a kind, warm face. He opened his mouth to speak when a blast of thunder shot throughout the room.

“Yikes! That surprised me. Anyway, hello everyone. Settle down, settle down! I am Mr. Winter, father of a new student who will be attending here soon. I teach 10^th grade science, obviously. I will be replacing your other teacher, Ms. Brenda, who moved recently to California.” Several cheers echoed throughout the classroom. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. Mr. Winter smiled to himself, waiting for the cheering to settle down. “I have made seating arrangements-” at this many students groaned- “but I may change them throughout the year, depending on your behavior.” The students straightened up, quieting down immediately. “Now, I am not too hard to please. I am easy, not too strict, and not too young-” he chuckled at this statement- “But for now, since you have already started your unit, we will start a new segment. We are going to experiment with red blood cells, via your blood. Can we have a volunteer for a demonstration, before I set you all off?”

Hands shot up into the air at this. Some boys waved their hands in the air; some girls covered their faces, gagging to themselves. I sighed, looking out the window. Large droplets of rain pounded on the glass, sounding like a giant beating on its drum. Branching lightning shot down from the almost black skies, followed by calamitous thunder.

“How about you? … You, in the back. I’m talking to you,”

“Huh?” I turned, facing him. ‘… Crap. Blood testing.’ I thought to myself. I reluctantly stood up, walking towards the table in the front of the room. ‘Got to think fast. What do I do? Man, I’m in trouble…’ I found no choice but to hold out my hand. He held a needle to it, carefully stinking my finger. When the tip did not break the skin, he pushed harder, attempting to break the stone skin layered on my body. Suddenly, it broke the tip of my skin, and the needle went into my skin. Mr. Winter smiled to himself in triumph. He then attempted to extract blood. Nothing came out, to his surprise. I winced, carefully analyzing his reaction.

“There’s n-no blood!” He said in surprise. I pulled my hand back and sprinted from the room.

“Crap!” I muttered to myself. I felt the wind rush around me as I broke through the doors. I had had enough of school for today. Rain pounded on my back, and in seconds I was soaked to the bone. I ignored the strange looks and the booming thunder. After a few minutes, I skidded to a stop, nearly slamming into a tree that was behind my house. I grabbed onto a branch and, using my momentum, swung myself around onto the branch, jumping from branch to branch. I got to the top of the tree, sitting myself in a crook between to branches. I sighed, putting my hand behind my head. The rain pattered on my head. I closed my eyes and blocked out all the noises. I had had skipped school many times, although it was only on rare occasions that I would sprint away in front of the class while it was in session. Suddenly, I felt something wet and warm the back of my head. It wasn’t rain- it was too warm for that. I pulled out my hands, looking at them. My left hand’s index finger was bleeding. I stared at the finger, shocked. I watched as the blood leaked out. I carefully took a taste of it. It was human blood. I gasped, standing up in the tree. I had drunken a human’s blood recently—and I had not known it.

Author's Note

The story begins a little slow...

Reviews

[SilentDreamer]

Looong chapters. :D Usually I don't read books with long chapters. With this one I tried to focus and finsih the chapters you've got done. It kept my attention most of the time. You have an interesting idea going. I think it sounds pretty good. The character is kind of hard to relate to in her actions but other than that it is interesting. I like it and hope you keep writing. Great work.