�There�s a frog with an evil grin on your note page, Nyx.�

A Chapter by Rachel Elizabeth

Nyxie's heart is breaking when Tripp tells her that he's got a date with one of the most insincere girls.

Chapter One

“There’s a frog with an evil grin on your note page, Nyx.”

"Nyxie Dickinson?" Mr. Bruner, the biology teacher, said abruptly.

The ghostly girl lifted her eyes of the page covered in doodles with the label "Biology Notes" on it. Her platinum, beyond blonde locks famed her round face. Peering at him through her scarlet thick-rimmed glasses, she answered in a quiet tone, "Yes?"

"The answer to the question please?" he replied with an aggravated expression on his wrinkled face.

"Um... What was the question again?" The room filled with subtle laughter.

Mr. Bruner pinched the bridge of his nose and growled softly, "Forget it Miss Dickinson."

Ugh! Why are teachers always so enthusiastic about embarrassing their students?! She thought. Of course, I was doodling and not paying attention like a good little student would.

Nyxie looked back down at her note page. There was a chocolate chip muffin with a large bite mark, a small frog with a bloody dagger locked into its webbed grasp, a dinosaur with a word bubble saying "RAWR," and then a heart with the initials T. M. P. in the center.

She sighed when she saw the letters. T. M. P. was the initials of her best friend, Tripp Michael Parker. Tripp was borderline gorgeous. He had the hypnotic golden eyes with dark soot lashes, lightly bronzed skinned, a smile that would luminate any room, and the body of an Olympic swimmer that any girl would just die for. His oddly colored bright ruby hair made him stand out in any crowd.

His looks weren’t the only reason he was marvelous. He had a warm and welcoming personality. No matter where he went, he just clicked with anybody. Even the most apathetic person would smile if Tripp was around.

He was Nyxie’s best friend because nobody else really paid any attention to her. She never understood why he would want to be her friend though. She wasn’t gorgeous. She wasn’t a social butterfly. She was just Nyxie Dickinson—the pudgy, freaky girl with the white hair and scarlet glasses.

Nyxie jumped as soon as she heard the loud ringing. Thank God it’s the end of the day, she thought.

She smiled and tried to shuffle out the door with the rest of the class, but being naturally clumsy as she was, she tripped over nothing and all of her books scattered around the room. More laughs came from the remaining students before they exited the class to go home and enjoy their Friday nights.

She bent over and tried to pick up all her books as hastily as she could, but a set of leather shoes began tapping behind her. She turned her head and stared at them.

“On your feet, Miss Dickinson,” Mr. Bruner said, agitated yet again by her ways.

Nyxie stood up and crossed her arms. “You know what Mr. Bruner? You have terrible manners.”

“What do you mean?” He seemed puzzled.

“I mean, did you even ask that cow if you could have its skin? Do you think that cow wants it to cover you fungal feet? Did you?”

“You better be kidding, Miss Dickinson,” he growled.

“You better let me go before I report you to PETA,” she said. “You know how they feel about your shoes.”

He glanced at his shoes, then back at her. “Fine; you’re free to go,” he said, picking up his briefcase and exiting the room as well, leaving her alone to pick up her papers.

“You know… There’s a frog with an evil grin on your note page, Nyx.” Tripp bent down and picked up her doodle page.

She smiled and nodded. “He’s plotting to murder Mr. Bruner for the cow’s sake.” Tripp laughed and helped her gather all her belongings.

“So what is my lovely Nyxie doing on this dreary Friday night?” He smiled the grin that made her heart melt.

“The usual—sitting at home watching whatever’s on the music channels and then probably ordering a pizza to share with Lulu, James, and George the salamander, all while managing to stay out of touch with anybody from this hell,” she said in a drowsy tone. “And what about you Mr. Wonderful?”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a friendly manner. “Well, I gots me a date with a pretty lady!”

With those words Nyxie’s heart started to crack. “Re-really? Who is it?” She tried her best to conceal the pain.

“Chloe Taylor Mitchell,” Tripp said with a loving look in his eyes. “I know you don’t like her, Nyx, but she’s just… amazing.”

Chloe Taylor Mitchell was the girl who was loved by everybody, but also secretly hated. She was the stunning brunette with dreamy sapphire eyes. She was athletic, smart, and beautiful. She also just so happened to be a lying s**t who cheated on any boyfriend she got. And Tripp, being as gullible as he was, only saw the good in her. How he even saw that still remains a mystery.

“I’ll just take your word for it, hun,” she said.

“Well, I wish you luck with Lulu and Games! And don’t forget to give George an extra slice of pepperoni tonight! Tell him it’s from me because I miss the little guy.” He detached himself from her shoulder, which she secretly wished he hadn’t, and waved goodbye.

“Bye Tripp…” she solemnly waved as well and turned the opposite way to report to her broken down locker in the basement with the other teens with last names beginning with A through F.

At around midnight, the grandfather clock in Nyxie’s kitchen began to dong, waking her from the deep slumber she’d been in.

The television screen had faded from Degrassi: The Next Generation to a slight static murmur. Lulu and James, Nyxie’s little sister and brother were asleep on the floor, snuggled up together in Nyxie’s polka dot down throw. Lulu was five years old and James was six. Three empty pizza boxes were scattered around the coffee table as well.

Her father and step-mother still weren’t home yet. It was exactly like them to be late. They normally stayed out all night and sometimes into the morning, leaving her to make breakfast for Lulu and James.

She groaned softly and debated on whether or not to put Lulu and James to bed, or just let them sleep in peace together on the floor. I’ll let them sleep. They look so peaceful, she decided.

Carefully, so she wouldn’t wake up the children, she made her way down the hall to the basement door with various band stickers and “Nyxie” painted on the door in neon paint. The trouble with having a step-mother with two kids and a three bedroom house meant somebody had to make an adjustment. In this case, Nyxie made the sacrifice and gave her room to Lulu, moving down into the basement and making it her own little abode.

The stairs are lit with strings of twinkling lights so nobody would fall as they descend them. The cement walls are lined with gory posters, album covers, and sketches of things that have inspired Nyxie.

Nyxie plopped herself down on the zebra print blanket and stared at the water-stained ceiling. A million thoughts mixed together in her mind. She wondered if Tripp had fun on his date with a girl who could never understand him the way she did. She wondered what her father was doing with his blonde bimbo. And she even wondered what her mother was doing in Heaven.

She giggled at the memory of her mother saying that when she died of her cancer, she’d be up in Heaven swimming in a pool of Take 5 candy bars with Brad Pitt.

Nyxie and her mother were very close. She was an exact copy of her; anybody could see that just by looking at the picture of them on her nightstand. Wherever her mother was, whatever she was doing, no matter what, Nyxie was almost certainly with her.

Nyxie pushed all her thoughts out of her head so she wouldn’t began sobbing uncontrollably. She got up and went into the tiny bathroom in the corner of the room with the doorway covered only with strings of beads. That was one of the perks to having to live in the basement.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror, disgusted by the way her cheeks looked so chubby. She examined the pattern and color of her eyes. It was unusual, but the color was so plain. She wished she could’ve had her father’s emerald eyes instead of her mother’s hazel ones. She had flawless average skin, but there were dark circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep she never gets.

She gave her cheek one final pinch before giving up on criticizing herself. Checking the clock on the wall on the way out, she decided to call a night a night at three o’clock in the morning.

Thinking really takes a lot of time when you don’t even realize it, eh?