Chapter One: The Unknown

Melanie Frostwood is new to Origin Academy and immediately catches the attention of her peers, especially Shawn Benson.

From the moment I first met her, I knew she was danger. Nothing about her was good. She was the personification of everything that was wrong with the world and I couldn't resist her. Melanie Frostwood was the exact kind of girl my mother warned me against; the old woman would surely slit her wrists if she knew how obsessed with her I had become.

The day we first met, I'll never forget. It was a random Thursday in October and she was new to Origin Academy. The first thing that caught my attention �"everyone's attention really �" about her was the deep mahogany of her skin. It was a stark contrast to the ivory and alabaster tones of everyone else we had been so accustomed to. We had had other students of African decent in our schools over the years but most of them never stuck around long �"the ones that did were culturally white any way and often managed blend in so well until they were simply forgotten. Melanie however would never allow herself to blend in with the mainstream society constructed by our school; she deviated from our standards and norms effortlessly and it was her ability to think on her own �"the fact that she didn't allow our expectations determine what she did and didn't do�" that made her stand out most.

Chemistry was the subject we shared and as fate was cruel, she was assigned the seat two behind me. Even though I was curious of her, much like everyone else, I couldn't get even a small glimpse at her. I found myself looking over my shoulders more often, feigning some sort of uncomfortable stretching motion just so that I might catch even the slightest look at her. She ignored me however, always so into herself that she never really bothered so much with socializing.

It was odd �"well not really when I'm thinking about it �" how popular she instantly became. No one ever really spoke to her, but everyone spoke of her. What was Melanie doing? What was Melanie saying? What was Melanie thinking? Everyone was insanely interested in her; she was different from everything we were all used to.

She wore her hair naturally, or what I suspected was natural �"I had never seen what black woman's hair looked like naturally. Hers was a mass of tightly coiled, darker than black curls around her head, bobbing when she walked and framing her face becomingly. She had golden eyes, something that I assumed were due to contact lens but I had been proven wrong eventually, but I digress. 

They were unusual in color, a deep contrast against her dark skin and always seemingly glowing. Melanie was tall too, long ebony legs making her tower over most of the other girls. On any other girl, the wideness of her hips and fullness of her thighs would have turned me off, but on Melanie it seemed perfect. She was not nearly as thin as the girls I usually found myself attracted to �" actually, she wasn't anything like the girls I was normally attracted to. I couldn't even understand why I was attracted to her in the first place. 

And so for a while I distracted myself with my usual parade of girls; for a while it was a success too.

I had been currently on the ups with one of my frequent "on-again-off-again"s, Shelby, when Melanie and I first embarked on our �" you know, I actually don't have the words to properly describe what happened between she and I.

"Hey Shawn."

I turned and there she was. She was sitting behind me, as she always was, leaned over her desk just slightly and offering me a smirk that I would become all too familiar with. Her gold eyes flashing were with mystery.

"Yeah?" I answered her as calmly as I could, grateful to a god I wasn't too sure I believed in that my voice hadn't cracked.

"Do you have the notes from yesterday's class?"

Her voice was deep and silky, the kind of voice a guy wouldn't mind hearing over and over.

"Yeah, uh…" I trailed off, flipping through the pages of my binder to find the notes she was looking for. With a smile I had hoped was charming, I passed them to her, catching the smile she had favored me with.

"I'll get these back to you," she told me, breaking eye contact and looking down at my scribbled hand writing with a grimace.

I nodded my head, leaving it at that and turned away from her. Suddenly I was overly aware of my handwriting, as ridiculous as that sounded. I was worried that she wouldn't be able to understand the sloppy scribbling; that she would mistake my "a"s for "e"s and vice versa and assume that I couldn't spell. I was tempted to turn around and reclaim my notes with some bogus excuse about studying, but of course I didn't. What would be would be and thusly I reduced myself to worrying my bottom lip between my teeth instead.

"Hey Shawn." Her voice again.

I turned to her but she still wasn't looking at me, her gaze was purely fixed on my notes. 

"Yeah?"

She looked up at me then, those gold eyes penetrating me and making my heart thump once �"nerves, I convinced myself. I couldn't and still can't describe the kind of intense attraction I felt towards her in those early days. It was, as corny as it sounds, as if everything in me was pulling me towards her. I found myself seeking her out whenever I entered a room, hoping to spot her before resigning myself to the other side of the room. I was always putting just enough distance for me to creep on her without actually seeming creepy. At times I wondered if it were enough.

"Give me your number, I'll text you before the day's over to give these back to you."

Smooth. 

Melanie was always smooth, never really giving a glance into her thoughts.

I nodded dumbly and raddled off my number to her as she entered it into her phone.

"Thanks again for the notes," she told me, that soon to be familiar smirk tilting the corner of her lips.

I turned around again, grateful that the class was starting. I wasn't sure how much of Melanie Frostwood I could take at that moment. Little did I know, I'd be getting more of Melanie soon enough.

---

She did text me that afternoon, just as she said she would. I would learn that Melanie always kept her word.

Where are you?

The text was simple but enough to make me hesitate. I found myself struggling over what to text back. A simple answer would suffice, this I knew, but getting myself to do that was a problem. It took me a decent twenty minutes to disclose the truth, to which she rewarded me with a digital smiley face.

It took her no time at all to show up too and as always, when she entered, everyone was immediately fascinated by her.

She sauntered in, gracing us peasants with the presence of our Queen. Truly, that's what she made it feel like. Melanie Frostwood owned everyone and everything in the world �"this was her school and we were all lucky that she allowed us to attend. And as the loyal subjects we were to Her Majesty, we all admired her as she made her way towards me, that same smirk claiming her lips.

"Thanks Shawn, I really appreciate it," she told me, handing the notes back to me.

I nodded my head, accepting the papers from her. 

"Yeah, sure."

A moment of awkward silence fell between us. She was looking down at me (I had been sitting in the cafeteria with my usual gang of friends) with those gold eyes of hers, studying my face as if there were some answers there that weren't present in my notes. I swallowed past the lump that had lodged itself in my throat.

"Well anyway, gotta go," she said, slicing through the silence. "You should text me some time."

And just like that, as if she hadn't said the most important thing in the world, she left, black curls bouncing as she crossed the room.

I thumbed my notes a bit, avoiding the obvious stares of my friends. It was hard though when they were burning holes into the side of my face.

"What?" I asked, an irritated edge to my voice.

"What do you mean 'what'?" it was Candice Harper who spoke up first. "Melanie Frostwood wants you to text her now? What the hell?"

I shrugged my shoulders, hoping to appear nonchalant. "How should I know?"

Candice sucked in her breath slightly, gawking at me with those brown eyes of hers, mouth agape.

"Does anyone else think it's a bit suspicious?" Candice inquired.

There were a few grumbles from the group but it was Eric Johnson who spoke next. "A little yeah…" he started off, looking amongst the gang. "She's here for three months and hardly says anything to anyone and then suddenly, out of nowhere, she's interested in Shawn."

"Right. No offense Shawn, but you're not exactly all that interesting," Candice chimed in, rolling her eyes.

She was jealous.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I was kind of a big deal around school. I was student body president and head of the events committee. I wasn't the star of the team, but I did play baseball for the school and rumor around the hallways was that I was a shoe-in for valedictorian next year. If Melanie was interested in me, she wouldn't have been the only girl on campus with similar thoughts.

Candice was simply jealous of Melanie, she had been from the first day. She would go on and on about how unimportant the ebony student was and how everyone was only interested in her because she was new and "exotic". Candice was openly hostile and racist too, towards Melanie, but if the darker student knew, she never commented. But of course she didn't, such things were trivial to our Queen �"after all she had more important things to worry about.

I rolled my eyes in response. "As you all saw, I had loaned her some notes, that's it."

"Mhm…then why does she so suddenly want you to text her?" Candice asked, lifting her brow accusingly.

I shrugged my shoulders again. "How should I know?"

"All I'm saying is…be careful, I don't trust her."

The table sighed in unison. "We wonder why," Jessica Gayle broke in, rolling her eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" questioned Candice, shooting the redhead a look.

Jessica stared back at her, her gaze icy. "You know exactly what it means."

Candice snorted. "Whatever. Just remember that I told you first Shawn. The girl gives off major-creep vibes."

I ignored her.

Depending on which way you look at it, I probably should have heeded Candice's advice. Despite her racist bias, she was definitely on the right track about Melanie. At the time I couldn't see it, I was too blinded by the spell she had over me, over everyone but Candice it seemed. At any rate, I didn't take me long to text her.

Well, not too long anyway.

It had been much later that evening when I had found the balls to text her. I had battled with myself for hours over what to send her if I would send her something at all. I had never been this…weird about a girl before, honestly the whole thing was more than a little unnerving.

For a while, I chalked my fascination with her up to curiosity of the unknown. She was new and different, of course I was drawn to her, that was simply the natural order of things. Everything familiar becomes mundane over time and the strange and other is some how more exciting. It was human nature really. Who was I to fight human nature?

So I texted her late late that night, nothing major considering how I fretted over it for hours before hand. At first I was worried about coming off as desperate and needy, after all, she had only just given me her number and her instructions were to "text her sometime". It was vague really. How should I know what that meant? Should I have texted her sometime next week? But then again, it being so vague was the rationale I used that night to text her. Perhaps she wanted me to text her as soon as possible, or something like that? I couldn't possibly deny her that, or anything at all.

What's up?

I blew out a breath, the deed had been done and I would have to wait for her response. And wait. And wait. And wait. I found myself glancing at my phone every few minutes only to find that again, there was nothing from Melanie Frostwood.

What could she possibly be doing?

My brow wrinkled as I stared at my reflection in my phone, silently cursing her name. What could be so interesting on a Tuesday night that she would neglect to answer my text? My brow creased even further down the bridge of my nose. What if she thought I was boring? I ended up opening the thread that would contain our messages if she ever deigned to text back. I studied the two words and question mark analytically, picking it apart over and over again. Surely I could have come up with something a bit more interesting than "what's up?". Had twelve years of private education really failed me so miserably that I couldn't find anything more charismatic to say than what's up?

As I was wallowing in self-pity of how socially-paralyzed I was, my phone made that familiar buzzing that alerted me to each incoming text. Glancing down at the device, I was pleased to see the name I had been waiting on �" Melanie Frostwood.

Licking my lips, a nervous habit, I opened the message and read it over a few times.

I'm on the moon…join me.

What did that mean? She was on the moon. As it pains me to say, I was not as up-to-date on current urban vernacular. Be that as it may, I wasn't about to admit to her that I had not even the slightest idea of what she was talking about. So, with my pride intact, I lied.

Sure.

Her response came a lot sooner this time and I was grateful for not having to wait another three hours for her.

Meet me at the middle school in a half.

I didn't bother with responding this time. The way she worded it, or the way she spoke in general, let me know it was not a request. Melanie Frostwood did not ask for anything really. She was full of demands, that I was about to learn.

I pulled on my jeans from earlier in the day, glancing at the clock on the wall to determine the time. Eleven thirty-seven. Not exactly a time my parents would approve of me leaving the house. So, slipping into my hoodie, I tip toed around my house as best I could until I reached the front door, confident that no one had seen nor heard me. I opened the door as slowly as I could and slipped out just as slowly, closing it behind me. I hurried across the lawn, my car keys in hand, and hoped into the red Nissan Altima parked in the driveway, taking it down the road and twenty minutes away from my house to the middle school.

I recognized her immediately, she had to be the only person for miles with hair that big. She eyed my car as I pulled into the parking lot, shutting off the vehicle and stepping out. She gave me that same smirk of hers, a smirk I was starting to like the more I saw it, and I returned it with an awkward smile of my own.

"I don't usually do this, you know," I told her, closing the gap between us. "My parents wouldn't be too thrilled to know I was sneaking out to see a girl this late."

I earned myself a chuckle from the dark beauty. "Especially a black one, huh?"

Silence edged between us and I swallowed past the lump that lodged itself in my throat. I honestly didn't know how to respond to that. The fact that they probably wouldn't approve especially if they knew that her skin didn't match ours made my stomach knot with guilt.

She laughed though, this time a full one, showing me those straight white teeth of hers. "Relax, I'm joking," she told me.

My shoulders were still tense though. Melanie Frostwood was not a normal girl, this I knew for sure in that moment. Yet, I didn't want to be away from her if I didn't have to be.

"Sure…"

Melanie laughed out right in my face, tucking her hands into the large pocket of her hoodie. "You really gotta learn to relax Benson," she told me, her eyes crinkling at their corners.

I tried to smile, but I couldn't hide my discomfort. More and more I would find myself disarmed by Melanie Frostwood, uncomfortable but unable to look away. Her gold eyes stared hard into mine, searching for something I hadn't said. I felt as though she were judging me somehow, trying to decided something about me.

"Anyway," she started, ending the silence that fell between us. "Come on."

Before I could think to ask where, she walked by me, heading off down the road and away from the middle school. I watched her for a while, glancing between her and my car, trying to decide if I should trust her or not.

The girl gives off major creep-vibes.

Candice's words echoed in my head like a warning, telling me to leave now. I wondered if she knew I hadn't been following her because she never looked back, she kept that same nonchalant gait, never breaking in stride, her black hair bouncing.

Worrying my bottom lip between my teeth, I followed her, catching up in no time.

"Ah, so you decided to take a walk on the wild side then?" she asked me, casting a gold glance at me before looking away again.

I nodded my head once, looking down at her.

Even though the tightening in my gut was telling me that something wasn't right, I couldn't bring myself to leave. How easy it would have been to ignore her demand and hop back into my car. I would have been safe back in my bedroom, sleeping probably. Safe. Melanie Frostwood was the antonym of safe.

I studied her from the side of my eye, watching the way her black ringlets bounced with each steady step of her boots. She was quiet as always, keeping to herself as if I weren't right next to her. I wanted to say something to her, anything at all �"the silence was just too much for me. I wasn't normally the talkative type but I found myself searching my brain for something to say, but Melanie seemed just fine with the silence. I wondered if she noticed the affect she had on me. Probably.

She led me further away from the school and soon we were coming upon a group of houses. They were all the same, all painfully similar to each other. We cut across the lawn of one of the houses, making our way behind it and towards what could only be described as a shed.

"Is this your house?" I asked her.

"No."

I looked around the backyard as she knocked on the door, noting the sliding-glass door of the house, peering into the lit kitchen. Someone was home and that made me nervous. Somehow I felt like we were doing something dirty, like we were trespassing. I tried not to think too hard about it or worse, let Melanie know that I was hesitant. I cared a lot about what she thought of me.

The door to the shed opened and we were greeted by dark skinned girl around our age. She was a bit shorter than Melanie, but had similar gold eyes, only hers weren't nearly as eerie as Melanie's. She smiled at us, well at Melanie, and invited us in, eying me down as I stepped over the threshold.

There were four others inside the shed and they were all staring at me �"watching me the same way Melanie had. While the staring had been uncomfortable, there was one member of the group that surprised me �" Jessica Gayle. What was Jessica Gayle doing hanging out in a shed with Melanie Frostwood? As far as I knew, they never even spoke to each other at school.

"Everyone, this is Shawn Benson," she introduced me.

They all continued to stare but my eyes were locked with Jessica's. Nothing was making sense. What was she doing here? She offered me a kind smile and brief nod of the head, possibly sensing my shock. My brows creased.

"Shawn, this is Kara, Marvin and Freddie �"you know Jessica," Melanie said, interrupting my thoughts.

She pointed to each one of them individually, putting a name to the face. Kara was the dark skinned girl from the door. She wore her long hair pencil straight and down her back. She was noticeably a lot thinner than Melanie too, probably thirty pounds lighter or so. She was wearing a softer expression than before, showing a hint of double dimples. Immediately I decided to like her. Marvin was also black and bulky. He didn't have the same gold eyes like Kara and Melanie, his were dark, but there was a bit of mystery behind them. Freddie was Asian, I noticed. His dark hair was cropped low in a fashion I had seen before. Behind this black glasses, his eyes were gold. Then there was Jessica. I still couldn't believe that she was here. Part of me was glad to see a familiar face, but the fact that she was there made me feel like something suspicious was going on. What was with this group? They were a sight to see, unlikely lot.

I nodded my head at the group, unsure of what to say or what to do even. I kept going back to what Candice had said earlier in the day: Does anyone else think it's a bit suspicious?It was very much suspicious now.

"Melanie, what's going on?" I asked, my voice low as I regarded her.

She didn't answer me at first, instead she offered me that same little smirk of hers. "Nothing, not yet anyway."

I don't know why I was so surprised by her answer. For some silly reason I had expected an actual answer from her. Melanie Frostwood only said what she needed to say, nothing more and nothing less. I would learn that about her soon.

"Marvin, get Shawn a chair."

The bulky man stood to his feet, impressing me with his height. As he moved around the shed in search of a chair no doubt, my attention was stolen away by Melanie. I watched as she leaned against a wall, regarding the others silently. They all seemed to be transfixed by her as if engaging in some silent conversation, a conversation I was not invited too �"even Marvin seemed to be listening. I stood beside her awkwardly, feeling like an outsider.

"Here."

My thoughts were interrupted by Marvin; he found a chair for me. I thanked him politely and unfolded it, sitting myself as comfortably as I possibly could while watching the rest of them �"the silent exchange obviously still going on. Then suddenly, the air in the room shifted. The tension I hadn't noticed before was evaporating and I felt myself relaxing along with the rest of them. Their expressions were less grim and a little more inviting.

"Melanie tells us you attend school with her and Jessica," Kara said, smiling at me warmly.

I nodded dumbly, licking my lips. "Yeah."

"Must be nice not being alone during school hours…" she said softly.

I wasn't sure exactly how to take that, but I noticed the looks granted to her by the others. Clearly they were as uncomfortable with the statement as I was.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"Kara is home-schooled," Melanie told me. "She always has been."

"Oh yeah? What's that like?" I asked her, trying to be friendly. Kara did seem like a nice girl after all.

She smiled some, running her fingers through her black hair. "It's alright; I imagine it being a lot different from public school."

I nodded my head.

"Are we going to do this or not?" Freddie interrupted us.

I looked to him. He was sitting beside Marvin, his gold eyes locked with mine.

Do what? I wondered to myself.

"Relax, Freddie," Jessica argued at him. "It's not like you have anything better to do with yourself."

"It's getting late. I don't know about you all, but I have school in the morning and I'd like to be able to get up for it."

Jessica opened her mouth to shoot something nasty at him for sure, but Melanie cut her off. "Alright guys, let's get started then �"we wouldn't want to waste anymore of Freddie's precious time."

There was grumbling from him at Melanie's snark.

"Melanie…" I called out to her. I was really confused at this point. Actually, I had been confused since that day back in October. Melanie Frostwood was full of mystery and since she dragged me all the way out here �"well, I came willingly but the fact still remains �" she could at least reward me with some answers.

She looked down at me with those gold eyes of hers, her brow arched in question.

"What's going on here?" I asked her. "You've never spoken to me before today and now all of a sudden you want to hang out?"

This was something I probably should have asked about earlier in the day, but it honestly never occurred to me. It was as if I was only now thinking clearly.

She didn't say anything at first though, but the look on her face told me she was considering what I said. Then, as if I said nothing at all, she turned away from me and began rummaging through a few boxes in the shed.

"Melanie. I'm serious. What's going on? Who are these people? And since when are you friends with Jessica?"

I was getting annoyed now, standing to my feet and looking around at the lot of them. They all had these knowing looks on their faces, as if they had seen this coming.

"Jessica and I are very close," Melanie said, her back to me. She was bending down, digging into a box and pulling out a few items.

I snorted. Melanie Frostwood wasn't close with anyone at Origin. She was always by herself. I would know since I was always looking at her.

I must have amused her since she chuckled just a bit at my reaction.

"Relax, Benson. No one is going to hurt you and I promise not to get you in trouble with your parents," she teased.

There was grumbling from the room and Melanie laughed, pulling out what looked to me like a hookah. My brow raised.

"Alright, well, I can't promise that last thing," she said to me, offering that same smirk of hers to me. "But that doesn't change anything. Just relax. You're among friends."

I snorted. I didn't know any of these people and I was starting to wonder about Jessica.

"Look, I just want to go home, this is too weird, whatever this is."

Melanie didn't say anything to me. She walked around me, setting the hookah down on the table in the center of the circle and they all scooted closer. From her pocket, she pulled out a little baggy, emptying it's contents into the bowl at the head of the hookah and sealed it with an aluminum cage. I watched her as she stepped around me, digging into the box and pulling out a few stones. She dumped them into a container; she did something else next but I couldn't quite see her. Soon, she was stepping around me again with metal prongs in hand, dropping a few stones atop the cage.

"We're going to the moon Shawn," she was saying to me eventually. "Whether you come or not is your decision to make �"but if you leave now, I can't guarantee that you'll be invited again."

I'll never know what it was that made me stay that night. It could have been the pleading I saw in Jessica's eyes. She was looking at me desperately, biting into her bottom lip. I could feel it, some kind of tug from her to me, she needed me for something. Or, it could have very well have been Melanie. She had a certain way of getting people to do what she wanted them to.

She was looking at me too now, those gold eyes of hers staring into me hard. There was this intense battle between my head and my heart �"cliche, kill me �" and I found myself wanting to do whatever I could to please her. Pleasing Melanie Frostwood became the most important thing in my life that night. Suddenly, my will was not my own.

What Melanie wanted, Melanie got. Everything was hers.