Chapter 1

    Deon almost broke his eardrums. He was having a dream about soccer, when the dumb cat screeched, waking him. He immediately sat up, hitting his head on the ceiling. Just another bump to add to his day.
    He hurriedly threw on some clothes (he only had a few pairs) and grabbed his backpack�"which was more like a duffle-bag with rope attached. Running down the staircase, he tried to ignore the creaks and moans that it created, and ran outside. He had lived in an abandoned two-story house for as long as he could remember.
    Crouching at a sewer drain, he looked around, making sure no one was watching him. With a swift movement, he plunged into the darkness below. Sewer waste hadn’t  flowed there for years, so Deon didn’t have to worry about dropping into any crap. He sprinted to the end of one passage, and started down another.
     When he came to opening 0017, he clambered out. He felt the eyes of someone on his back, but when he turned around, no one was there. Deon squinted his eyes to see farther into the dark. His sandy blonde bangs kept getting in the way. The grand clock struck 7:45, startling and reminding him that if he got another tardy in Mr. Tinner’s English class, he wouldn’t be allowed to go to school anymore. He hurried off.
    Deon depended on school, for if he didn’t have education, he couldn’t have a job. That meant no money. He was a service/school project for Iowa Highschool. They let him go to classes so the student body could tell how he acts differently and the same as the other teenagers. The problem with the “project” was that he didn’t have many friends, and they were both girls.