Awake by Nightfall by Emilia Sherman (well read books .TXT) 📕

classes are in order so you don’t get confused. Sometimes, they switch around the classrooms but, usually they tell us. Not all the time but you will get the hang of it.”

“Is there anything I should know about this school?”

“Not really. It’s just your basic high school. We do have cameras in the hallways though.” Aria pointed out a few as we passed by. “They like to spy on us.”

“Wow.”

We heard the bell ring. Students started exiting out of their classes, conversations starting up. The loud voices of students’ laughter filled the emptiness of the hallways. Aria led me to a back staircase.

“I guess we don’t have time, to go through the whole list.” She handed me back my schedule. “You’re next class is with me, so let’s just head there.”

We headed up the stairs passed some others lining up outside the classrooms. Aria ignored most of the students. I would think that a girl dressed like Aria would be more popular. But yet, not a single student said hi to her, or waved to her. It was more like we were both new students. Aria walked into the classroom and introduced me to the teacher.

Mr. Dodd was a tall, slender man. He was wearing suit pants and a dress shirt with a vest over. He looked maybe in his thirties, but some of his blonde hair was already disappearing. He smiled.

“I won’t make you introduce yourself to the whole class.” He said to me. I felt relieved knowing that I didn’t have to make a complete introduction about myself to an entire class. He looked at Aria. “Do you think she can join your group?”

“Certainly, we will gladly take one more.”
“Perfect. Here’s a packet then, Marina.” Mr. Dodd handed me a pile of light blue paper. “You will need to copy down the things you missed from Aria or your other group members. Just make sure you study it by next Tuesday, okay.” He said while exiting through the door.

“Thank you.” I followed Aria to a back table.

I looked around the room. I could see how the groups were separated into social class. You have some girls that looked more concerned about their cell phones than their packets or class. Another table had some guys who looked like they were all really tired, piling their heads on top of the school books. There was another group that was boy and girl mixed but they were all couples, one way or another.
Compared to the rest of the room, Aria’s table only had one other girl sitting at it. Her skin was light brown, and her dark cocoa, brown hair fell over her face, hidden from me. Aria sat right next to her, and I pulled a seat next to Aria.

“Tammie, we have a new kid joining us, this is Marina. Marina, this is Tamara.”

“Hi.” I said shortly, not really sure what to say.

“Great, now maybe we will have a chance at getting more points.” She looked up at me. Her hazel eyes were intriguing, very beautiful like gold. “We really have to beat the Comic Con Zeros.” She pointed at a group of boys, who were all looking at a video on one of the boys’ iPod.

“Tamara, their team name is Comic Con Heroes.” Aria corrected.

“Whatever.”

“What is our team name?” I was hoping it wasn’t as cheesy as the nerds.

“The Quiet Ones.” Aria said ecstatically, clearly she had come up with the name.

“That’s an interesting name. How did you come up with it?”

“Well, I wanted the Healers, but Tammie said she wanted something cleverer than that. Darien just told us to grab a dictionary and pick a word.”

“I finally gave up and let Aria pick our name.”

“It was too late anyways, Tamara. Mr. Dodd couldn’t wait forever for us to come up with a name.” Aria looked angrily away from Tamara and switch seats. She looked from her seat and smiled. “Ah, finally.”

I turned around in my seat to see what she was staring at. One boy came into the room just as the last bell rang. He slid his hood off his head and use his fingers to combed through his dirty blonde hair. His outfit was by far the best I ever seen on a guy. He took off the hoodie, showing his clothes underneath. He was wearing a dark gray tee, with sleek dark indigo jeans. It was simple but looked extremely good on him.

He came over to our table and sat down between Aria and Tamara. He placed his packet, which was crumbled into a little ball, on top of the table. He completely ignored my presence at the table, never looking in my direction. His eyes were never leaving the first page of the packet. I began to wonder what he was so focused on.

“Late again, Darien.”

“Only you would noticed that Aria.” He half smiled, a dimple appearing on his left cheek. “Where is Mr. D?”

“He left to get some papers. We are doing the usual group work today.” Tamara answered sounding bored.

“What fun?” He said mockingly.

“Do we do everything in this class as team groups?” I asked. I curiously looked to see if the boy noticed me speaking but he just unfolded his packet and began to read.

“Well, it’s tough to explain. He gives these packets of information and gives us the answers to everything. We just have to study them before the test and get a good grade. As team groups, we play games to help us study along the way.” Aria explained. She nudged the boy. “Darien, this is Marina.”

He finally looked up at me. His eye were normal shade of brown but had a tint of green. “Hello.” He muttered.

Aria was about to say something but stopped as Mr. Dodd came back in. He erased the whiteboard and turned on a projector, showing the answers to the packet. Aria handed me her packet, which was completely finished. I mouthed “Thanks” to her, she nodded. I tried my hardest concentrating on the packet but I couldn’t help it. I kept seeing what Darien was doing. He was just sitting there, his eyes fixed to the front of the room.

This was pretty much how it went the entire class. I was just curious how someone could stay so quiet. Even I couldn’t stay so quiet for so long. I checked my schedule and noticed that we had lunch next. I looked around nervously at the others. Should I ask to sit with them? Or should I wait and let them ask me? But why would they have any intentions on asking me? A silent battle went in my head that I jumped when the bell rang.

Darien got up quickly and stretched. “Let’s go.” He went to the classroom door waiting for the others.

I handed Aria her packet back and watched as she packed her binder into a bag. I built every ounce of courage in me, and finally asked.

“So, what do you guys do at lunch usually?” I was trying to make the question sound casual.

“It depends.” Aria answered, not even noticing what my question really meant. She made her way to door. I followed.

Darien, on the other hand, understood immediately. He stopped at the door and turned around. He stared down at me.

“We don’t eat here.” He said with distaste.

I understood. I mean school lunch was usually the last thing I wanted to eat. But, I was confused by his tone when he said the word “eat”. Like as if, they didn’t eat at all.

“I’m sorry, but we are needed elsewhere. I apologize.” His voice sounded apologetic and sincere.

I tried not to look hurt. “It’s okay, see you guys later.” I smiled and turned away from them.

I rushed into the crowd of the other students. I could feel them staring at me as I walked. I didn’t want them to feel sorry for me. That was the last thing I wanted. I should have never talked today. I should have stayed to myself. I followed the other students heading over to the lunchroom. I rubbed my eyes making sure there were no tears.

The cafeteria was already full of students. Most of them were talking really loud. There were three big lines, each having different things on the menu. I went to the shortest one, and waited for my turn. In front of me was a group of guys, which look like some type of jocks. One turned to my direction as we got closer to the food.

“Hey, beautiful.”

I automatically ignored him. I examined every piece of food on the counter before putting them on my plate. I peeked through my hair to see if the guy was still there. The guy was watching me carefully. Maybe I should say something to make him go away. But before I got a chance, his friends pulled him away. I paid for my lunch and saw where the guy was sitting at.

There were a handful of round tables in the middle of the cafeteria. The tables were arranged to look like a circle. The jocks were sitting at the edge of circle. I tried to find a spot away from them with no luck. The only empty table was right next to them. I made my way to the table, trying to keep myself from not staring at the jock table.

Before I could even take a seat, a group of girls came rushing in and took every empty chair next to the table. They didn’t even look up at me, even though anyone could realize that I was just about to sit down. I spotted a chair next to a blonde girl. I decided, what the hell, and moved over there. I pulled the chair out but the blonde instantly put her purse down. I swallow my anger and said politely.

“Excuse me; I was just about to sit there.”
A couple girls next to her turned to see what was happening. Some of them seem to be excited, probably hoping for a fight.

“So?” The blonde girl rolled her eyes, and went back to her friends’ conversation.

“Oh so you would rather put your purse there then let me sit there.” I said between clench teeth, because I was trying to smile politely.

“Is that not obvious for you?” She scooted the chair in.

“So you are saying that you would rather put your purse where, probably I don’t know, hundreds of butts have touched and rubbed on that chair, instead of letting me sit there.” I blurted out.

The girls at her table got quiet. They all immediately got out of their chairs, like it just turned into a hairy spider, screaming “Gross!” at different times. They all stared at me and the blonde hair girl. She grabbed her purse slowly, and stood up. She glared at me and turned away. She motioned the other girls to follow her. As they walked away, I heard her muttered to the others.

“What a freak?!”

They all laughed as they exited to the hallways. I threw my lunch tray down onto the table and exited through a back door. The back door led outside which was still chilly. I reached into my bag and grabbed the hoodie. I sat down on the grass, wrapping my arms around my knees, staring at the nearby forest. I began