Chapter 1

The constant beeping of my alarm clock woke me up. Saying I hate Mondays is an understatement, this was war and I was not willing to lose. I was fast asleep, happy that I was ignoring the constant beeping of my clock, who makes those things anyway?.

*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep*

Ugh, I can’t take it anymore. Reaching over to turn it off, I fall out of bed. Groaning in pain I place the blanket that fell with me on the bed and turn the damn clock off. Getting up from the floor I start my morning activities. After that I throw on my uniform which consisted of a plaid skirt, a white button up, a black jacket and a red tie. I put my braids in a ponytail and leave my room.

For those of you who may not know, my name is Gabrielle Harris, but I prefer Gabby, I’m sixteen years old and I go to Emerald High. Today is the first day back which is why I’m a bit moody. If there’s anything I hate more than Mondays, it’s waking up at the end of a holiday and preparing for school.

I walk downstairs to see that everyone was already up. I greet my mom and dad, I settle down to eat breakfast.

“You sleep like a troll” my brother, Caleb, says.

“Huh?”

“You know that you dumb clock was making a lot of noise this morning, right?”

“Yeah”

“So why didn’t you turn it off?”

“I couldn’t be bothered” I say

“Well neither could I” he says “I also needed my beauty sleep”

“Cal, you and I both know you don’t need beauty sleep “ I say and he smiles “because you’re still ugly either way” he frowns and I laugh.

“You just wish you could be as good looking as me” he folds his arms across his chest.

“You wish”

I finish my food and get up to leave. My dad drops my brother and I at school sometimes while other time Caleb’s the one driving us to school. Caleb is seventeen, so he’s a grade ahead of me.

When we got to school the parking lot was clustered with students chatting and catching up about their vacations, jobs, parties they had been to and what not. There was a large poster that said ‘Welcome Back Lions’ that was the name of our school’s football team. By now Cal had gone off to talk to his friends as soon as dad had dropped us off. My eyes quickly scanned the school for my friends, Kara and Cameron. Once I found them I jumped into their ever waiting hands and I was engulfed in a hug.

“Gabby, it’s felt like forever since we spoke in person” Kara whined once we broke the hug.

“Kara, I was at your house on Saturday” I deadpanned

“Exactly, we need to catch up” she says hooking her arm through mine and dragging me to homeroom, I could practically feel Cameron roll his eyes from behind me. During homeroom I was too busy chatting with Kara to pay attention to what the teacher was teaching.

“Miss Martins and Miss Harris, would you like to share what is more important than what I am teaching” the teacher said and we shook our heads ‘no’. The teacher scowled at us but none the less, she continued with her lesson.

After home room the next class I had was with Cameron.

“Hey Cam” I said once I had settled into the chair beside him.

“Hi Gabs”

“You were really quiet this morning”

“Well I can’t get between you and Kara once she starts, she never seems to end”

“Yeah” I say with a smile “Anyway what have you been up to?”

“I’ve been working on something” he says and from the mischievous smile on his face I know it can’t be good.

“Who are you planning on pranking now?” I ask

“It’s nobody” he says

“Who exactly are you pranking?”

“It’s just Adrian Woods” he says and I gasp

“Is this about the hazing thing?”

“Of course it’s about the hazing thing” Cameron joined the Football team and as part of the hazing, Adrian pranked him

“I was covered in feathers and I still had some on me for a month, this is war” he says and I shake my head.

After class, Cameron drags me into the halls which are now crowded with students, the sounds of lockers opening and closing caused a rhythm. Right now we are waiting for Adrian to come so that I can ‘witness the awesomeness’ Cameron’s words not mine. A little while later Adrian walks down the halls towards his locker, his two friends, Mike and Jay, trailing behind him. The first button of his shirt is undone, his tie loose, his shirt isn’t tucked in and his hair is messy, he kind of reminds me of Elliot Ember minus the white hair. His friends are dressed the same way. Suddenly as if feeling my eyes on me, he turns around and sends me a wink, I quickly turn away.

We’ve been standing here by some lockers, patiently waiting and nothing has happened yet. By now the halls are cleared and he still hasn’t opened the dang thing.

“Cam, he’s not gonna open it, let’s just go”

“Patience child” was all he said and I frowned.

The sound of a locker opening caught my attention and I saw Adrian getting splattered in honey, confetti and feathers.

“Cam, what the heck?” I turn around to face Cameron but he’s gone. I can’t believe he left me here. I hear the sound of footsteps and I take that as my queue to run. Bolting away, I pass a few classes getting weird looks from students but I didn’t care, I just kept running.

*Bam*

I collided with a wall causing me to fall down. I rub my head and groan in pain.

“Hello” the deep voice causes my blood to run cold as I realize that it wasn’t a wall, but it was Adrian.

“Hi?”

“You are going to pay for what you did” he says

“I’m so sorry” I say hoping that he will let it go

“Sorry won’t cut it” he says and I know that I’m in for it this time. If I die I’m so going to haunt Cameron for this.

“What are you going to do to me?” I ask with a shaky voice. Pull yourself together Gabby, you can do this.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out”