"Excited for your first day of school?" Mom gushed, fussing over my hairdo as I ate spoonfuls of cereal.

"More nervous," I shrugged and it was true. My nerves seemed to thrum with this weird feeling that I couldn't really explain.

"Well, let me tell you, it'll be a blast!" My mother was always the optimistic one. Being a short woman with brown hair - much like mine, tied in a bun with the occasional silver strand, Emily was a person who never let negativity affect her. Through anything and everything, she always found the positivity in it. Even when she lost her daughter a day after she arrived in this world.

"I hope so," I murmured and shouldered my bag, quickly pecking her cheek before heading out. "I'll see you in the afternoon."

"Well, have fun!" she called and I waved goodbye to her before straddling my bicycle and paddling down the lane. Humming a tune to myself, I decided to look around and get used to the place.

Piezza Street was bustling, even at such an ungodly hour of the morning. People milled about, chatting with one another and enjoying the warm sun rays as the cool breeze blew around them. The aroma of freshly baked cookies wafted towards me and I felt my mouth water. Forcing myself to ride on, I zigzagged past the stores, turning around another corner.

Finally, after several minutes of riding, I left my bicycle on one of the parking slots and looked at the huge school looming above.

It was a humungous building, neighboring two other buildings, all washed with sterile white paint. Huge glass double doors opened up as I moved closer, tightening the strap of my shoulder bag. Butterflies filled my stomach as I looked around at all the new faces lingering about the lockers.

"Excuse me," I intercepted a strawberry-blond, chicly dressed girl just as she was heading outside.

"Yes?" her face held a no-nonsense attitude but her voice was kind.

"Where is the main office, please?" I enquired.

Her emerald eyes lightened up as she turned to scrutinize me.

"You're the new girl!" she nearly squealed.

"Uh, yes?" I asked, confused.

"What's your name?" she asked as she led the way to what I guessed was the main office.

"Evelyn," I replied.

"Nice to meet you, Lyn! My name's Kat," she introduced.

"As in short for Katherine?" I raised a brow.

Her eyes sparked up for a minute and she reluctantly nodded. "Yes, but don't ever call me that."

"Noted," I replied, amused.

We reached the main office and she ushered me in.

"I'll wait for you outside!" she said brightly and before I could reply, she disappeared out of the door.

Shaking my head at my apparently new friend, I walked over to the counter where a grumpy looking lady sat, fiddling on her laptop.

I cleared my throat and she looked up, annoyed.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Willing myself not to retort back, I politely told her my name and asked for the schedule of the day.

Recognition lit up in her eyes and she quickly rummaged around her drawer before pulling out a few sheets of paper.

Handing them to me, she said,

"These are the schedule, map of the school and a form where you have to get all your teachers to sign in. Leave the latter at the principal's office by the end of the day."

Nodding my thanks, I turned around and almost crashed into a wall.

A thick wall.

Of muscle.

I froze as tanned arms moulded around my body to help steady me. A whiff of firewood and peppermint - a weird combination but one which smelled heavenly - reached me as I looked up into stormy grey eyes lidded with a set of long eyelashes that could rival my own.

I was literally spellbound as I scanned his features, his intense eyes staring into my own dull hazel ones. High cheekbones and a chiseled jaw that looked so sharp that I feared I might get a paper cut if I touched it, framed his face. A set of perfect pink lips with a natural pout stared back at me. Freckles danced across the skin of his nose and worry creases lined his forehead, almost covered by his chocolate brown hair with natural bronze highlights.

The clearing of a throat broke me from my spell as I almost shoved him away, squeezing my eyes shut as color flooded into my cheeks.

"Sorry," I muttered embarrassed, and nearly ran away from the extremely handsome guy staring after me with amusement.

Outside, as promised, Katherine—I mean Kat, stood leaning against the wall, bickering with a dark haired guy, almost just as handsome as the one I had left behind. She stopped as soon as she caught sight of me and skipped over.

"Show me your schedule," she said, completely ignoring the tall guy who rolled his eyes at her.

I handed it to her and her eyes quickly scanned it, her hands clapping cheerfully as she informed me that we had first, third, the one right after break and last periods together.

"We don't meet people by accident, they are meant to cross our paths for a reason," she goofed in a falsetto voice and I chuckled just as the human Anubis walked out.

My laughter was cut short as my cheeks flamed again.

Ugh.

His mouth curved into a smile at my embarrassment and he casually strolled over.

"Hey, we haven't been officially introduced before. I'm Cyrus."

"And I'm Luke!" the guy Kat had been arguing with, piped up.

"Lucas," Kat sneered.

"Katherine," he stuck his tongue out right back at her.

"Ignore them, they do this occasionally," Cyrus's deep baritone returned my attention to him.

"I'm Evelyn," I waved, almost shyly.

Before the conversation could continue, the warning bell went off and Kat huffed, dragging me along with her and away from them.

First period was English, which just so happened to be my favorite subject. Settling in, I looked around the class. This school seemed like the typical stereotype one where the nerds occupied the first few rows and the ones that didn't want to attract attention took over the middle while the troublemakers dozed off in the back.

Kat headed straight for the last row.

"No, no, no," I said and pulled her to the middle seats. She groaned out her complaints but then found something else to talk about.

"Who were they?" I asked her.

"Well, Lucas, is a jock. Cyrus was but he left the team and both of them are pigheaded jerks."

"Their looks certainly don't say so," I murmured.

"Yeah, don't be fooled by their godly looks. You caught Cyrus in a good mood today. Trust me, you don't want to know how he is when he isn't all dandy and nice," Kat told me.

"What do you have against them?" I asked curiously.

"What do you mean? Oh! You mean Lucas and us bickering? We always do that," she waved it away. "He's a jerk and I like to remind him of it."

"Mhmm," I hummed, totally unconvinced.

She groaned. "No, no, no. Don't give me that look."

I laughed, "What look?"

"That look where you go all like, I know there's something between you and Luke. Flash news, there isn't!" she huffed but quite contrary to her words, her cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink.

"I didn't say anything," I shrugged, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

She groaned, "Why did I become friends with you again?"

"Cause as soon as you saw me, you knew that you had to be friends with this amazing human!" I joked.

She fake gagged just as the teacher walked in.

She was a young woman with sharp features and beautiful eyes. Her walk screamed confidence but her smile was warm. The boys immediately sat up as she walked in.

Interesting, I noted.

"I was informed that we have a new student today...?" she let her sentence hang in the air and I raised my hand. "Why don't you introduce yourself?" she smiled.

"Um, my name's Evelyn and I'm from a small town at the edge of Welsiegreen," I wrung my hands together as I spoke.

"Can you describe your hometown for us?" she asked.

"Well, the land was in the countryside and the trees were huge and really fun to scale. The view outside of the window was breathtaking with the tops of the trees shrouded with mist and the silhouettes of the ice mountains peeking out from the sides. We used to have Bonfire nights out in the open and the entire town used to gather in this opening in the forest and they used to tell us tales of the past. And yeah..." I trailed off.

Ms. Isla, as I learnt her name was, gave me a susceptible nod and smile, informing me that I had passed her untold test.

I released a breath of relief and plopped back into my seat.

"Your hometown sounds awesome!" Kat gushed. "Why would you leave such a place?"

"My biological father died so..."

"I'm so sorry!" she sighed. "I always ask the wrong questions."

"It's fine," I waved it away, ignoring the pang in my chest.

The lesson started and we were instructed to write a newspaper article about the recent mysterious burning of the local church. We were allowed to use google to gather information for the first half of the lesson and then we had to write it out and submit it to her before the lesson ended or we had to stay back and finish it.

I think I liked the teacher.

My fingers thrummed against the keys on my phone, quickly typing out my inquiry. A page came up about the cathedral with its charred pews and aisles. The causes seemed to be mingling in, various reasons coming up as if they were just speculation. One reporter said that the residents nearby had heard weird noises the night before but upon further inspection, they hadn't found anything but lingering shadows. The next morning, the entire church was up in flames.

My mind tingled with the information.

It could have been possible that someone had lit it aflame after the residents had checked in. But what it didn't explain was why the altar lay in ruins and shards of glass scattered along the floor even before the fire was lit as the sources claim.

My mind whirred with musings as the bell rang. I didn't think I would ever say this, but the class ended way too quickly.

The students were surprisingly good at deadlines and no one had to stay back even though Kat pretty much copied the last of my article.

"What are you having now?" she asked as we walked out.

"Calculus," I groaned.

She gave me a malicious smirk. "Best of luck."

I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Where do I even have to go?" I murmured to myself, pulling out the map after Kat had hurried off to her next class.

"Need help?" A deep voice sounded just at my ear.

I almost jumped in surprise as I spun around, one hand to my heart.

"You scared me!" I breathed in as Cyrus let out a light laugh. "Um yes, actually..."

"Calculus? Great. I have the same thing. C'mon."

He led the way and we walked side by side.

Our Calculus class was apparently in the next building and the other building was mainly for sports and meetings, Cyrus filled me in.

I nodded along to him as he spoke, "So the principal will be in the third building."

"But doesn't it get hard to keep track of students that way?" I asked.

He shrugged, "We have vice principals in each building."

"Oh," I said.

We fell into a comfortable silence as the cold breeze blew around us. I shivered slightly, feeling the lack of the sun.

"Is it always so cold around here?" I asked.

He laughed, "If you mean this weather, then yes. But you haven't felt the actual cold yet."

I raised my brows at his remark as his hand came up to shrug back his hair from his forehead. That little action looked too cute on him.

I shook my head free of those thoughts but couldn't help staring as his biceps contracted, the veins running under his skin visible. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice my wandering eyes.

He kicked a stone on the way, deep in his thoughts. His forehead crinkled as his full pink lips unconsciously turned down into a frown.

My head tilted to a side as I studied him. His hands fussed over his hair as he brooded.

"You paint," I noted, breaking him from his reverie.

He froze but then relaxed and let out a laugh. "What gave it away?"

"You have artistic fingers," I smiled but didn't mention that a small fraction of the front side of his shirt was covered in paint.

His eyes scrutinized me as he guessed, "You write?"

"Yep," I said, popping the p. "But only song lyrics."

We reached the class and took our seats facing the window. The teacher came in a second later and we started on basic mathematical equations. I rolled my eyes at the sums on my paper. I expected it to be a tidbit harder than this.

Cyrus kicked my chair just as I scribbled in my last answer. I turned around, raising a questioning brow at him.

"Wanna have some fun?" he mouthed.

I tilted my head to the side in confusion.

How?

He nodded to the front just as the door burst open.

A flushed looking Kat walked in, having a heated argument with Luke, both of them not noticing where they had come. The clearing of Mr. Benson's throat caused her to look up and freeze.

"Yes, Miss Bennett? Mr. Sueden?" Luke flinched at his surname and Kat gaped at Mr. Benson like a fish out of water.

"Why are you teaching in the janitor's closet?" she spluttered.

A vein popped out of Mr. Benson's neck as we tried to stifle our laughter.

"Does this look like a janitor's closet to you, Ms. Bennett?" he asked, his voice dangerous.

"No—" she was cut off by Luke quickly pulling her back and apologizing to the teacher, finally having realized what had happened.

He sent a glare in Cyrus's direction who was bent over in soft fits of laughter.

"And why exactly were the two of you headed to the janitor's closet when you have lessons to be at?" he inquired.

Kat's eats burned red as the class burst out laughing at the unmistakeable innuendo.

"Go Katlas!" someone from behind shouted, causing the entire class to erupt in howls of laughter as Kat's cheeks turned even darker.

Apparently, Mr. Benson didn't find it as funny as we did.

"Detention, Ms. Bennett and Mr. Seuden!" he shouted, both of them scurrying out of the class.

I turned to Cyrus, still laughing, and asked, "How did you know?"

He paused and said, "I saw them out of the window. They were heading this way. Too distracted to notice where they were going."

I nodded, still grinning and he flashed me a crooked smile. That was when I noticed that his question paper was blank. He hadn't written any of the answers. Then what had he been doing for so long?

He seemed to notice my gaze and sheepishly started scribbling down the answers as the teacher began to bark at the class, his mood glum.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful except for Kat raging on and on about her embarrassment and the fact that she hated Luke.

I ship them.

At the end of the day, with all of my teacher's signatures, I knocked and walked into the Principal's Office.

"Ah, the new girl. Evelyn, isn't it?" she asked warmly, gesturing for me have a seat.

I nodded and smiled back.

"How has your first day been so far? We hope you're enjoying Whitmore High."

"It's better than I expected," I shrugged.

"Well, I won't keep you waiting for much longer. Go on."

"Thanks," I waved and went back out into the parking lot.

Heading towards my bicycle, I kept my head down, letting my chestnut brown hair fall on my face, rummaging for a pen in my backpack.

That must have been why I almost crashed into him. Again.

"You really can't stay away, can you?" he teased.

I raised my brow, "You're the one who came right in front of me."

He shrugged.

"There's something about you that's making me curious," he murmured, moving closer.

Almost instinctively, I took a step backward.

He followed and I stammered,

"W-what are you doing?"

I was pushed up against my bike and he still hadn't answered. My eyes fluttered close as his hand reached up, pulling a strand of my hair behind my ear. A gust of wind passed and when my eyes opened, there was no one there.

What the hell? I asked myself as I looked around, totally confused. Had I been dreaming the whole time or what?

A blush encased my cheeks and I shook my head at my own stupidity. That boy was driving me crazy and he wasn't even physically here.

Quickly, I straddled my bike and drove away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You shouldn't have done that," he shook his head.

He smirked, "The girl is something. I know it."

The other boy let out a sigh. "Since when have you been tapping into it again?"

"Since she stepped foot into this school and her enticing hazel eyes caught mine and didn't flinch away at the darkness I know she saw."