Deep black eyes, stared at me, unblinking, boring into my soul. I felt frozen, ensnared like a mouse in the presence of a cobra, as the eyes moved closer, and out of the darkness emerged a face, his pale lips opened and he breathed, “Jenny.” I woke up in a cold sweat, the image of that face still very fresh in my mind. Sunlight streamed through my open window, giving the illusion of a perfect morning, as it illuminated my room in a new light. There I was, awakening once again at sunrise. I’d had the dream before, but not in years. Just thinking about who that face belonged to sent chills down my spine. I shook my head, attempting to rid my thoughts of the dream, before deciding to get up. My legs swung off the bed, as I rose to reach my full height of about 5?7?.I’m not very tall for a seventeen year old, one reason why I’m not very good at sports. I stepped gently around the few remaining precariously arranged boxes scattered across my floor heading towards the bathroom. I was proud of myself, when I didn’t trip over anything on my short journey. Another reason why I’m not good at sports, is that my gracefulness in the morning was almost nonexistent. So those mandatory before school practices, have me stumbling all over the place. After I turned on the shower, I shimmied out of my blue pajamas before jumping in. The warm water greeted me, awakening my muscles almost instantly. Seven a.m. was a bit early for me, seeing as I usually slept in until around noon. It was a good thing that dream woke me up, knowing my mother, she would have let me sleep. After ten minutes I hopped out, and threw on the outfit I had laid out the night before; my aqua Volcom shirt, black skinnies, and zebra flats. Scooping my newly bleached hair into a ponytail, I fixed the remaining pieces, still not used to the new color. My natural hair color was jet black, it went well with my naturally dark skin, from my Egyptian father. My eyes were entirely from my mother’s side of the family though; they’re aqua with a ring of midnight blue around the pupil.

“Hey Mom, Hey Mike.” My mother and Mike greeted me rather cheerfully in return as I bounded down the stairs.
“Hey Jen, breakfast is on the counter if you want it.”
“Thanks mom, it smells great, but I’m a little too nervous to eat.”
“Jenny, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to…”
“No mom, I told myself I was gonna go, I’m gonna do it. It’s been four years, I want to go back to school. I’ll be fine, I’m just a bit nervous.”
“If you say so…” My mother just turned back around in her chair, facing forward to stare at Mike. Mike, was my new stepfather. My mother and I moved in with him and his daughter, Belle, about a week ago, and this would be my first day of High School. It’s not that we lived that far from our old house, same town and everything, but I had insisted that we move. Our old home was filled with too many memories that I could not deal with. Besides, to be honest, I love Mikes’ house. “Well I gotta go, don’t want to be late. Bye mom, bye Mike!” I said, waving as I grabbed a piece of toast and headed out. My new metallic blue Accord, a gift from Belle and Mike, sat in the driveway, just waiting to be driven. I unlocked the door, and slid onto the warm leather seat. After snapping my seatbelt into place, I turned the key in the ignition, speeding off in the direction of my high school. At the first red light, I plugged in my iPod, letting Hello Goodbye blast out of the new speakers. The high school was luckily only around 5 minutes from Mikes’, which was good, it was getting late.

‘D, I’m worried.’
‘About?’
‘Him.’
‘You’ll be fine.’
‘Promise?’
‘Promise.’

Finding a parking spot was hell, every time I laid eyes on one, someone took it. After about 15 minutes of constant searching, I surprisingly found one near the office. Locking the door behind me, I hurried to the office. “Hello, can I help you?” asked a small woman behind the desk, as I entered. She had dark brown hair, cat eye glasses, and was sporting a bright smile. “Uhm, yeah, my names Jenny Valentine, I just transferred here, I was wondering if I could get my schedule.” I checked the time as she searched, 7:45am. I still had time.

“Hm…yes! Here it is Ms. Valentine. Your first class is English, go down the corridor, it should be the second hallway on your left. Just follow the signs.”

“Thank you” I said, giving her a slight smile, as I turned on my heel to walk down the hall.

‘I’m so nervous, what if the people here hate me?’
‘Jenny, calm down. The people here have no reason to hate you.’
‘But Daray, what if-’
‘Jenny, I’ll protect you, don’t worry.’
‘Alright…’ You must be wondering who I’m talking to. Let me put it like this, Daray is a voice I’ve had inside my head since I was a small child. She’s pretty much an entirely different person living inside my body. I can talk with her inside my mind whenever I want, and under certain circumstances she can take over my body. I know, I know, sounds crazy, right? Well my father would agree with you on that part. He made me see a psychologist for most of my life. It was horrible.

Students were swarming around me as they made their way to their respective classes. I followed the crowd, attempting to blend in as I made my way down the English hall.
*RING* ‘Damn’
‘Jenny, the room is coming up on your right’
‘Thanks D’ Nervousness was getting the better of me as I opened the door marked 216. The class inside was quiet, surprisingly so. The teacher was a tall man, wearing an all black ensemble. He had graying brown hair, wire rimmed glasses, a nd a rather large nose.

“Yes?” He stood from his stool, walking towards me. I was too nervous to say anything, as he snatched the pink slip from my outstretched hand. A second later, after looking it over, he spoke again.
“You’re new eh? Well, introduce yourself while I get you a textbook.” He said, walking over towards his desk. The few steps it took for me to walk in front of the class, were excruciating. Most of the time, I was alone, or with my mother, I hadn’t been around a crowd by myself in about 4 years.
‘I’ve gotta calm down, seriously’ I thought to myself as I took a deep breath.

“Uhm, Hi. I’m Jenny Valentine, I just transferred here.” The smile lighting up my face diminished slightly as I noticed everyone’s eyes on me. The teacher, Mr. Grey, returned, pushing a big textbook into my arms before scanning his class.

“Now, who would like to be Ms. Valentines guide for the day?” Instead of looking to the class, I noticed a look in Mr. Grey’s eyes. He had the look that said ‘I hate my job’. He had plastered on a fake smile, but I new it was covering up the fact that he would love to be anywhere but here right now. That’s when I noticed the class. Every guy in the class had his hand up, well almost. One guy in the back didn’t raise his hand, in fact he hadn’t even looked up at me when I introduced myself.

“Ah, Mr. Young, you’ll be her guide for the day” He then turned to me, “He’s all the way in the back by the window, you may take the seat next to him.”

My way through the desks was rather quiet, even though I felt everyone’s eyes on me I refused to acknowledge them. I sat quickly when I reached the desk, sliding my black JTHM tote bag onto my desk. The guy next to me, Mr. Young, was slouched over his desk, laying on his arms. He had a black hood covering his face that was unzipped revealing a red collared shirt. He was wearing dark blue jeans and black converses. I liked him already; converses are one of my favorite shoe brands. That’s when I started to wonder why he hadn’t raised his hand.