Girls of the Outcasts chapter one

Presence
I stared forward at the blank dry-erase board in the classroom as the halls echoed with the sounds of joyous students let out from their classes at the end of the day. They would come to let me out soon enough.
They thought me to be insane, or as the students put it, a freak. I imagine it was because of my eyes. Both were a striking black rimmed with silver symbols and images,
different in each. Ice and lightning.
Its was because of my eyes that I was here, in a way. I had come to this school in the beginning of this, my senior year. It was a boy, I never knew his name, who had brought the attention to my eyes. At first they all assumed that there was another goth attending the school until the day I met the boy. He had come up to me, talked to me, said that I was different than the other girls, that I was special. That I was beautiful. And so I needed to show him my face, covered by the hood of my black jacket.
Eyes hidden from view, I refused. He had no right to see what I wished to be hidden. What I wished to be gone. He had pushed back the hood before I could have another say about the matter, and laughed at the extraordinary contacts I had worn. Again he requested something of me. To remove the contacts.
I asked what he had meant.
I told him that I had no contacts.
I told him that he was looking upon my real eyes.
He did not believe me. And so he reached towards my face.

I did not remember doing it, what I had done. I just had found myself on the other side of the school, surrounded by students.

They said I had turned down a jock.

They said I had turned down the most popular boy in school.

They said I had broken his arm.

Then one person shouted over all the rest. “Freak,” he had said. More continued, chiming the word again, and again, and again.

That is my name at this school, I’m the Freak. The one they stare at.

I felt their presence looking in on me again. They stare at the girl, sitting alone in the classroom. They stare at me. They stare with their entire being at the girl whom they think to be insane. Whom they see as a freak. Whom they think should be feared.

Their eyes, a sea of blues and browns, shine in the dim light of the hall and reflect their thoughts. Of course, the pair of shining green pools stand out, from the waves of brown and blue that look upon me every day. It was her. Again.
“Stop it!” I scolded myself in a low voice. But I already felt it. That cold. That spine tingling presence that appeared every time I looked into those eyes. Those beautiful, yet horrible eyes. “Stop!” I repeated, banging my head against the table. “Stop, stop, stop.” My voice cracked at the word, reverberating throughout the room. “Stop...” Large black tears ran down my face and off the desk, collecting on the floor.
“Zora?” I felt a strong, but comforting hand rest upon my shoulder and I looked up. “Zora Albersi?”
“Who...” My voice shook. “Who are you?” I managed a sentence and looked away from his handsome face, a small blush creeping up my cheeks.
He was indeed handsome. He had brownish-blonde hair with a slight green dye around the edges. Spiked bangs nearly covered his eyes from sight, and in one sense, it might have been a good thing. Dark red orbs paired with small, slit-like pupils bore into your heart and soul by looking in them. It seemed as if... He could read you. Past, future. Hopes, Despairs. Those eyes could drive a person insane, or give them back their sanity.
“It doesn’t matter right now. Are you Zora Albersi?!” His voice raised in volume with every word and I nodded meekly.
“T-that is m-my name.” I stammered in a barely audible whisper, my eyes avoiding contact with his.
“Good. Come with me.” His hand moved from my shoulder onto mine, where he gently took hold of it and led me to my feet. My blush deepened and a warm, fuzzy feeling emerged in my chest.
“Where are you taking me?” It happened. I snapped and my voice became loud and booming, filled with power and... Anger. I yanked my hand out of his.
“You don’t get it yet. You have to come.” He took hold of my hand again and slightly smiled. “Do you trust me?”
Slowly I nodded. “I don’t know why... But I trust you. I trust a stranger I have never met before... More than I’ve ever trusted anyone else...” I trailed off. The truth was, I did trust him. I felt safe with him, almost. It was like he... Understood me. And me, him.
“Good.” He smiled oddly. A sort of crooked, crazed smile that revealed slightly elongated canine teeth.

He pulled me out into the hallway of the school, me dragging my backpack, a tan messenger bag, after me. “Stell, Ina. This,” He gave me a little push towards the two girls. “This is Zora. The one we came for.”
Two girls, around the same age as me, looked me over. One of them, the shorter of the two, scowled at the fact that this boy was holding my hand. I dropped it and the slightly fuzzy feeling in my chest dispersed.
“Hello.” I dipped my head and glanced up through my fallen red hair. “Um... I don’t know who any of you are...” I shook harder than before. “A-and I don’t know why a-all you are do-doing this for me.”
“Later. For now,” The boy took hold of my arm, clearly oblivious of the short girl’s glare. “My names Glen.”
“Hiya!” The taller girl bounded forward, a cigarette in her mouth, her blue and silver hair bouncing. “I’m Takazina!” Her eyes were the same as mine. Black. And silver. But... Her symbols were different.
The shorter girl nodded her head at me. “Stella. But you,” She snapped her fingers at me, “You never call me that. Stell. That’s what you call me. Clear?”
I fidgeted and with a sudden change in mood glared at Stella. “Crystal.” She smiled and stepped up to me.
“You know,” She ruffled my hair, throwing the red curls over my face. “I think I like you, kid.” I stood up straighter and showed my obvious advantage in height over Stella. And then, for the first time since the Dark Times, I smiled. I smiled at the unknowings in their eyes. At their belief of how I am like them.

___

“Chikush?!” Takazina’s smile faultered as she untangled her chain belt from her waist. “Naze anata wa kanja ni naru koto wa arimasen?! Tsuki wa anata yori kono koto ni tsuite son'nani sugureteimasu!”
“Uh...” I bit my lip and turned to look at Stella who shrugged.
“She’s off into one of her rants. I can’t tell what in hell shes saying.” Stella rolled her eyes at the girl, tugging the chain at her waist and continued. “Its Japanese, if you can’t tell. She was raised there, in Tokyo, with her little sister Tsuki. She was a sweet little girl the one time I met her. Only five. there’s a 14 year difference between the two of them.” Stella lowered her voice and looked me in the eye. “Ina’s parents... Well they aren’t in the picture anymore... But she always yells at that belt. She calls it -NAME IDK-. But more commonly she calls it-”
“BAKA!” A sharp screech ran through the room as Takazina succeeded in yanking off the belt and throwing it onto the kitchen table with a loud bang. Stella looked at her and sighed.
“Here. I’ll show you around the place.” She beckoned to me and turned on her heel. “If you’re going to be living with us all, you should know your way around.”
“O-ok.” I followed her, noticing my stutter and blushing slightly. They... They’re all so nice to me, I thought. I hope it’ll stay like this. I like having people be nice to me. It’s so different.
“Okay!” Stella lead me down a long, blue hallway, face split with a smile and stopped at a doorway. “This is my room.” She opened the door caked with signs and posters, most reading, ‘Keep out’, and stepped into the bedroom.
It was... Unique, to say the least. Walls covered in dark wood paneling were concealed by the mass of brightly colored posters and photos of the group of three. The cleanest part of the room was a dark green, glass desk, adorned with books of every shape and size. An iMac sat in the middle, thick cords and recording equipment winding around it.

But my eyes were immediately attracted to a large sign, scrawled in sloppy handwriting upon a second door.

Stella’s Recording Studio

DO NOT ENTER!

“Recording... Studio...” My eyebrows scrunched in wonder as I stared at the sign from the doorway.

“You can read that?” Stella’s head whipped toward me, causing the long side bangs of her short, multicolored haircut, to fly off of her left eye.

I gasped, staring at her face as the hair settled back over her eye, thinking of what I had seen in the split second that the eye was revealed. “What the... How the.... What’s wrong with your eye?”

“I’ll... Tell you later.” Her uncovered eye shined blue in the light from the open window and looked me straight in the face. “It’s not a pretty story.” She regained her usual dull cheerfulness, “Just never go in there.” She jerked her thumb at the second door and led me back into the dark hallway.

I stared at the back of her head as I followed her down the hall, slightly hearing the echoing of Takazina’s yelling coming from down the hall.

Her eye... Wasn’t much of an eye. If her long side bangs were moved they would reveal the sunken, bruised eyelid, stitched closed by bright red thread. There was no eye there.

Streaks of red and black littered her short, blonde cut and seemed to suit her small stature. A thick, black choker wrapped her thin neck, adorned with sharp silver spikes. A matching, thinner bracelet hung loosely on her wrist and from a puncture in the leather hung a red guitar pick.

Stella’s heavy combat boots clunked against the hardwood floor as she turned to another door, her red plaid skirt waving slightly as she did so.

“This is Ina’s room.” She took a small, sharp intake of breath and turned her face away from me.

Crying? No.

She’s too tough.

Too untouchable.

Too mature.

She’s not going to cry.

Right?