Chapter 1: The school bell rang, sending students scurrying like mice to their separate classrooms, some of them nonchalant but still walking fast, some of them panic sparking in their eyes. No one runs, however, maybe worried they’d knock someone over, maybe worried what others would think. Three girls and two guys are following each other without realizing it, all heading towards Psychology class. As they find their seats, the teacher taps the whiteboard with his yardstick in rapid succession; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times. “You’re late!” He barked, the muscles in his face twitching as if he was suppressing a smile. “Tardy slips! Here you are!” They groan in succession, surprised looks in their faces when they realize it was at the same time. Lydia smirks. She’s a junior, and has short black hair close to her neck, brown eyes, and a dark blue sweatshirt bearing the legend “YOLO.” Wearing one fang earring and a black leather bracelet, they got what impression she was giving. “Get a load of this guy.” She says, chewing on a wad of gum. Charlotte stepped out from behind another girl, her lacy frilled shirt fluttering. She had blond wavy hair, green eyes, and looked like she should be in a doll box instead of a high school. She wore a gold necklace with her name on it, and magnetic gold earrings shaped in little hearts. Her eyes glittered with incomprehension, she was a freshman. “We were the ones late,” she pointed out, tipping her head slightly. Max laughed, putting his hands in his brown jacket pockets. With a shirt saying “I like Fast Cars and I cannot lie”, he was immediately assumed by the others to work on cars. He was a sophomore, and enjoyed flaunting that at freshmen. “He doesn’t need to be so gleeful about handing out punishments!” He responded, rolling his eyes. Lydia nodded at him, and Charlotte looked at Lydia and nodded as well. Jay didn’t say anything. He just stood there, his eyes half closed as if he was listening to music and remembering old times. He wore a simple grey shirt and blue jeans, and a small smile. They all turned to him except the other girl, who edged out of the way so as not to be looked at as well. He just stared right back. He was a senior, but he didn’t show off his superiority. He was at least 3 inches taller than Lydia, and they didn’t ask him anything. The teacher walked back, giving them each their detention slips with a malevolent grin. “Enjoy the detention!” He said, and motioned them to their seats. Jay whispered to the girl, “Why don’t you ever talk, Isla?” as they found their seats. She shrugged. She was a sophomore as well, wearing all light brown, covering up her skin except for her face, and small silver hoop earrings. Jay was lucky to get one of the back spots, but Isla was right in the front row. He gave her the thumbs down and a wink, and she sighed, putting down her backpack. Lydia and Max were next to each other in the second row, and Charlotte was in the fourth a few seats from Jay. The teacher pulled down the projector screen, and class began. (Continued in Credits)
“Let’s get to know each other, class!” The teacher said, winking at them. “My name is Professor Cyn, and I was born in Minnesota, and I have three kids, and blah blah blah…” Lydia zoned out, not really caring to know the teacher's life. Professor Cyn, huh? That’s an odd name.. I wonder how hard psychology is.. why did I take this class anyways? Why am I at school.. I should just drop out, there’s no point to this place.. hm? The teacher was looking at her, waiting for something. “Lydia, here.” She responded, staring at him as he kept staring back. “Jeremy?” He said, not looking away. “Present!” The rustling of papers as he checks the list, somehow his eyes not leaving Lydia’s. She cringed inside. What did I do to offend this dude? Being late? “Maxwell?” “Here.” “Charlotte?” Two voices called out, “Here!” At the same time. He checked the list again. “Charlotte G?” “Here!” A voice repeated from the second row. “Michael?” “HERE.” “Isla?” He turned around, finding her. “Isla?” She responded quietly. He continued making eye contact with her. “Jay?” “Present.” He turned and faced him as well. His eyes narrowed, and he continued with the list. “Rachael?” “Here.” “Simon?” “Here.” The list continued until the final name, the other Charlotte, was called. “You guys are going to tell me about yourself, now. I am going to give you 15 questions to answer, to the best of your ability.” He smiled at all of them, which looked more like a leer to Lydia. He handed out papers. “This is an assignment, so turn them in by tomorrow,” he added, sitting down at his desk and clacking on his computer once the sheets were all out. Lydia frowned at hers. Your name? Lydia. Age? Why do you need to know that..? she put down 16 anyways. She could see Charlotte W raise her hand out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t give much thought to it. Neither did the teacher. What are you looking forward to in this class? The end of it. Hobbies? Uh… painting. Favourite subject? Art. she continued answering the questions, not really caring about the answers until she got to the last one. Worst fear..? I guess this is psychology class, but… ……. I’ll just put spiders or something. The teacher looked up. “Please give completely honest answers, I want to get to know you guys!” He said. She heard a couple people groan and some of them lowered their heads a bit. Worst fear… …failing, I guess. She wrote that down, shielding her paper with one hand. Some classmates looked pretty stumped as she finished, and she flipped over her paper, closing her eyes and leaning back.
