Blood Stained

Chapter One

Jared strode confidently through the halls of Reicher High, nodding at a few people who called his name and shaking hands with a few others. Flashing a heart-breaking smile at a few girls he chuckled softly as they visibly reacted: blushing and smiling in return before whispering amongst themselves. He raked a hand through his shaggy black hair and sighed just as a hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

            “Hey babe,” a soft feminine voice whispered, the mellifluous sound floating up to him and causing him to involuntarily smile.

            “Hey Trisha,” Jared greeted the lovely blond who’d grabbed his arm before bending to kiss her.

            “Wow,” Trisha breathed when he pulled away before opening her sea green eyes to look into his eyes which had darkened to a cobalt blue.

            “Wow is right,” Jared agreed before slinging his arm over his girlfriend’s shoulder.

            Jared Cohen and Patricia Velasquez were one of the most unique popular couples in school for only one reason: they actually loved each other. Unlike most other plastic Barbie/Ken romances in the school, the relationship they had was founded on genuine emotions.

            “Jared, my man. You making it to practice after school,” a loud, booming voice called from across the hall.

            Jared’s head jerked in the direction of the voice and he spotted a large, black teen waving at him like a lunatic.

            “Hey Darrel,” Jared called back. “Of course I am. I had my last track meet last Thursday so I’m completely free for b-ball.”

            Jared and Trisha wove their way through the crowd of students towards Darrel.

            “That’s awesome, man,” Darrel said when they reached him. “Coach was throwing a shit fit last practice wondering where you were.”

            “He knows perfectly well where I was,” Jared said with a laugh.

            Just then, the bell rang, breaking up the crowds in the stuffy hallways as students made their way to their classes.

            “See you later, baby,” Jared said to Trisha, kissing her gently before releasing her.

            “I won’t see you after school today. I have an appointment. I’ll see you tonight ok?” Trish told him as she walked away.

            “Ok, call me,” he yelled as she drew farther away.

            “Sure thing,” Trisha called before disappearing around a corner.

            Jared walked briskly to his next class: English Literature. Striding through the door, he entered a room where about thirty kids sat, talking and joking. Weaving his way towards the back of the old classroom, Jared took his usual seat among his friends: the jocks and popular kids of the school. His cobalt eyes flickered to the windows for a moment and alighted upon the petite figure of a brown-haired girl huddled over her desk, absorbed in a book.

            The girl, Cassandra, had always intrigued him. Quiet, soft-spoken and intelligent, she always managed to capture his attention the few times she ever did speak out in class. She was beautiful, but most people never noticed because she tended to seclude herself socially and geographically. Even at that moment, she sat in the back of the room, next to a dusty window that was in an area of the class that no one ever ventured to go.

            After a moment of studying her, Jared’s attention turned elsewhere. She intrigued him, yes, but that was all. He was too involved with his life to really pay anymore attention to her. Someone cracked a joke and the ensuing laughter jerked him out of his thoughts and brought him back to reality.

            The class continued as normal. Jared and his buddies stirred up quiet trouble for the entire hour and slowly drove the teacher to madness. When the bell rang, the teacher breathed an audible sigh of relief that earned him much laughter from his teenage tormentors. Jared got up out of his seat and grabbed his notebook, walking past the seat that Cassandra had been in. Just as he passed her seat, he dropped his notebook and leaned a hand on her desk to bend down and pick it up. The feel of something sticky and wet caused him to jerk his hand away from the wood surface of the desk.

            “What the…?” he exclaimed as he inspected his hand. A viscous, red liquid covered his palm and he glanced quickly at the desk. There was a long red smear across its surface from where his hand had been.

            “Blood…?” he whispered as he studied the substance on his hand and the desk. Images raced through his mind and one settled: the image of the dark-haired girl huddling over her desk.

            ‘Is this her blood?’ Jared thought with alarm as his eyes widened.

            “Mr. Cohen, is there any reason why you are still here?” the disgruntled teacher asked him sharply.

            “N-no sir,” Jared said, quickly exiting the room and heading straight for the bathroom.

            As he scrubbed his hands, thousands of questions ran through his mind. Why was there blood on the desk? Was it Cassandra’s? How did she get hurt? Why didn’t she stop the bleeding?

            He violently shook his head to clear it of all the random thoughts flying through it. Turning the water off, Jared grabbed a paper towel and dried his blood-free hands.

            ‘How creepy,’ he thought and suppressed a shudder before walking to his next class.

A random idea that I had and that I wanted to try out. I already wrote the ending already! Hehe. So yes, enjoy. Tell me what you think. ~Lisa~