Chapter Two

All that had long since past. It all happened when I was six, and I was now fourteen. Eight years had passed, though I could remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. I had been placed in an orphanage not even a week after my parents’ funeral. Two and a half weeks later I was adopted. My adopted family never really had time for me. The dad and mom were always busy working, and their birth child just plain didn’t like me. She was my older adopted sister, but only older by two months.

All in all, I was forgotten and so was my terrible past. I went to a public school that was huge with over a thousand students in it. Out of those thousand kids, I didn’t have one friend. Everyone ignored me, almost as if I were invisible. Sometimes I thought it were true. I never spoke, and no one had ever heard me do so. I often heard people talking about me but made nothing of it.

I was a straight A student in all of my classes, the teachers liked me, but all the other students that had worse grades were envious. They always acted rude to me and treated me as if I were less then a speck of dirt. No one ever spoke to me, the teachers didn’t ask questions, even when people did speak to me, they knew it was pointless. For I never spoke back, no one had ever heard my voice or seen my smile. I always held a mask, keeping all my emotions within myself. The only expressions I ever showed were those of boredom, annoyance, blank, cold, curious, and emotionless.

My adopted sister was in my grade, she always would talk behind my back, saying nasty things about me. She would say that I was stupid, ugly, and completely worthless. Some of the stuff she said I had to secretly agree to. Even though my parents would often tell me I was the prettiest thing they ever saw when I was younger, when I looked in the mirror now, I never thought myself to be beautiful or even pretty. Guys would often look at me, but I never thought anything of it. To myself, I was just normal, average, nothing special. I didn’t see myself as pretty, so I didn’t act as though I did.

It was now the middle of ninth grade in high school. Ever since my parents died I had created a barrier around myself that no one could penetrate. I hid in my shell, no one able to get in. I distanced myself from others, purposely being alone. I had grown used to loneliness, and to tell the truth, I liked it. I was never annoyed or bothered, I never had to worry about some things. I was content with who I was and a bit with how my life currently was.

As I entered my history class, I took my regular seat in the very back, right beside the window. No one else ever sat near me. I would sit in the back near a window in all my classes. That was because I would look out of them and daydream. I never paid attention in class nor studied, yet I still got perfect grades.

However, what got my attention today in class was at the very beginning. It was when the teacher said, “Now class, today we will be getting a new student. He has traveled to us all the way from New York City. Everyone, this is Matthew.”

After the teacher spoke, everyone looked toward the door, even me. In through the open door walked a boy with black hair and blue eyes. A combo I didn’t often see. He had a smile plastered on his face and wasn’t the least bit nervous to be in front of everyone. I could tell he had been in front of a crowd before. He scanned the class with his eyes, not lasting more then a second on each of my classmates, but, for some strange reason, his eyes reached mine. I guess it was because he didn’t yet know of my status. What surprised me even more was that his eyes stayed on me for more than just a second, it seemed like an hour before the teacher told him where to sit. And of course, it was right in front of me. I knew what all of my classmates were thinking: Poor him. He has to go sit all by himself near the Ice Princess. Hope he doesn’t start talking to her.

Once he had sat down in front of me, I decided there was nothing of interest anymore. I rested my head on my hands and looked out the window. I was hoping as well as everyone else in the class that the new kid wouldn’t start talking to me. It would be very annoying and most likely troublesome. I just hoped he would get the message and knew just when to give up.

At the end of class, the teacher gave us five minutes to chat. I, of course, just continued to stare out the window. I had already completed tonight’s homework assignment. I always did the night’s homework during class, since I didn’t really have anything else or better to do.

Unfortunately for me, yet not surprising, the new kid turned around in his seat and gave me a friendly smile. I paid him no mind, trying my best to ignore him. Somehow I could just tell that he would be a stubborn one. I continued looking out the window, my face emotionless and expressionless.

Seeing as how I paid him no mind, the new boy cleared his throat, hoping to catch my attention, which it didn’t. He then decided to speak, “Hey. My name’s Matt.” When he saw no reaction from me, he frowned and waved his hand in front of my face. He got my attention now. He was definitely annoying, that was for sure. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, not even turning my head. He retracted his hand, sighed, and said, “Guess that’s better than completely ignoring me.”

I didn’t reply yet again, this time he was growing a little annoyed, but didn’t give up on hope, “Are you depth or something? Or are you a mute? Because for some reason, it seems either your ears or your mouth have something wrong with them. Either you didn’t hear me or you just can’t speak. But you should at least be polite and say hello back. It’s only courtesy.”

I glared at him. He was insulting me for no reason. Just because I didn’t answer him didn’t give him the right to insult me when both my mouth and ears were fine. I silently prayed that he would be able to read my thoughts threw my eyes and get the message to leave me alone. But I know by now that my prayers and wishes were never answered, so I did not even bother to wish or pray.

The boy frowned and said, “You could at least tell me your name. Otherwise I’ll keep bugging you.” He then smiled mischievously.

No you won’t. I thought. The others will tell you about me once class gets out, then you’ll give up just like all the other new students who have tried in the past. Your efforts are pointless and just a waist of your energy and both of our patience’s. Why should you be so special as to get me to speak? I haven’t spoken a word to any classmates for eight years and I’m not about to change now. I don’t even speak that much at home since I have no one to talk to.

The boy grew angrier, you could tell by the expression on his face and by looking at his eyes. He slammed a fist down on his desk, surprising me and everyone else in the room. My eyes widened slightly, but that was the only reaction he got from me, that and me turning my head to face him now. Everyone looked at us, but mostly at him. He was definitely going to get talked to after class, most definitely.

“Mr. Edwards, is there a problem?” The teacher asked him.

“No sir.” Matt replied back to the teacher threw gritted teeth, still glaring at me though.

“Then it would do everyone some good if you would quit bugging Miss Williams and disrupting the class. I don’t want to have to punish you on your first day.” The teacher warned.

Matt reluctantly and hesitantly turned back around in his chair and put his things in his backpack, waiting for class to end. I returned to my staring out the window. My things were long since packed in my carrier bag.

When the bell rang, I walked out of the classroom along with all the other students. While I was walking to my next class alone, a couple of the boys from my class went to go knock some sense into Matt.

“Dude, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you do not talk to her, especially not like that.” One of the boys, Jack, said to Matt.

“Why not?” Matt asked.

“Because dude, no matter how much you pester her, she will never respond. You will never be able to find a living soul inside this school who has ever heard her so much as let out a squeak, no matter how hard you look. She has never spoken a single word inside this building or even let the tiniest of smirks or smiles onto her face. Besides, I heard she throws some nasty punches and kicks. You don’t want to run into her in a dark alley, especially if you’re on her nerves.” Another boy, Cody, said to Matt.

“So she’s the school’s bully?” Matt asked, a bit confused.

Jack shook his head and said, “Not exactly. Everyone just stays clear of her. She’s called the Ice Princess because she rarely ever shows any emotions, and you can’t even call what emotions she does show that. You find that she ignores you if you leave her alone and stay out of her way. Though you’ll find people talk about her often. There are quite a few rumors going around about her. Not sure if any are true though. But some do fit the description, true or not.”

“Oh, and man, just so you don’t get jealous or anything like people usually do, it’d be best not to look at any of her grades, pay her any attention during class, and don’t look at her during gym.” Cody said.

“Why’s that?” Matt asked, now thoroughly confused.

“Because dude, she excels in everything. Her grades are off the charts, she always finishes her homework while the teacher is talking, and it usually takes her ten minutes tops, believe me, we’ve timed her, she never pays attention in class, she’s one of the best athletes in gym class, and she will always give you a death glare if she finds you staring at her. And believe me, her death glare really sends shivers down your spine.” Jack said.

Matt thought for a moment, then asked the two, “Can you tell me some of the rumors about her?”

Cody was the first to speak, “I heard that she murdered someone in their sleep because they annoyed her to no point. And that if you annoy her too much or look into her past and find something that’s the truth, she’ll kill you too.”

“Dude, that’s just messed up. No, I heard she’s in the witness protection program, she saw her dad murder her mom, then try to murder her. You’ll never find her in a swimsuit, the gym coach always lets her get out of swimming. Think why that might be. It could be because her dad hurt her and scarred her for life, both emotionally and physically. She’s always wearing jeans or pants too. She never wears shorts or skirts or even dresses, probably because she’s got scarring on her legs.” Jack said.

“Oh, hey, I know something that’s a fact.” Cody said to Matt, “She’s bad luck, that’s reason enough for a lot of people stay away from her. A nickname she has besides Ice Princess is Jinx. She’s like a black cat or Friday the thirteenth to a superstitious person. If she gets annoyed with you then you have bad luck for the rest of the day. It usually only lasts a day. I remember one time, this new kid talked to her, and then later, when he got home, his house was robbed.”

Jack agreed and said, “I also heard that another person who bullied her a little last year failed his exams which he took later that day. He had to repeat the whole year.”

“Wow. But you guys don’t actually believe that, do you? I mean, those are just coincidences, strange, ironic, creepy coincidences. They could have happened to anyone at anytime.

Both Jack and Cody shook their heads.

“No man. Because it’s happened too much to be coincidence, I tell you, it’s a curse. Another rumor going around is that she’s a witch and casts spells and curses on people who irritate and annoy her. Last month, this eleventh grade girl who was stupid enough to approach her got on her nerves. The girl had said some pretty bad insults to her, like that she was ugly, her parents hated her, and that she was the lowest thing even imaginable on the face of the universe. The next day, the girl never came back. She was found on the street, on her way home from school, murdered. No one knows quite why she got murdered. Which insult, I mean, is still a mystery. Some say it was the ugly insult, because I mean, come on, she is far from ugly. Others say it was the parents thing. And a few say it was the lower than life thing.” Cody said.

The three of them started walking, afraid of missing their next class. “Hey, what’s your class schedule?” Cody asked Matt.

Matt pulled out a folded piece of paper from his jean pocket. He unfolded it and read down the list. When he looked up at his friends’ faces, he saw Jack smiling while Cody frowned.

“Dude, you’ve got all the same classes as us. That’s great, we can hang out, chat, and show you around so you don’t get lost.” Jack said, ecstatic.

Matt turned to Cody and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Cody sighed and said, “It’s great that you’re in all of our classes, but, that’s not too lucky for you. You see, we’ve got all the same classes as the girl you were talking to in Math. Which means you’ve gotta be on your guard the rest of the day. If you annoy her any further, or even so much as talk to her, you’re bad luck streak is gonna start.”

Matt gulped, not quite liking the sound of it. He’d make sure to stay clear of her…but only for today. Tomorrow he’d be back in action trying to break the shell.

As they continued walking, Jack realized something, he turned to Matt and said, “Dude, we totally forgot to introduce ourselves. We already know your name since the teacher announced it, but you don’t know ours. I’m Jack and that’s Cody.” He looked at Cody, specifying him, when he talked about him.

When they reached their next class, Matt asked a question that had plagued his mind since Math class. He voiced his question to his two new friends, “By the way, what was that girl’s name anyways? The teacher said her last name was Williams, but he didn’t say what her first name was.”

Cody and Jack exchanged glances, thinking if they should tell him or not. Finally, Cody decided to tell him. He thought for a moment more and then said before he and Jack walked into the class, “Elizabeth.”

Hey, this was a bit longer than the first chapter. Did you catch where the title comes into play? One of the dudes told Matt that another nickname that Elizabeth has besides Ice Princess is Jinx. See, told you it would come into play. Anyways, please review and let me know what ya think. Love ya, and until next time. Bye-bye.