Chapter One

Clark Academy was a boarding school where the students lived in dorm rooms. It was located in the countryside of Montana, where there was nothing but grassy hills for miles around. There was also a beautiful mountain range, lake, and many rivers and streams near it. It was even surrounded by a forest on one side.

It was a huge academy, styled like an old English castle surrounded by large walls to keep things both in and out. The walls of the academy were a silvery-white color with a dark silvery roof. Basically, it was overall a picture perfect place.

Picture perfect in the minds of my parents, that is.

The semester had just started and I was the new kid, again. My family was always moving because my dad’s job was insanely stupid and relocated him all the time. In some places we’d only stay a few months and in other places we’d barely stay a year.

I hated being the new kid.

Every time it was the same. You had to start all over from scratch. You had to memorize where your classes were, what classes you had, make new friends, try not to make enemies too quickly, and survive the all around awfulness of being the new girl.

One thing I hated about all the schools I had been to were the cliques. I was in a different clique each school. Truth be told, I just didn’t fit in anywhere, either that or I fit in everywhere but could only choose one place. I wasn’t sure which one it was. But anyway, I had been in a new clique every school because each clique was a little different depending on the school, even if they were the same type of clique. I had been in each one in hopes of finding one that I liked the best.

I failed miserably.

I liked all of them and fit into all of them perfectly. I guess I was just too…multi-something. I had too many interests, too many skills and talents; they would often give me a headache too.

What I dreaded the most about this school was that I had run out of cliques to try. I was going to be left out the whole time I was there because I had no clue where to go since I liked each clique the same. I was stumped. And that is not a good thing to be.

It was the first day of school and I looked out of the car window at the academy as it came into view. I was sitting in the backseat of a limo. The divider was up so that I had privacy from my chauffer. Truth be told, I just wasn’t in the talking mood right now, I wanted to be left alone.

Another thing, I only went to schools that were full of rich people. My parents wouldn’t allow anything else. Always private rich schools. And this one had uniforms. How I hated uniforms. But this time was an exception. You see, with uniforms, I wouldn’t have to worry about dressing for a certain clique. That was one thing off of my chest, now only nine hundred and ninety-nine more to go.

As the car came to a stop in front of the huge iron gates with intricate designs on them, my chauffer opened my door and I stepped out with my carrier bag on. My carrier bag was a simple blue, my favorite color.

I watched as my chauffer and another man took my luggage into the academy and into my room. I was happy; this academy gave each student separate dorm rooms, which meant I wouldn’t have to share a room. Another item lifted off my chest. Nine hundred and ninety-eight to go.

I also knew that the boys’ quarters were separate from the girls’. To tell the truth, I wasn’t quite sure if that was a good or bad thing yet. After all, I had no clue how rich Montana boys, and girls, for that matter, acted. This was my first time living in Montana.

I looked around as the wind blew my straight and long blond hair around. My hair never got messy; it always looked perfect, which was one of my special gifts. It was even perfect when I dyed it or gave it a new style. And I had done those things many times before. I liked how it was naturally straight.

I walked through the open iron gates and my crystal blue eyes scanned the place. I saw all the students hanging out in their different cliques in the courtyard. I saw that some were even sitting on the large and elegant fountain’s edge. I also noticed that each clique had varied their uniform in one way or another. The uniform still indicated which school they were from, but they had made minor alterations to them.

I walked through the courtyard to the main office in the front of the generous building.

As I walked I knew that guys were checking me out, even without looking I could tell. Guys were always checking my out. It was something about my appearance that intrigued them all. No matter what clique they were from, they all would just stare at me.

However, when you join a clique, it gives all the guys in that clique rights to ask you out. It’s also a warning for guys from other cliques to back away. After all, you’re not supposed to date someone outside of your clique; it’s kind of a clique rule.

Another clique rule is that you have to follow the clique dress code. You have to dress like what clique you’re in. For example, if you’re in the gothic clique then you must wear at least one thing black every day. If you’re in the jock clique then you must have something that shows you’re obsessed with a sport or all sports. And so on and so forth.

Before we get too far, I have to admit one thing. I don’t like all of the cliques the same. I absolutely hate one clique. It’s the only one though. It’s the geek clique. There’s no way I would ever be caught dead in a geek clique, because there isn’t anything about me that is geeky. So I must confess I have never been in the geek clique and there was no way I was ever going to be in one.

Another thing I learned about being a new student in a school after having been one so many times is that when you’re the new kid, every single clique looks at you, watches you, observes you, trying to find out if you have any traits portraying their clique. If they think you do, then they swarm you and…persuade…you to join. And if you refuse, they bribe you.

I could tell as I got closer to the doors leading to the main office that not only were most of the guys watching me but also each clique leader. It was the clique leader’s job to scout new students in to be in their cliques. So I could feel both guys and clique leading girls watching my every move.

I slightly sighed. I hated being watched like a hawk. I got enough of it at home; I didn’t need it at school as well.

I looked down at my uniform. It was blue, a neutral color that wouldn’t favor any specific clique. The top was a buttoned white long sleeved shirt and the skirt was blue and came about a few inches shorter than your knee. Then there were my plain blue tennis shoes that matched my outfit.

I looked back up and straight in front of me.

When I was almost to the doors, I thought to myself. Did they really have to make the courtyard this big? I swear, it was taking me like five minutes just to get to the doors and I wasn’t even there yet. Ugh. This was getting on my nerves quickly. But I hastily cooled myself down. I couldn’t have myself losing my temper, not now, not on the first day of school. I decided that I would go to the gym later when no one was around and work out there to get rid of my pent up anger and energy.

I had finally had enough of the looking so I turned my head to look around to my left and right of the courtyard.

That was a silent signal that all eyes must turn away from me. All eyes except for the clique leader eyes. Clique leaders were the only ones aloud to look even after the silent signal. That was because they were not merely looking, but studying you as well.

As I saw the remaining pairs of eyes, I only had one thought. Five of the seven guys that were still watching me were cute. The other two guys were obviously the geek and nerd leaders. They both had acne breakouts all over their face. The geek leader was short and fat and the nerd leader was too tall and skinny. I could practically see his ribcage. Yuck.

That left the five cute guys.

One had dirty blond hair and brown eyes, his hair was shaggy and reached just below his ears, it was all over the place but still neat in a way. He was holding a skateboard under his right arm so I knew he was the leader of the skaters.

Another had soft brown hair and brown eyes as well, though his were more calculating and not as carefree and relaxed. He was carrying a briefcase and had on a blue tie. I could tell he was the leader of the business people.

The third one had rich brown hair and vibrant hazel eyes. He was holding a book of poetry and a novel in one hand and had a sketchbook in the other hand. He had a drawing pencil tucked behind his left ear. He was without a doubt the artist clique leader.

The fourth leader my eyes had laid on had pitch black hair and really dark eyes. He was probably wearing contacts that made his eyes look black. He had black eyeliner around his eyes in that raccoon style. I didn’t even have to look at the dog collar or chains he had to tell he was the gothic leader. It was so extremely obvious.

The last leader I saw had black hair like the gothic leader but not as pitch black. His was more subtle and calming. He had warm green eyes that seemed almost welcoming. He also wore a smirk. What the heck the smirk was for was my question. I looked and saw a basketball under his left arm. My suspicions were confirmed that he was the jock leader. The smirk was creeping me out a little so I finally had to turn away.

That smirk stayed in my mind even after I had gotten into the office, about time if I might say so. What was he thinking? Was that smirk supposed to mean something? Was I supposed to have seen it? Ugh. Now I had a headache again. I hated it when I got those, it usually happened when I thought too much. Wait; forget that or else you might call me a dumb blond.

I got my schedule and headed off toward the girls’ quarters. I wanted to check out my dorm room and unpack. I needed to get ready for the first day of classes which began tomorrow. That was nice, how you got a day to settle in before you had to go to class.

This was my sophomore year as I was now fifteen, almost sixteen. I wondered how long I would stay at this school and if I would like it.

As I reached my dorm room I turned the key and unlocked it. I opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind me. Unaware of the watching eyes that hid behind a corner.

Inside of my dorm room I looked around. There was a living area which I was standing in right now. To my left was a small kitchen and to my right was my bedroom, walk-in closet, and adjoining bathroom. That was a perk of living in a rich school; everything was big, nice, and luxurious.

I wasted no time and took off of my backpack and set it on the kitchen counter. I quickly dug through my stuff and found my small duffle bag, my school athletic uniform, and my sneakers. I put my hair up in a perfect high ponytail, fixed my make-up, and grabbed a water bottle and athletic headband along with athletic wristbands, and my key. I stuffed all of the stuff into my small red duffle bag. After that I walked out of my room, locked my door, and took off toward the gym.

Unbeknownst to me, the set of eyes followed me, making sure I had no clue that I was being tracked. They were even so discrete that I didn’t even get the feeling that I was being watched.

When I reached the gym, I was amazed. It was huge. It was the equivalent of the length of a football field with a track field inside of it to boot. It was all on hardwood floor. There were basketball hoops set up along the course, fake grass in the middle football field which was surrounded by the track field. Along each side of the fake grass were football goal posts and soccer nets. I opened the door to my left after entering to find the weight room, with exercise machines, and a kickboxing ring with kickboxing equipment. I saw that there was also a punching bag that you could practice your kickboxing on.

I smiled for the first time since I reached this school. To my relief, I was alone; everyone else was probably busy getting unpacked. I’d do that later. However, even though I was sure I was alone I still felt safer changing into my athletic clothes in the girls’ locker room. So, off to said room I went.

After I was finished changing I stepped out into the gym. My silver cross necklace studded with diamonds still hung around my neck. No matter what clique I was in I always wore my necklace. I never took it off. Not even to sleep. I even wore it under my clothes if I was in a situation where I wasn’t supposed to be wearing it. I can’t remember where I got it or when. All I know is that I’ve had it since I can remember. It feels like it’s apart of my almost.

I walked into the weight room and set my bag on the perfectly and recently polished hardwood floor next to the door.

I immediately headed over to the cabinet full of kickboxing equipment. I put on a pair of red gloves that fit my hand size nicely. I didn’t bother putting on the kickboxing gear for my head since I wasn’t fighting anyone.

In one minute after I had everything on you could find me kicking and punching the living daylights out of the punching bag.

After about fifteen minutes of this I started to sweat. I stopped for now, taking a slight break to get my water bottle, take a swig, and then continue.

I turned around and froze. There, on the opposite side of the door from my bag was a certain black haired and green eyed boy, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, and that same smirk he had on earlier.

That smirk unnerved me and made me feel uneasy for some reason beyond me. Though the reasons that related to the smirk were beyond my comprehension, it still didn’t help the feeling one bit. The feeling was there and read, in the pit of my stomach.

I quickly bowed my head. I recognized this boy as a leader and I didn’t want to get on his bad side on the first day. If a leader hated or was angry at you then they would personally see to the destruction of your school life. Bowing your head to a clique leader was a sign of respect, or a sign that you just didn’t want to mess with them.

To my dismay and discomfort, the smirk got larger at my bow of the head.

“Well, that’s certainly something I haven’t witnessed in a while. I haven’t seen new students show respect to any of the leaders in months. That’ll help you join a clique.” He said, still in the same position as before.

I moved my head to look up at him and said, “Sorry, I didn’t know I had company. I’ll leave now so you may be alone.” It was a rule that if the leader requested to be alone, then you left them alone with no questions asked. They also got first dibs on everything.

As I moved toward the opposite side of the door from the boy to get my bag I felt a hand wrap around my arm. I turned my head to see the boy looking at me. To my comfort, his smirk had turned into a nice smile. That helped me relax a bit.

“It’s not every day that you find a girl who’s good at kickboxing. You could probably beat a couple guys in my clique. Where’d you learn?” The boy asked with a smile.

I smiled back. “Well, you see, at my old school, I was the right hand member to the athletic clique leader. So…I guess you could say I picked up a few things.” I said.

“Wow. That’s impressive. It’s a shame that there isn’t a girls’ athletic team here though. Sorry.” The boy said as he released my arm.

“Really? That’s okay. I always get my practice in whether I’m in an athletic team or not.” I replied.

The boy’s smile got a little bigger, which relaxed me even further. “My name’s River by the way. And you are?”

“Sydney. Nice to meet you.” I said.

The boy, River, now looked me up and down which caused me to blush a tad bit. He eyes returned to my face and he said, “You’ll probably be asked to join the prep clique soon. Their leader, Julie, just has to have most if not all the pretty girls in the school in her group.

This caused me to blush even more, he just gave me an indirect compliment, and he thought I was pretty.

“Thanks, but I’m not sure if I want to join a clique, not yet anyway. I’ve never been clique less and I want to see what it’s like.” I said.

“Can you do anything else in the athletics department?” River asked.

“I can do pretty much any sport there is out there, except for wrestling and football. No offense, but I can’t stand either one of them.” I said with a frown.

River smirked and said, “Come on, those are two of the best. How can you not like them?”

“Even though I may be good at sports, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a girl. And, let’s face it; those two sports aren’t that appealing to girls. Although I know that guys get a kick out of wrestling, especially if it’s done by girls and mud. I once saw this special on TV. where there were these two teenage girls wrestling each other in chocolate pudding just to go out on a date with this one guy. I would never go to such extremes.” I said as I smiled.

River smiled as well and said, “What can I say? Watching girls wrestle in a pit of mud is quite entertaining. My team watched a couple last year and made bets on them. In the end though, I won all the money.”

I smiled as I picked up my bag and walked over to the doors which now happened to be behind River. He had stepped in front of them some time during the conversation when I wasn’t paying full attention to his movements. “Well, aren’t you lucky? If you don’t mind River, I must be going. I’ve got to take a shower and then get back to unpacking and touring the campus. I have to memorize where everything is by tomorrow.” I said.

“Oh yeah, forgot you were new for a second there. So, I guess I’ll see you some other time then?” River asked.

I nodded and said, “Sounds good. See you later.” I walked around him and out of the doors, leaving him there by himself and to his thoughts.