4. Marilyn

Marilyn swaggered off the bus with her head held high and her arms crossed. That Bryce! He had such nerve!

I won't talk to him tomorrow, she resolved.

But even Bryce didn't scare her. With his pink face and angry eyes, he had looked no more frightening than a chipmunk. He couldn't do her any harm; she was a girl. And, the bus driver would not tolerate it. Oh, no she wouldn't. That Aderlina, she did scare Marilyn. The thing was, she always had no expression, no emotion. How were you supposed to tell what people thought when they kept their face like that? It was creepy. Marilyn disliked Aderlina with a viciousness, and spread rumors about her everywhere to keep anyone from associating with her. Yet, Aderlina seemed to like this treatment, and that frustrated her. But the rumors had worked nevertheless, and people all around the school knew about Aderlina and were scared of her.

Even the bus driver was afraid to say anything when Aderlina twisted Bryce's arm, because even she was scared stiff by the Demon. Aderlina the Demon. The only reason she had stood up to the Demon was because she was even more afraid of whatever Aderlina might do to her.

Marilyn strode up to her driveway and opened the mailbox. The tips of her hair were black! She didn't understand why the school put up with her. Her eyes were too bright. Not normal. Marilyn hated anything that wasn't normal. Her own blond-brown hair was combed and parted neatly everyday, her clothes washed and ironed routinely. She brushed her teeth twice a day without fail and none of her belongings had stains. But Aderlina!

Her clothes were strange, and natural looking, and sometimes dirty. She rarely had any school materials with her, unless the teacher asked. Then she would suddenly have it! She never seemed to be paying attention, either, but when the teacher quizzed her, all her answers were correct! And, the Demon's nosy eyes always seemed to be searching for something. What could she possible be looking for? Several times, Marilyn had caught Aderlina staring at her with disbelief. Marilyn would glare at her and turn her face toward the teacher as if to rebuke her; Aderlina's face would grow impassive again and her eyes would turn black.

That was another thing! Her eyes were usually the deep, abnormal blue-violet, but it seemed she sometimes let her façade slip – so her eyes changed color. Greta had said that once that her eyes had even turned a crimson red, tinged with scarlet. She had been extremely angry for one moment, for who knows what reason, and then gained her composure again. At these times, Aderlina was even other-worldlier. Marilyn didn't really believe all that nonsense, but she couldn't help being spooked by such stories.

"Marilyn!" came her mother's voice. She had been so lost in thought that she had been fuming in front of the mailbox the whole time.

"Coming, Mother!" Marilyn called sweetly. She snatched the mail out of the mailbox quickly, shut its lid, and ran up the driveway to join her mother. Her head was peeking out the front door.

"Marilyn, what in goodness' sakes have you been doing?"

"Nothing, Mother, getting the mail."

"Why, you've been standing exactly there for five minutes! Did you fall asleep?"

"No, Mother. I was thinking." Marilyn had tried to tell her mother about Aderlina before