Chapter 1

It started like any other school day. I woke up in the morning, wolfed down a bowl of cereal, went through the seemingly infinite steps of washing my face, showered and deliberated for over half an hour over how to wear my hair before giving up and leaving it down (slipping a hair elastic in my pocket just in case I had to put it up for a science lab involving dangerous chemicals) like I always do.

I was done by half past eight, twenty minutes before I needed to be, like pretty much every other day. Unfortunately, I have to share a ride with my sister, Kate every day too. She enjoys the rush of the race to class, to that Watchamacallit Overture. You know, the one they always play in the background of a movie when the main character is in a hurry.

I raced to my locker and grabbed my Science and English books for my morning classes, as soon as I got to school. I dodged into my English class as the bell rang, stood through the national anthem, and sat down preparing myself to listen as Mrs. Estabrooks droned- not really droned, some of her lectures could be quite animated- about smiley-face techniques, and polishing our writing, drifting off and tuning back in almost in a rhythm. I really didn't need to listen. I already knew exactly what she was saying. I yawned sleepily as the class came to an end. When I was tired, everything school-related was boring.

"Don't forget to come at lunch and finish writing that test," she reminded me as I walked off to science.

In science, as we copied out notes on electrical currents, I absently wondered if my life could be any more boring and repetitive.

The lunch bell sounded and I headed back to my English room to write the test. I wouldn't even have the freedom and relief of a lunch period today.

I stepped in the room just in time to see an unfamiliar student leaving. A very good-looking, male, unfamiliar student. He turned around before he left.

"Thanks Mrs. Estabrooks. I'll have the assignment done by Monday at the latest," he said. God, his voice was positively dreamy!

"No worries!" Mrs. Estabrooks told him, "It's tough being the new kid." She was, after all, a very nice teacher.

He walked away, and I inwardly cursed myself for not introducing myself to him, before remembering he was in my English class, and I would see him tomorrow.

I finished writing the test as the five-minute warning music blared over the P.A. system. It looked like I was going to be hungry this afternoon. I raced to my locker, grabbed my books for French and Drama, and hurried to my dreaded Drama class as the music switched to the one-minute warning overture. I know most people like drama, so did I every other time I took it, but this year was different. It wasn't even the teacher's fault. It was more like every student I disliked had found their way into this class. As we waited outside the drama room, for Mr. Smith to come and unlock the door, I heard Heather, one of the most despised students in the school, talk about how much she hated Mr. Smith, and how gay he was to one of her equally fake friends, only to shut up as soon as he arrived, put on a fake smile, and greet him with a cheery voice.

I looked over to Diana and Amanda, two of my very few friends in the class, and rolled my eyes, indicating in Heather's direction. They rolled their eyes back. Just because we were used to Heather's 100 fake personality didn't mean we had to pretend it wasn't annoying.

We sat down in the "drama circle" and tuned out Mr. Smith's futile attempts to quiet down his unruly class. It was stunning how quickly they could crush his spirits. When I had joined the stage crew for the school play he was directing, he had often joked about how he drank himself into a stupor every night because of them. At least, I think he was joking.

I perked up when I heard Mr. Smith say that we had a new student. I looked up, and sure enough, there stood the same gorgeous, dark-haired guy I had seen at lunch. He was obviously wearing coloured contact lenses. One of his eyes was an impossible shade of electric blue, and the other was a jaded shade of green.

"Daemon Wilde just moved here from England, please try to make him feel welcome." That had to be one of the coolest names ever.

To my delight, Daemon came over and sat down right next to me.

"Hey," he said with that wonderful voice of his. Honestly, he sounded like the lead singer of Our Lady Peace!

"Hey," I said back, smiling like an idiot. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith was still trying to explain the day's assignment to a class that was completely ignoring him.

"Is this class always so…umm…" he started to ask.

"Yeah," I answered, "I'd like to say that you'll get used to it, but I still haven't so I really don't know if that'll happen. Just try to avoid those girls over there," I pointed towards Heather and her group of fake friends, "they're a bunch of bitches."

"It's really not all bad," he said.

"How's that?" I challenged him. He just smiled at me. My stomach jumped when I realized what he meant. Was that what he meant? That couldn't be it! Could it? The rest of the period passed fairly quickly, although Daemon managed to make me blush several times.

After third period, it was time for RAP (a.k.a. Read Appreciate Ponder, a dumb name, but I do love to read). I took out my favourite book, Tinker, unfortunately, although the characters and plot line of it were wonderful, there were certain ahem adult sections, which my friends loved to tease me about to no end.

To my surprise, Daemon recognized the book, "You're reading Tinker?" he asked. I nodded. "I didn't think you were the type to read that…err…sort of book."

"I try to read around those parts," I said quickly, "They're a little too graphic for my taste, but I love the characters."

"Yeah," he said, "Pony and Windwolf are cool. It would be so awesome to be an elf, like a cross between sekasha and domana; the perfect warrior, but with magic flowing off my fingertips."

"I always liked Tinker best," I said, "I wish I could say I can relate to her, but we're basically opposites. She's short, I'm tall. Her hair's short, mine's long. She's tanned, I'm pale. She understands quantum physics, and i…umm…don't."

"And she's an elf," Daemon pointed out.

"That doesn't count," I countered, "She started out human."

"Well you definitely don't have a junkyard dog attitude," he said.

"Who said?!" I squeaked indignantly. He started laughing, and I growled at him, but that only made him laugh harder.

"Did you just growl at me?" he asked, with tears in his eyes. I blushed, and looked, seeing the entire class staring at the two of us, and blush an even darker shade of red.

The bell rang, and I was the first one out of the class, heading straight for French. I sat down in my front row desk (not my choice, it was just the result of an unlucky fluke of alphabetical order that I was front-row-centre in each of my classes).

A few seconds later, Mme Tatsiopoulos walked in. "Class," she said, "We have a new student." I couldn't believe my ears. I looked up, and there, again, was Daemon.

Mme Tatsiopoulos told him to sit in the only empty seat left in the class. It was the one right behind me.

"Hello, again," he said quietly after we received our assignment.

"I can't believe it!" I whispered back, "You're in all my classes but one!"

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I know you've got English, French, and Drama with me."

"What if I have four classes with you? What did you have first period today?"

"Academic Science, Lab 23, Mrs. Kaske." He smirked triumphantly, and my jaw dropped. Nobody ever had the same schedule. Ever. Wait a second. This wasn't a bad thing.

I grinned at him, "I guess we'll be seeing a lot of eachother. I hope I don't get sick of you."

"Don't worry, I'm an interesting person, and I know I could never get sick of you."

I looked down, blushing. He had a way of making me do that.