Monsters And Us

Chapter 8: Him

The gym door slams shut and I see a flash of black and the lights started flickering and completely shut off and the only light that seeped in was from the skylight but everyone was freaking out including me and Coach Mable was trying to calm everyone down while checking out what was going on and seeing the hallway lights start flickering then shutting off. I didn't want to admit this but I was kind of afraid of the dark and this started to get my anxiety up to the point my heart was racing and I felt like I had a weight on my chest. I sat down on a spot on the floor that had a beam of sunlight shining through and put my head between my knees trying to calm myself down. I knew it was the start of a panic attack as I usually got them randomly and was diagnosed with panic disorder last year, I sat on the ground for a few minutes trying to calm myself down when I hear Michael's voice next to me.

"Annabel, You ok? Do I need to take you to the nurse?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head and went to stand up and almost got lightheaded by how fast I stood up and held onto Michael's arm to keep myself from falling down. The light suddenly turned back on and you could hear the sighs of disappointment through the schools as everyone hoped they'd be able to go home early, which I kind of hoped for to but I noticed something was different in the gym and didn't see the boy in all black anymore even with the two gym classes merged and I don't think anyone else noticed not even Michael when I brought it up to him. Not even the teacher noticed he was gone it was like he was never there, but what was that flash of black I saw before the lights shut off, it was strange to me that just as the lights started freaking out he was gone. Everything seemed normal after that minus the fact that kid wasn't in anymore classes, but then it was finally lunch and the courtyard was closed due to heavy rain so the cafeteria would be packed. Michael and I walked through the halls all the way to the cafeteria and of course the cafeteria was packed but we managed to find a table and set our stuff down and decided to wait for the others(Reenie, Edmund and Elliot) and within minutes everyone was there and we started going towards the lines to get our food. Michael was looking around the cafeteria like he was waiting for someone to show up and join us and I didn't pay it any attention and continued with the line till I hear Michael yell out,

"Melanie, Chad over here"

It took me a little bit to try and think of who they were till I saw them come over, it were the couple from homeroom who were late for making out and Melanie hugged Michael and smiled at me. Chad took a little while to get to us because he was talking to some other boys in the same Letterman jacket as he had on and smiled at Michael and fist bumped him, Chad looked taller in person than he did when he was a few feet from me.

"Hi, I don't think we've met have me? Well anyway I'm Melanie Ingram and this tall hunk is my boyfriend, Chad Tyndall"

She was so very bubbly and happy even on such a miserable rainy day like this and it was very odd to me but she seemed nice.

"I'm Annabel"

"Annabel....?"

"Bowyer"

"Cute name... Annabel Bowyer... any siblings?" she asked,

"Melanie! That's too personal for someone you just met" Chad said in an annoyed tone.

"It's ok, I just have a brother, he's in college."

"What's his name?"

"S-Silas"

"Ooh exotic."

I could see Chad get a little uncomfortable with how the conversation is going and Michael relieved the situation by changing the subject and I started to zone out while they were talking just staring out the window their voices becoming muffled and I start seeing a person outside the window, he was tall and looked around my age maybe older just standing there smiling at me with black eyes almost like a sharks eyes and I felt him undressing me with his eyes but I couldn't look away until someone walked in front of the window getting me out of the daze I was in and I went to look out the window again but the person was gone, and Michael and the rest of them were already ahead of me by a few people and I quietly walked back to them and it was finally time to get lunch which I got a cheese pizza, fries, a chocolate milk and pear. I was sitting at the table when I saw them, they were beautiful and handsome and separated from the other students almost like the group of popular kids everyone wanted to be but never could. My eyes immediately went to the girl with bright red hair that looked of hot coals had a bubbly personality to her, then there was a tall, pale skinned boy with short brown curly hair and wore a thick jacket with a scarf even though it was pretty warm inside the school, then a girl with white hair in two buns with dark makeup that had the style of Reenie but a more Victorian goth sense and then a taller muscular boy with brown short hair and looked almost like any other male teen here and with a little bit of the stereotypical jock in his look. They all stood in front of a table full of kids and it took a little for the people to notice and they quickly got up and moved, I wasn't sure what that was about anyway, it was as these people had the plague or something that no one wanted to be around them.

"Who are they?" I asked the table

"Oh, them? They're the Levinsons, the girl with red hair is Alex, then the white haired girl is Kris, then there's Blair the kid who looks like he's freezing, then that cutie with the brown hair and muscles is Clyde. And then there's...."

Just before Melanie could finished talking another boy walked in, he was tall and very thin and skin almost as white as milk and jet black hair, gauges and smoldering eyes as if everyone around him was a parasite, he sat down with the red haired girl and the others and Melanie resumed talking.

"That's Jasper, he's the youngest of the bunch."

"Are they all related because they don't really look alike"

"No, they're all adopted, their father Mr. Levinson is some sort of doctor though I've never seen him in the general hospital, maybe he works in the er or something and their mother, hmm I'm not sure if she even works."

"And how do you know this?"

"A friend of a friend told me."

"And how do they know?"

"I guess they followed them outside of school"

"Melanie!" Chad said shocked.

"What? it's not like I did it, they just relayed the info but anyway, their dad is some short of matchmaker of sorts, like Clyde is with Kris, and Blair is with Alex guess he has a thing for opposites."

"And Jasper?" I asked.

"He's alone, but it's unlikely he'd ask you out."

"Melanie jeez can you be any harsher?" Chad said annoyingly.

"What chad? I'm not being mean it's just many girls have tried to talk to him and he just ignores them or walks away, hell before I started dating you I tried and he pushed past me and walked away."

I could hear a slight hint of hurt in her voice as she said that, it was like he was the one no one could get, not even her. I looked at them and it was almost like a renaissance painting like they were frozen in a perfect position and almost god like. I couldn't help myself by staring at them through the sea of people and that when I saw his eyes. They had a slight tint of purple to them which was very unusually as I've never seen an eye color like that and thought maybe it was the lighting, I looked away as soon as I saw him look at me but i could feel his eyes on the back of my head.

"Oh my god, he's staring at you." Melanie whispered to me.

I blushed a little at that statement and didn't dare to look at him in the fear our eyes would meet and I'd become an awkward mess in front of him and didn't want to seem boy crazy like the teen girls you see on TV. I looked down at my tray and grabbed the pear and without looking took a bite and began chewing a little and tasted something off about it, a more earthy taste than normal and looked down at the pear and my body froze as the pear dropped out of my hand and onto the tray, inside the bite I took was a black inside full of maggots, and I quickly ran to the bathroom and quickly pushed the bathroom stall door and puked into the toilet until my stomach was completely empty, and going to the sink and scrubbing my tongue clean before coming back to the table, everyone was confused at what had just happened. I pushed my tray towards the middle of the table and the look of confusion was still on their face.

"Umm what are we supposed to be looking at?" Michael asked,

"Don't you see the maggot?"

"Um no, are you ok? I mean you had a panic attack in gym when the lights shut off, you need to go to the nurse?"

I grabbed the tray and looked at the half bitten pear, it was normal, there were no signs of maggots or the black insides, I sat down shaking my head thinking maybe it was all in my head, but that taste it stuck to me, in each crevice in my mouth, not even school cafeteria pizza could get the taste out of my mouth but just tried my best to ignore it. I looked over at the Levinson's table and saw they were gone almost like a ghost, the lunch bell rang signifying that lunch was over and after was another half hour of biology then health class before I finally get to go home. I walked into the classroom again sitting in the back empty seat and grabbed my textbook while the others walked into the classroom.

"Your in the wrong seat." A feminine voice said

I looked up from my textbook and saw a girl with curly dark brown hair, olive clear skin, brown eyes and wore a cute black batwing cotton shirt and white distressed jeans and winter boots with a gold necklace with a name on it that read "Peyton." She looked at me in an annoyed way and I stood up quickly not wanting to make an enemy on the 2nd day and looked around for an empty seat which by the time I stood up all of the seats were full except for one, next to Jasper Levinson. I took a deep breathe before walking over to the seat and sitting down, I heard him shift away from me to the point he was against the window with his face deep into his textbook almost going out of his way to pretend I don't exist. I mean it wasn't like I wasn't used to being invisible but to treat me like I had the plague, got to me. I looked down at my textbook and tried to pay attention to the class even with a guy next to me treating me like im infected, the teacher kept going on and on about the difference between DNA and RNA and he became muffled as my eyes shift slowly over to Jasper, he looked uncomfortable sitting next to me keeping his hands far from me, I moved closer to the edge of the desk away from him and continued on with the class, I heard Jasper starting to put things away and stood up just as the bell rang and was out of the room before I got a chance to even talk to him. I stood up grabbing my things and accidentally bump into the girl who I assumed was named Peyton, she looked at me with disgust.

"Eww get out of my way fatty" she muttered under her breath,

I put my head down and moved out of her way as she passed me, and I walked out into the hall clenching my books to my chest and walking to health feeling already like garbage from that encounter. I get to the health class and as I get through the doorway someone pushes the life size skeleton in my face scaring me half to death. I jokingly laugh it off and see the person who scared me, it was the guy in the Letterman jacket I think his name was Chad.

"Sorry Annabel I thought you were Melanie"

I shrugged it off and walked past him and hear a loud scream of who I assumed was Melanie behind me and chuckled to myself, I sit at an empty seat and the rest of class goes on as normal until the final bell rings signifies the end of the school day. I walked through the halls and into the main lobby and saw Jasper with his adopted siblings all standing against the wall next to the front door almost like they are judging people as they walk by, I wrapped my coat tightly around myself as I walked past them keeping my head down. I walked out of the school and into the bus area and looked for bus #13 and got on and sat closer to the front of the bus so I wouldn’t be looked by everyone as I passed them to get off the bus. I looked out the window listening to my music until it came to my stop, which I quickly got up and off of the bus.