I Am A Monster (David Escamilla A.U.) (#Wattys2015)

⓪②

"I keep waiting in the dark for someone to come and save me. And I've been holding on to something I can never change. We all search for higher ground. When the world comes crashing down, but I know. Nobody will come in to the dark and save me" - Initiation ~ Crown The Empire

❂❂❂❂❂❂❂❂❂❂❂

When Danny finally pulled into the parking lot at school, I was relieved to find out that we were, in fact, early. Danny sometimes had a habit of getting us to school late, which is why I normally drove, but Danny said I was in a different emotional state to drive safely.

I stepped out of the car letting my bleached blond hair fall down around my face as I pulled off my sunglasses. The high school looked normally decent, for all I could tell.

"Hey, Charlotte," Danny said, getting out of the car as well, shifting his backpack on his shoulders, "I promised Benn I'd watch you today, so I asked the school to do our tours together."

"Oh." I muttered, keeping my eyes on the ground. Danny sighed and clicked his tongue, making me look up at him.

"C'mon Charlie. Try to have a little fun here."

"We're going on a school tour." I said sourly. "There is no fun here."

Danny shrugged. "Well, I guess you have a point there. Let's go. I think our tour guides came to school early today to help us out."

I reluctantly followed.

When we walked into the school, Danny instantly spotted out two people sitting on a bench near the front office. One of them was on their phone, the other one was energetically swaying from side to side, looking nervously around.

Danny cleared his throat and the boy who was on his phone glanced up, his eyebrow raised. "Are you Daniel and Charlotte Vogelman?" he asked, his voice smooth and unimpressed. Danny nodded.

"Yeah, I'm Danny, and this is my little sister, Charlotte." he introduced me with ease, something I could never do. I was too nervous about first impressions that I always seemed to mess them up.

"I'm Hayden," the boy said, standing up and putting his phone away. "And this is-"

"I'm Andy!" the other boy yelped, quickly standing up and thrusting his hand out for us to shake. "I was supposed to give Charlotte the tour for her schedule and Tree was supposed to give you your personal tour, but I mean, hey, Tree didn't wanna do it anyway, so I guess you're stuck with me!" Andy grinned widely and I couldn't help but stare at the kid, confused at how he had so much energy. Apparently, Hayden was thinking the same thing, because he rolled his eyes.

"My name is Hayden, but people call me Tree. It's my last name. People think it's cooler than Hayden. I don't have a preference."

"Sorry for the inconvenience, man," Danny said, speaking for the both of us, "if we're taking your time, or something, I think Andy can handle it, if you wanna do something else-"

"Nah, I need the community service hours." Hayden explained. "And don't worry about it. Andy is just over exaggerating."

"I am not!" Andy argued. As the two bickered, I turned to Danny, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I can go on the tour with Andy alone. I actually want to go on the tour by myself. I don't need you influencing me."

"Are you sure?" Danny asked seriously. "Because I can-"

"I'm sure," I cut him off. "Seriously. I'll be fine."

Danny was silent and I could see his eyes contemplating every move. He finally smiled. "Alright, then. I'll tell them."