SURVIVORS

Ch. 1~ Lana

Last chapter: Simple intro to Survivors... Mad scientist turning into a nasty creature thing, lots of bloodshed, all that jazz. Everyone thinks it's an animal (bear or something), but WE know the truth... hehehehe... Alright, let's meet Lana.

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I tap out a random rhythm on my desk with the end of my pencil, creating a hollow, wooden thump each time. My eyes teeter in a sort of balance between open and closed. I kind of like that zone where you are almost sleeping, even though your eyes are open. It's not sleeping, but it's not zoning out, it somewhere in between; I call it the open sleep zone. So when someone scoots their desk across the floor, you don't quite wake up, you just forget what you were thinking about. And then when you do remember, you sink back into the open sleep zone.

This time when I enter the open sleep zone in Mr. Gibbs' class, I think about how incredibly agitating being popular must be. Of course I wouldn't know because I float somewhere in the middle/bottom of the popularity tank and never hope to rise to the top. Popularity seems to come with a certain negative twinge to it, and it makes everyone at that rank meaner to people than they should be (that was the understatement of the century).

Mr. Gibbs scribbles furiously on the chalkboard, murmuring some mathematical crap that no one can hear (or wants to hear anyway). I go back to my thinking.

Personally, I like being unpopular. I don't like feeling lonely of course, but being relatively alone gives me a sense of thoughtfulness that other people don't regularly feel.

Even with my needs of being solitary, I've actually made six friends in school that I can stand (most of the time). AJ, Vicky, Leila, Sam, Mort and Andrew. Those are my only "friend-friends." Well, actually, Andrew can be kind of a jerkwad sometimes, but we've all gotten used to it in the past nine years we've been going to grade school together.

"So, does everyone get the concept?" Mr. Gibbs booms, scaring everyone half out of their skin. Everyone answers "yes" like they mean "no".

"Are YOU understanding this, Miss Andrews?" He asks, noticing the blankest expression plastered onto my face. Of course he would notice that because he purposely puts me in the front row- away from all my friends because of the one time I was asking AJ a question about the homework.

"Yeah, I think so," I reply emptily. No, no of course I don't understand this. I thought. It would have been more interesting if my grandmother taught me.

"Alrighty then! Class dismissed!" The kids in the back always laugh at him whenever he says that... He sounds like Jim Carrey in the Ace Ventura movies, with which my older brother is obsessed. We all scramble out of the classroom, eager to go home and try to figure out how to do trigonometry off YouTube.

The chatter in the hallway is notably louder than usual. I'm sure it's just gossip about a celebrity breakup or something, but as I walk farther down the hall toward my locker, I notice the tone of seriousness of the conversations is high. I don't think much of it... until I see a group of boys talking about it with the same expression. I know it's REALLY serious when I see Jeremy and Veronica NOT making out. I haven't seen them together without kissing for-- I don't think I ever have.

I see AJ talking with Mort, who stands by Sam and Mirissa. AJ's real name is Angelica, but she hates the name, so she insists on being called AJ. She has a quirky appearance, and have always admired that. She always keeps her hair up in a ponytail and pulls her bangs back with neon colored hair bands. When I walk behind her, I always notice how her hair springs up and down.

Mort is actually a bit goofy looking. His braces seem too big for his mouth and his face is round as the kickball I accidentally hit him in the face with in third grade. He definitely isn't skinny, but definitely not fat either. Other than his braces, he is kind of a cute kid. His sense of humor, his smile, and his blonde hair make up for his funny looking mouth.