If I Die Young

11. Whiplash

Sixth period was a quiet class filled with quiet people, ones I felt like I could get along with. We worked quietly on our homework and when the bell finally rang I pulled one of my earbuds out, listening to the soft shuffling of students getting up from their seats with a smile on my face. I felt better about my new school at the end of the day, knowing that if all my other periods went awry I could always rely on the last one to settle me down.

Since the middle school didn't get out for another few minutes I decided to walk across the street and meet Noelle. Already the doors were bustling with students getting ready to go, and I'd seen a few of the other high schoolers had the same idea. They were talking to their little brothers and sisters, getting ready to take them home and say goodbye to school for the day. When the bell finally did ring I looked through the sea of chest level kids for a head of silver curls and after a few minutes I was starting to become worried. Finally I decided to go into the building and search her out, walking past the open doorways and cafeteria. If it weren't for a menacing chuckle I wouldn't have turned down a remote hallway, finding three bigger boys who all seemed to be my age cornering the girl I'd been searching for. Noelle looked scared for her life.

"Have you ever seen a kid this weird? Look at her, she's an alien!" One of them snickered as I drew closer.

"You know, I heard they use kids like this in Africa for witch craft." Another chipped in. "They cannibalize them."

"Sable!"

Noelle must have seen me walking towards the group, and while they all turned around to see what was going on, I pushed her behind me and stared down all three of them. One boy whistled and the lights flickered above me.

"Hot mama, we've got a supermodel in the house!" One of them hollered, and I felt the disgust simmer in the bottom of my stomach.

"Come near Noelle again and I'm sending your ass through your teeth." I snapped, all of them seeming taken aback.

"Oh, so you're one of those kids." They laughed. "What happened to your parents, huh? Did they disappear in the middle of the night?"

"No, I bet she was a drop off!"

One of the boys, the one who'd called me a supermodel, seemed to keep out of the jeers. He must have heard the story on the news. A smirk tugged up on my lips and I saw the lights flicker more violently.

"Your friend over there knows what happened to my parents, now doesn't he?" I purred.

"Wait, you know this girl?" One of them bugged the scared boy.

"No, she's Sable Snow." He said quietly. "Her parents...they were murdered. She's a suspect."

They all seemed to go quiet. That last sentence did it for me; I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but the lights shut off in the whole building and I heard shouting echo around me. Noelle latched onto my hips and just like that the lights were on again. One of the boys, the one in the front, was holding his arm while he panicked. It looked like something had seared into his skin like a whip biting into flesh and the fear in his eyes was absolutely unmatched by anything I'd seen before. He and his friends took off down the hall, pushing past me and running to the door. I saw a faint glimmer of black dust out of the corner of my eye.

"S-Sable?" Noelle whispered. "All those things in your head..."

"Don't look." I whispered, and she nodded, turning her eyes away from me as I gripped her hand and led her away from the school.

We made it outside just as the busses were arriving and I trotted up the steps, making sure Noelle stayed within my sight. There were many eyes trained on us, just as they had been this morning, but I felt an air of electricity that hadn't been there before. I made sure to keep her hand in mine and I could tell she didn't want to let go.