Phantom Shadows

Chapter 1

"Anathea and Dexter Rose, you get your buts down here for breakfast now or you'll be late for school!" Mum yelled from downstairs.

"Yes mum. Coming mum." Dex and I chorused before looking at each other and laughing.

My brother and I are close, and he means the world to me. We jumped up from our new beds in our new house and ran downstairs for breakfast. I was wearing a white t-shirt with red sports decals on it, jeans, combat boots and my leather jacket with my blonde hair thrown up in a messy bun. When we arrived downstairs dad had already finished and was packing his work bag.

"Well you kids have a good first day at school, I'm off to work, wish me luck." He smiled nervously. Dad hated starting somewhere new. He was more scared today than I was.

"Good luck dad." I smiled. "You'll be great." He slung his satchel across his shoulder, walked to me and kissed my forehead.

"Thanks sweetie. Have fun today."

"Oh don't worry." Dex chimed in. "We will." He had a smirk on his face that reminded me of a Scooby Doo villain. I could tell it worried dad by the look on his face.

"I'll take care of...that." I motioned to my brothers face and he glared at me. "Don't worry dad, we'll be fine, so will you. Now go, you're gonna be late." I turned him around and pushed him out the door, blowing a kiss before shutting it.

"So how'd you sleep Ana?" Mum asked me. Only Mum and Nana call me Ana, it's Thea to everyone else.

"Really well actually, considering that thing was snoring." Again I motioned towards my brother.

"Oi! I was not that loud." He muttered shamefully.

"Pfft, yea, whatever you say." I giggled and he glared again. "Anyways, what's for breakfast?" I sat down at the table next to Dex as my stomach rumbled.

"Well someone's hungry." Mum laughed. "Lucky for you I made your favourite. Poached eggs." She put two plates down in front of us and they were gone within seconds. "You two better be off to school now, don't wanna be late on your first day now do you." We got up from the table and grabbed our bags, food, laptops, phones and earbuds and headed out the door to the bus.

We didn't talk much on the walk or the bus, I think the nerves were getting to us. We climbed off the bus and walked through the front entrance into Tamville High. As soon as we stepped foot in the building we were bombarded by two girls, one blonde, one brunette.

"Hi there." The blonde started. "You must be Anathea."

"And you must be Dexter." The brunette jumped in, pushing slightly in front of the blonde and smiling giddily at Dex.

"Anyways, I'm Moxie and I'm here to show you round the school. I'm also in your class." The blonde smiled and stuck out her hand. I shook it and smiled back.

"Anathea but everyone calls me Thea. Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Esme." The brunette kept smiling like a schoolgirl as she continued. "I'm also here to help you but I'm in your class." She poked Dex's chest and giggled.

"Oh yay." Dex said, rather unenthusiastically. "Dexter but everyone calls me Dex. It's been great talking to you and stuff, but we should go." Dex tried to grab my wrist to pull me away but Esme caught his hand before he could reach me.

"C'mon, I'll show you around. It's gonna be so much fun!" She squealed before pulling him away. He mouthed a quick 'Help Me' before disappearing out of sight.

"Is she always like that?" I laughed.

"At school anyway. Want a tour?" Moxie asked.

"Yea sure, why not. Got nowhere else to be." I smiled and followed her through the halls. She gave me commentary about teachers, students and classrooms as we walked.

"So that group there, they're the stuck-up wannabe's that think they're cooler and more popular than the entire school, they're not." I laughed at her comment. "And that group there is the nerds. That's where you go if you can't be bothered doing your homework." We walked a little further down the hall. "Ooh and that's Mr Halliotus, our Math teacher. He's a little stubborn but lets you get away with not doing your work." Sounds like a good teacher. We continued a bit further down the hall until Moxie stopped in front of a group of people where Dexter was waiting with Esme. He ran up to me.

"These people are so cool, Thea. And Esme's really nice once you get to know her. We've found good friends dude." He was practically bouncing.

"Yea, Moxie's awesome as well." I told him. Moxie turned around from the spot she'd taken up in the group and smiled at me.

"Thea, come here. I'll introduce you to the group. Guys, this is Thea. She's Dex's older sister. Thea, this is Alexander. We call him Alec." She pointed to a boy our age with brown hair and grey-brown eyes.

"Hey Thea, nice to meet you." I nodded.

"That's his girlfriend, Lucy." She pointed out a girl, also our age, with brown hair and hazel-green eyes.

"Welcome to Tamville." I nodded again.

"That's Sara. Lucy's best friend." She pointed at another girl, this one with blonde hair and hazel eyes.

"Hiya."

"And last but definitely not least, Nikolas." The last boy she pointed to was definitely not the least. He was tall, handsome and had stunning dark brown hair and dark, brooding brown eyes. He stood with a stature that told you he was a rebel, but he still had some class. He turned to look at me and as soon as my harsh blue eyes met his calm dark ones the entire world fell away----

----All of a sudden, we were somewhere else, a dark room with only a small lamp as light. My legs were wrapped around Nikolas's waist and my hand tangled in his hair. He pushed me up against the wall but kept his hands on my waist to steady me. He leaned in and so did I. Our lips touched and----

----"Thea!" Dex shouted in my ear, pulling me from that room. I turned to look at him.

"What?" I snapped.

"Are you ok? You looked a bit out of it." I turned back to look at Nikolas only to see his once calm eyes full of panic.

"Yea, I'm fine." I brushed off my brothers worry as the bell rang. Had Nikolas seen what I'd seen? What had I just seen? Why could the two of us see it but no one else? So many questions I wouldn't get to ask until later coz the only time I'd get to see him was at lunch as he wasn't in any of my classes. Moxie pulled me from my thought bubble by grabbing my wrist and pulling me to our first class, Math.