Learning to Fear what should be feared

Chapter One

“Now how the heck are we going to get them alone…?” I whispered to Barbara.

We were on the school roof. Not many people came here, so it was nice to be alone to plot people’s torture sessions in secret.

She thought about it for a little bit and said, “We could ask to be their guides!” I just rolled my eyes.

Angelique and Grace were both staring at the same spot on the floor and had wicked grins on their faces. I knew what they were thinking, because the grins gave it away.

Every year, when some new students came, if my friends and I take a fancy to them, then they can kiss their freedom (and probably sanity) good-bye. We’ve been doing this since we came to this school four years ago and I can still remember that really cute kid with orange hair. It was a shame his mom died right when we were about to catch him. We left him alone after that. To torture someone when they were already in horrible pain, physical or otherwise, was too cruel, even for us.

I shook my head to rid it of the image of that poor kid, stood up, and started down the stairs to the third floor. Barbara stood up, too, and followed. Grace and Angelique were behind us still deep in thought. I turned to Grace and Angelique, walking backwards.

“So… have either of you decided how we’re going to catch the newbies?” They didn’t answer. I tried again.

“Um… HELLO!!!!! EARTH TO ANGELIQUE!!!!!!! TARDIS TO GRACE!!!!!”(1)

They snapped their heads around and their eyes widened, each one holding back silent giggles. “What’s so funny!?!” I asked.

They just said at the same time, “That really cute blond newbie is around the corner.”

I blushed at the thought of the blond newbie. His name was Cloud, right? Nice name, even if it is a little… out of the ordinary. Barbara, Grace, and Angelique looked at me with small wicked grins.

“What?” I asked, even if I probably already knew the answer.

“You like him…” they teased. I blushed deeper and looked at the floor.

“So that makes me question, will you go easy on him because you like him!?!” Barbara asked sternly.

The truth was I did want to go easy on him because he was so cute, but I couldn’t tell them that! Besides, I like to torture people, just I won’t do it as hard this time. They won’t notice. After all, my specialty was mental torture. You couldn’t see the scars I left on my victims.

“I’ll never be a goodie-two shoe so long as I live!” I said as I raised my right hand and swore on my friends.

“That’s what we thought.” They said. “Now,” said Barbara, “All we need is a plan to take each one of them down…” She said that last part with an evil grin. I grinned evilly too. Let’s make their lives miserable!! Everyone thought at the same time. He was coming closer. I blushed again. How was I going to save him from my friends and still get him to like me?

Please, whoever is listening, don’t let him hate me, even though I would probably deserve it.

Cloud POV

Okay, I am now officially lost! I thought. I turned the corner and saw four girls taking to one another. One had her back to me and her hand was in the air and one arm across her heart. She was a little shorter than me and had a long braid down her back, a few strands of her dark brown hair trailing in her face.

I recognized her from my classes. If I remember correctly, she was in all of my classes, as were her friends. I started walking toward them.

“Oh, look!” said the girl with shoulder length light brown hair. “It’s the newbie!”

I stopped three-quarters of the way toward them. She sounded like one of those stereotypical preppy girls. The girl with short, dirty-blond hair said, sounding like one of those punk-rock loving people, “Hey, Ely, isn’t he the guy you sit next to in class?”

The girl with the braid, Ely, turned around. Her brownish-hazel eyes widened when she saw me and I saw a light blush creep up her face.

Oh, no… I thought. Another girl who wants to glomp me… I thought I had left those behind.

I sighed and waited for her to squeal with delight and for her to start saying that she was free and that she wanted me to help her home or that she wanted to ask me out, or some stupid thing like that.

The last girl with a long dark-brown, almost black, ponytail said, “Why so quiet, Ely? Isn’t he the one whom you wanted to see?”

Ely looked down and said, “Angelique… Neko-chan… Grace… Would you guys be so kind as to please go to class? It starts in two minutes.”

Her voice was soft and polite, but shook as she tried to make her friends go away. They giggled and the girl with short brown hair said,

“Ely, Ely, Ely, you know that you can’t pull that one on us! Besides there’s plenty of time to get to–” She had turned her head and looked at the clock. It really did say two minutes to the start of the next class.

“HOLY, FREAKING SHIT!! ENGLISH IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING!! WE’RE GONNA BE LATE!!!!!!!!!” The girl, Neko-chan, I think it was, yelled, grabbing probably Grace and Angelique’s hands, and ran off at about twenty-five miles per hour.

I turned back to Ely. She looked up at me and smiled. Oh, boy, and here we go with the I-am-available-and-I-know-that-you-want-to-take-me-out-on-a-date speech. I thought

“You’re name’s Cloud Strife, right? It’s a pretty cool name.” She said. Her voice was still soft and polite sounding and the blush was still there. Maybe this wasn’t one of those stereotypical I-want-you-as-my-boyfriend-now kinds of girls.

“My name’s Elizabeth, but my friends just call me Ely.” She said. “Do you need help getting to the next class?”

I stared at her. I could tell that she liked me, but she was doing her best to hide it.

“Uh…” I started. “Yeah… I do need help. Do you know the way to…uh…?” I looked down at my schedule. “Dr. Grove’s English room? I can’t find it.”

She looked down at the schedule. “Well I’ll tell you right now that you’re headed in the wrong direction. Neko-chan wasn’t kidding when she said it was on the other side of the school.” She started to walk down the hall at a brisk pace. “Come on! The bell will ring in a minute and trust me detention is a place you don’t want to be in.”

Maybe she was okay, as far as girls go. I still saw the blush on her face as we ran down the hallway but maybe that was because we were running so fast.

(1) Grace really likes Doctor Who so I just added this in.