• Fairy Dust
    Chapter One


    I eyed Kat warily as we approached Matinicus High School, my - our new school. The truth is, I wasn’t going to stay in middle school forever and I knew that. Once my 8th grade year started to approach, I panicked and clung to all the wrong people, for a false promise that I would fit in if I stuck with them. However, after I realized they weren’t the saints I thought they were, I became myself again, and made a best friend. Kat.
    “I don’t know how I’m going to survive my classes without you,” I whined grabbing Kat’s arm and pulling her closer to me.

    Ever since I showed up to the New Years ball with Kat, Suz and Morgan swore to make my remaining time in 8th grade a living nightmare. And it would of worked too, if I hadn’t had a fiery best friend by my side. Kat stood up for me when I couldn’t stand up for myself, which was almost all the time. Especially since our queer friendship attracted tons of attention, and many rumors started to fly. Such as, “Oh my gosh, Rosa is totally buying pot off of Kat. I saw her give it to Rose in an alley last week.” Or “Rose just felt tons of pity towards that ‘ol tramp, so her family adopted her.”

    And now, as Kat and I started our freshman year, it hardly seemed that we would get to experience it together the way we wanted to, due to our classes being polar opposites. My parents wanted me to do well in school, so they made sure I was in all the high classes, classes that many juniors and seniors took as well. The only break I would get from all the high academics would be in my art class, a love that both Kat and I shared. And a course that we both had at different times.

    “Don’t worry, I mean look at you, you definitely can hold your own,” I laughed nervously at Kat’s reassuring comment as we walked through the school’s doors. “Besides, at least our lockers are right next to each other,” Yeah, at least that. Unfortunately, Morgan and Suz’s lockers were on the row opposite of ours. I continued chatting to Kat until the sound of multiple bodies slamming into lockers caused me to look away from her.

    That’s when I saw them for the very first time, and I’ll never forget it.

    They were wearing black stiletto heels making them appear to be an intimidating five feet and ten inches tall. Pinstripe print pencil skirts accentuated the three girls’ perfect hips, with a loose, silky white top tucked into it. A pair of black, Versace sunglasses framed each of their faces perfectly as if it were made for them. It wouldn’t have been too much of a surprise if they were custom made for them either, because each of what was visible of their faces, was breathtakingly beautiful.

    The only thing that separated the three of them, was their hair. The one farthest away from me had long, wavy red hair that went all the way down to her hips and seemed to glow in the light as if it were fire. The other girl, the one closest to me, had shoulder length black hair that seemed to have multiple layers causing it to jag in different directions towards the bottom. As for the last girl, the one in the center, she had honey-blond hair that was kept in a neat and tidy bun, so I couldn’t really tell much about it.

    “Who are they?” I thought out loud, not tearing my eyes away from the three peculiar girls walking down the hall.

    “I don’t know who they are,” Kat said, averting her eyes towards the mysterious trio. “But if they have those bitches Suz and Morgan cowerin’ in fear against their lockers, they’ve gotta be something worth watching out for.”







    My morning classes seemed to pass slowly without Kat, and by the time it was third block, the class right before lunch, I was bored out of my mind. I headed into Physics room 308 cautiously. I was the only freshman in this class, so of course right off the bat I’d be a topic of interest. Or at least so I thought.

    As soon as I entered I saw the three similarly-dressed girls in the front row. I went to sit in the only open seat in the front row, when an incredibly strong scent of floral perfume overcame me. I started to cough and wheeze uncontrollably, but no one seemed to notice. I was on the verge of an asthma attack.

    “What is this? A whore house, those girls seriously need to cut down on the perfume,” I thought to myself.

    I looked around for another seat praying that the one in the front by the weird mafia-dressed chicks wasn’t the last one. It wasn’t. There was one other, next to a boy way in the back row.

    As I got closer I saw that he was insanely tall, like six foot maybe more. He was the tallest person in the room. Yet, that wasn’t what intimidated me. It was more, the way he dressed. He had a pair of black denim jeans on, leather boots, and a black and red hoodie with the hood up so the only thing I could see was his hazel eyes, and the lower part of his tan face.

    “Maybe I should go back and sit with the three creeps in front,” I contemplated silently.

    A loud snap of a ruler made up my mind and I quickly sat next to the strange boy. I felt his glare burning into the side of my neck, and after about three minutes of the uncomfortable feeling of being stared at, I decided to try and start a conversation. “Hi, I’m Rosa,” I said trying to let all the sweetness in me ooze out into the words.

    I watched his head snap away from me and he started to look up at the ceiling. “Uhm, okay… and your name is…?” After a long pause, I realized he wasn’t going to answer. I looked at a paper on his desk. His name was signed as Erik. “Erik, wow, that’s a cool name.”

    He grumbled in a very frustrated manner, and took something out of his hood pocket, an Ipod. I watched as he stuck the white ear buds into his ears, still shaking his head in frustration. He then averted his eyes back to the ceiling.

    “Okay fine. Have it your way,” I turned my attention back to the teacher, Mr. Krotzer.

    “Okay class, and now, please find the density and mass of the objects in front of you with the person beside you,” Mr. Krotzer instructed.

    Erik didn’t budge. “Hey, uhm, he said that we can start on the lab now,” I said as kindly as I could. After two more minutes of him not responding I asked, “Hello, can you hear me?” I watched him take out the Ipod from his pocket, and turn up the volume. “Hey! Turn that off! Look, I’m not saying you have to like me bu-” I was interrupted by something even more incredibly rude from Erik.

    He started to sing along to the song on his Ipod.

    “You could have been all I wanted
    But you weren't honest
    Now get in the ground
    You choked off the surest of favors
    But if you really loved me
    You would have endured my world

    Well if you're just as I presumed
    A whore in sheep's clothing --”

    I let my face fall into my hands groaning angrily. I looked up to see if the teacher noticed what Erik was doing, but he was incredibly oblivious to what was going on. He was more focused on staring in a creepy manner at the three girls in the front row. “That is IT! Fine, Erik, you can just fail for all I care. I’m doing it by myself,” And so I did. And Erik didn’t stop singing until the period ended. I don’t think I left a class as fast as I ever left that one.

    By the time I got back to my locker to put my materials in it so I could head out to lunch, my face shone pure fury. I barely noticed that Kat was watching me intently the whole time either. “Who’s got your panties in a bunch? Those two snobs do something to you again?” She said.

    “No, just some guy. I don’t really want to think about it right now.” I said in a pleading tone, I’d just get more upset if I had to explain my anger.




    We were one of the last people to get our food in the cafeteria. I spotted an empty table in the back of the cafeteria, and Kat and I quickly scampered over there. “You are going to love art class, it’s buckets of fun! And we can practically do whatever we want within limit, I suppose. I mean, I can actually finally make a manga! They have this actual printing machine and stuff and it’s just so awesome.” I half-listened to Kat gush about art class.

    “Awesome, that’s fantastic,” I said, not entirely knowing what she had just said. I started looking around the cafeteria for visible signs of clicks, none that I could see. Except, the strange three girls all sat at the one table closest to the cafeteria entrance. “Guess some people are eager to get out of here,” I said quietly, forgetting that Kat was sitting right across from me.

    “Huh? Are you even listening to me?” Kat said, slightly confused and sounding like she wanted an explanation.

    “Sorry, just saw how those three girls from earlier were sitting close to the exit, and yeah,” I watched her expression and apparently I wasn’t off the hook. I looked to the right of us and saw someone I did NOT want to see.

    Erik was sitting by himself at a table, playing with his food. He looked absolutely glum and I felt instantly awful about my bitter thoughts towards him. “I’m going to go see if he wants to sit with us,” I said, as if Kat knew who I was talking about. She didn’t.

    “Hi, uhm Erik. It’s me, Rosa again,” I started, slightly nervous. After what he did to me earlier, it wouldn’t be a shock if he flung his tray at me. “Look, I know we got off to a rough start, but I saw that you were sitting by yourself and wanted to know if you’d like to sit with me and my friend.” I motioned over towards Kat and my table.

    He actually looked up and made eye contact with me, giving me a sign of hope, and then shook his head no. “Alright, but if you change your mind.. Kat and I will be there all lunch period.” I said with a quirky half smile and walked off. He looked at me - that was a start I suppose. Better than him flinging a tray full of spaghetti at my head.

    I headed back to Kat. “What was that all about, you have a crush on him don’t you,” she rolled her eyes at me and smiled, which was her way of showing that she was joking.

    “Oh yeah, I dig freakishly tall guys in hoodies,” I joked back. “Nah, not really. I just felt bad for the guy sitting all by himself and all.”

    “You are just too good, no wonder Morgan called you a goodie-two-shoes last year. Seriously, if you keep all this goodness up I might have to vomit,” Kat teased.

    “Yeah, well how may I ever make it up to you?”

    “Inviting me over tonight would be swell,” Kat bargained.

    “Well, seeing as though I don’t have a choice and even if I say no you’ll show up anyways - sure, come on over!” We both laughed at how true that was.





    I headed towards my last period of the day in high spirits for multiple reasons:

    A. I’m always cheerful after talking to Kat.
    B. I love art, and I have it at the end of each day.
    C. I’ve made an improvement with the very queer Erik.


    So as I entered the room you could only imagine my shock when I saw all the students doing entirely different things. And the teacher, was just sitting at his desk and playing space games.

    It didn’t surprise me that Erik was in the same art class as me, though. I figured he’d be one of those people that seemed to haunt me, wherever I went. Except, he was real and alive, not a ghost. And much more annoying.

    I sat my materials down at an empty table claiming my spot, and grabbed some painting materials the class provided. When I got back to my seat, I examined what I had managed to snatch up. The paints I grabbed were sealed shut due to someone not cleaning the paint off the edges after they were finished, and the bristles of the brushes were dry and rock hard, with absolutely no flexibility left in them. I groaned in aggravation just before I saw someone sit in front of me.

    “Does the offer apply for art class, too?” Erik said, not bothering to look up at me.

    I stared at him blind-sighted, and blurted out without warning, “You can talk?!” I instantly regretted my rudeness, but he didn’t seem to move, or say anything. “Back to square one with him, I guess,” I thought to myself. “Uhm, sure, the offer still applies,” I said smiling at him, whether he could see it or not I didn’t care. He didn’t speak to me or move again the entire period.





    “Spill!” Kat shouted as she plopped herself onto my bed. “You like that guy you invited to our table today, didn’t you? I know you do,”

    “No, I barely can stand him. He’s so frustrating… remember how pissed I was earlier today?” I said, referring to my first encounter with Erik.

    I watched her face go blank, and I could almost hear the ‘click’ in her head when she figured it out. Kat’s eyes went wide, “Whoa, you were pretty pissed. I like him already.”

    I flung a pillow at Kat’s head playfully and she started to laugh. “Kat! You are on my side, remember?”

    “Oh c’mon Reesie,” Reesie was her “nickname” for me, I couldn’t stand it. “Try talking to him again tomorrow, maybe, I don’t know, he was sitting on a thumbtack.”

    I let out a loud ‘ha’ at how ridiculous that sounded. “Fine. I’ll try talking him again tomorrow, but not because he was ‘sitting on a thumbtack.’ I think I’m making progress with him actually. Maybe he just needed to.. Warm up to me.” I said, my mind going back to the shocking occurrence in art class.

    “I think he’s warmed up enough,” I shot Kat a I’m-being-serious glance. “But whatever ya say, Reesie. Whatever you say.”