II. | chemistry

                    BEACON HILLS HIGH School. It was smaller than we were used to - almost homely. Beside me, Presley walked to the front doors with purpose. We hadn't told Mom or Sarah what we'd seen the night before in the woods. That was partly because we could have gotten killed, and partly because Sarah had gotten home early in the morning from her job at the police department to tell us that a grave robbery last night had left a corpse without a liver. The station was wondering if it was a psycho Lydia Martin on the prowl.

I had to jog to keep up with my brother - his long legs and quick pace kept me on my toes. When we got close enough to the school to slow down, I put a hand on my chest. "Dude, chill out. It's just our first day of school. We've done it before."

"Uh-huh. Except we usually don't start our first day sleep deprived and trying to avoid three weird kids who were seemingly in the middle of the woods at night to get murdered. And we don't usually have our first day in the middle of the school year." He led me to the front office, where we both got our schedules. "There's about an hour before class actually starts. I've got to go meet the coach and see if he'll put me on whatever team matters around here. See you at lunch?"

"Sure, yeah," I agreed swiftly, greedily grabbing my schedule and looking over the classes. By the time I looked up to get a glance at Presley's schedule, he was gone.

So I wandered. For such a small school, I was amazed with how many crannies there were to get lost in. And the students - they were a handful too. Most of them were amazed with the fact that a new student had joined. While trying to find my locker, I was stared at by way too many people.

When I decided to actually start my day, I made it to locker 1674, and was quick to open it to inspect the inside. Plain, cold metal stared back at me. Remnants of past sticker glue stained the inside of the door. I shrugged off my backpack and took my time filling the locker until my bag was full with nothing but a notebook and pens to last the day. I'd have time to come drop off textbooks as teachers handed them to me.

The first day of school was different in every city I'd lived in. Before this, we'd lived in Miami, where the sun was too overbearing and the students too uncaring. Florida had been good, but it was nothing compared to the relaxing slowness of Beacon Hills.

I slammed my locker shut, sent a smile to the mousy blonde next to me who was busy stuffing her own books into her backpack, and made my way to class early so I could meet my teacher. Mr. Harris, read my schedule. Chemistry. Easy.

-

"I trust you can fully recite the periodic table, Ms. Holmes?"

Mr. Harris was an ass. I decided that the minute I walked into the room, and I was seriously trusting my judgement as he handed me a few papers and a hefty textbook. "I've got some of it memorized, but not all of it. Will there be a test?"

A nasty laugh spilled out of him. "Will there be a test?" He mocked. The laughing died down and he looked at me over the rim of his glasses. "In this class, everything is tested. If you can't handle that, then I'm sure we could have you moved into a different - perhaps easier - class?"

Part of me wanted to accept that offer and stay far away from this man for the rest of the schools year - no - my life, but I knew if I did that then I'd just be a coward. Also, I refused to be stomped on by some mousy man with a bad taste in ties and a rude disposition to the world. Mr. Harris was an ass, but I was ten times a better person than him. "Oh, no. I'm perfectly content in here. Thanks for the offer, though."

Above us, the bell rang, and after collecting all of the paper from his desk, I was instructed to sit at a seat towards the back of the class. "Good luck, Ms. Holmes."

The room began to fill with students, and a few of them gave me an curious glances. I kept my head down. Much like I had done the past few times we'd moved, I attempted to stay as unnoticed as possible. Presley was the one who joined sports and made friends that he always stayed connected with. I liked friends, but was definitely the one who appreciated a sense of distance. The seat next to me was taken right as the bell rang.

Lazily, I glanced over to meet my lab partner. My mouth went dry immediately. Sitting next to me was one of the boys from last night. The one who had been crouched next to the girl. The one I hadn't payed much attention to, with a severe buzzcut and sexist tee shirt covered by a flannel. His eyes were wide, but mine were wider, and they continued to get bigger because I noticed that the kid sitting in front of him was the boy who'd been stuck in the tree. I could tell because of the fluffy hair and uncomfortable shake of his shoulder as he turned away from me.

From anyone else's point of view, I could swear that we looked insane. There was no speaking between the three of us, but the scrape I'd gotten on my arm from a wayward branch last night during my retreat from the forest began to throb. Subconsciously, I reached into my jacket pocket and grabbed my phone, completely prepared to make and excuse to go call Presley.

Mr. Harris slashed that idea quickly. "Students, please welcome Ms. Holmes." He looked at me and I clamped my mouth shut. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

It wasn't a question, that much I could tell. I had a feeling that everything Harris said was an order, wrapped in his nasty little inflection. I shakily turned towards him before addressing the class. "My name is Quinn. My brother and I started school here today. We used to live in Miami." Short, sweet, and all Harris needed to begin class.

As soon as he turned his back to the class and started writing on the board, I texted Presley, keeping my phone under the desk where it couldn't be seen. Those guys from last night are in my chem class. I tucked the phone back into my pocket, knowing he wouldn't be getting back to me until he checked his own phone during the class change. Until his response, all I had to do was ignore the two teenage boys unabashedly staring at me. Which would be hard, because others were noticing them watch me.

"Hey, idiots," a hushed voice pulled my attention to the table sat perpendicular to mine, where two boys sat. One was watching whatever Harris was doing intently, writing frantically on his notebook. The other was leaning towards the boy next to me. He opened his mouth. "I realize you two have serious girl issues, but could you stop staring? Stalking isn't how you get a girlfriend, if you didn't realize." A lazy smirk grew on his face as he leaned back.

I didn't like the almost predatory glance the guy gave me, but I appreciated his words, because all eyes were off of me in a second. The gratefulness in my chest lasted only a minute before a piece of crumpled notebook paper moved across the table towards me. I looked over at the boy next to me, but he was staring intently ahead, refusing to make eye contact. A sigh fell from my mouth and I grabbed the paper.

Who are you?

Short and to the point, but I didn't understand. I'd just introduced myself. Quinn Holmes? I wrote back. Who are you two?

I sent the note back and waited for a response as I quickly started writing the notes on the board down in my notebook. The class seemed to be right where I'd left off in Miami, which was pretty amazing, since almost every school had a different schedule. Harris barely spoke while writing down formulas and equations we would need for an upcoming test. I didn't have the heart to ask what something meant when I got confused. Something told me that Harris was nothing but a jerk to students who couldn't quite wrap their head around a concept.

The piece of paper rolled back into view. No. Not who are you. Like what are you doing here? Like last time, I looked over at my lab partner. Just like last time, he was watching the board with an odd intensity.

Ignoring the paper, I just leaned in closer to him. "What do you mean? I'm here because my mom's a traveling nurse." And then something clicked in my head. "Wait, do you mean you want to know what I was doing in the woods last night?" That got his attention. I shrugged, "My brother wanted to see if we could find that missing girl. We couldn't."

My mouth clawed shut as Harris moved to the back of the class and started handing out pieces of paper, quickly explaining that it was a pop quiz. I was unlucky enough to receive one, no matter the new girl status. That didn't faze me much, though, because the boy next to me leaned up and started whispering into his friend's ear. It was probably about me.

"This is a pop quiz, Mr. Stilinski. If I hear your voice again, I may be tempted to give you detention for the rest of your high school career." Harris's serious drawl got the class's attention.

I opened my mouth before I could stop. "Whoa, dude, can you even do that?"

And then those beady little eyes were on me. "Ms. Holmes I understand that you are new to Beacon Hills, but please understand that no student of mine will talk back on another's behalf. I will see you and Mr. Stilinski at three this afternoon."

A scoff came from my throat and the Stilinski kid looked at me almost as if he were asking, "Are you kidding me?" His friend looked back at him with an annoyingly smug smile on his face before Harris got on his back as well.

"You too, Mr. McCall?"

He turned around and started his quiz. "No, sir."

Minutes passed and quizzes began to be completed. Halfway through, the boy who had saved me from the staring earlier made a hasty exit. Stilinski and McCall glanced at each other as it happened, and whoever had been siting near Mr. Smirks-a-lot explained that he had gotten a nosebleed. I didn't think much of it, but it was obvious that Stilinski and McCall did. Which was weird, but they were also the ones who went into the middle of the woods at night just to get yelled at by a group of armed adult men.

I ignored them for the rest of class, quickly choosing to worry about my own problems.

-

Presley caught up with me at lunch, where we sat at a table alone and basked in the glory of being new. People stared and whispered, but I payed no attention to that. I was too busy being lectured by my brother, who for some reason liked to pretend he was my father.

"Detention on the first day of school is major, Q! You know I won't tell Mom but if I did - oh you'd be in so much trouble. I mean, here I am getting a spot on the lacrosse team with those two weirdos from the woods, who you then have chemistry with. Maybe it's them? Maybe they have it out for you and want to see you fail - "

I dropped my head into my hands and covered my ears, smothering any nagging coming my way. He'd skipped over the fact that I had class with the two from last night, but now it was coming into play. This along with the detention was going to give him a stress hernia. I grabbed hold of his forearm and shook it until he stopped talking. Thankfully, he caught on and shut his mouth, even though I could tell he was holding himself back.

"I'll pick you up when detention is over." He said. I nodded.