The boy fell to his knees as his whole world crashed down. Glass flew everywhere, showering him. He felt pieces slice through his skin, stick in his arms and back, but nothing hurt as much as the pain he felt in his chest as he saw her small body lay limp in the middle of the street. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t find the strength to go over to her. All he could do was just sit there and watch all of the people stop and stare. Someone ran over to her and tried to help her, but they couldn’t do anything. Soon enough he heard sirens coming closer and saw two tall, well built men come out of an ambulance with a gurney. They gently lifted her up onto it and strapped her in.
As they wheeled her away, her eyes flittered open, looking directly at him. They were sad and pleading. They had pain in them. He felt hot tears run down his face I’m sorry he mouthed to her, not able to make a sound. She smiled and closed her eyes again. The paramedics loaded her up into the ambulance and closed the doors. As the ambulance drove away, another one pulled up. One man ran over to him, asking him what had happened. He couldn’t process anything, all he was able to do was stare at the back of the ambulance, the one she was in.
Faintly in the background he could hear yelling. A man was asking someone if they were okay, if they needed assistance. It took him a while to realize that it was the paramedic yelling at him.
The boy looked up “What?” He croaked
“Are you okay?” The paramedic repeated, anxious.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied, attempting to get up.
The paramedic gently held the boy’s arm, helping him up. “Well, you need to go get all of this glass out of you.”
“Okay” He said, lifelessly.
The paramedic led him over to the ambulance and told him to sit down inside. When he did, she came over to him and gently held his arm up.
“Not too bad.” She said sympathetically and began to pull pieces out with tweezers.
She kept on stealing glances at him every once in a while.
“She’ll be okay,” She stated, keeping her eyes on his arm “Don’t worry.”
He shook his head, looking up at her. “It’s my fault. None of this would have happened if it weren’t for me.”
This time she looked at him, really looked at him “It’s nobody’s fault” she shrugged “It happens all of the time.”
“I guess but, this is different.”
“Just buy her flowers, it will make everything better.” She smiled that familiar smile.
“I wish it was that easy.”



The rain ran down the windshield, making it look as if the world were melting away. It might as well melt away, we’re all going to die in the end anyways. One of you might die tomorrow, and you don’t even know it. I know what you’re thinking- Is this seriously another one of those stories about a girl hating her life? No, it is not. For many reasons. One of them being: I’m a guy. And I don’t hate my life, I’m just not very fond of it at the moment. I would tell you why right now, but it’s a very long story and who likes the guy who ruins the story? So, I guess I should start in the beginning. When I met Alice.
It was a cold friday night, a few years ago, I had just moved in with this new foster family. They lived in one of those small towns where everyone knows everyone and they are all butting into each other’s business. I had only been there for a few weeks and I already hated it. The only bright-side was that I could walk everywhere. I didn’t have to rely on a ride, so I could just go. The only problem with that was that there was nowhere to go. I decided to take a walk anyways.
I was walking down the street across from mine, dodging puddles from the previous night’s rain. I took a puff of my cigarette, yes I smoke, and looked around the block. It looked like your average small town street. All the houses virtually the same. Small cars and mini-vans in the driveway. Child toys on the front lawns, chairs on the front porch. And the occasional dog tied up, or a cat roaming around. Still, there was one house that stood out. It was a two-story house at the edge of the street. There was a really nice convertible in the driveway. No toys out front, no chairs, no dog or cat. There was barely any sign of life other than the few dim lights on inside. 
 I leaned against the lamp post, letting the light illuminate me. I heard voices coming from inside the house, which raised and turned into yelling. After a while the porch light came on and the door swung open. A girl about my age with dark hair walked out in pajamas, letting the door slam behind her. She hastily walked down the steps and towards the street. When she got to the lamp post she brought out a phone and starting hitting buttons. After she was done, she closed the phone and put it back in her pocket. She had a nice body, what some may call an hour glass figure. Her hair was black, but I could see the red roots growing out. It took her a second to notice me, when she did she looked at me curiously.
“I don’t know you” She stated, with curiosity laced through her words.
“Yeah. I know,” I said simply “I’m new.”
“But, nobody new has moved here in 4 months. I would know, because my mom owns the real-estate company here.” She was getting suspicious
I took another puff of my cigarette “I moved in with the Burelsons, I’m their foster child.”
“Oh,” She said quietly. Yeah, she wasn’t expecting that. “Well, I’m Alice”
I nodded “Jake”
“Um, if you don’t mind,” She said, hesitantly walking closer to me “could I get a cigarette off of you?”
“Sure” I said, pulling out my pack. I pulled one out and handed it to her.
“Thanks” She said, taking it. She patted at her pockets, looking for something.
I pulled out my lighter and handed it to her.
“Thanks.... again” Alice lit her cigarette and handed me my lighter.
“So,” She said, blowing out smoke “Why are you out here so late?”
I shrugged “I like walking. I wanted to get to know the town a little better”
“How long have you been here?”
“Few weeks”
She nodded and looked across the street. I took this time to examine her. Her eyes were almost black and she had light brown freckles across her nose and cheeks that you could hardly see. She had her ears pierced, with dark purple diamonds in. Around her neck was a necklace with a ring on it. She wore a tight black shirt with ‘Love’ written across it in red letters and loose black pajama pants with little pink cartoon kittens. Her feet were bare, with dark purple painted toe nails. They matched her fingernails. Her fingers were long and skinny. On her middle finger on her right hand she wore a man’s class ring.
“What do you think so far?” Alice asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“To be honest, I’m not very fond of it.” I said, honestly.
“Are you starting school after the end of fall break?”
I sighed “Yep”
“It’s not bad.” She said “There are a few cool kids there, well I don’t know what you consider cool, but they’re the best people there in my opinion.”
“I’m assuming it’s you’re group of friends” I said, with a smirk on my face
“Yes, it is. Well, one of them I don’t like very much. She’s my best friend’s cousin and she is the complete opposite of me”
“What’s she like?”
“Here name’s Bianca, and her family is extremely rich. Her dad gets her anything she wants because he owns some big company. I’m not sure what her mom does, I think she’s a lawyer or something. She doesn’t seem to like anyone that isn’t like a rich snob or something, she absolutely hates me. I could honestly care less, I’ve never liked her. But, we all have to deal with her because she’s Beth’s cousin and nobody else at the school wants to be around her.”
“Hmmm, she sounds like a royal pain.”
“You don’t know that half of it.”
I threw my cigarette on the ground and stepped on it.
“I need to get home.”
“Okay, it was nice to meet you”
“Yeah, it was.”
“I guess I’ll see you around then.”
“Yes, yes you will.”



I slammed down on my alarm clock, hitting the snooze button. Today’s my first day of school and I really did not want to go but, it’s way better than sitting around in an un-familiar house doing nothing. So, I got up, took a hot shower, and threw on some jeans, a black T-shirt, and my old Converse shoes.
When I went down stairs, Jeanie, my foster mom, was cooking breakfast: eggs, bacon, pancakes, oatmeal and orange juice. Her 11 year old son, Ben, was sitting at the table eating. He looked up at me when I walked into the kitchen and smiled.
“Morning, Jake.” Jeanie said, warmly.
“Good morning.” I replied “Morning, Ben.”
“Good morning, Jake!” He shouted back happily.
“Is the breakfast good?” I asked
“I don’t know,” He said “I think she might be trying to poison us” He then proceeded to fake choke for about a minute, ending up on the floor, holding his throat, breathing deeply. Jeanie just laughed and handed me a plate.
“Should I eat it, Ben?” I asked as he got back up and sat in his chair.
“Well, you have super powers that can fight against any type of poison, like me, so I think it’s okay.” He said, completely serious.
I chuckled “Okay,”

I calmly stepped out of the car, taking in the school. I had been here last week to get my schedule and my locker and all of that other mandatory stuff but, it looked so much different with around 900 students there. More intimidating. It was a small school, but it was still a new school. And I only knew one person here; Alice. Although, I had only talked to her that once, so I don’t really know her.
I pulled my schedule out to see what room my homeroom was. After I had walked inside I got about five steps before some girl came up to me smiling. She was about 6 inches shorter than me, maybe 5’3”, with short light brown hair pulled back into a high pony tail. She was wearing a bright blue sweat shirt, which made her green eyes pop, tight ripped jeans, and those fuzzy winter boots.
“Hi!” She said, cheerfully “I’m Jessie.”
“Hi, Jessie,” I replied, quietly “I’m Jake.”
“Hi, Jake! So, you’re new here?”
“Obviously,” I said, rolling my eyes
Her cheerful smile faltered a bit, but picked back up right after.
“Do you need any help getting to class?”
“Sure, Mr. Cameron?”
“Oh! That’s my homeroom, too!”
“Great,” She’s not the kind of person I usually hang out with, but it’s better then being alone and not knowing where to go.
“Follow me, we can walk together.” She said, starting to walk down the hallway
“Okay,” I said, following her.
Her pony tail kept on swaying back and forth as I walked behind her. We walked through the halls, passing many many people. I kept on getting curious stares from everybody. At one point I think we passed Alice, but I’m not sure because she was surrounded by a bunch of people. Jessie seemed to know everyone, because she was smiling and waving to almost every person in the hallway. Finally, she turned to a classroom and opened to door.
When we walked in, there were a few kids sitting in the desks, talking and laughing. Behind the desk there was a tall well built man, that looked to be in about his late 20’s. His hair was short and black and he had bright blue eyes. When we walked up, he peered at us over the papers he was reading.
“Hi, Mr. Cameron!” Jessie said, excitedly.
“Hi, Jessie, how are you today?” He replied, smiling
“I’m good, how are you?”
“I’m doing good. Who’s your friend?” He stared at me curiously.
“This is Jake. He’s new.” She stated
“Oh, yeah. I think heard about you.” He stuck out his hand “Hi, I’m Mr. Cameron”
I shook his hand “Jake Greene”
“Well, take a seat. Class will be beginning soon.”
Jessie lead me to a seat in the back and sat next to me.
“What class do you have next?” She asked, looking at my schedule
“Biology” I said.
“Oh, I don’t have that. But, he does” She pointed to a guy walking in. He was tall and had the football player build. His hair was dark brown, short, and wavy. He had dark green eyes, and you could tell he kind of “fixed up” his eyebrows with tweezers.
“Hey, babe” He said to Jessie, sitting in the seat in front of her.
“Hi” She said smiling. She laced her fingers through his.
“Who are you?” He asked, pointing to me with his free hand.
I opened my mouth to respond but Jessie cut him off “That’s Jake, he’s new”
“Hey. I’m Anthony” He said, eyeing me.
“He has Biology with you”
“Really? Well, I can take you there”
“I could have found my way. Thank you, though”
When the bell rang, Mr. Cameron made everyone quite down so he could take roll. When he got to my name, he introduced me and asked me some questions.
“Where did you move from?”
“Chicago”
“Wow, big change. Why’d you move?”
“The last family didn’t want me” I stated simply and mentally laughed when the room froze. It was as if everyone stopped breathing at the same time.
“Right” Mr. Cameron said, taken aback. “How do you like it here so far.”
I shrugged “No comment” A few people laughed shakily, unsure if it was okay.
Mr. Cameron opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the bell. Everyone seemed to get up at the same time and start walking out. Anthony came up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. He was about three inches taller than me.
“Just follow me and you’ll be okay” He said confidently.
I shrugged “Okay”
As soon as we got out of the class he turned left. We walked about ten feet before he turned into a class.
“Seriously?” I asked “I needed help to find this class?”
He shrugged and opened the door.
“We have assigned seats. Ask Mrs. Brown where you can sit.” He said and quickly walked to his seat.
I calmly walked over the the desk at the front of the room. Sitting behind the desk was a young woman, maybe in her early thirties. She had dark brown hair, pulled back into a bun. Her face was one of those skinny, structured faces. She looked up at me with bright green eyes. When she smiled she had dimples.
“Hi,” She sad, cheerfully “You must be Jake”
I was surprised. My last teacher didn’t seem to be expecting me.
“Yes,” I sad, smiling back “I am”
“Hi, Jake.” She stretched out her hand “I’m Mrs. Brown”
“Hi, Mrs. Brown” I said, shaking her hand.
“You can sit right here, in the front” She pointed to an empty seat.
Right as I sat down the bell rang and kids started piling in. To my surprise, Alice was in this class. I watched her as she stood off to the side of the class talking to someone I assumed to be her friend. It was a tall skinny guy with black hair an the typical ‘Emo’ cut. He was wearing gray skinny jeans, a black T-shirt, and black converse shoes. I couldn’t really make out his facial features from here and his hair was covering most of his face. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and in his he was standing with one hand in his pocket.
Alice looked oddly small next to his tall, lanky body. Her sleek black hair had pink streaks in it and was down and straight. She was wearing a baggy, black sweatshirt that had some weird, lime green design on it. Her pants were blue denim skinny jeans and she had black boots on. She had a plain gray messenger bag slung over her shoulder. My attention returned for a few seconds back to her tall emo friend. He kept flicking his hair trying to keep it out of his eyes, and failing miserably. I went back to staring at Alice watching her facial expressions change from interested to what seemed to me as ‘Why should I care?’ I was so caught up in watching her conversation I didn’t notice the incessant tapping on my shoulder. I brought myself back to reality and turned my attention to the tapper.
It was a short blonde girl. She was gazing at me with big blue eyes.
“Who are you?” She asked quite loudly, and frankly kind of rudely.
“I’m Jake” I said, irritated. I’m getting tired of hearing that question so often. Can’t I just stay in one place long enough that people actually know who I am.
“Where are you from?” She asked
I opened my mouth to respond but was interrupted.
“I don’t think Jake really wants to be questioned about his history, Jade” I turned around to see Alice standing by me.
“How would you know? It’s not like you’re friends with him or anything” Jade replied , obviously irritated that Alice was here.
“I actually don’t. I’m tired of answering the same questions” I stated simply, making eye contact with Jade.
She huffed and stalked away.
“Thanks” I sad, turning my attention back to Alice.
“No problem but.... you’re in my seat” She said, smiling
“Mrs. Brown told me sit here”
“Well, the seat next to me is empty” She pointed to the empty chair next to me.
I shrugged “Okay. Then, I guess I’ll sit there.”
I scooted over and Alice took the seat I was in. Right after she say down the bell rang. A big group of kids hurriedly piled into the class and went to their seats. As soon as everyone was in their seats Mrs. Brown stood up and walked to the front of class. She introduced my and asked the usual questions. After she gave us a lecture on something about cell reproduction she passed out papers.
“You and your partner will complete this lab together and present your results and the end of the period.” She said before sitting back down behind her desk.
Alice and I started working on the project while chatting.
“So, how is it so far?” She asked
“How is what?” I responded
“Your day” She said, like it was obvious.
“Good, I guess. Same as all of my other first days” I shrugged.
“Really?” She asked, her brow furrowed “This place in pretty unusual. I guess you just haven’t figured it out yet”
I looked her in the eye “There is a lot of things I haven’t figured out yet”
Her eyes darted back to the paper, she obviously caught my double meaning. This place is different. There is actually people here that I can get along with. And I definitely wanted to get to know Alice better.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.01.2011

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