Chapter 2: My Chance Turning the corner, I saw the public school that I would be attending and a small smile raised the corners of my mouth. It was not the poshest of schools, but it was my only chance to having some freedom. Walking through the front gates, I felt a little thrill of exhilaration. I headed to the main office to register with the secretary. "Excuse me?," I said, "my name is Alicia Jackson, I'm new here." "Of course," the secretary said, looking up from her work, "here's your time table, and here's a map of the school." I nodded and thanked her, walking towards my first class, World History. Lining up with the other students outside the classroom, I noted the groups of people, how they carried themselves, were there any fighters? A few people gave me a once over look, and then ignored me - just as planned, I didn't want to get too close to anybody here. Standing in a corner, against the wall was a guy my age, who didn't really seem to fit in either. A few people had made attempts to talk to him but he just brushed them off. He looked the type to be popular, with messy blonde hair and green eyes. He was tall and muscular, easily one of the best looking guys I'd ever seen - not that I'd seen many guys that weren't in the Dark. Maybe he was new too? But I would've thought that he'd make more of an effort to fit in, if he was. Just then, the teacher came past and interrupted my train of thought. She opened the door and let us all in. While the rest of the class sat down, I went up to the teachers desk and I introduced myself. She told me that her name was Ms. Matthews and sent me to a seat at the back of the class, but didn't make make me stand up at the front of the class, which I had been prepared for. I scanned the classroom, checking for escape routes and things that could be used as weapons, just like I had been trained. I caught the blonde guy looking at me from his seat at the front, and as much as I wanted to just give him an icy stare in return, I found I couldn't. I felt my cheeks heating up, and realised that I was blushing, so I looked away quickly. God, he's just an annoying pervert, don't let him bother you, I thought to myself. " Now, as it is the first day back after a long summer break, I want to see how much you have remembered from last year. This is a test, and while it will not go toward your winter grade, I expect you all to try your best." The class let out a unified sigh. "Alicia, seeing as it's your first day in the school, you have the option of not taking the test." I wanted to see the difficulty of the things we were learning, so I shook my head and said, "no, it's fine, I'll do the test." Ms. Matthews started handing out the papers, and when I received mine I looked over it and saw, to my relief, that my tutor had already done all of it with me. I smiled, and started to write. ******************************************************************************************** The classes of the day had gone well, and I didn't find anything in particular that I needed to study more for. I looked down at my timetable, and my heart skipped. P.E. Now I had a chance to show off a bit - nothing amazing, but beat the boys at least. I entered the hall, and went through the smaller door into the girls changing room. Shit. It was an open changing room - I'd have to change in front of everybody else, and they'd see my scars. I decided, that because only a few girls had arrived, I'd go into the darkest corner and change as quickly as I could. I had purposely chosen my long-sleeves and full length leggings that fit to my body well to allow easy movement. None of the other girls noticed me, and I was done before the changing rooms filled up. I emerged out to the gym and looked around in disdain. I was so used to the high-tech gym at the Dark Mansion that I hadn't realised what it would be like here. Slowly, the other students came out if the changing rooms, in groups, and sat at the edge of the room. I sat awkwardly by myself, having no friends to talk to. Again, I saw the blonde guy at the other end of the line of laughing teenagers, sitting by himself. I noticed though, how they treated him - they weren't excluding him like they were me, they were treating him with a sort of respect. They seemed a bit nervous of him, I wondered why. The coach came out and declared that she would be separating us into pairs to practice defence skills. I smiled. Time to beat the crap out of a boy. The coach started calling out people to pair up. "Alicia Jackson and Jamie Forrester." I glanced around and saw the blonde guy stand up and walk towards me. "Guess we're partners then," he said, smirking. So that was his name. Jamie Forrester. "Guess we are. Just so you know, I'm gonna beat the crap outa you," I said, smirking right back at him. "You're sounding confident," he said, like he actually stood a chance against me. "That's cause I am confident," I winked. "Right, just to let you know, I haven't been beaten by anyone in this school before," he replied to my wink. "That's just cause you've never fought me before," I smirked again. Just then, the coach came over to us, interrupting our smirk-filled conversation. "Right, Alicia, you don't have to do this if you've never had any experience - you can just watch." "Naw, coach, I'm fine, I've done loads of this kinda stuff before," I said dismissively. "Well, Jamie, go easy on her, give her a chance," the coach said to Jamie, shooting him a look. "Sure, coach," he said, suppressing a laugh. "Well, go ahead, I'd like to see how you move Alicia," the coach said, "so I'll supervise you two." Jamie and I walked over to a free space in the hall, the coach following us. I stood still, concentrating on him, watching for the tell-tale signs that he was about to move. I saw, the tension in his right arm just a second before he moved to punch. Twisting out of the way, I flipped up into the air and landed a few feet behind him. He spun around and his eyes narrowed. He seemed to consider me as a proper opponent now. I kicked towards him, but he caught my ankle and spun me around, but I managed to regain my balance just in time to avoid his fist coming toward me at lightening speed. God, he's fast! How did he learn all this? I flipped again to land on his other side, but he caught me in mid-air and I was sent crashing to the ground. I caught his ankle with mine though, and he fell over too. Rolling to avoid him, I climbed to my feet again, breathing hard. He stood up too, sweat rolling down his face. I thought I saw something metallic glint in his hand, but it disappeared and I dismissed it as my imagination. "Draw?" He said, green eyes glinting. "Fine," I said, "but just remember, you just about got your ass kicked of by a girl." "Sure, sure, but it won't happen again," he winked. Just then, I realised that the hall had fallen silent. They were watching to two of us with awe. I could tell that they had never seen such a good fight, except maybe in the movies. I felt my face heat up, and a faint blush creeped up my cheeks. Even the coach was staring at us, jaw-dropped unattractively open. "Well, Alicia, you certainly can fight." "I did tell you I had experience in this kind of thing before, didn't I?" "I suppose, you did yes. Well, you can all go back to the changing rooms now," she told the class. As I walked to the changing rooms, the other girls surrounded me but I just ignored them - I wanted to make friends, but I could not run the risk of having them find our my secret. So I changed in the dark corner again, trying to avoid the stares of the other girls. Just as I finished reapplying my makeup, the home bell went. I breathed a sigh of relief. My first day at high school had been a success, and no one suspected a thing. As I headed down the road back to the mansion I heard something behind me. Down an alley-way, I saw Jamie with his back turned. He was talking to two men in suits. Suddenly, one of the men launched a kick at him, but Jamie caught his foot and the man toppled to the ground. He pulled out a knife and threw it at the other man in the suit, skimming his hip. The first man rose up behind him but a strange shimmering in the air threw him back. He landed unconscious on the concrete. Jamie, no, he's not magic, he can't be. He can't. Drawing out another knife, he pressed it to the second guys neck. "I will find her. I will find her before she turns sixteen. No matter how many men the Dark send after me, I will kill them. Count yourself lucky I didn't kill you. Now run back to your master, and tell him what I said." He let the suited guy go, and the man ran down the alley, tie flapping behind him. Jamie walked up to the unconscious guy. And then he buried his knife in the mans chest. I screamed. I screamed and I screamed. I had never killed anybody before, and it made me sick - because that was what I was going to do to the world. Every last person. I was going to kill them all. Jamie ran up to me, and covered my mouth with his hand, dragging me further down the alley so that we couldn't be seen from the main street. I didn't fight back, I was too shocked. "Alicia. Alicia, just listen to me. Those guys would've killed me. I had to fight back. And if I hadn't killed that guy, they would've just sent more after me." I took in a breath. "But what was that...that thing that made him fall?" I knew it was magic, but I didn't want him to suspect me of anything except being an unusually skilled fighter. "Oh, you saw that then, did you?"he sounded worried,"it was, I don't know how to say this... It was magic." I stood there, pretending to be shocked. "I'm one of the Light. We're a secret group dedicated to protecting the world. At the moment, we're looking for this girl, the Dark girl who's destined to destroy the world." I processed this information. The Light were looking for me. Oh shit. This could't get any worse. "Say... Say you found that girl... What would you do to her?" I said, pretending to be struggling to breath. "Well, I'd bring her to my bosses... And then... I suppose they'd most likely kill her." I breathed in sharply. "Wh..w...why?," I stuttered. "She's the biggest threat to the world at the moment. We'd have to eliminate her." "O..oh." "You can go home now. I've already told you too much. Just promise me that you won't tell anyone else." Those green eyes were pleading me. "Kay," I whispered, and fled back down the alley. When I turned the corner I glanced back and saw him still watching me, his blonde hair catching in the wind.