Curate, connect, and discover
Hey this is just a random writing thing for practice. Lmk what you think but this is mostly for fun. Or it’s supposed to be for fun.
Chapter 1
“No! I don’t want to go!” The room had spun; the world had been thrown from its axes before shattering like a glass vase against a wall. “Grandma! Please, don’t do this! I don’t want to go with them! I want to stay here!”
“Arielle, I don’t have a choice. The courts have deemed your parents fit to take care of you now,” Her grandmother said, her voice soft, trying to be comforting. It wasn’t working.
“They live in the middle of nowhere! I won’t be able to see you!” Arielle had cried. She wouldn’t be able to see her grandmother, her aunties, her uncles, her cousins, and her friends!
“You can visit, and we will visit you once you get settled down,” Her grandmother had tried to reason.
“I’m in my junior year of high school! I won’t know anyone, and I will be alone!” Arielle had argued.
“You will have your parents,” her grandmother had said. “Arielle,” her grandmother put her hands on Arielle’s face. Her grandmother's hands were warm and worn from all the work she had done over the years: working in the hospital, the church, and teaching Arielle how to become a practitioner. “I have no choice. The courts are making you go. If there were a way to make you stay, I would’ve done it by now. You know that.” Arielle did know that, but it didn’t matter to her because of its unfairness. Her life was being ripped from up under her, and there was nothing either of them could do. The days leading up to Arielle’s move had been quiet. Arielle barely spoke to anyone; she sat at the altar for her ancestors and prayed that anyone stop this from happening. But every prayer went unanswered. The day of the move was worse. All her family and friends had come to wish her a goodbye. But it went by in a blur; she couldn’t see due to all her tears. Her father opened the car's passenger side door for her, but she ignored him and went into the backseat. They drove in silence for a few hours before her father tried to speak to her, engage her in any type of conversation, but when nothing worked, he sighed and said,
“I know this is hard for you. You haven’t seen your mother and me in years, but we got better. Not only are we two years sober, and we also have great-paying jobs. We got our lives together for you. We just want to build a good relationship with our daughter.” Arielle had summoned the meanest and most vindictive glare she could muster before turning it on her father and saying,
“If you wanted a ‘good relationship,’ maybe you should’ve tried talking to her instead of forcing her to uproot her life away from everyone she loved and making her leave the one place she had ever known. Have you ever thought of that?” Her father never responded, and Arielle looked out the window as they left the city of New Orleans and drove to Colorado. The ride took two days, and they barely spoke to each other in those days. Her father only asked her if she was hungry or had to use the bathroom, and Arielle responded with short answers. When they arrived in the small town of Silverlake, she noticed one thing.
“Are you fucking kidding me!? You moved me to a sundown town!?” Arielle cries; she watches as every person they drive past is white. “If you wanted me dead, a gun to the head would be better!”
“Arielle!” Her father had yelled in frustration but Arielle just cried silently to herself. “This isn’t a sundown town; there are people of color here! We know a great black couple with a son your age!”
“He’s probably a coon,” Arielle sniffles quietly.
“What was that?” her father had asked with a confused frown.
“I don’t want new friends! I want Kyrell, Kaeja, Leon, Jenesis, and Selena! I want my cousins Huey, Riley, Phrenell, Carlina, and Diamond!” Arielle yells. Her father had driven up to the house, which, Arielle had to admit, was nice. The house was two stories and huge, mostly beige panels with white outlining. The roof was a light brown, which matched the house's aesthetic. It was really nice, but Arielle refused to admit it out loud. Arielle grabbed her bags and ran into the house. Arielle refused to look at the rest of the house or greet her mother as she ran upstairs to where her father had told her where her room would be. Her room was already filled with her stuff: dresser, bed, and boxes of all her stuff. But it felt wrong. This wasn’t home. She had locked the doors to her room.
That's how the past few days had been; she refused to unpack and acclimate to her situation. She watched her phone as she counted down the days until she would have to go to school. Her father and mother both tried to get her to exit the room but failed. She was going to stay that way until her group chat went off,
“Ari? You good? It’s been a few days, and you haven’t answered any of our messages,” It was Jenesis who texted the group chat first. No, Arielle wasn’t ‘good,’ nor would she ever be.
“We are here if you want to talk,” Keaja adds. Arielle didn’t have the energy to respond; if she did, she would break down again. She misses her friends with everything in her.
“Bitch you mad weird for ignoring us,” Her cousin Riley texts. Arielle’s eye twitches in annoyance. Riley was her cousin and twin to Huey. They were named after the characters in Boondocks, and their personalities, funnily enough, also matched the characters. But Arielle wasn’t finding it funny at the moment.
“Riley, bro, chill,” Kyrell responds.
“Yeah, Riley. It’s obvious our cousin is sad,” Huey texts.
“Tighten tf up,” Riley replies.
“I’ll be right back,” Huey texts. There are a few minutes where neither Huey nor Riley text in the group chat.
“Not to side with a man,” Diamond starts.
“Never that,” Selena adds.
“But Riley is right,” Diamond concludes. Emojis are spammed in the chat, most of them being shock and angry. “LET ME SPEAK MY TRUTH!”
“Calm down, pastor,” Carlina texts before sending a bunch of eye roll emojis.
“Don’t hurt em now!” Leon texts. Diamond responded to Leon’s text with a bunch of eye rolls before responding, “Look. Arielle, you know you, my girl. I get this is hard for you. We all do! But are you going to ignore us and be miserable, or are you going to make the best of the situation?” Arielle finally responds,
“Be miserable.”
“There's our girl!” Leon texts.
“Think about it this way,” Huey texts, finally returning to the group chat. “You have two more years, and you are college-bound. Keep your grades up, get a job so you have money, and bid your time. We can all still go to the same college. All you gotta do is graduate.” Arielle sighed. Huey was right, and she hated him for it.
“Also, we will still be able to use FaceTime,” Carlina texts.
“And visit! I expect you to be down soon!” Jenesis texts.
“Yeah, yeah,” Arielle responds and starts to feel slightly better at the familiar banter between herself and her friends. Diamonds and Huey’s words echoed in her head, ‘Are you going to make the best of the situation?’ and ‘Keep your grades up, get a job so you have money, and bid your time.’ She could do this. Arielle gets up and exits her room. She walks downstairs to see her parents at the dining table eating their food as they speak in low voices. When they noticed her, they stopped and stared at her in shock.
“A-Arielle! How are you!” Her mother says. Arielle walks to the kitchen and makes her a plate of food before sitting down at the table.
“I’m fine,” Arielle mutters. Her mother and father look at each other with barely contained hope.
“Great!” Her father grins.
“Are you excited for school tomorrow?” Her mother asks. No! Why the fuck would I be excited for school? I won’t have any friends, and I don’t know my way around the place! You fucked up my life! FUCK YOU!
“I’m indifferent,” Arielle says; if she said what was really on her mind, she’d doubt she’d like the consequences. “Though, I’d prefer to go to school with my friends,” Arielle said, hoping they’d stop trying to talk to her. It does, but only for a second,
“Thomas! Did you tell her about Dante?” Her mother asks.
“Briefly,” Her father mutters, not mentioning why the conversation had been cut briefly. “She does know of him.”
“Well! I asked him to drop you off at school and to show you around!” Her mother says with a wide grin. Motherfucker.
“Great,” Arielle responds bristly because, no, this was not great. She wasn’t going to make friends. She was going to keep her head down, get a job, bid her time, and get the fuck out of here once she graduates. The rest of dinner was thankfully silent. Arielle returned to her room, cluttered with unopened boxes filled with all her clothes. Arielle sighs before she begins to unpack her boxes. She puts her clothes into drawers or the closet; she puts books on shelves, pictures and posters on all the walls. She stops at one box and pulls out a picture of her grandmother's mother, Rosemary. She’d never met Rosemary before but knew she watched over her.
“Please give me the strength and patience to make it to graduation,” Arielle whispers to the picture. She would have to make an altar here, but she didn’t have the time right now, so she had to get ready for bed.
Arielle dreams like she does every night, but this dream feels different. It was as if a presence was engulfing her. The presence was angry and hungry. She had to run, had to leave, but the presence grabbed on to her, unwilling to let her go.
“Arielle!” voices echo around her, and the voices yell, causing the presence to fall away. Arielle shoots up from her bed, panting. She needed to build her altar and fucking cleanse this house because there was no way that was a normal dream.
“Arielle! Your father has already left for work, and I’m leaving right now! Dante will be here in ten minutes! Breakfast is in the microwave!” Arielle heard her mother call. Fuck, she had school today. Arielle got up from her bed, ripped her bonnet and head wrap off, ran downstairs, ate her breakfast before returning upstairs, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and getting dressed. Arielle finishes just in time as someone knocks on her front door. Arielle walks downstairs and to the front door. She opened it and saw a boy her age; he had an umber brown skin tone with cool magenta undertones, and his hair was cropped short, immediately raising a red flag in Arielle’s mind. He had light brown eyes and was tall and lean.
“Arielle?”
“Dante?” Arielle shoots back. Dante smiles,
“Nice to meet you!” For meeting someone he didn’t know, he seemed relaxed. But Arielle didn’t care; she grabbed her backpack, walked outside, closed the door, and locked it. “Ready to go?”
“Ready as I'll ever be,” Arielle replies shortly. Dante leads Arielle to her car and opens the back seat for her; Arielle gets in without complaining. That’s when she noticed someone else was in the car, a black girl her age. “Oh, thank god.” The girl blinked at in confusion,
“What?”
“I thought I was going to be the only black girl at school. I’m so happy you’re here,” Arielle says bluntly. This causes the girl to burst out laughing,
“I’m happy you are here too! I got tired of being the only black girl in school. I’m Neveah, I’m Dante’s girlfriend and the new girl before you.” Neveah was a gorgeous girl with an umber brown skin tone like Arielle and Dante, dark brown eyes, and her hair was done in goddess braids.
“Looks like I took your title, but I’m glad you're his girlfriend. Not gonna lie; I thought we were the only black kids here. I thought he was going to be a coon,” Arielle admits, which causes Neveah to laugh again.
“I can still hear you both,” Dante huffs as he gets into the driver's seat. “I’m not a coon!”
“He was before he met me; don’t like his pretty face fool you. He was the only black kid in town before I got here,” Neveah says with a playful smirk.
“So, we three are the only black kids?” Arielle asks.
“In our grade, yeah, but I’m pretty sure there are some other black kids in the school. I’m not sure,” Dante says as he starts the car and begins to drive.
“Where are y’all from?” Arielle asks; she knows she shouldn’t get attached to these people, but she feels safe around these two.
“I was born in New York but moved here when I was like six,” Dante says.
“Chicago. Moved here in middle school,” Neveah explains.
“New Orleans. What’s the rest of our grade lookin' like?” Arielle asks.
“They’re a bunch of assholes,” Neveah replies with a huff.
“They aren’t all bad,” Dante argues, but Neveah shoots him a look. “I mean…a few of them aren’t that bad.”
“Jeez, what the hell goes on in y’all school?” Arielle asks.
“Our school,” Neveah corrects before continuing, “a bunch of bullshit. It’s something every day in this hell hole. I’d stick with me or Dante because someone found out there was a new student coming here this year. It’s spread through the whole town.”
“Damn, y’all get excited for one new student?” Arielle asks.
“You would too if all you saw were the same faces every year,” Dante states.
“The only way you're gonna see a new person in this town is if they’re passing through or if someone is having a baby. People don’t move here often,” Neveah shrugs.
“Who would? This place looks like a fucking sundown town,” Arielle scoffs. Neveah laughs,
“If that ain’t the truth!”
“It’s not a sundown town,” Dante rolls his eyes. “Give this place a chance; I think you will like it here.” Arielle could see Neveah shake her head discreetly at her; Arielle couldn’t help but smile.
“I doubt it, but I’m glad to have you two, at least,” Arielle admits. Maybe she can survive to graduation.
“Nah, you only have me,” Neveah corrects again, which causes Arielle to frown in confusion. “You do NOT want to hang out with Dante’s friends. Bunch of assholes.”
“Come on,” Dante sighs. “They’re not that bad, and they’re my best friends. They were the only people to let me hang out with them when I first started school here.” Arielle couldn’t imagine being the only black kid in a grade. She hopes whatever Dante went through he’s healed from it.
“Fine,” Neveah scoffs. “Mitch is nice.” Dante rolls his eyes,
“Of course you like Mitch.” Neveah smirks,
“Are you jealous, my love?”
“NO!” Dante denied, but Neveah turned to Arielle,
“For context, Mitch was voted third hottest boy in school last year. Dante got fourth.”
“Y’all do that shit here?” Arielle frowns.
“WE don’t do it. Every year some punk bitch posts on an anonymous account ranking every boy and girl in our grade. We still haven’t found out who it is,” Neveah sneers before putting a hand on Dante's thigh. “Don’t worry my love; you are number one in my heart, and if it makes you feel better I didn’t even get top 20.”
“Which is stupid! You are the hottest girl in school,” Dante argued. “No one can match your beauty, baby.” Arielle had to admit these two were cute, but she didn’t want to be here if they got lovey-dovey. She’s already traumatized as is she didn’t need to see this shit. But before either party could continue, Dante parked in front of the school. “Welcome to Silverlake High!” Dante says before getting out of the car.
“The most ghetto school you will ever attend,” Neveah adds as Dante opens her door for you. Neveah gets out, and to Arielle's surprise, Dante also opens the door for her. Arielle gets out of the car and looks up at the high school. It was an indoor school that looked like it had four to five floors. Kids walk into the school, talking, laughing, or complaining. It was the first day of school, and there were lots of mixed emotions.
“Let’s show you to the office,” Dante says as he grabs Neveah’s hand.
“Alright,” Arielle agrees; it’s not like she knew where she was going. Dante and Neveah lead Arielle through the school's first floor. Once they walk in, the hallways go quiet for a brief second before whispers break out.
“Ignore them,” Neveah says, and Arielle was already planning on doing that. As they continue deeper into the school, Arielle notices voices getting louder, and Dante and Neveah suddenly stop, causing Arielle to stop. Arielle turns to the loud voices and sees a group of boys.
“Oh shit,” Dante huffs.
“Your friends are at it again,” Neveah scoffs. There were two groups of boys arguing with each other. Neveah turned to Arielle and pointed at the first group of boys, “Those are my lovely boys friends. That one right there is Mitch.” Neveah points to a boy with light brunette hair and hazel eyes; he is tall but not as tall as Dante and is built like a linebacker. Mitch was the one doing all the yelling and looked extremely pissed. “That boy next to him is Kenny.” Next to him stood an Asian boy who was a foot shorter than Mitch; he had black hair and eyes and was wearing a smirk as he jeered at the other group of boys. “Behind him is Alejandro, but never call him that; call him Alex.” Alex was taller than Dante, which surprised Arielle; he had tan, white skin, dark black hair, blue braces, and dark brown eyes. Arielle couldn’t tell he was Latino at first glance; the boy was white passing as hell.
“Just give me a moment,” Dante says, letting go of Neveah’s hand as he rushes over to help his friends and de-escalate the situation.
“There he goes,” Neveah sighs, shaking her head.
“Who’s the other group?” Arielle asks.
“Oh, well, the one arguing with Mitch is Evan,” Neveah starts. Evan was around Dante’s height and had dark brown hair and blue eyes. “The boy next to him is Ryan, also known as the community dick.” Ryan looked like an all-American boy, almost as tall as Alex, skinny but well-built, with blond hair, blue eyes, and braces. But Arielle could tell something was lurking underneath. She doesn’t know if it’s her intuition or a gut feeling, but something is off with the boy. “Then you have one of the smartest kids in school, Vincent.” Vincent was also pretty tall and had brown hair, green eyes, and freckles. “Then you have the biggest asshole in this school, Christen. My advice is to stay away from this guy. His own friends don’t even like him.” Christen was the shortest out of all the boys, but that wasn’t saying much because all of them were pretty tall. He was also built like a linebacker; he had blond hair and blue eyes. Arielle doesn’t know why, but for some reason she knows in her bones this guy is dangerous.
“If they don’t like him, why do they hang around him?” Arielle asks.
“Probably because they know firsthand that he’s fucking crazy. He’s definitely not the strongest in school, like at all. He’s never won a fight, but he’s vindictive and vengeful. He doesn’t need to fight you to hurt you. Like I said, stay away from him,” Neveah repeated.
“Who’s the strongest in the school,” Arielle asks.
“Alex and Vincent,” Neveah states.
“They must fight a lot for y’all to know that,” Arielle comments.
“Alex, yeah. He’s always getting into fights, but he only fights if he’s provoked,” Neveah says.
“What provokes him?” Arielle asks.
“I have no fucking clue, but the guy goes off when people disrespect him, which honestly same,” Neveah shrugs. “But Vincent doesn’t fight a lot, but when he does fight, that shit ends as soon as it’s started. He might never start a fight, but he sure as hell knows how to end one.”
“Good to know,” Arielle says and looks at each group. She’s getting bad vibes and doesn’t know why. “I have a feeling these two groups are always in trouble.” Neveah laughs,
“You have no fucking idea! The school is split between them. They’re either on Alex’s ‘team’ or Evan’s ‘team’. I know, so fucking stupid. But all the guys pick a side for some damn reason.”
“What about the girls?” Arielle asks
“Oh hell nah, we stay out of that bullshit. A few of the girls choose a side, but that’s because they’re dating someone from each side,” Neveah explains.
“What happens if you don’t choose a side?” Arielle asks because she definitely wasn’t choosing one. This shit sounds so stupid. This town must be boring as hell if people are creating Teen Beach Movie rivalries.
“If you're a girl, nothing. If you’re a boy, you become a social outcast,” Neveah explains.
“That’s stupid as fuck,” Arielle replies bluntly.
“No arguments from me. I never said it was smart,” Neveah shrugs before turning back to the arguing boys. The argument was heating up, which caused Neveah to groan in annoyance. “Fuck this. Let’s just go to the office.”
“You leaving Dante?” Arielle asks.
“He’ll be ight,” Neveah shrugs, and she begins to lead Arielle to the office.
When they get to the office, Arielle sees a boy in the corner of the room. He’s reading a book about the paranormal and shaking.
“Oh, that’s Lucian. One of the social outcasts,” Neveah whispers. Lucian had blond hair that went to his shoulders and was unkempt, he had green eyes, freckles, and was short.
“Why is he shaking?” Arielle asks. It was more like vibrating, really; it was like he was cold or something.
“I think he has some disorder I don’t know,” Neveah shrugs.
“Can I help you girls?” Neveah and Arielle turn to see a woman at the front desk, and Arielle physically keeps herself still. There was darkness around this woman, and it made her uneasy.
“This is the new student, Arielle…?” Neveah trails off.
“Arielle Baptiste,” Arielle supplies hesitantly. She did not want to give her name to this woman, you should never give your name to people who might do you harm. Names are powerful things, and she does not want to be cross.
“What a beautiful name!” The woman says. “But unfortunately, we don’t have all your classes.” The woman slides a sheet of paper filled with different types of classes. “So, could you fill this out so we can make your schedule?”
“Yeah, of course,” Arielle mutters as she grabs the paper. Arielle had to calm herself; she had to be paranoid from last night's dream. This woman was being kind to her and was not showing any ill will to her. Maybe the woman herself had been crossed or hexed that’s why she was covered in darkness. She wishes Riley or her Grandmother was here; they were good at telling people’s intentions. Especially her grandmother. Riley didn’t believe in or practice their ancestral practices, but he could tell someone’s intentions by just looking at them. Her grandma could tell if this woman had it out for her or needed her help by just looking at her. Arielle wasn’t that far in her journey yet, but she will get there one day.
“Arielle?” Neveah asks as she snaps her fingers in front of her.
“Oh! Sorry. What were you saying?” Arielle asks.
“I said you should join cheerleading! It’s really fun, and it can help you make new friends. Tryouts are this Friday after school!” Neveah says.
“I’ll think about it,” Arielle muttered as she filled in the sheet. Neveah kept pointing to classes she should join because they would share. Arielle only did a few because she wasn’t interested in most of Neveah's classes. After she finished, she handed the sheet to the lady at the desk.
“Thank you! Let me just make your schedule. It will only take a moment,” the lady says, grabbing the paper and walking into the back. It takes a few more minutes until the lady comes back and hands her the paper. “Here you go! I hope you enjoy your classes. Come to me if you need help or to change any of them. Alright?”
“Thank you,” Arielle nods bristly before practically dashing to the exit, Neveah following close behind. By the time they exit the office, the bell rings, indicating the homeroom.
“Damn! Thought we would have more time! We should get going!” Neveah says. One of the classes they shared was homeroom, so they walked together.
When they entered the home room, the class was mostly empty. She recognized a few faces, like Dante, and some she didn’t. Neveah sits next to Dante, and Arielle sits next to her. Unfortunately for Arielle, all of Dante’s friends were there. Mitch and Kenny stare at her hard.
“Do y’all have a problem?” Arielle grits out.
“Yeah, fix y’all’s fucking faces. You’re embarrassing me,” Dante hisses before turning to Neveah and Arielle. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t walk with y’all to the office. I had to make sure Alex didn’t kill Evan.” Dante kissed Neveah’s hands in apology, which Arielle found extremely cute.
“All is forgiven, my dear. Where is the bastard anyway?” Neveah asks.
“He’s ditching,” Mitch supplies. “So how do y’all know each other?”
“Arielle's parents are my next-door neighbors. Her parents asked mine if I could drop her off and show her around school,” Dante explains.
“Well, you failed at the first part,” Kenny points out, which causes Dante to deflate.
“Which is y’all’s fault!” Neveah hisses. “Always causing drama for my boyfriend.”
“Hey!” Kenny and Mitch yell.
“I didn’t start that argument! It was Mitch’s fault!” Kenny huffs.
“My fault!?” Mitch hisses. “Mackenzie broke up with me two days ago and is now with Ryan’s dirty dick ass! I have every right to ask if they were going behind my back!” Mitch looked like he was about to cry, but Arielle couldn’t blame him. If her boyfriend broke up with her two days ago to end up with some bitch seconds after, she’d be pissed too.
“No offense, but you only have yourself to blame,” Kenny huffs.
“What!?” Mitch exclaims.
“Mackenzie is a bit of a-“ Kenny doesn’t get to finish his sentence because a new girl's voice cuts into a conversation.
“A bit of a what?” Arielle turns to see a new girl with straight black hair, brown eyes, and pale white skin.
“Hey, Phoebe,” Kenny grins sheepishly. Phoebe scoffs and sits behind Neveah.
“Hey, Phoebe. Is your morning going well?” Neveah asks.
“No, Evan got punched in the eye because of Mitch's best friend,” Phoebe sneers out the last part. Mitch looks away. Phoebe then turns to Arielle, eyes going wide. “Oh! Excuse me. I’m Phoebe. I’m the cheer captain, and Mackenzie is my best friend.”
“Ouch,” Neveah says with fake hurt, which causes Phoebe to roll her eyes,
“We both know your best friend is Dante,” Neveah smirked and shrugged, not denying the statement.
“I’m Arielle; I just moved here.”
“Obviously. I’ve never seen you here before. It’s nice to meet you.” Phoebe says.
“Likewise,” Arielle gives her a small smile, which Phoebe returns. More and more kids come into the room. A girl with white tanned skin and long, wavy blond hair sits beside Phoebe. She introduces herself as Mackenzie. The bell rings again, indicating everything should be there and in their seats. But there is no teacher there. Everyone is talking, unbothered. “Where’s the teacher?”
“Hm? Oh, Mr. Macdonald. He’s our homeroom teacher and is late every day. He probably won’t be here until like 20 minutes in,” Neveah explains.
“What the hell?” Arielle scoffs. “Why?”
“Who knows,” Neveah shrugs.
“Fucking bitches maybe,” Kenny smirked playfully; Arielle didn’t laugh. Arielle looked around the classroom and noticed Lucian was reading his paranormal book in the back corner of the classroom. If the kid only knew what was really out there, it would put his little book to shame. The room suddenly goes quiet, and Arielle looks to see Evan, Vincent, Ryan, Christen, and another boy walking into the classroom. The other boy was short and nervous-looking, fidgeting with the end of his sleeves. He had dirty brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles. He was also sporting a black eye on his face, similarly to Evan’s. But while Evan’s looked fresh, the boy looked like he had that one for days.
“Kiyès sa?” Arielle asks in a whisper. Neveah stares at her in confusion, and Arielle realizes her mistake. " Who’s that?”
“Oh, that’s Blaine. The school's punching bag and Ryan’s best friend, kinda,” Neveah whispers lowly.
“The school's punching bag?” Arielle asks with a frown.
“Yeah, the whole school bullies him. He’s not the only one, just the main one. He never fights back, which is so… ugh,” Neveah grumbles.
“He brings it on to himself; he hangs out with Christen all the time. What does he expect!” Phoebe says coldly.
“Yeah, but if you want to mess with him, don’t do it in front of Ryan. Ryan is like super protective over him,” Mackenzie had a valley girl voice, which reminded Arielle of white chicks. Ryan suddenly sits next to Mackenzie, kissing her neck,
“Hey, Bebe,” Ryan's voice was rough.
“Hey, Bebe!” Mackenzie grins flirtatiously. Arielle can see Mitch give Mackenzie a pathetic look, which Mackenzie ignores. After Ryan finishes kissing Mackenzie's neck, his eyes land on Arielle. Only one thought goes through her head: 'Oh hell, nah.’
“You’re the new girl,” Ryan states with a flirtatious smirk. Evan and Vincent were so deep in conversation as they sat next to Ryan, Christen, and Blaine that they didn’t even look up from each other. When Ryan spoke, they all looked up. Evans's eyes barely registered Arielle. They land on Phoebe, and he grins like an idiot.
“Phoebe! How are you today?” Evan asks. Phoebe blushes slightly,
“I’d be better if you didn’t have a black eye.” Arielle turns to Neveah with a raised eyebrow, and Neveah shakes her head. So those two weren’t together but crushing on each other hard-core.
“Um,” Vincent mutters, catching Arielle's attention; he’s staring hard, which slightly bugs Arielle. “I’m-“ Vincent doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Christen speaks,
“Who fucking cares if there’s a new girl! We need to get back at Alex’s ass!” Vincent sneers,
“Shut the fuck up!”
“Or what!? You going to let Alex pussy y’all out?” Christen sneers.
“You’re one to talk! You can’t even fight!” Evan argues.
“Don’t flip this on me! You are just mad; you're weak!” Christen argues.
“Christen fuck off!” Phoebe cuts in with a sneer.
“Or what bitch?” Christen sneers back. A dark look dawns on Phoebe's face, causing Christen to sweat,
“We don’t want a repeat of last year, do we?” Christen sneers at her but stops talking. Arielle turned to Neveah again in confusion.
“They fought last year. Phoebe won,” Neveah explains simply. Arielles dislike for Christen grew. But Arielle is snapped out of her thoughts when a dark presence enters her consciousness; her head snaps toward the door. Someone was coming; she could hear their steps. With each step that came closer, the presence made itself more known and more threatening. The person who enters is an older man boarding on elderly; he has gray and blue eyes. He looked so nonthreatening that it gave her whiplash. Arielle stared at the man silently; she had only felt a presence like this before when her grandmother was cleansing a place corrupted by evil entities. Or the one time she came across a fully corporeal demon. This man didn’t look like a powerful demon or evil entity; he just looked like a normal elderly man. But looks can be deceiving.
“All of you shut the fuck up!” Mr. Macdonald yells, causing the class to go quiet. “I’m going to be calling your names; say here when I do!” Mr. Macdonald then began to call out people’s names, and they would respond with here.
“Fuck, Mitch, where’s Alex?” Dante whispers.
“He’s ditching,” Mitch mutters.
“It’s literally the first day of school!” Dante hisses, and Mitch just shrugs helplessly. While they were talking, Arielle pulled out her phone and texted the group chat her cousins were in,
“Bruh, my homeroom teacher is a fucking demon.”
“What? Srs?” Diamond was the first person to reply.
“Yes, I’m fucking serious!” Arielle responds.
“Don’t make it obvious, you know. Pretend you don’t know, so it won’t target you,” Huey texts.
“Is it really a demon? Or is it some sort of entity?” Pharrell texts.
“Idk!!!! All I know is whatever it is, it’s powerful asf!” Arielle texts.
“Arielle Baptiste!” Mr. Macdonald calls Arielle's name. Arielle flinches hard and drops her phone. Everyone is staring at her.
“I’m here,” Arielle says. Mr. Macdonald turns to her, his head tilts in curiosity. Fuck he knows, he knows, and he’s going to kill her.
“You’re new!” Mr. Macdonald comments.
“Yes,” Arielle mutters, keeping the conversation as short as possible. Mr. Macdonald’s eyes narrow, and Arielle swears they go pitch black. The air is taken from her lungs, but some yelps, and everyone in class turns to Lucian. Lucian dropped his book and was looking at Mr. Macdonald. Did Lucian see Mr. Macdonald's eyes change? He had to; there was no reason for him to yell anyway. Mr. Macdonald looks down at his chart and continues to call names. Arielle sighed in relief; she dodged a bullet. But only for today. She was going to have to keep flying under the radar. Arielle mind reels suddenly as she remembers that Mr. Macdonald wasn’t the only one with the dark corruption around them, so was the front desk lady. Were there other people who were corrupted or possessed? Arielle comes to another realization that she doesn’t even know what this is. Arielle shakes her head and begins to look for her phone, but she doesn’t find it.
“Here it is.” Arielle looks up and sees Vincent holding her phone out to her. She could see her group chat blowing up with unopened messages. Arielle grabs her phone,
“Thanks.” She opened her phone and saw that everyone was either asking if she was okay or what had happened. “I’ll text y’all later; I don’t want to get caught with my phone.” Arielle then put her phone in her pocket. As homeroom slowly came to a close, Arielle couldn’t help but think, ‘Are there more people with this dark presence over them?’
Her question is answered in her next class, then her next class, and every single period until school had ended. Every single adult she had encountered had a dark presence covering them like a black shadow. Some were weaker and still there, but others were way more powerful, like Mr. Macdonald. As Arielle exited her school at the end of the day, she was left with so many questions that she didn’t know what to do. She was at her assigned locker; she was leaning inside as she texted her cousins. Most of them had the same idea, leave this shit alone. As Arielle sighed and was about to turn off her phone, Huey sent her a private text,
“You said every adult in the school has some sort of dark presence over them?”
“I’m not sure; I’ve only really seen it over my teachers and the lady in the office,” Arielle responds.
“Okay, but if it’s over the adults, why not the kids there? Dark presences like that don’t just stay in one place; they spread,” Huey texts.
“Why is it only over the adults?” Arielle asks.
“Idk, you are the one there. Is it over your parents,” Huey asks.
“Nah, I would’ve sensed it when my dad picked me up,” Arielle states.
“Unless they’re hiding it because they know your grandma trained you,” Huey responds. Arielle frowns before texting,
“No, not possible. My mom converted to Christianity before I was born. She doesn’t even believe in what my grandma does.”
“The last time she saw you, you were 8. It’s been years since you last saw her; her opinion could’ve changed, and she has knowledge about the other side. She could be hiding it from you,” Huey responds.
“But why?” Arielle asks. It doesn’t make sense, but then again, none of this makes sense.
“Idk, you figure it out. Keep me updated; something about this isn’t right. My head is starting to hurt,” Huey texts. Arielle's eyebrows go up; that’s definitely not a good sign. Where Riley had excellent intentions, Huey gets headaches where he can actually predict the future or see shit.
“See anything?” Arielle asks.
“Darkness,” Huey responds. Arielle frowns in disappointment,
“So nothing.”
“No,” Huey disagrees. “I see darkness.” Arielle felt the air on the back of her neck go up. That’s definitely not scary at all. Arielle gets another message from Neveah,
“Come on! We are dropping you off at home! We are out front!”
“Okay,” Arielle responds before putting her phone in her pocket as she leans out of her locker. Her locker slams shut as a familiar boy leans against it. Ryan. He smirks at her,
“Hey, gorgeous.” Arielle's eye involuntarily twitches in annoyance. She tries to keep the annoyance off her face. “What’s with the face? You look like I’m annoying you.” She has failed to keep it off her face.
“I’m kinda busy at the moment,” Arielle huffs.
“With that?” Ryan asks, his face is still playful and relaxed even at her hostility.
“Leaving,” Arielle states before walking past him, but unfortunately for her, he follows.
“So soon?” Ryan asks with a playful pout.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Arielle huffs, walking faster.
“She doesn’t have to know,” Ryan smirks, and Arielle turns on her heel to face the boy. Ryan stops with sudden surprise. She hated boys like this, who play with girls' feelings because they can. Even though she didn’t particularly like Mackenzie because she possibly cheated on Mitch with Ryan. But she wasn’t going to get in the middle of that drama.
“Leave me alone! I’m not interested in dirty dick, cheating-“ Arielle is cut off when she puts her finger on Ryan’s chest. The feeling overwhelmed her to the point she jumped back in fear. She finally realized what was off about this boy. It was death. Death clung around the boy like wet clothes did to a body. This boy is very familiar with death, and Arielle does not like that, like at all. She couldn’t help the words that fell from her lips, “What are you?” Ryan’s smile finally drops, and he frowns in confusion before his expression morphs into something more serious,
“What?” Arielle spins on her heels and dashes down the hallway. She didn’t mean to say that out loud, but she needed to stay away from that boy. Being so close to death that it literally clings to him isn’t good.
The drive back to her house was quiet, well, mostly. Neveah and Dante spoke a lot, but Arielle barely spoke. She was too deep in thought. The adults in the school being covered in darkness, Ryan having death cling to him, and Lucian seeing Mr. Macdonald's eyes change. Arielle didn’t know what was going on, and she had two choices. Either to investigate or ignore it. A part of Arielle really wanted to ignore it; she needed to focus on her grades so she could graduate with a full-ride scholarship and find a job in case she couldn’t get a scholarship. But the dream she had last night, the dark presence trying to reach out to her, trying to…do something to her. If it was going to come for her once, it would do it again. Entities are persistent and they have time.
“You excited for the pep rally tomorrow?” Neveah asks.
“Hm?” Arielle is pulled from her thoughts. “Yeah. Will the cheer team be there?”
“Hell yeah!” Neveah giggles.
“Same with the football team,” Dante adds.
“There's a football team here?” Arielle says with surprise. “Who do y’all play?”
“Obviously, there’s a football team here. Why else would there be a cheer team,” Neveah states.
“We play other towns,” Dante supplies.
“How far are the other towns?” Arielle asks.
“The closest one is an hour away,” Dante explains.
“Jesus,” Arielle mutters.
“Oh!” Neveah exclaims. “I forgot to mention that Dante is throwing a back-to-school party this Friday! You should totally come!” Arielle didn’t want to go to a party; how could she even party in these conditions?!
“Yeah! Sure,” Arielle says with a small smile. Dante parks in front of Arielle’s house,
“I’ll pick you up again tomorrow!”
“Text me later? Yeah?” Neveah asks.
“Yeah! Yeah,” Arielle nods before exiting the car. Both of her parent's cars were gone; Arielle entered her house and saw that it was empty. She goes up into her room; she has a lot of shit to get done today. She finished unpacking her room, put an altar in her closet, and cleansed the house. She puts a horseshoe above her door for protection. It was hard to cleanse her house since she didn’t have a lot of stuff with her. Arielle was used to asking her grandmother for things; her grandmother always had vinegar, sage, or rosemary. But Arielle’s grandmother wasn’t here; she was on her own. Arielle had to grab spices from the cabinet and work with what was there. Once Arielle finished, she took a shower. Once she got out, she noticed something: powerful dark energies had entered the house. She ran to the stairs in her towel and saw her parents.
“Arielle! What is that smell!” Her father hissed. Huey was right; whatever is corrupting the adults at school also has her parents. If it has all the adults in the school and her parents, does this entity have more adults around the town? Does it have all the adults in town?
“Febreze! I was cleaning,” Arielle lies as she stares at them.
“Well, don’t spray so much,” Her mother says as she hangs her coat and looks up at her. “Why are you in a towel? Go get dressed; I brought dinner!” Arielle doesn’t need to be told twice; she rushes to her room. She grabbed her phone and texted Huey,
“You were right.”
“Usually am,” Huey responds. “What’s the plan?”
“I don’t know. I’m still thinking,” Arielle responds. Arielle knew she couldn’t ignore her parents forever; it would make them suspicious. So she got dressed and went downstairs to eat with them. But to her surprise, they were leaving again. “Where are you going?”
“Well, my love. We both work two jobs because we want to give you a good life. We brought you dinner; you should be fine,” Her father says.
“We love you!” her mother says before they both exit the door. Arielle is silent; she had a gut feeling they weren’t going to a second job. She eats dinner alone before she heads back to her room. Arielle goes to her altar and asks,
“Please give me some guidance on what to do. I need help.” After that, she goes to bed, and as always, she dreams again. She sees a person they have blond hair, but other than that, she can’t pick out the details. But what she does know is that she needs to find this person.