Chapter 1 - The New Girl
—Olivie—
The first day at a new school can be nerve wracking, as I’m sure many of you can relate. I am an exile from many a school, mostly a social exile, so you can imagine my shock when, on my first day at Washington High, a girl walked up to me and said,
“You’re hot.” I blinked at her in surprise. She had appeared behind my locker, leaning against the wall. I didn’t notice her until I slammed the door of my locker after getting the books I needed for my next class. The girl had chalky pale skin, and flaming red hair, pulled up into a high ponytail. She wore stiletto heels, leggings and a skintight crop top, all in a violent shade of orange-ish red.
“Um... Thank you?” She nibbled her glossy bottom lip and smiled, clearly not understanding my confusion.
“Yeah.” She stalked closer to me. I could smell her perfume, a mix of roses and cinnamon and woodsmoke. “You’re new, too.”
“You noticed.” I said warily. The girl in red blew a bubble with her gum and popped it.
“Duh,” She drawled, “It’s kind of obvious.” She moved closer and put one long, elegant hand on my arm. I saw that her nails, though perfectly polished, were more like talons. “I tell you what.” A strange light glittered in her eyes. “Come sit with us during lunch. I’ll show you the ropes.” She sauntered into the crowd, the students parting around her like the Red Sea. I gazed after her, mystified. At every school I’ve ever been in, the popular girls had just sneered at me. Never had they just shown up out of the blue and invited me to sit at their table. I smiled to myself. There was something different about her, something I’d begun to see in myself recently. I smiled wider and unconsciously touched my fingers to where her hand had rested. I liked her.
—Phoenix—
Five periods later, I leaned against the wall near the main entrance to the cafeteria, waiting for the new girl. Five minutes into the lunch period, she walked in, clutching a bag I assumed was her lunch and a thick paperback novel to her chest.
“Hey.” I wiggled my fingers at her in a small wave. “And my name is Phoenix, if you didn’t catch that.”
She smiled shyly. “Phoenix. I like that.” I fought down the urge to grin hugely at her approval and smirked instead.
“Yeah.” This girl was making me go all weird, and I didn’t like it. “That’s why I’m the Queen of the Bonfires.” I turned around and gestured at my table of girls wearing matching black leather jackets with flame designs. I began walking toward them, trusting she would follow me, and sure enough, she did. I sat at the head of the table and gestured for an extra chair to be brought over, which I placed to my right. She still stood there, staring at me.
I rolled my eyes at her. “What are you waiting for? Sit!” She did so rather tentatively, shaking as she did so. I nearly laughed at her naivety. Seriously, had she never been asked to sit at someone’s table? But looking at her and the way she cast her gaze around the table, I imagined she may have never.
“Have you never been invited to eat lunch with someone?” I voiced my thoughts.
She jumped. “H-how did you know?” Oh, that expression is so delicious, I could just eat it up.
“I’m good at reading people.” I shrugged. “It’s a life skill.” I looked at my friends and realized I should probably introduce them.
“I should probably introduce you. Guys, this is…”
“Olivie.” Olivie said.
“Olivie, this is Eden,” The bejeweled girl on my left, with the tan skin and dark hair, adorned all over with tiny red jewels waved, “Ash,” The girl sitting next to Olivie, with the midnight skin and bleached blond hair, forearms adorned with golden bangles, gold hoops in her ears nibbled on a thumbnail and grinned, “Ember,” The orange eyed albino sitting across from Ash, with her snow colored hair dyed in a cascade of yellow, to orange, to red at the tips, skin covered in ink looked up from where she was sketching a new design on the back of her hand, “And Rose.” The last member of the Bonfires turned her gaze from Olivie to me when I said her name. I hated to admit it, but she kind of scared me. Besides being almost as badass as me, she used to be a member of the Wildflowers, our rival group at this school, before some weird disgrace that nobody knew about except for the Wildflowers themselves sent her fleeing to my group. She is pretty much the only person in this entire fucking school who can pull off a look with bangs. She wears her hair like Rachel Berry from Glee, with streaks of orange and green in her hair, and she dyed her name on the back of her Bonfires jacket green, — with a lot of pushback from me, might I add, — and wears a necklace shaped like flowers. She has a mean streak a mile wide, and though I’ve never seen her get in a physical fight, she has this crazy talent to completely ruin you with a couple words. I would think she was spying on me for the enemy, except she’s gotten one of the enemy kicked out of this Godforsaken place.
“So, we’ve got a new bitch now, eh?” Ash asked.
I opened my mouth, then Rose butted in with, “Well… First this bitch has to pass initiation.” I frowned at her and Ember asked,
“We have an initiation?”
“Of course.” Rose bared her teeth in a grin. “Lets see what you can do, sweetie.”
