Prologue
Sophomore year, 16 years old... How much worse can this get? Gracie thought to herself as she walked down the hallway of Dansville High School. She looked around, shyly and renamed every face in the school. Then, her eyes landed on a guy with snowy white hair and bright blue eyes that sent a shiver down her spine.
Stephan felt a gaze on him, yet his ability to be invisible seeming to not work on her. He growled quietly and turned to see a beautiful young girl with dirty blonde hair that had some red-brown in it and deep blue eyes. He looked away almost instantly, not expecting someone like her to notice him. He listened closely to the noises around him, but mostly to the girl watching him.
Gracie decided she’d chance it and walked up to the stranger. He spun around and stared at her, his eyes alarmed as she walked up.
Stephan looked around, unsure of what to do and how to get out of it. He took a small, yet deep breath and tried to relax. Her eyes where locked on his and he felt a longing that wasn’t a good sign. He looked down as she walked up to him and said, “H... Hello. I... I... I’m Gracie. Gracie Raymond.” He saw her hand but didn’t take it. Instead he stood there, silent. He was struggling to remain in control of his humanity.
Gracie realized he wasn’t going to take it so she pulled away and put her hands in her sweatshirt pocket. She noticed him look up and stare at her, locking eyes with her. She saw something that she felt when her father died about two years ago. It was the feeling of not belonging and Gracie knew what she had to do. She said, “What’s your name?” When she thought he wouldn’t respond and got ready to ask another question, he said in a deep shaky voice, “Stephan... Stephan Kingsley.”
Stephan let out a quiet shaky breath and looked at Gracie once again, seeing a smile on her face. She looked at him and asked, “Do you need help finding any of your classes?” He hesitantly grabbed out his schedule and said, “It would be helpful... That is if you don’t mind it.”
Gracie shook her head and let out a small laugh before saying, “If I minded, I wouldn’t have asked!” She stepped closer and saw him tense up a little more but as soon as it came, it disappeared. She leaned over, one hand through the strap of her backpack and one pointing at his schedule, finding out what his first class was. She saw what it said and quickly grabbed out her own schedule.
Stephan sensed something in Gracie and stood alert. He looked down at her and said, “What are you doing?” As response, she showed him her own schedule. He looked them over quickly and realized that six out of eight classes where with this girl. He let out a chuckled breath and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, looks like I’ll just be following you around all day,” he joked.
She laughed at his joke and said, “Yep! Looks like you’ll have to. Well, come on... we probably should get going so we won’t be late. Mr. Turner hates late kids.” She tried to sound serious but she caught a glimpse of amusement in his eye as he noticed the failed attempt.
