Chapter One
The bell had just rung. We all headed out of the school building. Devon turned to me immediately. "What now?"
I frowned. "I'm not sure. There's not much to do here. I guess we could just sit with the others and talk again."
Devon just shrugged, and I knew he wasn't bored. 'Just sit around and talk with the others again.' Again.
That was what we'd done all week, and it was starting to get boring. Last year, in middle school, we'd run around and play. Now, we just sat around and talked.
Sure, we talked about interesting things, but I was constantly itching to get up and run away.
I knew the others probably didn't think that. They were enjoying their idle conversations, but I still wanted to be active.
I guess everyone changed over summer, and I was the only one left who hadn't...
Standing up, I muttered, "Hey, I'm going to the washroom, alright? I'll be right back."
"Sure." Roland said, and then launched right back into the conversation he was having with the others.
I got up and asked a teacher to get into the building. As usual, the teacher asked what I was doing, and I said "I'm going to the bathroom", and she let me in.
After that, I actually went into the bathroom, but I didn't really need to go, and trying to force myself awkwardly on the toilet seat felt weird.
So I headed down the stairs. There were a few kids in the hallways, going to their destination. I was probably the only one who was wandering around with no purpose.
I walked boredly past the library, past the gym, and past the science lab. That's when I saw something that piqued my interest.
I was walking back the way I'd come, when I saw something in the library. Three figures hunched over a table, engrossed in conversation.
It looked normal enough, but I still wanted something interesting to do. I was probably that annoying kid who was always looking for trouble, but life was just way too boring nowadays!
I leaned towards the door, and as subtly as I could, peeked through the window in the door to the library.
There, the librarian, science, and P.E. teacher hunched over the table in the center of the library, hushed voice barely carrying over to the room.
From a few inches away from where I now stood in the hallway, I couldn't hear them at all.
I strained my ears, and focused everything on hearing what they were saying. Something caught my interest. That one word. Any other word could have floated over, could have either peaked my interest, or bored me, but this one floated to the door, and then beyond, to where I now stood.
A sudden fourth voice plunged into my ears, and I jumped back, embarrassed at being caught. I didn't comprehend what I'd heard.
I saw a boy standing there. He looked about my age, and I recognised him. He was Ajax Manner, and he never talked in class except when everyone else was stumped.
He seemed smart. Like, nerd smart.
He only ever hung out with his twin brother, Ajay, and I think they called each other Jay and Jax. Weird. Not that they cared about what I thought.
I'd first thought he looked a little attractive, but his attitude was nasty. I would never like someone like him. I barely knew him, anyways, so I didn't know what his personality was.
I'd fallen flat on my butt before, and now I stood up, flattening myself on the doorway. Even though he never really seemed like he genuinely wanted to bully anyone, he gave off a really uncomfortable menacing vibe.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked, praying the adults wouldn't notice us.
He sighed. His eyebrows were longer than average, and they almost went all the way to his cheekbones.
"I said, 'you're Anna Wright, right? What are you doing?' In case you couldn't tell, you looked suspicious enough for me to run and call a teacher right now."
"Sorry?" I muttered, and then switched when I realised he didn't care about my apology. "Alright, I won't do it again!"
He lifted a brow. "Won't do what again?"
"Sneak and watch teachers?" That was what he was scolding me about, right?
"Yes, that's it." Ajax's eyes flew over to the window above me, then back to me. "Well, I'll go now, I'm sure your freinds are looking for you."
"Oh, I assure you-" I started, but he just walked away. I guess he was just looking for an out, not a conversation.
That's when the door started to open behind me. I quickly turned around. There was Ms. Rune, Mr. Johns and Mr. Wright. The librarian, science, and P.E. teachers.
My father was the P.E. teacher. It was neat having a parent teach in the school you go to. More family time than usual, and people bothered with you less.
"What may you be doing, Ms. Wright?" Mr. Johns asked.
"Who was that just now with you?" Ms. Rune asked.
"Oh, that was Ajax Manners." I figured it would be faster, and things would go down better for me if I just lied. "He was asking me where the lost-and-found is."
Everyone knew I was the monitor of the lost-and-found. If you lose something, you ask me, and I'll check it out.
I also figured that the thing that was most likely for someone who had attended for about three years to not know, or forget where something was was the lost-and-found.
"I suggested I check for him, so he went back to the field. Or benches." He always hung out with his brother on the benches.
I was doomed if he had been here since kindergarten. Actually, I think he has.
"Alright, and what are you doing inside the building during recess, Anna?" My father asked me.
"I was going to the washroom."
"Go quick and come back to recess." Ms.Rune said, and then strode past me, her head held high.
Mr. Johns followed her without a thought, and my father did, too, after a single glance at me. I didn't answer them, but in my head I grumbled, 'Well, duh.'
Then again, I wasn't actually using the washroom, so I wouldn't be coming home any time soon. I could only hope they wouldn't miss me.
Or notice that I'm gone at all, for that matter.
My heart pounded, but my curiosity overwhelmed my fear of getting caught. Tentatively, I opened the door that the three teachers had just come out of.
The library was usually crowded with chairs and tables, shelves upon shelves full of books. There were usually papers and crayons strewn everywhere, left over from the kindergartens or first graders, and never really cleaned up.
Now, though, the shelves were pushed to the side, and the tables and chairs were shoved against them, pushed to one side, leaving a big, empty space in the middle of the huge room, where only a table and three chairs sat.
The papers and crayons were clearly removed, and in the middle of the table was one paper, and three neatly placed pencils.
I closed the door behind me, gently and quietly so as not to attract unneeded and unwanted attention. Then, I walked up to the table, reaching out as I walked.
When I got there, instead of snatching the paper off of the table, I sat down, and pulled it close to me.
The paper was blank, empty, except for a table. It was filled in. There were two columns. Real and Fake.
The two tables were like this:
Real:
Factory - School
Fake:
School - Factory
'What could that possibly mean?' I wondered. 'Real, and fake what?'
I wandered throughout the rest of the library. It was empty, so there wasn't really much of anything to wander. I headed all the way to the other end of the library, looking around at the room that looked so different than I'd always known.
"Snooping, I see?" A male voice plunged into the abyss of my thoughts, pulling me out of my concentration, out of my thoughts, and out of my quiet peacefulness that was my thoughts.
I turned around quickly to see Ajax standing there. Panic plunged into my heart, and I could feel it falling to the floor right in front of Ajax.
"I won't get you in trouble if you don't take another step forward." He said, leaning against the wall.
Ajax didn't scare me, though. I turned back around, and I heard him groan. I flinched, but didn't turn back.
