The Tainted Souls

*​As she placed all her pencils in one pocket of her book bag, she hurried to her brother's room, where both of her brothers', Edward and Zechariah were playing video games. They had headsets on their heads, with little microphones that rounded to their mouths. "Damn it!" Zechariah cursed, and looked surprised when he saw Amaya at the door.*
*​"What do you want? Can't you see we're busy?" Edward chimed, not looking away from the television. Zechariah nudged his shoulder slightly, but didn't say anything. As Amaya zipped up her hoodie, a crackle of thunder blasted from outside. Amaya jumped a little, and Edward looked backwards, straining his neck to see out of the window.*
*​"What a day for the first day of high school," Edward muttered. Amaya sat her bags down onto the hardwood flooring, and she waited for her mother to finish breakfast.*

*Sighing, she walked back to her room and checked her phone. It was 7:28 A.M., and Amaya and her sibling's bus would be arriving in a few minutes. Turning off her phone, she called to her brother's and quickly bounded down the stairs. "Good morning, dear," Amaya's father greeted her. She nodded, and walked over to the kitchen and sat on a stool. "Hi, mom," she said. She turned around in surprise, and quickly smiled. "Morning, kid! Excited?" she added. Amaya shrugged, as her siblings walked into the vast room.*

*"I'm not that hungry," Amaya nodded to her brothers. "Ok, sweetie. Are you buying lunch or-"*

*A loud beep from outside alarmed Zechariah and he rushed out of the room. "Bye mom, dad!" he yelled, as Amaya and Edward quickly followed after him. "Edward, over here!" one kid yowled from the middle seats. Starting straight for the back, Amaya sat down in the back in a two-seater, that was empty. "Is that your sister?" one kid whispered to Zechariah. As he nodded, Amaya looked away into the window. Finally, as they arrived to school, a familiar face appeared out of the window. Once the bus stopped, Amaya thrushed her way out of the bus and hugged her.*

*"Tavia, it's so good to see you!" Amaya said. Tavia squeezed her, and added, "I thought you were going to Brecher Pred University?" Amaya shook her head.*

*"It was too expensive." Tavia nodded, as a brown haired girl with a red scarf followed closly behind. "Oh, this is Eglantina, my friend from my soccer team." Eglantina stared at Amaya in curiousness. "I heard you were Edward and Zechariah's little sister?" she inquired. As Amaya nodded, Eglantina added quickly, "Zechariah is a really nice guy, I text him a lot." Amaya didn't comment, but Tavia looked at her mockingly. "You guys are so cute together!" she said, giggling.*

*Eglantina nudged Tavia with her elbow, and turned around and started for the front doors, where groups of people were heading. "I'll see you later, I have to go to homeroom!" Tavia ran towards Eglantina, and Amaya slowly followed. Her eye caught Edward and Zechariah together, and Amaya caught up to them quickly. "What is your guy's homeroom?" Edward asked.*

*"D103 with Mrs. Sierra," Amaya replied. Edward nodded. "Oh, same!"*

*"I have A6 with Mr. Zachery," Zecharina shrugged. "I'll see you guys at lunch," he nodded and bounded away to a group of people all chatting outside of their lockers. "Make any friends yet?" Edward asked. Amaya nodded. "Well, I saw Tavia again, and I met her friend Eglantina. Apparently she really likes Zechariah, and has been texting him," she stated. Edward snorted.*

*She walked into homeroom, Edward following beside her. Kids were walking up to the teacher and asking multiple questions at once. Almost nobody was in their seats, but Amaya sat in the front seat, with Edward walking towards the back.*

*"Hey, Amaya!" one girl said. Turning around, she noticed Alice's silvery-white curly hair. "Alice, so good to see you! Were you outside?" Amaya said, surprised. "No, I came in late, and had to go to the office to get my schedule." Amaya nodded, and suddenly the teacher tapped on the chalk board with a long, meter stick. "Attention students!" Once everyone quieted up, she started to talk again.*

*"I am Mrs. Sierra, your homeroom teacher. Some students will have me for science, but if not, then you probably don't have me at all." People started checking their schedules, and Alice stroked her lips with some light pink, almost clear lip gloss. "I will be taking attendance now, but before I do, has anyone seen Edward Collins?" Amaya looked surprised, and stared at her older brother. He raised his hand, and she gestured for him to stand up.*

*"Give this to your mother, please. We don't have your name registered in any of our computers, and it says your mother never paid for you to go to this school." Edward looked surprised, and confused, but nodded and sat down. "Anyway, is Jessica Peters here?" A girl with long black hair raised her hand, and Amaya noticed that her phone was in that hand.*

*"Aurora-" but before she could finish, a girl with brown hair raised her hand. "Here." Mrs. Sierra nodded, and moved down the list. "Karmen Clinton?" A girl with crimson-reddish hair raised her hand. She had on very short shorts, and she had a black hood over her head. "And, please take your hood off," the teacher added.*

*As she took it off, Amaya noticed how pretty Karmen looked to her. She blinked, and realized Karmen was staring back at her. After a moment of eye contact, Amaya turned around and raised her hand when the teacher called her name.*

*Finally, the bell rang for first period. It went by slowly but surely, until it was lunch time in 5 period. Everyone was rushing through the halls, stuffing their books, binders, or bags into the tiny spaces. As she arrived at her locker, she turned it right until she passed the 0 twice, and landed on the 15 mark. Turning left, she landed the arrow on the 3, and turning right once more, she landed on 39 and opened the locker.*

*She put her jacket onto the small hook on the side, and then she stuffed her book bag into it, and shut it. It was louder than she thought, which surprised her. She then walked off, while she noticed that a lot of people were still in groups in the halls, all rushing to the lunch room. As she slowly got pushed around, she tripped.*

*People started laughing, giggling, or whispering to their friends. A boy with dark brown hair and bleached hair in the front turned around and held his hand out for Amaya to grab on. "Thanks," she said shyly as she dusted down her black leggings. "No problem, it was my fault. I am so, so sorry." He looked at Amaya and smirked. "What's your name?"*

*"I'm Amaya, what about you?"*

*"I'm Reagen. Here, let's go to the lunch room." As they walked together, she noticed Tavia and Eglantina waiting impatiently at the two cafeteria doors. "Where have you been?" Tavia exclaimed. As Tavia glanced at Reagen, she added more quietly, "and with him? I thought you liked Karmen."*

*Amaya stared at Tavia in confusion. "How did you know? I never even told anyone!" Amaya said, and realized Reagen walking away. "Alice told me you were staring at her. It's obvious," she added. As Amaya nodded slowly, she noticed Karmen walking up to her, her hood over her head.*

*"Hey... Amaya," she started, "Do you want to sit at our table?" Karmen pointed to a table with a group of unfamiliar faces, and she noticed Reagen in the crowd of jocks arm wrestling. "Sure..." Amaya nodded, following Karmen. "Oh, these are some of my friends." She nodded at them as everyone stared at Amaya.*

*"Ok, so I was going to tell you something earlier, but I didn't think it was the right time. Actually," she started, "I have two things to say." As Amaya nodded, Karmen continued. "So, last year I was kidnapped, and nobody knew where I was. My mother found me in the winter, which is why I am here at the moment; but, also, I think you're really pretty... I was wondering if..."*

*The bell rang for the next period. Once again, everyone was jumping out of their seats to go to next period. She had gym next, Amaya remembered as she headed for the two doors. Amaya was uncomfortable, and in sorrow that she didn't get to finish her sentence, but she knew what Karmen was going to say, anyway.*

*As she entered her main hall and got her belongings, she bumped into a girl that looked almost exactly like herself. She had black hair and icy blue eyes. Amaya stopped, and waved at the girl. "Hi, I'm Amaya!" she said cheerfully.*

* Amaya
* Zechariah
* Edward
* Reagen
* Eglantina
* Minerva
* Rianna
* Tavia
* Alice
* Aurora
* Karmen
* Nova
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