First day at a new school... Shit. School is hard enough without having to change them every fucking year. But when your dad is in the workforce, and you can afford the things we can, I guess it’s better than living in a box on the side of the road. I hate being rich. There is way too much baggage. Everyone wants to be like your best friend just so you can buy them shit. It’s not worth it. I fake poorness, to throw people off. It seems to work. Instead of preppy clothes and stuff, I just wear... well...whatever looks clean. Pretty usual for me. Hair spiked on both sides, but messy everywhere else. A style I call ‘bed head’. Dunno why I do it, or where I got the idea for it, but I like it. Anyone who thinks it’s weird can bite my ass. There is a slight chill in the air, but that might just be my attitude showing again. My teachers always hate me, and so does everyone else. Why should this school be any different? Kids my age are ass holes, that’s it that’s all. They have no consideration for anyone else but themselves, so I avoid them all together. Why deal with their shit when I’ve got my own shit to deal with. Number one, I’m a social outcast (by choice of course), two, I have obvious anger management issues, and three, I have three claws that protrude from each of my hands. So yeah, I don’t play well with others.

I wake up at around 5 o’clock in the morning. I have a sleeping disorder, well it was never actually diagnosed, but I get nightmares a lot. It’s pretty bad. So, its still dark out, and my bus doesn’t even come ‘till 8:15, so I’ve got some time to kill. I lay awake in my bed, regretting ever waking up until about 7:00. I don’t bother taking a shower, I just put on some deodorant and spray on a little axe to diminish the stink of the day before. I walk back into my room and rummage through the pile of clothes on the floor, looking for something that’s not stained to hell. Today: dark jeans, ribbed undershirt, plaid shirt, leather jacket. I stare at myself for awhile in the full length mirror in the hall. I look pretty good. DAMN, forgot my hair. Its now 7:45, got half an hour still. I run back up to the bathroom and grab my little tube of gel. I squirt way too much into my hand, but I gotta, or my hair wont stay. I guess I could spare the world for one more day. I grab the tooth paste from the counter, squirt it onto my toothbrush and give my teeth a quick go over. I am nowhere near the bathroom anymore. I had walked to the kitchen to grab a snack to bring with. I take the toothbrush out of my mouth, and swallow the leftover toothpaste. That’s good enough for now, I guess. Its 8:00 now. I grab my bag, give my dog a pat down, and leave, ignoring my parents completely.

The walk to the bus is pretty long, about 20 minutes in itself, and I left myself 15 to get there. I stop in the driveway, and stare at my dads bike. I had taken it before, but I also biffed it onto a wall when I was joyriding, so he banned me from ever using it again. I was fine of course, but the basic failure aspect of it made him madder. I of course jacked it after that without him knowing, but when I went back inside, the hook where the key usually goes had no key, but a note saying “Don’t even think about it Logan” was in its place. Shit, I have 10 minutes now, I’ll have to book it. 9 minutes later, I was standing at the bus stop, panting heavily. It was painful, and my lungs were on fire. It subsided soon enough, and the bus came soon after. I hop on, and sit , catching my breath. Great way to start the morning.

The school building is gray. Whoop. That’s lots of fun. The student all look like druggies, and they are all freaking me out. Pretty inviting. This is promising to be another shitty year. I dropped out one year, and then my mom forced me back in, so I am 19, in grade 12. That is one other reason I have never had any real friends. My plan is to move out as soon as I graduate and be a hermit. Not exactly a promising career, I know, but with the dough I’m gunna get when my old man bites the dust, I think I’ll be fine. I’m already gettin’ funny looks from the locals. They can all go fuck (RING) themselves. (RING). Shit, the bell. Well, here’s to another year of disappointment and detention. Maybe if I walk towards the door slow enough, it will be over and I will be dead by the time I get there. I head down the stairs from the lawn to the pavement, and biff halfway down. A few stragglers start pointin’ and laughin’. Fuck me.

I’ve decided that I’m not ready to go in yet. School is not where my mind is. So I go over to the soccer field and just stand there instead. I look down at my leg and see a blood covered gash in my pants. I don’t freak out though. I look into the hole, and see skin, as though nothing had happened. I am just fine, no surprises there. I heal incredibly fast. It’s useful, seeing how many fights I get myself into. God I need a smoke. I reach into my pocket and pull out a fat cigar. I light it and take a long drag. God that’s good. I really needed that. I can see someone in the field with me, but they are too far to see clearly. I ignore them. I check my phone. I am now 20 minutes late, and I really don’t care. I take a drag again. The person across the field begins to walk towards me. Well of course he is the school cop, why wouldn’t he be. Fuck. “Excuse me son” he said with forced confidence “but you can’t be smoking on school property.”
“Thanks for that bub” I reply. I take the cigar out of my mouth and push it into the palm of my hand. It hurts, but the look on the cops face makes up for it. He looks like he’s gunna barf. I look at my hand, and watch in amusement as the burn begins to shrink, and eventually disappear. “Please get to class” he says. He looks a little green.
“Sure thing.” I turn and walk away from the school. Fuck this shit.

I walk towards the bus stop. The far one of course. I need to collect my thoughts, well that’s a really poetic way to put it. I more need to take a smoke. I only got halfway through that last one, and I still craved nicotine. I pull out a new one and light it up. Good stuff. Some people think it really stinks, but it’s like roses to me. By the time I made it through two, I was at the bus stop. I reach into my back pocket to grab another one, when I see the bus. It stops a little too close to the edge of the curb. The door opened, and just as I put my foot on the first step, a girl pushes past me running off the bus. “Thanks” she yelled from the distance. Her hair was dark brown, but it had a white streak where her bangs were. She smelled strongly of vanilla and fear. The vanilla was nice, but I could tell she was late. From what I saw, she was cute, but she looked smart, so I figured not even to bother. I pay the driver and sit down. An old couple is sitting across from me. The lady looked scared of me. I have pity for the elderly. They have had hard lives, so I try to give ‘em a break. I smile at her. She smiles back. The old guy leans forward and rests his head in his hand, the one resting on his cane. “Skipping school” he asked.
“I guess you could say that”
“Well how come?”
“I just, well, I dunno. I can’t deal with the whole ‘school’ environment right now. You know what I mean?”
“I get it, but I don’t know what you are letting those jerks get to you. You seem pretty tough, cant you stick up to them?”
“And get expelled again? I don’t think so.” I turn and look out the window. I’m already on 17th ave. Didn’t realize how long I was on the bus.
“Kid?” he said
“What?” I said, slightly frustrated.
“This is a very bad first impression for a new school”
“How did you-” he cut me off
“I see school cutters every day, and they usually can’t cope due to being overwhelmed. Trust me, this place is different. There is almost a magic in the air here. If I were you, I’d get on that bus over there.” He pointed passed my head. I look behind me and see a bus heading back towards the school. I pull the stop string, and the bus lurches to the side of the road. I grab my bag and head to the door. I turn to look at the man and his wife. “Thanks” I say. He smiles a triumphant smile as I step off the bus.

I book it towards the other bus, and almost miss it, if it weren’t for my claws. I get on, and think about what the man had said. The more I think, the dumber his words seemed to be, and I begin to question my sanity. I look up and see some guy sitting across from me. He’s looking at me funny, almost angry. “You popped de tires” he says angrily. He has a thick Cajun accent.
“Sorry, I needed to catch this bus” I reply.
“Well, now you will most certainly be late, my friend”
“Look, I said I was sorry”
“’Ow?” he asked.
“How what?”
“’Ow did you pop de tires, you have no knife…”
“Skill, bub.” I reply. He opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it. We sit silent looking at each other for a minute, then he speaks.
“Were you on de bus dis morning?”
“Yeah”
“I’m Remy”
“Logan.” We talk until we finally make it back to the school. I get off the bus at almost 2 in the afternoon. I had been on the second bus for an extra three hours, due to how I had caught it. Whatever. At least I was there. No harm, no foul. I walk towards the gray building with Remy. God it was ugly. There were large letters on the side that were supposed to read CENTRAL MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL, but instead it said CENT-AL ME-OR-AL HI-- -C-OOL .No ‘magic’ here. That old man must have been senile. The side door squeaked as I opened it. That’s reassuring. Remy shows me to the office, and leaves to catch the end of his art class. In the office they print my schedule off for me. Period 1. Mechanics. Not bad so far, I like cars. Period 2. Math Applied 20. Failed that one, gotta retake it. Math is bull shit. Period 3. Gym. I’m a pretty active guy. Period 4. History 30-1. WHAT?! I hate History! There is a little note under it. “Our apologies, sports med was all full. Please enjoy History instead. Administration.” Shit. The bell for fourth period rings.

God the halls are busy during class change. The second bell already rang for Christ’s sake. The vanilla chick with weird hair ran into me. Again. She had her nose in a book, and didn’t even see me. “WATCH OUT BUB” I yelled at her. She just fingered me. She was wearing long gloves...indoors. Freaky Bitch. God I hate people. I’m having trouble finding my first class. I had to ask like four different people, but finally I found it myself. Room 215. History 30. I walk in, and all eyes fly at me. I feel so stupid. “Name please” the teacher asks
“Huh?” I ask. I hadn’t really been listening
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, Logan Howlett.” He looks down at his paper, erases something, then checks my name as here.
“Please take a seat Logan” he says to me with impatience in his voice. I look around. There is one table in the corner with no one at it. A few people are sitting alone, but I can’t be bothered. I sit down and the lesson begins. I hear a girl from across the room (I have AWESOME hearing) asking her friend about my hair. I finger her. Her facial expression drops in amazement, and I just smile.

There’s a soft knock at the door. “Is anyone gunna get that?” I ask. Everyone looks at me funny. I guess it was too quiet for anyone else to hear. The second time was louder, and everyone looks at the door. The teacher opens the door, and the vanilla girl walks in. The smell is nicer this time, but I can still smell the fear of lateness. “Name?” the teacher asks impatiently.
“Huh?” she asks. I like her better already.
“Name” he says again, he seems mad.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Anna Marie Darkholme” he checks her name, then looks at her.
“Go sit with, what was your name?”
“Me?” I ask.
“Yes you”
“Oh, I’m Logan” he turned to vanilla girl again.
“Anna Marie, would you sit next to Logan please?”
“Just Marie please” she corrects timidly. She walks over and sits next to me.

The lesson begins, and I start to ignore it right at the beginning. So no one will suspect my slacking, I pull out a piece of paper and begin to draw. A few days ago, I had seen a baby bird fall out of a tree. I picked it up and put it back into the nest. The next day I had walkin’ passed it again, but this time, the bird was dead on the ground. For some reason, the image popped into my head, so I begin to draw it. I get the feeling that I’m being stared at, and out of the corner of my eye, I see the vanilla girl looking at me. I ignore her. I ignore the teacher. The class is long, and I just focus on my drawing. Seriously, I hate it here already. The bell rings, and I get up to leave, but the vanilla girl falls over and hits my chair, knocking me back down. “What the fuck!?” I scream at her. God she pisses me off! Her face turned beet red, and she looked like she was gunna cry.
“Sorry, it wasn’t my fault… I tripped” she replied. She seems really scared.
“Fuck you’re clumsy.” I get back up, pushing her out of the way, and leave. Thanks to my hearing, I hear her mutter “asshole” under her breath. Fuck her.