• CHAPTER ONE: Paranoia is a b***h~


    "You're lying."

    "I am not."

    "Then you have got to be kidding me!"

    "No kidding is involved in this convorsation."

    "It can't be that simple!"

    Max laughed. "I'll prove it. Watch me again." He then proceeded to slowly resolve the equation, explaining the method in step by step instructions.

    "This textbook is rigged," Kayaa joked, pouting that he had once again outsmarted her.

    "You'll get it eventually," Max said with an encouraging smile.

    "Yeah," Kayaa agreed in light sarcasm, "It'll be a piece of cake in, eh, ten, twenty years?"

    "But you'll be old and wrinkly before you even come close to rivaling the wiz." He grinned, recieving a playful elbow in the ribs. "What? You know I'm the pro at this."

    "Yes, your mathematical majesty." Kayaa rolled her eyes and forced them to linger on her homework, which still confused her like crazy. "Okay, so....." She went over the problem again, checking to make sure she understood it enough. She tried, but it can be hard to concentrate on numbers and letters when it's so much easier to let your mind wander to how your tutor's voice sounds and how his muscles stretch when he leans over your shoulder to examine your progress.

    Yes, normally this would be considered quite creepy.

    But in a case such as her's where her math tutor just so happens to be her boyfriend, most of that creepiness is absent.

    Most.

    "Hey, you got it!" Max exclaimed proudly. "See? I told you you'd figure it out alright."

    Kayaa sighed in relief and Max kissed her cheek in congrats.

    A knock on the half-open door made them both turn to see Kayaa's mother standing in the entrance to her bedroom. "Studying, not cuddling, children."

    Kayaa bit her lip as Max offered a bashful, "Sorry, Mrs. Dalling."

    The older woman gave them both a firm look before continuing down the hall.

    A moment of silence passed before Max spoke up. "Well... on to problem two?"

    Kayaa groaned and Max laughed.

    The next hour was spent finishing up their homework at a snail's pace, just to be interrupted on the last equation by the nuisances that were Kayaa's two best friends, Tessa and Kumi. It took about fifteen minutes for Kayaa to give up and decide to finish when they left. Her friends were way too distracting. So they decided on taking a break to watch some horror movie she rented last weekend and had not yet gotten the pleasure of watching.

    "I just don't get it," Tessa blurted from her spot on the floor in front of the coffee table. "I mean really, if you're bf tells you to stay in the house, you don't go out in the dark prancing around in your pajamas with nothinn' but a flashlight and a teeny weeny pocket knife for protection. You're gonna get your brain devoured, blondie!"

    Kayaa sighed and Max supressed a groan. Tessa talked. A lot. Kumi sat in silence in her armchair, something the both of them were never more thankful for.

    "Ohmygod! I told you so!" she cried over the screams of the woman on the screen as a zombie dragged itself out of a bush and pinned her to the ground. There were some gruesome sound effects as the undead creature ripped and chomped on her insides. "Girlfriend needs to listen better." Tessa was quiet for a moment as she took a long guzzle from her Pepsi can, the only soda that girl would touch. And the only girl that would touch that soda. She was stingy with her Pepsi.

    One-hundred-four minutes of bloody, gorey, popcorn-y goodness later found the house devoid of extra teens and Kayaa staring at the final question on her math homework. She had completely forgotten how to do it.

    This was going to be a long night.

    * * *


    Slam! The locker door shut a little less smoothly than she had meant it to and Kayaa winced, not expecting the sudden loud noise. She hurried to her first period class, already late. Her sneakers seemed to pound on the tile, their echos magnefying the sound in the empty hallway. She had overslept, which was rare for her. She blamed the stupid zombie nightmares.

    'Never watching a horror movie on a school night again. Ever.' Kayaa made the mental vow to herself, one she knew she would last only a month, if that. 'Oh, unless it's The Rising! I've been wanting to see that forever! Then it's a maybe.... but for anything else, NO!'

    She rounded a corner into the next wing and started actually paying attention to where she was going. For some reason her nerves were kicking in on overdrive.

    'Is it because I'm nervous about being so late?' She quickly exed that possibility out. 'No, it's more like.... I'm being watched?'

    Not half a second later her second thought was confirmed. It wasn't hard to spot another student a few yards away, the only person besides herself in the hall. He was staring at her with a rather strange expression. Not really at her, more so directly behind her. As if she was being followed. Curiously, Kayaa glanced behind her shoulder but saw nothing out of the norm. Just an empty hallway with a bit of litter here and there. So unless an abandoned book grew legs and was stalking her, she has no clue as to why the boy seemed so entranced. Still, his eyes followed her, never quite focusing on her specifically.

    It was giving Kayaa the creeps.

    'Stop being stupid, he's probably spacing out,' Kayaa told herself, trying to shake the feeling. 'You're just being paranoid after that movie.'

    However, she figured it was better to be safe than sorry and hurried her way to her class anyway. She slipped in the room, biting her lip as Mr. Jerald gave her a disapproving look. Kayaa walked quickly to the font, gave him her slip from the office and took her seat in the second row. Form across the room, Kumi was casting her a curious look, asking with her eyes why she was so late. It was abnormal for Kayaa, so there was a hint of worry in her friend's expression. She mouthed the word "overslept" and Kumi nodded, understanding.

    The rest of the period went on as usual, minus the casual reminder from Mr. Jerald, "Let's not have that happen again, alright?"

    He was a pretty cool dude. Ya know, for a teacher.

    Kumi walked with her upstairs until they had to go their seperate ways.

    "I still don't know why you didn't want to be in journalism," Kayaa said with disbelief, pausing at their turning point. "Ms. Ferland is practically begging to have you."

    Kumi looked down. "It's just not how I work. I can't simply be told what to write and expect good results."

    Kayaa shrugged. "Okay, well, if you ever change your mind, I'm sure she wouldn't mind switching your classes."

    She nodded. "See you at lunch?" Kumi asked timidly. They had no other classes together. Well, except home room, which was pretty much twenty-five minutes of nothing.

    "Definitely." Then she was off to Journalism to meet a (still) very disappointed woman.

    Kumi was known rather well amongst the language arts teachers as one of--if not the--best writer(s) in the school. Every one of them who didn't have her in their class was extremely jealous. She was always being pestered around this time of year, when the first and second semesters mix in a confusing and highly stressful jumble.

    Kayaa was thankful her schedule was generally the same. The only difference was that she finally got rid of that retched sixth period elective--some random tech app class she hadn't wanted in the first. She absolutely hated working with any sort of complex system. Math and science was a struggle enough for her, figuring out how to take apart and put back together a machine was way beyond her ability.

    This was all just mulling around in her head as she stocked her tray with various items of food that day at lunch. Then came the more difficult part: finding a place to sit. Thankfully, she was saved the effort.

    "Kayaa!" She turned to see a familiar blonde approaching, tray stocked full of various fruits and veggies to go along side the strictly meat-free spahgetti. "There's a free table over here if we hurry."

    "Thanks Nate," she said warmly, following him to a circular table off to the side.

    Nathan speed walked the last few feet, setting down his tray and striking a pose. "Claimed!"

    Kayaa laughed. "Sit down, drama queen."

    Nathan obliged, taking a bite of pasta. Out of nowhere, his eyes widened and he waved his hand wildly. She gave him a strange look, waiting for him to swallow so he could say whatever it was he was so impatient to say. He did. "What's your schedule?! I want to know if we have any classes together!"

    Expecting this would happen, Kayaa pulled a folded piece of paper from her back pocket and slid it across the table to Nathan. He took the paper, examing it closely for a minute. Kayaa took it as an opportunity to eat.

    "We have family developement together!" he piped up suddenly, almost making Kayaa choke. "Sorry...." he mumbled, handing the paper back.

    "That's cool," she said before taking another bite.

    Nathan wasn't exactly her BFF or anything. He was just a school friend she often talked to in passing and during those stubborn, boring classes that simply refuse to end already. But he was a good person to come to, not even to talk about anything of importance, but just when you're feeling a bit down in the dumps. Nathan just had that way of making people feel better. Maybe it was the positive energy that radiated from him or maybe just because he actually cared about people. Or maybe it was just Nathan.

    "What's cool?"

    Kayaa jumped three inches off her seat. "Jesus! You know a little warning would've been nice!"

    Kumi smiled apologetically, sliding into thechair next to her.
    "Sorry... I don't try to be so quiet."

    "I know, just, stomp the a few feet in advance or something?" Kayaa joked.

    Kumi nodded as she opened her brown paper bag. She was wise in not trusting cafeteria food. Not that it was all that bad or anything, but still. She always had been the type to be cautious.

    "Hiya Kumi!" Nathan greeted.

    "Hello Nathan," she replied simply. She then took a good sized drink from her insolated mug and pulled out a thin, black, leatherbound notebook.

    Kayaa thought nothing of it. She had grown accustomed to her best friend's strange ways long ago, of course, that didn't mean she understood any of it. Nathan was still adapting. He looked down at the table, slightly offended. Kayaa nudged his hand and he looked up. She gave him a smile and a look that said something along the lines of 'Don't worry.' He smiled back and was about to turn back to his food when something caught his eye over Kayaa's shoulder.

    "Ooh, eye candy!" he cheered quietly.

    "Now you wouldn't happen to be talkin' 'bout me would you?"

    "Hey, Tessa," I said as Nathan cringed at the thought.

    Tessa sat down on my other side, fixing Nathan with a rather scary look. "Boy, you can not seriously tell me you're still single?"
    Nathan blushed. "W-Well yeah.... I am."

    Tessa rolled her eyes. "We have got to find you a boyfriend!"

    "What?! We?! But--!"

    "Do you want be single the rest of your lonely, miserable life?"

    "No, but--"

    "Then we better start lookin'! Get your act together, boy!"
    Tessa hopped over a couple seats so she was sitting directly beside Nathan, her arm draped over his shoulders as she scanned the room with eyes of a hawk.

    "Hmmm..... straight, straight, girl, straight, girl, girl, ugly, straight, ugly girl, straight, undefined, girl, straight--Ooooh! He's fine! But straight. Girl, girl, straight, girl, straight, another undefined, straight, girl, straight, a whole mess of girls, straight.....I can't even tell if that's a guy or a girl! Straight, ugly, girl, straight, girl, straight--"

    "Okay, I get it! Everyone is straight!" Nathan huffed, pushing Tessa's arm off him and crossing his own.

    "Hey, there were a few that were undefined in there," Tessa defended.

    "Yes, but is 'undefined' really any help to me? Besides, I don't just want to pick somebody like that, I want to get befriend them, to really get to know them better than anyone else." He smiled sadly, followed by a wistful sigh.

    "In other words you wanna live happily ever after in a world where unicorns fly and leprechans dance and the rainbow really rains Skittles. Yadda, yadda, yadda." Tessa moved back to her own seat, grabbing a burrito off her tray and taking a huge bite.
    "One: I prefer Starburst over Skittles. And two: unicorns don't fly, that's a pegasus," Nathan corrected matter-of-factly, only earning another eye roll.

    "That's the point, smart one."

    Nathan looked as though he just got slapped. He opened his mouth to say something back but Kayaa interjected. "Guys! Just chill, okay? Tessa, leave his love life to himself and Nathan... erm... don't talk to Tessa?"

    Nathan sat silently, directing his full attention to his greens.

    Tessa shrugged. "Whatever, I'm just tryin' to help."

    Kumi closed her notebook and slipped it back inside her bag. "Lunch will be over in seven seconds. I'll see you later." Just as she stood and started toward the exit the bell rang and bodies started moving.

    Kayaa shook her head as Tessa said, "That girl is psychic, I bet my Pepsi on it."

    They too got up to dump their trays and take their leave but Tessa put a hand on Kayaa's arm, stopping her.

    "Cute guy, eight o' clock, and guess who he's staring at?" Tessa nudged Kayaa's side suggestively.

    Kayaa turned her head and froze.

    'Holy crap.... isn't the same guy that was watching me earlier?'

    From across the room, standing by the far exit at a medium height was in fact the same person Kayaa had come in contact with this morning. And again, his eyes were not on her directly, but somewhere just to the side. His face looked confused, hurt, and defintely angry. Only this time there stood another with him, almost exactly identical.

    'They must be twins.... But why is he....?'

    "Yo, Kayaa? You alive in there?"

    Kayaa blinked, clearing her head. "Yeah, I'm... I'm going to get to class, okay? I have to talk to Mr. Berlty about the quiz."

    "Uh..... al.... right? I'll see you later I guess....."

    Kayaa had only stayed to hear half of it. She made her way quickly to the southern exit, though her class was in the northern wing. She could get around the long way. She just really wanted to get away from that kid's watchful eyes.

    'You're being stupid, Kayaa,' she told herself. 'He's just some dude with a staring problem. There's no reason to run away or avoid him, that's pathetic.'

    She shook her head at her own idiociy. However, as she entered her fourth perios math class skipping seemed like a very tempting option because in the second to the last row, right next to the window, sat the very thing she was trying to avoid. Or trying not to avoid. Which ever.

    'Aw, Hell.'