I followed the direction of herpointed finger and entered Principal Saint’s office. Small bits of dirt andceramic littered the floor; I was careful to walk over them.

“Close the door behind you,” adeep, sophisticated voice ordered me.

I obeyed, moving the debris out ofthe way with the sliding door. The door closed with a final click as I turnedto look at the man who had spoken.

Dr. Amory Saint, a man in his latefifties; his dark, almost black hair complemented his even darker eyes. He washandsome, or maybe more distinguished than handsome; but either way he seemedto be a man that got things done. He actually resembled one of the bad guys ina James Bond movie.

“Please sit down, Ms. Matthews,” Hepointed to one of two, elegant leather, sitting chairs opposite his large,mahogany desk. Again, I did as I was told.

“Welcome, Eden. May I call youEden?” I nodded my head, afraid to make a sound. I never felt more intimidatedand I wasn’t sure if it was because of the thousands of books lining everyavailable wall space and cluttering the gigantic, opposing desk, or if it wasbecause I knew this man held my fate in his hands.

“I hope you are making yourself athome in our humble school,” he looked to me again, and I nodded, although Iwould have called Kingsley anything but humble. “That’s good…. I wanted tocheck in with you, just to see how you are adjusting,” Here he looked to me andpaused; I could tell he was waiting for a verbal response.

“Um, yes, I’m adjusting, um, justfine. Thank you,” I stammered.

“That’s good.” he repeated. “Andeverything is to your liking?” again he waited for me to respond.

“Yes, everything is just fine,” Imanaged a small smile, hoping that maybe if this wasn’t a meeting to expel me,then I could go.

“So nothing strange has happened toyou today? Nothing out of the ordinary?” his face remained perfectly calm, butI began to panic.

“What do you mean?” I asked in abarely audible voice.

“I apologize if I’ve confused you.I just want to make sure everything is going smoothly on your first day here.It is my job to make sure every student feels well-adjusted,” he smiled calmly,waiting again for my response. Was this some kind of test?

“Everything’s fine,” I blurted out.“If you mean the plant, I mean what happened in the hallway; Mrs. Truance saidthat it was just a prank. I didn’t do it. It wasn’t my fault. I don’t know whatcame over me this morning, I didn’t mean to faint. I’m sorry, it won’t happenagain. I guess I was nervous and….” he cut me off with a shake of his hand.

“Calm down, please. I didn’t meanto upset you, I was simply inquiring about your first impressions of Kingsley.You may go now,” he motioned towards the door and I got up quickly to leave.With my hand on the doorknob, he stopped me again. “Oh, Eden, one more thing,please don’t hesitate to speak with me if something is on your mind.”

Dr. Saint’s last comment caught meoff guard and I hurried through the door, feeling very uncomfortable. I feltthe anxiety growing inside of me, along with the electrical pulses. I was soconcentrated on his last words that I was not paying attention to where I wasgoing and ran face-first into the chest of none other than Kiran.

I looked up to apologize, butsomething happened when our entire bodies met. Quicker than I realized, theelectrical pulses seized my whole body causing stronger and more painfulsensations than anything I had experienced before. As a gut reaction I forcedthem out of myself just like I did before, only this time, their target was nota potted plant, but Kiran.

Kiran suddenly flew through the airand across the hallway. The strong impulses that exited my hands hit poor Kirandirectly in the chest. He landed fifteen feet away on his back looking up atme. I stood there shocked, completely unharmed. At least he didn’t explode.

“What the hell was that for?” hedemanded, scrambling to his feet and rushing over to confront me.

“I, um, I have no idea. Um, I amreally sorry,” I was mortified; there was no way, I could ever explain that tohim.

“How dare you!” he yelled at me. Ihung my head, not having a clue how I could make any logical excuse for mybehavior.

“Mr. Kendrick, please come into myoffice,” Dr. Saint, standing in his doorway, remained calm.

“Did you see what just happened?”Kiran shouted incredulously.

“What I saw, was an accidentalcollision. Ms. Matthews meant no harm, nor did she do it maliciously. In fact,I already heard her apologize to you. Now, please, come in to my office.” Weboth stood there, staring at Principal Saint. “If you please, Mr. Kendrick,” heasked again with less patience. Dr. Saint opened his arm wide, directing Kiranbeyond his office door.

Shaking his head, Kiran walked byme, and as I made my way back down the hallway towards the staircase, I heardKiran shout, “Who is she, Amory?” before Dr. Saint closed the door behind him.

Chapter Seven

Knowing at any moment he coulddemand the explanation I could not give him, I survived the rest of the dayhiding from Kiran. To my surprise, he appeared to avoid me as well.

All of my extra “energy” was gonefor right now, and I was able to relax. Because of Kingsley’s full,eight-period day, the afternoon dragged on. Lilly and I sat together in most ofour remaining classes. Thankfully, our other classmates preferred to ignore us.

I understood why they wanted toavoid me; I was fully aware that I was a total freak. But I didn’t understandwhy Lilly had no other friends. She was drop-dead gorgeous and completelysweet, yet all of the other girls in the class acted as if she didn’t evenexist. Only the teachers talked to her and even they seemed to do it out ofnecessity. The exception was Talbott, who found any excuse necessary to saysomething to her. Maybe the other girls were just jealous.

All of my teachers, demanding andirritable without exception, appeared to hate their profession in someunexplainable way. They showed favoritism to a select group of students; but nosurprise, it happened to be the Seraphina-Kiran crowd. Oh well, I’d never beenmuch of an honor student.

The students were the real enigma.They gravitated around Seraphina as if she were the sun. Even her supposedfriends, Evangeline and Adelaide reverently worshiped her. So, it shouldn’thave been surprising to me that Kiran and Talbott were victims to hergravitational pull. It was disgusting really.

The constant flipping of her long,blinding-blonde hair and the incessant giggling were enough to make me want toburn down this school as well. If it weren’t for Lilly, I would have never madeit through the day.

It was as though we were made to befriends, and similarly made to be outcasts. I wondered what she did before Icame; and then I realized probably the same thing I did at all of my otherschools: sit alone, stand alone, and eat alone.

Lilly could have been my exactopposite. She didn’t have to fill in the silence with needless conversation,like I did, but didn’t seem annoyed if I babbled on and on either. I lashed outat anyone who gave me a dirty look, but even though other kids bothered her,Lilly’s sweet demeanor remained unaffected.

Lilly and I said goodbye to eachother after our last class, chemistry. She promised to save me a seat inhomeroom tomorrow morning. With something now to look forward to, I watched herclimb into an elegant, black SUV and drive away. She seemed much too small forthe oversized monster truck she was driving and I imagined her barely able tosee over the steering wheel.

Looking around the student parkinglot, I realized that everyone drove an elegant, black something or other. Allof the cars exhibited class and style; all of the students driving them wereobviously born to privilege. The extraordinary colors the students exuded borea stark contrast to the dark, glossy veneers of their automobiles.