"Mom?"

The door suddenly open, and in came my mother.

"Wintry," she said, "What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I-"

"You should be in bed."

"Mom, I-"

"Is that a switchblade in your hand, where did you get that, are you trying to kill me?"

"I heard a noise at the door, I didn't know it was you, you gave me the switchblade for Christmas last year, and no I'm not trying to kill you." I said quietly, while answering all her questions at once.

"Who else would be at the door at this time of the night?" She questioned.

People who have been chasing you the whole night.

"Um, I don't know, sorry."

"You should be in bed, you have school in the morning. Is this what you do when I'm gone?"

"No."

"Unreal." She mumbled to herself while shaking her head. She looked up and walked toward me.

"Give me this." She said grabbing the switchblade out of my hand, "Your not trustworthy and your probably never gonna need this anyways."

Not trust worthy?

"Go to bed, I don't have time for this." She said walking away from me.

When do you ever?

I walk back to my room and got into my bed. I closed my eyes and tried to forget everything and just sleep, and surprisingly I did.

.....****.....

I wake up to my alarm clock, the birds outside my window.

I roll out of bed and land on the floor. My fleece covers still over me.

You know that feeling when your happy and you feel great but then remember something horrible and you feel this terrible feeling in your stomach?

Well that's how I feel now. I think back to all the horror from yesterday and feel sick.

I untangle myself from the covers and run to the bathroom.

I bust open the door and sit in front of the toilet, I wait for it to start coming up but nothing happens.

My stomach feels empty, like there's nothing in it. I try to think back to the last time I ate.

All I ate yesterday was a pack of chips from the vending machine at school, because I forgot my lunch at home and only had a dollar to spare.

I got up from the toilet and entered the kitchen. My mom was gone, which was a shock to me.

She usually left for work after I went to school. This was a very early time for her to leave. It wasn't even seven yet.

I was going to ask her if she could drive me to school. I figured maybe she had forgotten the fiasco last night, and would be in a better mood today.

I guess I was wrong. She was usually very eager for me to leave the house as early as possible, and since I walk, I had to leave early.

I walked out of the kitchen, without eating anything. I didn't want to eat, I felt like if I did, I would throw up.

I walked back into the the bathroom to take a shower.

Once I was in the shower, I went back and forth with my self deciding if I should even go to school.

I mean I don't really even know if they saw me. but if they did see me, would they even confront me?

Yes they would that's why they chased me last night, I thought to myself.

Marcela.

Her name swirled in my mind. She was what I was the most worried about.

I figured in my head, that they wouldn't hurt a girl themselves, so they'd send Marcela, the only girl in their 'group' after me.

I mean would they hit a girl?

The number one thing I hated the most was confrontation. To be the center of attention. Anything that involved unnecessary drama.

Marcela was the complete opposite of me. She loved to confront people, fight people, call people out. She was always the center of attention and caused a lot

of drama in class.

The thing is she was very intelligent, despite her big personality and 'bad girl' reputation.

She was in seven out of the nine classes I was in. Which means she has seven chances to confront me, for doing who knows what to her three friends last night.

I still couldn't figure out why the decide to run after me last night.

I know they weren't playing tag.

I wondered if they really would have hurt me, if they caught up.

The old lady! Oh my gosh, here I was worried about me, when that poor lady saved me from those insane guys.

I wondered if she was okay. I mean, the bus driver and the passengers where there. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't let them hurt her.

From the looks of it she was winning. I guess a cane can come in handy sometimes.

I thought back to her bashing the cane over Wolf's head. She really only had him to deal with.

Arlo was on the ground, his leg was causing him pain, and Dark was...

Dark was staring at me.

I shook my head, the thought made me feel scared and uncomfortable. It made a eery feeling breeze through me.

It wasn't one of those: I like you stares. It was like he was telling me: you can run, and you can hide but I will get you in the end.

Don't think about him, I told myself. I need to get out of the shower before I get all pruny.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my self.

I brush my teeth and comb my hair. I look up into the mirror, and see a girl who looks nothing like me. I guess that's what happens when you get four hours of sleep. You look like a zombie with bags under your eyes.

I make the decision to go school. I just hoped that it would be a safe to walk.

I didn't want to be a scaredy cat and a coward and not go to school because of them.

All I needed to do was to pray that they didn't see my face and didn't know it was me.

I threw some clothes on which consisted of some old jeans and old t-shirt that said 'BE BAD'! Which I cover with a grey sweater, that was way to big for me.

My mom buys all my clothes. I hate shopping and trying on clothes, it was never my thing.

She drags me to the mall sometimes when she says we need to spend more time together. But I know she just wants someone who will tell her if she looks good in the clothes she tries on.

My mother loves shopping more that anything else. We are not alike in anyway to be honest.

She says I need to start making decisions on my own and be more independent and to stop relying on her for everything.

I don't even know what she's talking about. I don't rely on her for anything.

I look around for my backpack and see it laying on the ground in the middle of my room.

I pick it up, then go into the kitchen again to grab an apple. I figured I needed something to eat for energy.

My keys. Where are my keys? I search all over the house. I find them in my room, along with my jacket. I go to the door and pull it open.

The coldness hits me as soon as i step outside.

I walk down my house and start walking toward the school.

I try to walk as quick as possible, but stopped once I felt pain. My body had not recovered from last night.

I hate thinking about last night. It made me feel sick. I felt uneasy, like someone was watching me.

My hands are freezing. I forgot my gloves at my house again. I also forgot my hat, lucky me.

It takes what seems like forever to reach the stupid school, when I finally reach there I'm like: Yes, Finally. But then I'm realize I'm at school. So that changes everything.

I ran to the school.

Let me rephrase that. I ran to the heated school, where it's very warm.

My school doesn't have air condition, but at least they have heaters.

When I'm in the school, I go to my locker, and put some of my books in.

The bell rings, and it's time for English...

With Marcela.

I really hope that she's absent, or that she's cutting the class. I know that there is no such luck for me.

She never missed class.

I sit down in my seat, and waited for the class to fill.

I look down at my desk, my face began to get warm. Was it hot in here, or was it just my nervousness.

Why? I kept asking myself that question.

Why did I come to school? Why does Marcela have to been in most of my classes? Why did are all these bad things happen to me? Wh-

The sound of the bell ringing, broke me out if my thoughts. I looked around to see the class was filled.

I guess I zoned out. I scanned the classroom for Marcela, but she was nowhere in sight.

I breath out slowly, my heart rate slowed. I felt a little pressure brush of my shoulders.

The teacher began to teach, as soon as everyone settled.

I relaxed in my seat, there was murmurs of chatter that filled their air, combined with my teacher's swift speaking.

It's all very comforting. I begin to feel the lack of sleep getting to me. Slowly taking over my body. My eyes begin to droop, I try to stay awake.

I've never felt this tired in my life. I wasn't the type of person to stay awake, and party or watch television or movies until early hours of the morning.

I loved and craved sleeping. Bed time is fun time for me, and since I didn't get my full eight hours last night. I think it's time for me to catch up on that right now.

I put my hands on the desk and lay my head on top of them. I begin to close my eyes but jolt awake as soon as someone opens the classroom door.

The door wasn't sturdy, so you had to be careful when you open it. Or it would go flying and slam into the wall next to the door, and that's exactly what happened.

And who walks in might you ask.

The one and only, Marcela.

She strolls in like the door didn't just bang against the wall. Creating a loud noise in the classroom.

I immediately sit up and try not to make eye contact with her.

Lucky she sits across the room from me. She seems in a decent mood, but who knows.

She places a pass on the teachers desk, and walks to her desk and sits down.

Whispers replace the chatter that was once in the room.

The teacher settles down the class and resumes in teaching.

I look at Marcela, she is playing with her pen. She isn't looking my way so I'm taking that as a good sign.

If I didn't know her I probably would think she's really nice. She had greenish-brown eyes, long curly black hair with brown highlights and a nose piercing.

She looked very innocent and the piercing didn't make her seem like she was "bad".

I quickly looked away not wanting her to catch me staring.

The period went on, and Marcela didn't do anything. She almost seemed sane.

The rest of the periods went by she still didn't do anything to me or to anyone.

It was ninth period, the last class of the day. I had Math, which went by surprising fast.

I had nothing to worry about I guess. Marcela didn't attack me, and now that I think about I didn't run into Wolf, Arlo, or Dark.

They were not in any of my classes, because they were in a higher grade then me, but I usually see them in the hallway, or at lunch and I didn't.

They probably didn't know it was me the other night.

I didn't want to get my hopes up or be that dumb. I was going to be cautious.

As soon as the bell rang, signaling that the last class was over. I got out of my seat and called my mom.

Not under any circumstances was I going to be walking home today.

I walked outside and waited for my mother to answer.

After three tries she finally picked up the phone.

"Yes." She snapped over the phone.

"Hi mom, um can you -"

"Wintry really, I'm at work what do you want." She says cutting me off. She does that a lot.

"Can you please pick me up from school?" I ask, rushing my words so she won't hang up on me.

"Why do you all of a sudden want me to pick you up all the time. You always walk home, when did you get so lazy?"

Me, lazy?

"It's really cold, and I don't feel very well."

"Is the road still blocked off?" She asked.

"I don't know, probably."

"Did you start walking, or are you still at the school?"

"I'm still at the school, can you please get me. Just this one time."

There was a long pause.

"Mom, are you still there."

She released a long, dramatic sigh.

"I'll be there soon, just wait."

"Thank you so much, I love you."

"Yeah, ok." She mumbled. She hung up after that.

It made me sad that she didn't say I love you back, but at least she said yes to coming to pick me up.

I waited patiently for her to come, and by the time she came everyone outside was gone. I didn't see Wolf, Arlo, Dark, or Marcela outside the school, so that was a big relief to me.

My mom pulled up and honked signaling for me to get in the car.

I ran to the car as fast as I could, it was freezing.

I got in and closed the door. The heat was on and that made me very happy.

She started driving very fast.

"I need to get back to work, this is ridiculous."

"I'm sorry."

This is how I'm greeted by her. She doesn't ask me how was school, if I feel ok, nothing.

She was really fuming. She is going at a very fast speed and driving like a madman on the road.

"I hope your happy, I had to leave work for this."

Work, work, work. That's all she talked about.

I looked in her direction, and take into account her clothes.

What is she wearing?

She worked as a maid for these very wealthy people. So I'm not sure why she is wearing expensive looking heels, and a tight looking dress.

I found that very strange.

She continued to swerve in the road until we arrived at our house. She didn't pull up into the drive, she just parked next to the sideway.

"Go, get out. I need to get back to work." She barked at me.

Yeah, "work."

I get out of the car as fast as I can, and had to jump on the sideway to avoid getting my toes ran over.

As soon as I was out she drove away as fast as she could.

I just stared as she disappeared out of my sight.

I walked up my drive way, pulled out my key, and opened the door.

I stepped into the house and closed the door.

I heard a noise in the living room, so I walked slowly toward it.

When I was in there. I heard someone speak.

"Hello, Wintry. Nice of you to join us. Your late."

I turned my head to where the voice was, and my heart stopped when I saw the person. Or the persons to be correct.

I knew I was too lucky today. It was over but I guess I knew that all along.