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

“What do you mean?” I asked in a barely 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 said that it was just a prank. I didn’t do it. It wasn’t my fault. I don’t know what came over me this morning, I didn’t mean to faint. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. I guess I was nervous and….” he cut me off with a shake of his hand.

“Calm down, please. I didn’t mean to 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 me off guard and I hurried through the door, feeling very uncomfortable. I felt the anxiety growing inside of me, along with the electrical pulses. I was so concentrated on his last words that I was not paying attention to where I was going and ran face-first into the chest of none other than Kiran.

I looked up to apologize, but something happened when our entire bodies met. Quicker than I realized, the electrical pulses seized my whole body causing stronger and more painful sensations than anything I had experienced before. As a gut reaction I forced them out of myself just like I did before, only this time, their target was not a potted plant, but Kiran.

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

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

“I, um, I have no idea. Um, I am really sorry,” I was mortified; there was no way, I could ever explain that to him.

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

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

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

“What I saw, was an accidental collision. 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.” We both stood there, staring at Principal Saint. “If you please, Mr. Kendrick,” he asked again with less patience. Dr. Saint opened his arm wide, directing Kiran beyond his office door.

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

Chapter Seven

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

All of my extra “energy” was gone for 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 of our remaining classes. Thankfully, our other classmates preferred to ignore us.

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

All of my teachers, demanding and irritable without exception, appeared to hate their profession in some unexplainable way. They showed favoritism to a select group of students; but no surprise, it happened to be the Seraphina-Kiran crowd. Oh well, I’d never been much of an honor student.

The students were the real enigma. They gravitated around Seraphina as if she were the sun. Even her supposed friends, Evangeline and Adelaide reverently worshiped her. So, it shouldn't have been surprising to me that Kiran and Talbott were victims to her gravitational pull. It was disgusting really.

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

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

Lilly could have been my exact opposite. 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 out at 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 each other after our last class, chemistry. She promised to save me a seat in homeroom tomorrow morning. With something now to look forward to, I watched her climb into an elegant, black SUV and drive away. She seemed much too small for the oversized monster truck she was driving and I imagined her barely able to see over the steering wheel.

Looking around the student parking lot, I realized that everyone drove an elegant, black something or other. All of the cars exhibited class and style; all of the students driving them were obviously born to privilege. The extraordinary colors the students exuded bore a stark contrast to the dark, glossy veneers of their automobiles.

I wondered if a black car was part of the dress code as Aunt Syl drove up in her cherry red convertible. I smiled widely, happy not to fit in, and jumped in the passenger's seat. As we drove away, I felt slightly embarrassed for being picked up from school, but relieved that we were leaving the looming towers of Kingsley behind us for now.

“How was your day?” Aunt Syl asked, glancing at me from behind her oversized sunglasses. Her shoulder-length hair whipped around her face in the wind, but she barely noticed.

“Oh, you know,” I sighed, thankful to be on my way home.

“ Actually, I don’t know.” Aunt Syl gave me a longer look, and I realized she was looking for assurance that I would be allowed back tomorrow.

“Well, I didn’t set anything on fire,” I smirked, keeping the exploding fern episode to myself. Aunt Syl smiled sweetly; she always put up with my sarcasm.

“Well did you make any friends?” she questioned further, very maternally.

“Um, yeah, one. Her name is Lilly Mason; we sit by each other in most of our classes,” I prayed she wouldn’t ask about the rest of my class; I had no idea what I would tell her.

“Well, that’s nice,” she paused, glancing at me quickly. “What about the boys?” a mischievous grin flashed across her face, and I couldn’t help but smile too.

“Oh, I don’t know…. There are some good looking boys, but they all seem too immature.” Kiran’s perfect face passed through my mind, but remembering his antics, I shook it out quickly.

“Sounds like high school to me,” she laughed, “So what do you want to do for dinner?” I realized then, that she was dressed nicely, in a light-blue short-sleeve blouse and black, pencil skirt with killer heels, precariously pressing on the gas. It was a nice change from the doctor’s scrubs she was usually in.

I sometimes found it hard to believe we were related at all. Aunt Syl, or Dr. Sylvia Matthews, was very tall, very tan, and very blonde. I was naturally tan as well, but only moderately tall. As blonde as her hair was, mine was black. She made me keep it long; she claimed it was something about my natural color and volume being a crime to cut short. I didn't mind; at least I could hide behind it. Likewise, my eyes were black, very black; hers were crystal blue. She looked like the stereotypical California beach babe, and I looked like the Adams family. How we both could be related to my mother was beyond me, but since I’d never even seen a picture of my mother I guess I didn’t really know how it was possible.

“I’m in the mood for steak,” I sighed whimsically.

“Steak it is. But first, pedis, unless of course you have homework?” Only Aunt Syl would put a pedicure and steak dinner before homework.

“No, nothing I can’t finish later,” I lied; but honestly who really expected me to learn the entire French language in one night? I looked down at my beloved backpack filled with so many odious books. I had enough homework to last me several weeks; a few hours of procrastinating would not get me any farther behind than I already was.

“Great,” she headed in the direction of her favorite nail salon and I laid my head back against the seat and completely relaxed, for the first time all day.

After a pampering spa pedicure, and a giant steak dinner at our favorite Omaha steak house, I sat down to what looked like hours, maybe days, of homework. Aunt Syl had been called to the hospital, as usual; I had the house to myself. Her on-call schedule gave me a lifetime of freedom; I enjoyed the solitude and independence.

My house, a cozy Tudor style, four bedroom, three bath, sat in the middle of one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Omaha. All of the houses, built in the same style, looked uniquely different. The tall trees embellished this part of town, and overshadowed most of the houses and streets of our mid-town, Happy Hollow neighborhood.

Although Aunt Syl made enough as an ER doctor so that we could live almost anywhere in town, she preferred it here, as did I. The neighborhood was safe and since there was only the two of us, we didn’t need anything bigger.

Sitting at the desk in my room, overlooking the street, I could see my yellow Land Rover looking back at me. I stared back longingly; one day I’d be able to drive it again, hopefully one day soon.

I was never the child that needed much discipline and Aunt Syl wasn't the type of adult to administer much anyway. I did, however, lose my car after being kicked out of the third prep school; I couldn’t really blame her.

I rapidly tapped my pencil on the desk, knowing I should get to work, but lacking the will power. I did everything I could to avoid French; but I was running out of options. I did the dishes, even though we ate out. I worked through my yoga DVD twice and I even finished all the other homework I had, which was a considerable amount.

French was too overwhelming, and after just finishing Calculus, my brain was fried. Besides, I really needed a tutor. A pit began to form in my stomach as I remembered the students in my French class, mentally picking them off one by one. I learned from Lilly during 8th hour Chemistry that French 101 was an underclassmen class, and the majority of the students were freshman. So not only was I unable to function normally at school, I now needed tutoring from a freshman…. awesome.