Chapter 1
So this was it.  It was the end of the day.  She had no time left to run and hide.  Her nervousness had her palms sweating like a long-haired Chihuahua in Mexico.  She looked like one, too, with poofy, frizzy hair that, had it been shorter, could have been mistaken for an afro.
   “Hi, Curtis,” she said with a giggle that came out more like a strangled gulp.
   He looked up at her from his locker, one eyebrow raised.  “Hi,” he said slowly, wondering immediately if she was in the special ed. class.
   “Um, yeah, I was wondering if maybe…um…if you…well…if we could…I mean—”
   “Hey, yeah I’ll be right there,” he cut her off, talking to no one in particular, then slamming his locker and half-jogging around her to start a conversation with someone he didn’t know.
   Kayla wasn’t sure if she felt like crying or killing as he jogged up to the pretty new girl.  She settled on a scowl, and felt a cold sensation rising in her chest as she always did when things like this happened.
   Down the hall, Curtis suddenly felt a cold chill and shivered, looking around for the open door that would have caused a draft…

…Krysten stood in front of her locker, people spilling all around her and filing past in a very hurried manner.
   “It’s the end of the day.  Yeah, I know.  You should go home.  I said I know!  Well, just thought I’d remind you, that’s all.  Well reminding done, now leave me alone!  Fine, be that way.  I will!”
   People gave her a wide berth as she continued talking to herself.
“Did you remember the keys to your car?  Shit!”  Krysten re-opened her locker and searched for her keys.  “Try the top shelf.  Thanks.  No problem, we need to look out for each other.”  In Krysten’s locker was a small mirror.  She paused after finding her keys to look at her reflection.  Her eyes were a deep brown, but for a split second she saw them shift to pale grey and back again.
“It’s happening again.  What?  The changing.  I think we’re going crazy.  Me too…”

…Sarah hated this time of day.  She usually had to actually want to hear their voices in her head, but when the hall was so crowded like this, she almost always heard some loud thoughts that she couldn’t block out.
   “I have to pee, I have to pee, I have to pee…” she heard Curtis think as he walked by.  “Crap…too late…”
   “Hmmm…do I want to puke tonight or starve?” someone else thought as she went by.
   “Mmm…fire, good…”
   Sarah brushed up against a random person as she hurried down the hall to reach her bus before it left.  Pulling her hand away from their pocket she had collected $2.50 in change.  She frowned and reached into someone else’s pocket.  A five!

…Keith walked outside, his first day of unfamiliar walls finished.  He paused in the sunlight, tossing his long brown hair back and forth. He then began to strut across the parking lot to his car.  Pausing to open the car door Keith struck a pose then twirled into the driver’s seat.   
In his home country, such behavior was expected of him.  However, here, in this strange setting, he received many questioning looks.  He didn’t seem to notice.  He was too good as a Czechoslovakian model to care about the opinions of people.
   When Keith returned to his house, he sprinted to his room to look at the poster of his home country.  The grassy flatlands called to him.  Keith tossed his hair again, watching himself in his wall length mirror.  
Suddenly, when he smiled to himself, his eye caught something in the window.  He turned, walking to the window and saw a hummingbird, it’s wings caught in mid-stroke.  It was as if time had stopped…

Jacob Smith walked down the empty hallway, another night of detention awaiting him. Earlier that day Mr.Mcdavy had caught him making out with another freshman girl again. Jakie always had a way with the lady’s. But today was going to be different. As Mr. Mcdavy reached out to take Jakie by the arm he slapped his arm away and used his favorite phrase, “how rude”. On this fateful day Mr.Mcdavy had decided to wear a short sleeved shirt and to young Jacob Smiths horror, he had accidentally touched the forbidden mole growing on his left arm. He suddenly felt a series of chain reactions rack through his body and by now he had a sudden urge to feel the moist earth underneath his fingernails. The feeling became so strong Jakie ran frantically to the doors, knowing he had to take car of this craving. However, forgetting that the door was pull rather then push, he collided into it, knocking himself out…