There's a crow sitting on the windowsill.

Its beady black eyes peer through the frosted glass, unblinking and practically staring directly into my soul. Chills, absolute chills. I was surprised I even had a soul to look into, but I guess that explains the incredibly unbird-like judgemental expression the stupid crow wore.

I squint back from my seat, maintaining eye contact to assert authority. I am superior, I am dominant, I am— anddd the crow is flying away. Lovely.

There goes my only shot at entertainment.

From the right I feel someone kick my ankle. "Nev, prayers." Ray hisses to me from the desk across.

I try my hardest (read as: not at all) to conceal an eye roll as I draw my attention to the front of the room. Penny stands there, her slim black skirt hitting her ankles per teacher guidelines, and blouse ruffled to perfection. How she maintains such a perfect look seven hours a day, five days a week, and one hundred eighty days a year I have absolutely no clue. I swear she doesn't age. Her name isn't really Penny, it's Mrs. Pendleton, but her short ringlets of copper-colored hair has me calling her otherwise. I only have a few pennies in my collection, they were rare and basically useless, but the color match was near perfect. So was the description.

As she was one of the few certified educators, I have had her for second grade, fifth grade, eighth grade and now eleventh grade. I know her teaching style like the back of my hand. It wasn't a good one.

"Heads up, eyes open, look ahead." She snaps, her hands planted firmly on the lectern she stands behind, nails painted a rather disgusting shade of chartreuse, her voice high and brittle. Just as she finishes the final syllable of her command, the bell rang for 6:30, the official beginning of the school day.

And, in unison, we start the day with the Lord's Prayer.

"Our Father, who art in heaven," We all began. My attention was already wandering, back to the windows, on the left wall, frosted over from the early snow. Blizzards in October. Are you kidding me?

"Hallowed be thy name." Then my eyes wander to the right. I sat almost directly in the center of the room, just placed a little to the left because the rows were made up of an even six. Everyone sat at mix-matched desks, all different colors and styles. You'd think the Lord Almighty would be concerned with His new generation of worshipers' (cough, cultists, cough) education, right? Wrong.

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," I doubt that God even looks outside the borders of New Jerusalem anymore.

"On Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread," My eyes wander all the way to the right, to the person sat beside me. Ray. She faces the front of the room, eyes trained carefully on Penny. Her lips move with the rest of the class, and I'm just able to pick out her voice from the rest. Quiet and soft, a gentle whisper among the monotone.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," Her dark braids cascade over her shoulder, reaching far past her shoulder blades, each one woven with careful little strands of gold. Her caramel colored arms brace her body against her desk, hands clasped in front of her and maroon sweater sleeves pushed up past her elbows.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Little brown feathers rim the back of her ears, just along her hairline, soft and supple and entangled slightly in her hair.

"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever—" She glances towards me, and those eyes. Bright white sclera, nothing else, no iris, no pupil. Just pure white. It's her angel blood, that's what she says. A quarter angel. It's like glass, perfect and unbroken. She turns her head the slightest as she locks gazes with me, tipping her head slightly towards the front of the classroom, her lips drawing themselves into a taut line. "—Amen."

"Miss Hollow." I wince at the annoyance and exasperation present in Penny's voice, and gritting my teeth at the address. Slowly I turn to look at her. "What could possibly be more important than morning prayers, for you to get distracted?"

Everything, my mind says. "Nothing." my mouth says. "Sorry, ma'am."

"This is the fourth time I've had to snap you out of a daze during prayers this semester. If you were truly sorry you would stop." Penny says, inhaling sharply through her nose in heavy disapproval. Almost like a vacuum cleaner getting stuck on a dust bunny.

"Exactly.." I mutter, my gaze lowering to the floor. One of my hands clutch around my blazer sleeve, sliding the fabric against my palm.

Penny's eyes narrow. "What was that?"

"Eh—" Did I have a backup plan? No– I just say shit, can you blame me?

"Why don't you share it with the class, Miss—" My eye twitches. "—Hollow?"

My eyes flicker to the right, looking at Ray for help. Holy Ones, I was screwed. So, so screwed. My mind only likes to work fast to get me in trouble, god forbid it use its wit to come up with a good excuse.

"Uh—"

"I heard her say sorry again, under her breath, Mrs. Pendleton." Oh my Lord, Ray, you're my savior. I don't even care that she called me she, as long as she was saving my ass— "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

"Uh huh." Penny says, narrowing her eyes the slightest towards my right and then at me. I blow a strand of my bangs out of my face, giving her a small, very fake, apologetic smile. "See me after the final bell, Nevaeh."

Great.

"Sorry." Ray whispers. "I tried."

"Thanks." I whisper back, just as Penny turns her back to begin the lesson. "Better than I could do." I stare at the back of Penny's head, trying to combust it with my mind. Unfortunately, that doesn't work, and class starts. Wonderful.

═

"Do you understand any of what I'm saying to you?"

My head snaps up to meet Penny's eyes, resembling a ring of dirty grass, staring into mine. I was standing in front of her desk. She's seated in her chair, hands folded neatly on top of a syllabus, looking up at me.

I tighten one of my hands on the strap of my back, digging into my shoulder as it hangs at my side. My other hand pulls down at my skirt slightly. They would be far less annoying if I wasn't forced to wear them as part of the strict uniform. But right now it's unbearable. "Uh– yes?" I couldn't be bothered to actually listen to her lecture. I have enough willpower to personally come down to her room, to avoid detention, when I really should be walking home. But to listen too? Pfft—

Penny sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose between two of her fingers. "Nevaeh," I wrinkle my nose. The way she says my name, like she was my mother, makes me want to flip the desk. "You're a brilliant young woman." I press my tongue against the back of my teeth to bite back a snark of a reply. "But your attention span gets in the way of your potential. Severely. I've seen what you can do when you actually put your mind towards something. But that's rare. And someday, if you don't fix that, someone much higher up and with much more ill-intent is going to put you in your place."

I'll put them underground, how about that? "Yeah. Got it." I mutter, stabbing the toe of my shoe into the floor.

"Do you? Do you really? Because it seems like I'm having this conversation with you more and more often." Penny says, an eyebrow raised. "If you care about your future you'll listen to me this time."

"Okay."

"You understand?"

"Yes."

"You're free to go."

I was already out the door.

"So? How'd it go? Did she reprimand you for not paying attention again?" Ray asks as I close the door to our classroom. She had waited for me, to walk with her home. I was honestly happy to see she was still there and hadn't left without me.

"Guess." I deadpan.

Ray purses her lips, beginning to walk beside me down the hall towards the exit. "Is that a yes?"

"Well no shit." I say, shouldering my bag. The slight heel of my shoes click against the horrendously colored tire floors. Probably to hide vomit stains when the stomach flu goes around the elementary grades.

Ray scrunches her nose. "Excuse me, it's not my fault you got in trouble with her— it's not that hard to sit still and look forward for a minute. And I tried to warn you." She says, jabbing a finger in my direction and poking my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I reply, swatting at her hand. We walk out the doors of the school, one of which is propped open with a heavy book, probably an encyclopedia or a dictionary. I tried to use my bible once for it and got a three-day suspension.

She rolls her eyes as the frigid autumn air hits us as soon as we step outside, pulling the popped color of her polo up further on her neck and the rolled-up sleeves of her sweater down over her wrists. I dig a scarf out of my shoulder bag (or a satchel. I don't actually know what it's called. It's just not a backpack, call it a backpack and I will throw hands, it only has one strap), and debate giving it to her before deciding that I need it more and wrapping it around my neck. I pull my ponytail up and out from where it got pinched between my skin and the fabric, and then I take off the hair tie and slip it over my wrist to let my hair down. As much as I want to chop it all off with a pair of kitchen shears, it provides optimal ear protection from the wind.

The street we walk along is deserted. Just chipping asphalt and concrete slabs, with rusting metal poles and old withering street signs. This particular part of the city had been rebuilt after the Fall of Humanity a few centuries back, turned into Gaz and leaving behind few remnants of what it used to be. Considering the couple of skyscrapers that pierced the clouds just beyond the border of Gaz and in one of the forbidden districts, I could only dream of what it had looked like during its peak glory days.

Ray came to a stop on the sidewalk, right where we typically cross. But she doesn't cross. "What are you waiting for, Ray? For me to hold your hand?" I ask, smirking up at her. She is annoyingly taller than me, by a good couple of inches. Her shins are my greatest rival.

"Oh shut up— I'm just being careful." She scoffs, shoving my head in the opposite direction at the wink I send her way.

"You do realize like five people here have cars. And they're the loudest fucking thing on the planet. We'd know if there was a danger of getting run over." I point out, shoving her back with my shoulder.

She rolls her eyes for the second time. A common occurrence. "Whatever, let's just go." She says. "I should have left you with Mrs. Pendleton..."

"But you didn'ttttt." I sing-song.

"Regretfully."

"Fortunately."

"Unfortunately. You forgot the prefix there."

"Superfortunately."

"I— I'm so done." Ray sighs, running a hand down the entirety of her face.

"Then my job here is also done." I grin, hopping up onto the sidewalk on the other side of the road.

"How about I fire you?" She says, narrowing her monochrome eyes at me.

I smile innocently at her. "Bold of you to assume that you're my employer."

"Of course. How stupid of me." Ray says with a blank, annoyed expression.

"I know, I know, it must be frustrating how greatly my intelligence outmatches your own. You'll get there someday." I smile, patting her shoulder (more like her upper arm) patronizingly, still walking.

"How reassuring." The sarcasm dripping from her tone was sharper than Penny's contour.

"Oh look at that, we're here." I say, changing the subject abruptly. We come to a stop in front of an ornate ebony gateway, latched together with an overkill lock. Down the driveway was one of the few cars that existed in our city, sleek and black with a bunch of random numbers on a worn plate on the back. Some of the more "fortunate" members of our community preserved and restored these automobiles from the old city a long, long time ago. No one knows what the numbered plates are for but they never got rid of them. The only readable, clear word on all of them was "NEW", but then the rest was indecipherable.

Behind the driveway and garage, was a large three-story home with smooth marble-colored walls and a slanted grey shingle roof. Fancy, I know.

When I look back at her, Ray is pulling a key on a necklace chain from beneath her polo and sweater, fitting it into the lock to open the gate. "See you tomorrow?" She says, pulling one side open.

"Tomorrow." I nod in agreement, giving her a fistbump (her rings really hurt my knuckles, but I never say anything about that part) before she steps through the gate and closes it.

I watch her braids swish back and forth at her tailbone as she walks up to the door, her ruched leg warmers hiding the back of her calves right where her skirt stops and her backpack hanging off one shoulder.

So now I'm left to continue my walk home by myself, with nothing but eight crows along the old telephone lines to keep me company.

———

and here we have, the first chapter

i decided to try out a present-tense style of first person writing, instead of the past tense i usually write in— lemme know if you like it! also if you see any grammatical errors in it (such as me using said instead of says), please let me know—

hope y'all like our two characters so far, Nev and Ray— y'all will be sick of them by the end of this book >:] 

i love the concept of this book so far, and i'm still doing some worldbuilding so i might come back and change some things in these first couple of chapters if i end up coming up with something. i'll let y'all know if i do that though!

please don't be a ghost reader, seeing y'alls votes and comments seriously makes my day, i love getting spammed so please don't hold back

anyways, i am at school when this is getting posted so i'll react to everyone's comments and questions and stuff when i get home- hope y'all enjoyed! have a good day/night everybodyyyyy 

word count: 2358