Minutes later, I stood up from the toilet seat. Just as I exited the cubicle, the bell rang, indicating lunch time. I walked out of the bathroom. I had to go through a bunch of guys trying to enter the bathroom. I frowned; I would not be surprised if the guys were suffering from a runny stomach with the food they served us at the dining hall. I walked lazily to Spanish class, remembering that I had left my schoolbag there. As I entered, I noticed Mrs. Montez sitting on her desk, paging through her book. I shoved a chair out of my way and she raised her eyes.

"Can you pick it up?" she asked.

"I don't know how to", I replied indifferently.

I finally arrived at the seat I had vacated fifteen minutes ago, but my bag was nowhere in sight. I took a deep breath.

"Mercedes, where is my bag?"

She looked at me from the corner of her eye. She could not be more than 27 years of age. I admitted to myself, she was beautiful. The moment she started talking however, that notion disappeared. She talked non-stop and I had always found that, she bored me more than Mr. Winslow.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Maybe your friends took it for you!" she said.

She said a few more words I had no hope of understanding in her native language. I flinched, they sounded like curses.

I shrugged. She knew very well I was not good in Spanish. On my way out of the room, she shouted,

"Why do you have a Spanish name?"

I turned.

"None of your business", I said through gritted teeth.

I walked out before she could say anything more. She had definitely struck a chord though. She had asked me a question I had asked myself not so long ago. I had not been able to come with an answer and when I had asked mother, she had retorted,

"There is no reason, it is just a name!"

She had walked out before I could ask who gave it to me, her or Margaret. I grit my teeth again. I hated thinking about Margaret. I did not know her and I wished to never meet her. Mother had told me about Margaret about a year ago. She said she had been working at an orphanage when Margaret dropped me off. I had been only a few weeks old. Margaret had not given a reason as to why she was abandoning me. She had merely walked in, put me on the counter and said,

"My name is Margaret. This is my baby. Please take care of him".

She had run away before mother could say anything. They searched for her, they checked hospital records, but they could not find her. It was like she had disappeared or had never existed. A few weeks into my stay at the orphanage, the orphanage had to be closed down for financial reasons. Some of the kids were adopted and some had moved to other orphanages. Emily Linley had decided to adopt me. She was 57 years old and many had thought she was unfit to raise me. She was childless and had no husband or partner. She was staying in a rundown house with no source of income. No one else wanted to adopt me though so Emily was given a chance.

I willed myself to stop thinking about a past I seemed to not be a part of. I had merely been a baby; I had no recollection of any of the events.

I entered the dining hall and scanned the room for Logan. I found him sitting at the far right side of the dining hall with Casey and the new girl. Logan and the girl were facing Casey and a vacant seat. I walked straight to them, ignoring the lunch lady eyeing me. The kitchen would be closed in a few minutes and if I wanted any food, I had to get it then. Thinking of my drawing notepad, I shrugged. I would just have to wait until after school to eat. Anyway, no one cooked better than my mother. My notepad was more important than food. It contained drawings I cherished. In fact, it was the most important thing to me.

"Yo Logan, do you have my bag?" I asked as soon as I got to the table.

"Where were you?" Casey asked, sounding like the concerned and annoying friend that he was.

"Oh, sticking some freshman boy's head in the toilet bowl", I said indifferently.

Casey choked on his food.

"Relax Case, you know me", I said smiling, patting him on his back.

He stared daggers at me.

"You know I hate boys who do that Riley", he said. There was heaviness in his voice.

Casey was bullied throughout elementary and middle school. Bullying was a sensitive topic and I sometimes stupidly made light of it. It was really dumb of me and I hated that I'd made such a stupid comment.

I noticed my bag on the floor, next to Casey. I grabbed Casey's apple and took a huge bite. Casey shook his head and said to Mandy,

"Better hide your apple now! Believe me, it will disappear". His voice was light now and I relieved.

Logan laughed. I took a seat next to Casey, facing Mandy.

"Mandy...you were still telling us about Silica town", Casey broke the silence.

Mandy smiled shyly. I noticed dimples I had not noticed before. She started blabbing about a town I had only heard of about an hour and a half ago. I sat against my chair, scanning the room while chewing on Casey's apple...my apple. Halfway through her description, Mandy looked at me, right at the same time I decided to look at her. Our eyes locked. She looked away.

"It is pretty quiet, no one really knows anybody...." She continued.

"So, how are you finding Aqua town, too loud?" Logan asked.

"I have not made my judgment yet. I haven't been here long".

"Case, can you write my story for me?" I blurted.

Casey looked at me and grinned. He started laughing as if I had cracked a joke.

"No! I will give you an idea though. Turn one of your drawings into a story", she said.

I stared at him blankly. I was certain then he was mad.

"Give me your pad, I'll show you".

I opened my bag, removed my pad and handed it to him. He laid it on the table and started paging. He came across a drawing of a mansion burning, with a small rundown house on its left. The inhabitants of the mansion looked distressed while the ones in the small house seem relaxed. She pointed at the drawing.

"What was in your mind when you drew this?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I just draw", I replied.

"Okay, what does it make you think of?"

Mandy and Logan leaned in to see the drawing.

"She who will bear the one who will..." a voice screamed, the same voice as earlier. It was more violent, so close, yet so far. I closed my eyes and mentally shouted,

"Stop it!"

"Hello, earth to Riley!" Casey said, punching me on the arm.

"I have to go!" I said callously. Taking my pad and bag I walked to the door. Casey stared at me in disbelief.

*

I rushed to the main door of the building, eager to be free. For some reason, I felt Casey was following me so I did not stop until I was out of the building. I walked leisurely then, trying to free my mind from all thoughts. I had no idea where I was walking, but I walked on.

"Riley!" a girl shouted behind me.

The melody of the voice suggested it was not Casey. When Casey was mad at me, he sounded like my mother. There was only one girl in the school who had a voice so melodious. Her name was Abby Monroe. She was the popular girl at school. She was insanely beautiful, with long blonde hair that reached her hip which she would not be caught dead tying into a ponytail, luscious lips, full breasts and a small curve. She was enchanting to look at for some. For me, she just turned me off. There was just something about her that made me go the other way.

"What?" I barked, turning.

A goddess was standing there. Her beauty did not come close to Abby's. She did not have Abby's blonde hair or her huge breasts. Instead, she had neck-long brunette hair, small A-cup breasts, small curves and eyes that promised you all the unseen riches of the world. She was beautiful, beautifully sculpted by the hands of a gifted sculptor.

"When you picked up your bag, this fell out", she said handing me a magazine.

I took it and mumbled a "thanks".

She turned to go back inside the building.

"Mandy!" I called her.

I had no idea what I wanted to say to her. Calling her name had felt so right. It was like a force, like I was meant to say her name one time or the other.

"Yes?" she said, turning.

"That book... that book you mentioned in class, do you have it?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"...Lands of Azuria?" she asked.

I nodded. I did not feel like talking.

"Yeah, but it's my mom's. Do you want it?"

Somehow I felt like she was making fun of me. The way she had phrased that question made it seem like she was surprised I actually read. She had reason to be.

"Yes", I said.

"I'll get it for you, but you have to promise you'll return it in the same condition I give it to you".

"Thanks", I said curtly and turned.

I walked away. A huge part of me wanted to stay but I forced myself to walk.

"Riley!" Mandy shouted.

She walked fast to catch up with me.

"Why are you leaving?" she asked.

"I have some things to do", I said quietly.

Suddenly, my head started spinning so fast and the world started dissolving. I searched for something to hold on to, and the only thing I found was Mandy's hand. It was so soft, so reassuring. It could not stop me from collapsing to the ground though. The last thing I saw was Mandy holding on to my hand, shouting my name frantically.