Chaptre Two
The Phone Virus

He nearly jumped at the sudden touch of his arm being grabbed gently. He swung around to face his adversary.
“Hey, sexy.” She smiled.

Amazingly, there before him stood a red haired, hazel-green eyed girl. Quite his opposite. What’s more was her short, pleated denim skirt. And her maroon T-shirt plastered with a gold “A&F” across the front, which was fitted over a nice, white, button-up shirt. He willed himself not to watch her chest.

I’m just reading her shirt. I’m a slow reader is all…

Then he realised…she had just called him “sexy”. Who was she?
“Um…hi.” He didn’t even bother to push his hair out of his face, though he could barely see her.
“The name’s Cassandra. All my friends call me Cass or Cassie. You can call me Cassie too.” She said it like a demand. She then held out a hand to him, and when he took it, he realised her nail polish was the exact same colour as her lips--Barbie pink and sparkly. “What’s your name?”
“Duo Narien. Call me Duo.”
She released her grip on his hand and he immediately tugged at his shirt collar. It was smouldering hot, and he was wearing all black. To be precise, a black and grey striped T-shirt with “Loser” printed on it, and black skinny jeans. His Chuck Taylor’s were black, his messenger bag was black, his nails were black, his eyeliner was black and his hair was, quite naturally, black, just adding to his misery.
"Is Duo your real name?"
“It certainly isn’t a fake name.”
“Does your birth certificate say Duo on it?”
“No.”
Well, then what did it say?”
“Obviously not Duo.”
“You are one sneaky little guy,” Cassie smiled. Her patience had thinned ever so slightly, but she wouldn’t let it show. “Hey, I have another question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“You with anyone?”
“With?” he questioned, arching an eyebrow.
“You dating someone?” she sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Eh…no…” He eyed her suspiciously.
“Dude, do you even recognise me?”
“Not in the least.”
“Gawd…I’m Cassie Johnson from your Science class. We just had class together, like, two minutes ago.”
“Um…okay. But we’ve never talked to each other, so I don’t know you.”
“What am I doing now?”
“Um, well--”
“Do you at least know who Annea Wayke is?”
“No. Does she sit by you or something?”
“She sits in front of me. So the name doesn’t ring a bell?”
“You do realise that I’ve been attending this school for an astoundingly lengthy period of two whole days, don’t you?”
“Ugh. I hate you sarcastic sorts. She looks like that,” Cassie said with a turn as she blatantly pointed at a blonde girl with a horrified look on her face, who quickly looked away, blushing like a beet.
“Yeah. I think I’ve seen her,” he shrugged.
“Okay, cool…um…got a pen on ya?”

Duo reached a hand deep into a pocket of his pants and extracted a BIC, barely able to check if it was a pen at all before Cassie had snatched it from his hand.
“Okay, here’s my number,” she said, grabbing his wrist and scribbling curly digits on it.

Cassie J. xoxo
      303~555~8575 <3

“…and this is Annea’s number…”

Annea W. <3
     303~555~2833 <3

She had pressed down hard so Duo’s skin pinked, but her grip on his wrist was so tight that it didn’t hurt because his hand was numb. “Okay, so what’s your number?”
“M-Mine?” He wasn’t prepared for the question.
“No, I was talking to the other loser behind you. Yes, you!”
“Um…okay, it’s 303.555.6238.”
“Sweet, dude. Thanks!” She smiled innocently then walked back to join her clique.

He walked off, glad that he had played an instrument that he couldn’t carry home. Dila, his cello.
But, of course, that was just a nickname. His cello’s real name was Dahlia. If he had a daughter, he knew he would name her Dahlia. He actually had two cellos, though. Both were fully his, and Dila, the one he kept at school, was his first. Arma, his second, was kept at home. Arma was short for Armada. And, no, he would not name his son Armada.

A Hummer drove up to the school, and Duo climbed in, hastily making sure all of his pants were in in. He saw a boy eye him enviously as he put an arm around Cassie’s shoulders. Duo smirked and leaned back in his seat, only to realise that the car was completely full.

“Hey, bro,” said a blonde haired, blue eyed girl from the driver’s seat. Duo looked up at her silently with a matching set of ice blue eyes.
“Hey, D.”
“Yo, Duo.”
“What’s up, man?”
“Hey, dude.”
“Hello.”

A tough looking group of people dressed more or less like Duo greeted him with loud, yet welcoming, voices. Except for the simple “hello”. That was said quietly, cautiously, by a small girl with short hair who sat closest to him. He recognised her as Rheyna.

The car, which had never been shut off, launched forward and narrowly missed the car in front of it. Duo’s sister, Denaia, was a HORRIBLE driver, yet confident everyone just overreacted.

“Hey, Dan, you’re gonna kill us if you don’t slow down! We’re still in the parking lot!” said a guy sitting farthest from Duo. He had short spiky brown hair and purple eyes. Contacts?
“We can afford to lose a few of you guys, Bire,” Denaia said, glancing in her rear-view mirror as she turned, almost two-wheeled, out of the parking lot and onto the street.
“The feeling’s mutual.”
”Aw, c’mon now! We haven’t died yet…due to her driving, anyway,” said another guy who sat in the passenger seat, twisting around so he could see the others. He wore a red, backwards cap that had a pentagram on the front, and black hair that stuck out, and tomato red eyes. Were those contacts? His eyebrow also had a barbell in it.

“Shut up, Krei. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Denaia retorted. The brakes squealed as she slammed them at a red light, which, unfortunately, turned green the second she stopped. She quickly plummeted the car through the intersection, swerving quite a bit.

This is the continuing of Chapter Uno from my story/book thing: REALITY CHECK. o.o

NOTE: Annea's eyes are GREEN-BLUE, not steel grey. So sorry...as if you even noticed. -.- ANYways...

She had straight golden hair and green-blue eyes and fair skin, almost pale, with a sprinkling of freckles on her nose. She had a body to envy as well, proven by how Brad never looked her in the eyes when she spoke.

Next to Brad were all of his jock friends and their girlfriends, who happened to be Annea’s friends, all of whom were just as good-looking as she, if not better. Cassie tugged her friend down the stairs, and Annea obediently followed without a fuss.
“Hi Brad,” she sighed as he kissed her cheek awkwardly, boyishly. Then again…he was just a boy. Brad had never been a very good kisser anyway. Annea saw Cassie wink at her knowingly; Cassie was always excited when she found out Annea was dumping someone.

Justin and Cassie exchanged kisses in greeting as Brad wrapped an arm around Annea’s waist. He was going to hug her when he saw his other friends approaching and absently pushed Annea away. She eyed him scoldingly and turned to walk away and join her own friends, who were conversing about the party this Tuesday. She opened her mouth to say something when she shifted her gaze past the girls and focused on the dark figure walking by. Duo.

Cassie, observant as always, noticed this slight change in Annea’s eyes, and followed her gaze to the new kid, the gothic boy. She smiled mischievously, winked again at Annea, and immediately swept away to catch the boy before Annea could react.

((Whelp, this is it for Chaptre One, "The New Kid", but NOT the end for all that I'm typing up today! So don't freak, 'kay? ...As if you were. -.- Heh heh. See ya in five.))

HI, GUYS!
I'm going to type up a bit o' story here, homey G-string. There is, infact, a prologue to this story, but I think it sucks, so I'm going to leave it out. I'm going to add a little summary beforehand though. And the chapter isn't complete: this is only an excerpt of chapter uno! Okie dokie then. Here is my book, Reality Check. Enjoi!

Summary~

Duo's the new kid at Renaissance High School. He's one of "them". He's one of those scary, crazy "trenchcoat kids" or more commonly known as a goth. Annea's been living in this town her whole life. She's pretty, rich, popular, and to top it off, she's dating the school's star quarterback. She's grown up having everything she'd ever wanted. Except for Duo. No one in this town was quite like Duo. And his friends, Krei the comedian, Raehl the smart-alec, Dreole the pacifist, Bire the solemn one, Rheyna the shy one, Denaia the beautiful, and Firefly the mysterious. Well, that's Annea's nickname for her. Why would anyone want to call such a beautiful girl such a mean name as "The Virus"?
These new, mysterious, dark friends her family and friends shun. They are amazing in their own ways. She envied their abnormalities. They introduced her to a new world. A gothic one.
Then she found the magazine.
The Virus. No one knows his real name, age, or gender. They refer to him as a he so they won't risk making him mad. A cruel, emotionless, arrogant, schizophrenic specimen of humanity. Not humanity. He can't be human. He's from a place called Sylas. What was this creature behind the bandana that hid his face from the world?
This is when it all changed. Annea will find where her true friends lie when she "falls ill". Will she awaken from this terrible nightmare? Was all of this just a dream?
Was any of it real?

Reality Check~
Chapter One.

Okay, so maybe the grass isn't greener on the other side. She thought about this as she rested her eyes in her Earth Science class. They had been studying plant life and photosynthesis and the like recently.

Well, you need sunlight for green grass, don't you? she thought, casting a small glance over in the direction of Duo, the boy who sat across the room and 3 rows behind her. His midnight black hair fell in his face, shadowing his eyes, as he scribbled on the green surface of the table. He was new, arrived the week before. So far, he'd made no friends, plenty of enemies, though had been desired by many girls.

Her world, Annea's world, was full of the sun, was full of light, and she doubted her grass could get any greener. She was satisfied. She enjoyed life. Even her clothes were bright, like everything else in her life.

Duo's clothes were dark. Where was his sun? Where was the green in his grass?

Duo wasn't the only one. The nice terms used among Annea's friends for people like Duo were "the trench coat kids", the goths, those guys, them. But there was also the other words for them: the losers, the loners, the freaks, the creepy kids; just a few mild remarks among much meaner ones. None of Annea's friends liked them. Annea didn't like them. They were scary--intimidating. They looked...depressed. Lonely, cold, angry. She avoided them.

But Duo... he was different. Appealing. Intriguing.

Just then a white, folded piece of paper was flicked over Annea's shoulder. She unfolded it in her lap, then flattened it out on the table before her. It was large handwritting, written in pink, bubble gum scented gel pen.

Hi!
What's ^ dudette? E. Sci. is really boring, huh? I almost fell asleep. I saw u were sleeping 2. Then u were checkin sum1 out just now! Who's the lucky guy? Don't let Brad find out. O.K. wb. Byes!
Luv,
Cassie
XOXO

Annea's mouth opened slightly, wanting to turn and deny everything Cassandra saw, because it was all in Cassie's imagination. Annea definitely did not like Duo.

Not like that anyway.

Hey Cass,
nm here, whats happenin with you? i wasnt sleeping, but i was about to. i wasnt checking anyone out, youre smokin something. me and brad are breaking up anyway. ive gotten bored with him. but are you lookin at anyone?
luv ya,
Annea
p.s. what do you know about that new kid? i think his name is duo.

She folded the paper back up and flicked it back over her shoulder at her red-headed friend. And she immediately shifted her gaze toward Duo.. She wasn't attracted to him, just interested by him. Before him, it had seemed like an eternity since she last saw a real trench coat kid. Every person decked in black at Renaissance High School was either posing as a trench coat kid or just denied being one altogether. But there was something about him that made him real?or surreal. He seemed actual. True. Individual and original.
Alone.
The paper landed in front of her.

Oh, Annea, u ho, ditchin' our starr QB. The only guy on the football team u haven't had ur way w/ is the mascot! lol Ur runnin' outta guys, chica. There's no 1 left! And I'll just take Brad when ur thru. U were checkin' out the new kid? Oh! Don't get w/ him. U can do better.
  ,
Cassie

Annea turned her head to look at Cassie, who smiled and waved. Annea smiled back politely, and sat back in her chair, her eyes watching the note as if it would spring to life any moment now.

duos a weirdo freak like the rest of those guys. of course i can do better. ^ ^ maybe i should date the mascot! : lol
~annea

She folded the note and ignored a slight tugging guilt as she handed the note back to Cassie. She admitted to herself that Duo was pretty good looking. But he just didn't fit into the puzzle of her life. Sure, she felt that her puzzle was missing a piece, but she didn't even bother considering that Duo could even help find that piece. And the note was returned.

Eww! Not the mascot, that geek! Anyways, yeah, that's y u shouldn't date Duo, cuz he's one of them. But he would b cuter if he let Dinelle dress him up like she wants 2. She asked him and he gave her a funny look but the teacher got him b4 he could answer. I think he would've said no, but the girls have a crush on him, most of them. It's OK if u do.
Hearts,
Cassie.

The bell rang as Annea finished reading the note. The noise caught her off guard, making her jump. She hastily scrambled to get her belongings together and put away. Standing immediately, she glanced around. Where was he?
Duo had already left the room.
"Annea, girl, c'mon. Brad and Justin and the others are waiting for us," Cassandra said, linking arms with her blonde friend.
"Yeah, alright," Annea smiled, following.
As it was the last period of the day, everyone seemed naturally a bit happier to be out of school.
"Hey, Ann!"
Annea looked up and saw Brad, her boyfriend, waving at her, in all his blonde hair, brown eyed glory. Any girl would be jealous of Annea, and every girl was jealous indeed. As not only was Brad classically handsome, but Annea was pretty as well. She had straight golden hair and steel grey eyes and fair skin, almost pale, with a sprinkling of freckles on her nose.