Shattered - By Sophia Sharp Page 0,1

novelty that certainly got everyone’s attention.

What fascinated Laura more, however, was the way her school first announced the new student’s upcoming arrival. A very formal, terse letter was sent home, informing parents that a new transfer would be coming. And, noted in fine print at the bottom of the page, a single sentence said that this transfer student had been expelled from a previous school on account of “physical misbehavior.” What that meant, the letter didn’t say, but rumors started flying around like arrows from a crossbow as soon as the letter was printed.

“I heard he got into a fight with a teacher.”

“I heard he put some guy in a coma, who’s now on life-support in the hospital.”

“I heard he…”

Laura looked to her friends, all seated with her at the wide cafeteria table, and had to roll her eyes. She was certain there was a simpler, less exciting explanation for the student’s arrival.

“We don’t even know it’s a ‘he,’” she reminded the group.

“Well, what else would ‘he’ be?” Laura’s friend Stacy laughed. Stacy had long, bleach-blonde hair, and a year-round tan that Laura thought belonged more in California than rainy Washington. “A girl? I don’t think a girl would get herself in trouble like that!”

“You never know,” Laura replied evenly. “For all we know, she might be the biggest, meanest girl to walk the face of the earth.”

“Here? Nuh-uh.” Molly sat beside Laura, and frowned as she spoke. “Maybe somewhere ghetto like New York, but here, on the west coast, the girls are all the same. All like us. Pretty, petite—”

“—and delicate,” Laura finished the sentence, smiling. Everybody laughed. All the girls poked fun at Molly for looking too much like a porcelain doll, and acting the part as well. Molly took it all in stride, laughing along with all of them. It felt like the loving ribbing you might give a little sister.

“Anyway,” Laura continued, “I don’t think it’s going to end up even half as bad as the stuff we’ve been hearing.”

“But why would they send home a letter,” Kelly, sitting beside Laura, spoke for the first time, “if it wasn’t something bad?” The way she emphasized that last word made you feel like ‘something bad’ was the end of the world.

“Who knows?” Laura replied. “But I think it’s something much simpler. Like… what if the district required them to send the letter?”

“To alert the parents?” Kelly asked.

“Not to alert them by spooking them,” Laura said, “but to let them know that the new student had been in some kind of trouble before. I think the district, or the school, are just watching their backs in case anything happens here.”

“In case this new kid starts a fight?” Molly asked.

“…or mauls someone in the hallway,” Stacy mused. “Or attacks an innocent, fragile girl.” She winked at Molly as she said that, which caused her to jump in her seat. That caused everybody to laugh again.

“Well, I know one thing,” Laura said once they’ve settled down, “we’ll all find out how much truth there is to these rumors in less than a week.”

Chapter Two

~An Unexpected Encounter~

The following Monday, Laura walked sleepily into her early morning Math class. She covered her mouth with one hand to prevent too big a yawn from escaping. She had walked to school by herself this morning, and while her house wasn’t too far away – maybe ten or eleven blocks – the morning mist so representative of west coast weather had made her feel damp and clammy. Which was odd, because usually she felt refreshed walking through the pristine, early morning mountain fog. She blamed it on the sun, which had decided not to come out today, making the start of a new week all the more miserable under cover of gray cloud.

She was also frustrated with herself by a lack of progress on the Brady front. Try as she did, she never managed to have that serendipitous encounter with him the previous week. They didn’t have any classes together, so her only hope had been running into him sometime before or after school, or between classes, in a neutral environment like the library or cafeteria or hallway. Or anything, really. She’d even planned out what she was going to say:

‘Hey you,’ she’d call out to him with a smile. He’d smile back, melting her heart, and walk over to greet her for the first time in years.

‘Hey,’ he’d say shyly, looking down at his feet.

‘I haven’t seen you in ages, you know,’ she’d tell