Chapter One, Part One
Chapter One

Class 2-C of G.W. Bush High school in New York City waited eagerly for the bell to ring. One student, Raine Genma, had another reason to wait, not because school was going to be out, but because today was her sixteenth birthday. It’s not like anyone in her class really cared; Raine was just another girl in the class, another head to look at all day. No one thought that she was special.
And she knew it.
Every day before school, Raine would stare into her mirror, frowning at her mediocre looks. Although her eyes were a glistening amethyst, and her hair was a glossy raven-black, the girls in her class had always said that she was weird, or strange, or ugly. She would never amount to their blue-eyed, blonde-haired perfection. Sometimes they even called her an alien freak.
The words stuck to Raine like glue. “Purple eyes aren’t normal. You’re a freak, Raine.”
The discussion of her name was also a hot topic. “Raine?? What kind of a stupid name is that? Were your parents mental?” Raine never knew her parents. They had died in a car crash right after she was born. Raine had lived her whole life with her grandmother, who wanted Raine to call her Tsara.
Today, Tsara was taking a trip to Mexico, where she had won a two-week cruise for singles (Grandfather Tom had passed away a few years previous), so Raine was alone for the time being. However, today she was allowed to spend one hundred dollars on anything she wanted for her birthday. The crisp c-note was plastered onto the refrigerator in an envelope reading “Do not open ‘til birthday” in Tsara’s loopy cursive handwriting.
The bell awoke Raine from her thoughts. As she walked to the door, she was lost in a wave of chattering high school students. She ignored the high-pitched sniggers of the popular girls as she walked by them, their perfectly polished fingers pointing at her.
“Ignore them, Raine,” she told herself, “they’re not worth fighting.”
“Hey, Raine! RAINE!!” a voice called down the hallway. A young teacher hurried up to her, looking concerned.
“Oh, Mr. Carrey. What is it?” Raine said impatiently. There was a hundred dollar bill on the fridge with her name on it, and she wanted it without delay.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked her, and waved an unsigned permission slip in the air. “ You turned this in without a parent or guardian’s signature.”
“Oh, that,” she said, uninterested, “I decided not to go.”
“But this is the field trip of the year! You’re going to study dolphins in Florida for a week! Aren’t you excited at all?” Mr. Carrey was out of breath.
“Why should I go if no one will care anyway?” Raine said, calmly, but slightly annoyed. “No one gives a thought about whether I should go or not. Unless you know someone who does?” She looked at him with sarcasm, turned, and walked away. “I didn’t think so.”
Mr. Carrey stood there in a stupor. He couldn’t send Raine’s comment flying back to hit her in the face, like he could with his other students. She just made it more difficult.
On the way back home, Raine sighed heavily. I really wanted to go on that trip, she thought to herself, but I know I wouldn’t have a good time.
She passed a few of her female classmates, ignoring them. They stopped talking long enough to stare at her with sneers and scornful looks. As soon as she passed, they started talking excitedly again. Typical behavior, she told herself, making fun of me as usual. A boy in her class was talking to another as she passed by, and smiled at her charmingly. She felt herself redden. Ryan Stuart, she thought dreamily as she passed, the cutest guy in 10th grade… she had had an enormous crush on him since the 3rd grade.
“Hey…uh, Raine, right?” she heard him say behind her. Raine whirled around to face him.
“Are-are you talking to me?” she said in a daze. Just looking at him made her swoon.
“Yeah. I’m having a party at my house tonight at 8:30. I’m inviting all the cool girls.”
Then why are you telling me?
“So, I’d like you to be there.”
“Uh, um…okay!” Raine said breathlessly. She turned around brightly and walked with more of a spring in her step. Ryan Stuart thinks I’m cool?? This is a dream come true!
She quickly ran home, grabbed the hundred-dollar-bill, and headed to Saks Fifth Avenue to get an outfit for the party.
On the way to the subway, she passed a dark, gloomy-looking building. She eyed it curiously. Has this been here before? I don’t remember it.
Moments later she found herself at the door, walking inside it. Something was calling her…but what?

Chapter 1 part 2 coming SOON!!!!