Chapter 1
Welcome to : Hell

"Ah shit." She swore under her breath at the continuous sound of her alarm.

Its only 7.30, frig. Karrie complained but got up anyways, having in mind the plan of well starting school, for once.

Joyfully packing herself a not-so-edible looking sandwich, a couple snacks and a water bottle, she hurried to put a bowl of soup in the microwave and then hurried to the shower. Taking off her nightgown and undergarments, she slipped into the now warm water. She always liked showers, the soft yet hard jet on her dirty skin, the humidity in the air, the clean feeling that it left her to feel. Also, and very importantly, it woke her up. Saved her coffee money and kept her in a happy mood. When she was still at home with her parents, before moving into this apartment, sure she wasn't completely miserable. She had friends and nice teachers. She also was on sport teams which kept her busy; away from home. But she wasn't completely happy either; always her parents hunted her thoughts, her brother too.

She had a greyish-black uniform skirt in all sorts of patterns and then a white blouse. This was complemented with a pair of black shoes and socks that she neatly placed at ankle height and a black hair tie. She put her hair up in a lazy yet appropriate manor; thinking time saving over classy looks. Oh, and she was good at math so that equation was thought over and debated. This year, she wouldn't try to impress. She wouldn't be someone else; wouldn't be a creature in her parents 'perfect' shadow. They were in France, Karrie was in California. Their reign on her has ended.

Walking towards the entrance of her apartment, putting on her boots, she verified her mental list of things to do. Alright… now lets see. Lunch: Check, Homework: aha, not yet… Bed: ehm.. lets just say I don't need to make it, School supplies: yup, Car Keys: She looked around the key holder and took the one with a red chain around it. Got them no! hmm. Alright. School, here comes me! Finishing off her list, she opened and locked the door, taking one last look at her apartment before leaving for school. Karrie smiled. It was the first time in a while she had smiled a true smile without feeling something contrary deep down, or lying a smile.

Her hazel eyes met her microwave's clock and it read 8.15. Her first class started at 8.50 so she figured by driving there, it should take about 15 minutes, also getting there early wasn't a bad idea. Also, she has to take a 15 minute shower and takes her about 30 minutes to get dressed, find her stuff and do her makeup. Well, the light amount she wears, considering her parents didn't allow her to wear any. Makes you look like a slut. We don't want that. Karrie's thoughts wavered for a while, but confident to not let her parents wreck her first day of her first year of school away from them, she stirred out of it.

The green light of the microwave's time brought her attention to her bowl of soup she had almost missed! Quickly calculating her time, she had about 5 minutes to eat her soup. That's alright for me. She smiled once again, dropping her bag down and quickly settling herself to eating her tomato and vegetable soup. Once Karrie had finished, she glanced up at the time once more, 8.22. Ooh. Ok, two minutes behind schedule… great. Let's GO! She thought, then laughed at how much she was stressing. She should relax and enjoy.

Grabbing her bag for the second time in one day, she rushed to exit her apartment, double check the door and then sped for the stairs. The apartment complex wasn't too big, but still, it took her a bit to figure out where the washrooms and study/lobby were. Karrie's light brown hair wasn't completely dry yet, leaving a bit of water stains on her shoulders. Her bangs were flying in her face therefore she, for the 3rd time so far that day, struggled to tuck them behind her ears. Temporarily taking her eyes off of the way in front of her, she bumped into a tall figure. When she realised what was happening, the person was already walking away.

"Fine… I won't say sorry then." She muttered, looking at the approximately 6'2" man walking away. He didn't look back or seemed to be paying any attention. What an idiot. She thought, eyeing him and the two other male figures who walked by his side. …all of them are idiots. It's 8.24 and I'm already making enemies. Lovely!

Once in the parking lot, Karrie hurried to her silver Celica, throwing her bags in the seat opposite to her. She grinned when a couple of walking girls turned their heads to see the nice car she was driving. She was unlucky for the reason of having the car, inheriting it from her parents, but she's lucky for having a car at no cost, right? She had gotten custom seats and rims and then got her paint redone that summer, upon having arrived in California. To sum it up, she has a pretty nice ride and is proud of it. Half way to the school, she was looking on her map to make sure she took the right turns. It was, after all, her first year at this school. Actually, it was her very first day. Karrie had, for that reason, slowed down to about 50KM/H, actually at the tip of the speed limit. She usually drives a bit faster, but she really wanted to figure out her route first. A loud beeping sound shook her a bit, causing her to drop her map and slam the breaks.

"What the hell?!" She cursed out loud as she checked her mirrors to see who had done this. Seeing only one other car in close proximity, she noted the Pontiac GTO speed to pass her. She recognized the flock of golden/brown hair on the male at the passenger seat immediately. That's the stupid idiot that bumped into me earlier. Great, I bet he goes to my school too. She sighed to herself as she kept driving.

Finally, at 8.40, she was at school. Only thing is, now she had to find her locker and classes in 10 minutes. Not to forget to get her locker organized and still make sure to be a minute early in class, just to look good. The finding her locker part was easy. Just fallow the numbers. She was on the second floor, in the right wing, locker B131. She quickly turned the lock with the combination given to her by mail and stuffed her bag in, organizing her lunch bag at the bottom, on top of her Phys Ed shoes and her binders at the top. Taking the first of the two binders and her blue pencil case, she headed to look for her core room.

Piece of cake! Karrie found it in record time, which was in her favour considering she was a bit behind schedule. She took a seat in the second row from the front as a couple other students took seat after her before the bell rang. Everyone seemed to have a friend they knew, except for her. Everyone was talking about their summer flicks, except for her. She didn't mind though, she knew to expect this, she was new after all. A short and older woman walked in the room, certainly being the teacher. Even if everyone in the room could probably have recognized her authority and presence, no one quieted. Eventually the director played the national anthem and gave a quick welcome to all the students over the speakers. Then the teacher spoke for the first time, sitting in her black desk.

"Hello everyone, my name, for those of you who don't know me yet, is Ms. Shartan. I will be your core room teacher for the remaining of this semester. Also, for those of you attending ENG4U, or simpler put English for Grade 12 students, at the pre-university level, ill be seeing for the next hour and ten minutes. If not, the run off to your next class!" Ms. Shartan announced to the class in a joyful tone, affirming her authority.

The voices around the class diminished but were replaced by the sound of chairs moving everywhere. A few people, including Karrie, stayed in class, as they had an English class. She liked English; it was what motivated her to move to California. Well, other then her parents. She was French by birth and had always wanted to be able to communicate in English, therefore by moving here, she would have to adapt, and quickly. She was, though, more then capable. The sound of the bell was heard once again, moments later as new students flooded the class. A guy fallowed by two girls, maybe three, giggling at how cute he looked and how they missed him, went towards the back of the class; Karrie rolled her eyes at such a sight. Fawners, I'm telling you. How can 3 girls be so utterly amazed by one guy? Never ceases to amaze me. She laughed silently as to not look psychotic.

"Miss O'Connell? If there is a Miss O'Connell in this class, it's your last chance to speak up."

The teacher spoke out, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Karrie blushed faintly and spoke up.

"It's me… sorry." She replied quietly, feeling a couple of eyes on her back.

She must have been zoned out. Wouldn't be the first time, probably isn't the last. The class went by as normal; the teacher once again introduced herself and explained what the cans and cants are for her class. She continued on to explaining the outline of her class before handing out two books; one of the two being a novel and the other being their work book. One of the earlier 3 girls then spoke up in a high pitch tone.

"Excuse me Ms., can we like, not do work today? We just got back from the holidays and it's a bit hard to concentrate so quickly." The girl whined and one of her friends threw in a "Yeah." To back-up what she was asking.

A male voice from the left of the class spoke up before the teacher had a chance to say a thing.

"Sheri, shut up." He said, in a snappy voice.

The girl who Karrie identified as Sheri pouted and cuddled closer to the guy she had been 'fawning' over earlier. This one decided to speak up as well.

"Max, stop terrorizing the ladies for a second why don't you? It's not her fault that I am a better man for her then you were and will ever be, doesn't mean you have the right to lose respect for her." His voice seemed a little sarcastic but the coldness of the words got his message through.

"Enough! Now, continue on your reading of the biography of Linda Howard before I decide to assign homework." The teacher threatened.

All this time, Karrie couldn't help but giggle a bit at the girl and guys' debate. Wow, girls like that, I really don't know what they would do or how many minutes they could survive being in my shoes. She sighed and continued on with her work.

Class ended shortly with another loud ringing and Karrie grabbed her books, binder and pencil case and headed for her locker once more, having to go back up the stairs as the class was on the first floor. She got her combination right on the first shot, having memorized the first two numbers, only having to peak for the last one. Putting in her English books, she closed her locker and walked down the left side of the hall to go to her next class, French.

This time, upon reaching class, she chose a seat in the second last row and read the chalkboard while waiting for the remainder of the class. The chalkboard read "Hello, my name is Miss Taylor and ill be your FRA4U teacher. Tous dans cette classe va se passer en français. Merci. " (Everything in this class will be happening in French). Karrie, being a french person, knew exactly what everything meant therefore, unlike everyone else, she didn't have a confused look plastered to her face. The bell had rung a couple of moments ago so they were already getting the 'Welcome to class!' speech. This time, the teacher was still female, but much younger. Approximatively 28, obviously it wasn't a very long time since she graduated from university.

A knock was heard at the door and a couple heads turned that way. Miss Taylor made her way there to answer is only to have the person or people on the other side open it by themselves.

"Hey there, beautiful, sorry for being late, couldn't find my locker." The boy grinned as he and a friend made their way to the back of the class. Karrie turned her attention to the voice to see who was daring enough to be so bold towards their teacher and immediately recognized the people. It's that stupid idiot AGAIN! Out of the 2000 people at this school, you would have thought I wouldn't have to endure having HIM in one of my classes. She shook her head and went back to filing in a paper the teacher had passed around with words to translate from French to English, with the flexibility of using a dictionary as reference. The teacher reprimanded him, who surprisingly accepted what she had to say without a word and a couple snickers were heard around the class.

Class finished moments later and she grabbed her binder and pencil case, handing her paper to the teacher before walking out. Once she was near her locker, Karrie got the feeling she was being fallowed and peeked over her shoulder, but couldn't see much. Unlocking her locker and putting all her stuff away, the feeling grew stronger until she felt a shadow over her. Slowly turning around, curious, she saw what she wanted to see most. Him again, for the fourth time that day, and his two friends from the residency.

"Well hi there." He grinned as he opened the locker to her right as she grabbed her lunch box and shut her own. His two friends were on her left side, staring at some girls walking down the hall.

"Your new here aren't you?" He asked her politely, though the tone used indicated otherwise.

Karrie decided to figure out what he was up to, so she didn't speak and let him continue.

"My name is Mark, Mark Matthews… and you are?"

She still didn't reply, slightly peeving him. Karrie only grinned.

"Fine by me, oh by the way, next time, just move out of my way." He laughed and playfully punched his friend in the shoulder, indicating he wanted to leave.

"If I were you, I wouldn't address me any orders. Oh and bel automobile, celui à ma grand-mère a plus de style. " (Nice car, my grand-ma's vehicle has more style then yours.) She replied to him before walking towards the cafeteria, grinning. She figured that he was too stupid to figure out what she said anyways. Idiots are always going to remain the same, all 3 of them.

Whoah, I really didn't expect reviews for the Prologue! And so quickly! Hugs you both

Well thanks a lot, both of you (clumseysweetpea and Joseph-Kenji-Bennington).

I worked on this chapter all the time I could, starting during my geography class heh. So I hope you like it. Its just an introduction of course, but jeez. Lots of detailing lol.

As I mentioned before, I don't nessesarily have a plot line, so if you have any ideas, send me an email! xxsweetxinsanity AT:) Thanks alot.

Sorries, I wanted to put this chapter up last night but stupid document manager here wouldnt work grins Oh wells :)