Zhaghzhagh:
(n) The chattering of teeth either from the cold or from rage.
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"So she's a...Dark Spirit?" Apollo asked in a whisper, his eyes staying glued on Ebony who was looking between a piece of paper and her lock as she tried to open her locker.

I was at my own locker, only ten or so away from hers, doing everything in my power not to glance in her direction. Apollo didn't bother with subtlety - he full on stared at her. 

"Stop looking at her," I hissed. Apollo's eyes stayed glued on her for a couple of seconds longer before he finally looked back at me. "But yes." 

"That's terrifying." Apollo glanced at me, concern etched on his pale face. "Do you think we should tell someone?"

I groaned and slammed my locker closed. I put my hands in my face, shivering when I felt her gaze on my back. I needed to get out of here; I couldn't be around her; I don't know what would become of me if I was in the same hallway as her for another second.

"Let's just go," I muttered to Apollo, not giving him a chance to protest as I dragged him out of the school.

We left the school quietly. Apollo usually had a lot to say - he'd never been the type to be quiet - but me telling him about Ebony joining our school was enough to shut him up.

I didn't speak either, feeling too tired with the turmoil of feelings boiling up inside of me. I really didn't know how to feel at this point, and I hated not knowing - before meeting Ebony I was pretty smart, I was on top of things and I always knew what to do or say in situations, but now I was just feeling confused.

How could someone be so cruel and yet so kind at the same time? It was like she was two different people. She had come to help me, to stop that terrorist from shooting me, I was sure, but then she had completely flipped and massacred the lady's body.

I could tell she had been hurt in the past, she was resentful and angry, but she didn't seem to want to hurt me. In fact, sometimes I almost thought she was trying to protect me. Yet other times, she looked at me with fire and ice in her eyes, as if she wanted nothing more than to murder me.

Apollo and I met Luca and Aster outside the library, and then walked over to the carpark where Ellie was waiting for us in her sunflower yellow car. She smiled at me as I slid into the front of the car, while my brothers clambered into the back seat.

I couldn't wait to get home after school. I had been trying my best to avoid Ebony and the other Dark Spirits, but it was hard, considering she was in my calculus class almost every afternoon.

I got to my room and fell onto my bed, examining the colors of my room. That was by far my favourite thing about Earth. It was so different to the bland, pristine white walls of the Halka compound. I adored a world of colors; it was stunning, and unique, and beautiful. It was the way you were supposed to the see the world.  

A knock on my door pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Aster coming into my room, a worried smile on his freckled face.

"Hey," he said, his voice gentle as usual. "How're you feeling?" 

"Oh, I'm fine," I told him, sitting up and forcing myself to give him a smile. I really didn't want him to worry anymore than he had these past couple of months - he didn't deserve it. "Why?" 

"You ran right into your room after school," Aster chuckled cautiously, sitting down on the bed next to me. His smile faltered though when he softly said, "Your chemistry teacher called, Pearl. You flunked your test. What is going on?" 

I ran a hand through my hair before sighing, "Nothing, Aster. I'm going to sort everything out, I promise." 

"That's what you say every time," he pointed out, narrowing his eyes at me. 

"But I'm actually going to this time," I insisted. "I... I need to start focusing on my priorities in life and ignoring the imbeciles who stand in my way." 

He knew who I was referring to right away and nodded worriedly. "I knew we should have told someone about them." 

"No, I didn't mean-." 

"Those guys are dangerous, Pearl. I'm sure the Genesis people would get rid of them, if we found some way of contacting them. We could tell Ellie?"

I stared at him. "Get rid of them? They're not vermin, Aster, they're people, just like you and me."

He bit his lip. "They're not like us though, are they? They're mutations, produced from everything evil about humans. You can't possibly be trying to tell me you feel sorry for them."

"If they're mutations, then we're mutations too. We were created in the the same experiment, you know."

"It's different."

"No it's not!"

"They're evil," Aster reminded me. "You heard about that whole thing where that guy pulled a knife on Jasmine. He was one of them. He got suspended."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not saying they're perfect. I'm just saying, we have to treat them like people."

"I know that," he replied. "I was just worried about you, that's all."

"I know," I told him gently. I got up from my bed and run a hand through my hair. "Thank you. But I can handle myself. They don't scare me."

I hurried out of the room, needing a moment for myself. Aster didn't bother following me. I quickly pulled on some trainers and stepped outside, walking away from the apartment, breathing in the fresh air. I found that instead of walking, I eventually sped up into a jog until I was full on sprinting away from my house. 

When I realised I was out of my neighbourhood I stopped to catch my breath. My hand went to my chest, frustrated when the pressure didn't cease. It seemed since Ebony started at my school the pressure had only intensified. I hated that she was able to affect me without even being here. If I thought about it, it was more like she was always here, either in the form of depression, desperate thoughts or a pressure on my chest close to where my heart was. 

The sound of laughter made me shoot out of my thoughts. I cursed when I realised where I was - the dodgiest neighbourhood in the city. Looking around, I noticed a group of people my age in a corner, laughing loudly about something. I ducked behind a corner, hoping I could get away unnoticed by them, but as their talking got louder I found curiosity getting the better of me. I peeked my head around the corner to see them stopping somewhere in the middle of the sidewalk.

The house I was pressed up against was far enough from the group for me to stay hidden but close enough so I could hear them. My breath hitched when I realised Ebony was in the group, dressed in black jeans and a mustard yellow parka. Just seeing her warm attire made me shiver, reminding myself how cold I was in only a t shirt. 

Their conversations were mostly muffled, but one thing was yelled that I understood loud and clear: "Hey, Ebony, how's the new school?" 

Another guy snorted, "Yeah, still can't believe your brother got suspended on his first day. You guys are wicked." 

Ebony shrugged, looking a little unsure of herself. My eyebrows furrowed. I would've thought that Ebony was really loud in a group of her friends, but she looked like the most quiet there. That didn't say much, though. 

"It's alright," Ebony said, but I could hear the obvious lie in her voice. I didn't think the others noticed, which confused me a little as to how I was able to tell but they weren't. Maybe it was because I knew what happened?

"Any hot guys?" another girl in the group yelled obnoxiously. Ebony didn't say anything, just weakly scoffed, but the group seemed to find it pretty hilarious as they broke down in loud laughter and hoots. 

A guy with dark hair that I suddenly recognised as Ash patted Ebony on the back. "Ay, girl, we're just joking with you. Come on, guys, let's go to our place." 

The group agreed and I listened as the sound of conversation slowly began to fade while they walked in the opposite direction.

Only when they were gone did I let go of the breath I didn't even realise I had been holding.

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The next day in school was horrendously awkward.

Considering my locker was only a couple of metres away from Ebony's, we managed to see each other much more throughout the day than I was ready to endure. I didn't know if it was fate hating on me for something in my past life, but she always seemed to be at her locker at the same time I was.

Take this morning for instance - after an exhausting evening the day before, I had gone to sleep forgetting to turn my alarm on, leaving me late for school. When I was grabbing my books for first period in the already empty halls of the school, of course, Ebony had to come in at the same time, muttering curses about being late and not being able to afford getting kicked out. We had made small eye contact, a very awkward and tense one at that, before our heads had snapped back to our lockers, the distance between us filled with a blaring silence. 

When I finally finished at my locker, I wanted to sprint out of there, but forced myself to gain my composure and walk out of there like her presence couldn't have mattered less to me. I felt her eyes burning holes into my back as soon as I had turned away from her, but didn't allow myself to be affected by it. 

Although she wasn't in any of my classes besides calculus, she did happen to be in the class next to me in second period. So, of course, I had to be asked to go and get extra textbooks from the class beside me, the one Ebony happened to be in. When I had walked in I had felt her amber eyes on me right away, before they dropped to the floor again. Even though we were on opposite ends of the room, I could feel the tension. 

She was driving me insane. 

So when I finally got to lunch and didn't see her in the cafeteria, I was finally able to relax. I chatted to Mia, Lillie, Bella and my brothers as we ate the cafeteria's sandwiches, which for once didn't taste as bad as usual. Everything was going great until, of course, Lillie had to open her mouth. 

"Have you guys heard about the new girl?" she asked. "She's in my history class." 

My brothers stiffened, along with me, but Mia was clueless. "Oh? What's her name?" 

"Ebony," I muttered, resulting in Mia and Lillie looking at me with surprised eyes. I swallowed, forcing myself not to let my feelings show through my tone. "She's in my calculus class." 

Mia nodded. "Is she nice?" 

"She's okay," I replied at the same time Lillie snapped, "She's horrible." 

Lillie raised an eyebrow, staring at me. Mia did the same, her eyes darting between Lillie and I.

When she noticed the tensions seeming to grow between us, she whistled lowly. "Okay... Well, I'm going to get a fruit cup. Anyone want one?" 

"I do! I'll go with you, you might need help carrying them," Aster said, quickly scurrying out of his chair. 

I rolled my eyes, knowing Mia wasn't going to need help carrying two fruit cups, but let him go anyway, aware of his fear of confrontation. Bella stayed quiet as she moved the salad she never ate around with her fork. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Lillie mumbled, "Sorry, I didn't realise you were friends or whatever. I just-don't think she's the nicest of girls." 

I shook my head and sighed. "I totally agree. I don't really know why I said that. I guess I just can't see the bad in people." 

Luca scoffed. "Surely you can see the bad in her."

"I suppose."

Fourth period was something I was not looking forward to. Luckily, though, it went by relatively smoothly. We still, as usual, had that painfully tense eye contact but only once, and then we managed to avoid each other for the rest of class.

I walked through the corridors with a smile. Through the thick crowd of students in the hall at the end of the day, I didn't see Ebony so I was able to avoid another horrible two seconds of awkward eye contact. There was a noticeable bounce in my step as I made my way to Aster's locker, causing him to glance at me weirdly. 

"What?" I asked with a wide smile. 

"Nothing, you're just very... happy." 

I nodded, continuing to smile. "Yeah! I don't know, it was awkward at first with the whole Lillie thing, but other than that it was a good day." 

He gave me a quick grin while pulling his books out of his locker. "That's great."

I felt a tap on my shoulder from behind and whipped around, half expecting it to be Ebony, but I was met with relief when I saw it was only Luca, his face smudged with charcoal.

"Hey, Pearl. Sorry if I scared you."

"It's okay," I smiled. "Where's Apollo?"

His mouth twitched into a smile. "You'll never guess."

Aster glanced at us. "What?"

"Where is he?" I demanded, grinning.

"He's at Bella's house," Luca chuckled.

I stared at him, my mouth wide open. "Wait...what? How? Why? When?"

"Oh, I know why," nodded Aster, hiding a grin. "They're in my Biology class."

"They got paired together for a Biology project," Luca explained. "Apollo is determined to get Bella to actually talk to him; Bella is determined to get through the entire project without saying anything."

I giggled. "Oh my god."

"I ship them," smirked Aster.

Luca snorted. "Seriously? They're like polar opposites."

"Opposites attract."

"Bella won't even talk to him."

"She'll come round."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's go."

I turned on my heels, and gasped with surprise when I crashed straight into someone.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"Pearl."

The voice made me freeze, my heartbeat suddenly racing. I glanced up, and swallowed when I was met with a pair of swirling topaz eyes, creased at the sides with worry.

"E-Ebony?"

"I really need to talk to you."