Blue Bolt

Chapter 1

Whoever decided that we should wake up at 6:00 in the morning just to go to a building that looks like a prison should go rot in hell.

I slowly woke up, turning my alarm off, as I slowly walked over to my closet and grabbed a fuzzy blue sweater from my closet and slipped it on.

"Anneliese, it's almost time for school, what are you doing!" Mom yelled as I fumbled for my tennis shoes and glasses.

"I'll be down in a second!" I yelled, putting my glasses on and running out of my room, tripping over a tower of boxes outside my room. I heard clanking inside, like something valuable. Mom's fine china. "Shit..."

"Anneliese, hurry up! Your mother and I can't wait forever!" Dad yelled as I scrambled up and practically jumped down the stairs, landing right in front of the front door.

"I'm here, I'm here!" I argued quickly.

"Thank God, I was worried we were going to have to teleport without you." Mom said, handing me a brown paper sack. She messed with my glasses for a second as I grabbed a ponytail from my back pocket and put the front of my platinum blonde hair in a bun, leaving most of it down. "I still don't understand why you keep wearing those silly glasses. They take up too much space on your face, and it's not like you really need them."

If only Mom knew the real reason I needed them. Not that I can tell her, though. If she or Dad ever found out before I got through college, I'd be screwed. "Mom, they're a fashion statement. Lots of people are wearing glasses now!"

"Whatever you say, sweetie." Dad said, rolling his eyes as he handed me my backpack. "You excited for your first day?"

"Dad, it's not like it's my first day of high school."

"But it is your first day of senior year!"

"Yeah, at a new school where the only people I know are some of the other kids in marching band.

"Okay Miss Drum Major." Mom taunted, elbowing me in the ribs. I felt my body condense a bit.

"Only reason I'm drum major is because I was one back home and one of the drum majors here was moving school districts to Lincoln Park High in Chesterfield, they let us do a switch."

"We know, Annie, we know." Dad said, rolling his eyes. "You only remind us about it every ten seconds."

"While I'd love to talk about this more, we're running late. Now hold hands, everyone!"

"I know the drill, Mom. I'm not five." I said, hesitantly gripping her and Dad's hands.

"Well, you're our little princess, Annie!"

"I know. You literally named me after the Barbie character."

"If you had brown hair like your father, you would've been named Erika." Mom said, closing her eyes. "Hold on!"

I closed my eyes for a second too, and when I opened them again, we were standing at the entrance of my new hell hole: Darthmouth Academy. Everyone around me was wearing navy blue and red, the guys wearing red blazers, navy blue ties, and navy blue pants with nice dress shoes while the girls were wearing knee high white socks, black mary janes, navy blue and plaid skirts, white collared shirts, red ribbon tied in a bow around the neck, and a navy blue blazer. I whipped around and glared at Mom and Dad. "Why didn't you guys tell me this place has a dress code?"

"Did nobody at band camp tell you?" Dad asked cautiously.

"No!"

"I'm sure they'll give you the uniform today, honey." Mom said, kissing my forehead. "I'll see you after school. I have to drop your father off at the agency, and then I'm going to work."

By "agency", my mother meant Tretaorian Collective, the main headquarters for the world's collection of superheroes. My dad works in security, and he got transferred out here to Megatropolis and got a new promotion as head of security. My mom, on the other hand, works for a travel agency back home. Since she has a teleportation power, she can teleport her customers to the different places they want to schedule vacations at to help convince them to book with their agency.

If she can teleport back home to go to work, I don't understand why I have to go to school here instead of going to school back home.

Then again, maybe it's better that I'm stuck here. Won't have me reliving my past any time soon.

"Good luck honey, we love you!" Dad said, kissing my cheek. "I'll see you tonight after school! Remember, it's Wednesday! It's Taco Night!"

"I know Dad." I said, gripping my backpack tightly to keep it from slipping off of my back. "Taco Night's the best. I really gotta go. Need to get my schedule and all that. I love you guys."

"We love you too." Mom said, gripping Dad's hand as green light covered the two of them. They were gone in an instant. As soon as they were gone, I slowly walked into the school building and made my way to the counselor's office.

An old woman sat at the front desk, clickety clacking on her keyboard. She glanced up for a second. "Anneliese Andrews?"

"How'd you know?"

"I have the ability to know people's names, even if I've never met them before." She explained, rolling her eyes and handing me a stack of clothes with a piece of paper on top. I got the sense that she was being sarcastic. I guess there weren't a lot of new people in these parts, despite the fact that this was one of the biggest cities in the world. "Here's three sets of the school uniform, get dressed in one of them and then report to your first hour. All of your teachers will be lenient on you since it's your first day here, but try to find all of your classes by tomorrow."

"O-Okay..." I said hesitantly, slowly walking out of the counselor's office and ran over to the band hallway, stuffing all but one of my new uniforms into my band locker, right next to my violin.

"Anneliese!" A voice yelled as I quickly turned around. Callum, one of the other drum majors, said happily as he ran forward, his white shirt untucked from his pants, blazer sleeves rolled up. He looked down at the uniform and gave me a concerned look. He looked like a stereotypical Irish looking kid: curly red hair and emerald green eyes. He was about 6 feet tall, and the only one of the three drum majors that actually bothered to talk to me during band camp and try to be my friend. "They just gave you the uniform today, didn't they?"

"What was your first clue?" I asked, putting the lock back on my locker as Callum grabbed the schedule from on top of my uniform. "They didn't even tell me where my actual locker is or offer to point me in the right direction! They just... Expect me to immediately know where my classes are!"

"That sucks..." Callum said, reading over the schedule and then handing it back to me. "Go to the bathroom and get changed. I'll help you find your classes."

"Callum, you don't have to do that."

"Yeah, I know." Callum said, putting his arm around me and steering me to the bathrooms across from the band room. "However, I take some responsibility over you since this is your first and only year with us. You're my friend, Anna. I'm gonna help you."

"Thanks." I said awkwardly as I walked into the girl's room and changed into the uniform, quickly tucking the shirt into the skirt. They did give me knee highs, but not the pair of Mary Janes I saw so many girls walking around campus with. Not that I mind though. I didn't come from the rich background most of the girls here came from, and it just gives me an excuse to wear my combat boots. Once I was done, I bundled up the clothes I came here in, and walked back out of Callum. "What do you want me to do with my other clothes since I don't really have space in my backpack to stuff them into."

"Stuff them into your band locker, duh! Until you get an actual lock for your school locker, just store stuff in there. That's what I usually do." Callum said, leading me back to my band locker. I quickly unlocked it and stuffed my other clothes inside. Once I was done, Callum grabbed my schedule again, looking it over. "Okay. We're gonna do this schedule in reverse."

"Why?"

"Well, because you end here, and if we do it in reverse, then we'll end in our first hour."

"Our first hour?"

"Yeah. We technically have three classes together. Band, Physics, aka first hour, and lunch."

"Awesome!" I said awkwardly, giving Callum a nervous thumbs up.

"You're gonna be fine." Callum said, leading me down the band hallway. "Just breathe, and relax. Nothing bad is gonna happen. It's just high school."

"Or so you say." I muttered to myself. This was going to be one hell of a week, and it's barely begun.

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