SHAY’S POV
“I expect that homework on my desk when you walk in Monday morning,” Mrs Roberts said sternly. Everyone groaned since she wanted seven pages worth of trigonometry during the weekend.
“Groan all you want kids! I want my homework! Miss Montgomery, I’d like to see you please,” Mrs Roberts announced. A lot of my classmates turned my way and sniggered.
Wonderful!
I shyly made my way down to Mrs Roberts as my classmates filed out the classroom. As usual, Pixie was the last one out of the class. She sent me a pleading look, which I returned a head shake to. I didn’t want her to wait for me. She sighed but eventually left the class before I was left with the only staff member who actually sees me.
“Shay, how are you today?” she asked in concern.
“Same as always,” I replied lowly.
“You didn’t do so great on your last test,” she sighed.
AKA I failed!
“I probably deserved the grade I got,” I shrugged, my voice still low. I couldn’t look her in the eyes.
“Shay, have you tried talking to your parents about this?” she asked curiously.
“They wouldn’t care,” I replied.
“Surely you’re mistaken about them. I’m su-” she started before I cut her off. I didn’t need this speech honestly.
“Look Mrs Roberts, can I go?” I asked, a little louder than I intended to. Since I was still looking at the ground, I didn’t see her reaction to my outburst.
“Alright! Enjoy your weekend ok?” she said warmly.
“Thanks! You too!” I said before rushing out of the classroom.
The hallways were less crowded as I approached my locker. The whispering didn’t stop, and I’d learned to tune it out. I just wanted to get my stuff and leave. Pixie was waiting for me at my locker. I wanted badly to ignore her, but of course she wouldn’t have it that way.
“Hey,” she said softly. I nodded in acknowledgement.
“So, I was wondering if you’d like me to come over this weekend?” she smiled. I shook my head.
“Come on Shay! I miss you,” she whispered the last part.
Pixie Giuliani has been my best friend since we were both babies, or at least she was my best friend until my life took a turn for the worst two years ago. Since then, I’ve shut the world out of my life, including my best friend. I’m already seen as the social pariah and I can’t afford to pull her down with me.
The blonde hair, blue eyed girl is the most popular girl at Water Stone Academy. With a GPA of 4.0, she’s the girl every girl looks up to. She’s the captain of the softball team. She’s super friendly, so everyone likes her, except they all don’t understand one thing about her – why she insists being friends with the freak.
Honestly, I don’t get it either.
My name is Shay Montgomery for the record. I turned eighteen just yesterday and I spent the day home alone. I ditched school because I just didn’t want to be around anyone. Pixie, of course, left my gift from her at the doorstep of my house.
I don’t know why security still lets her in.
My parents are very well known around here. My mother is a world renowned motivational speaker and talk-show host. My dad is an Army General of the highest honour or something like that. They’re both never home, so I’m forever home alone, save for the live-in staff. I have no relationship with my mother whatsoever. I haven’t even seen her in over eighteen months.
She didn’t even wish me a happy birthday.
My relationship with my dad isn’t all that great either, but at least he actually talks to me. Granted that it’s always awkward, he at least tries to be a parent when he can. He calls me every day to check up on me, and he’s home at least three days of the week.
He dropped by to say happy birthday and give me my present – a diamond necklace with my initials, and HER initials. I think it’s the most valuable thing my dad’s ever given me. He even hugged me. We held onto each other for minutes as I broke down in his arms. I love my dad, despite him not being the best dad in the world.
At least he tries.
The look in Pixie’s eyes almost made me cave, but I couldn’t afford to. Caving would mean she would have to be around me and I couldn’t have that. She’s better off without me. I shut my locker and walked away from her. The tears were burning my eyes as I hurried my pace.
When I got outside, the limo was waiting for me, with my driver Harold waiting to open the door for me. I rushed in as soon as the door opened and my tears sprang free. Pixie followed me and when our eyes locked, being the wonderful person she is, she mouthed the words ‘it’s ok’ and made her hands form a heart.
Our way of telling each other that we love each other and we’d be best friends forever.
In that moment, I forgot all about all the bad things in my life and flashed her the heart back. She beamed and broke out into her happy dance while I giggled, before Harold drove away. I wiped away my tears and smiled. I don’t giggle or smile a lot.
My life just didn’t allow for me to have such luxury since that day.
The drive to my house was a silent one, and I was grateful for that. This is what I love about Harold. The old man cares about me, but he also knows when I don’t want to be bothered. We reached the Victorian styled mansion most people would think I’m lucky to call home, but I’d rather live in a small house with a loving family, than a big house by myself. The security let us in and we drove up the long driveway before the house came into view.
I let myself out of the car before Harold could and ran to my room, passing by the people who were working in the house. My mother was having something installed, which I don’t understand since she’s never home in any case.
I dumped my bag on my bed and went to my closet to change out of my school uniform. While the uniform is beautiful, it’s not comfortable. I changed into workout gear and then headed to the bathroom to take out the bothersome contact lenses I had on.
I know that I’m beautiful, but I’m not vain about it. My mother is Egyptian, and I happened to inherit her somewhat Nubian and exotic features. I have long and rich black hair that reaches just passed my waist. It’s magnificent when it shines and looks all glossy in the light.
The only thing I probably inherited from my dad is his nose and his killer smile. My eyes I didn’t inherit from either of my parents since my eyes are so rare and unique. My mother has bright blue eyes, while my dad has dark gray eyes.
I on the other hand, have fiery eyes. They came out of nowhere since they were gray until two years ago. They have an amber glow at night, but during the day they’re a cross between a light orange, red, and amber.
Because I lived with the human civilization, of course there were different reactions to them. Some people found them enchanting, while some thought I was a freak, hence why I finally decided to hide them behind gray contact lenses.
I don’t actually need the contacts.
I’m pretty short, often being called a midget, which is offensive to both me and midgets. I have a fit body from regular exercise and healthy eating. Yes, I am a bit of a health freak, but not the kind who bans themselves from enjoying the good stuff. I love food, just not an overdose of junk. Loving food doesn’t mean you have to eat junk food only.
I’m also a bit of a fighting junkie. My personal trainer, who happened to be assigned to me by my dad, is an ex Marine. His name is Claude, and he specializes in many things; all of which I’ve been taught. He’s taught me kickboxing, martial arts, self defence, taekwondo, boxing, and anything else that you could think of. My dad thought it would be great for me to train with him and I gladly agreed.
I admire my dad, in case you haven’t noticed, so when Claude wanted to teach me how to use weapons, my dad was against it. It took us five months to convince him before he finally agreed. He only had one condition – that he be present for all the weapons training.
After a whole year of training with guns and knives, he left me in Claude’s care. From then on, Claude secretly trained me with swords, bows and arrows, sticks, metal rods, whips, and chains. It’s safe to say that this tiny person is a dangerous surprise.
I fluffed my hair and got ready for my session. Claude would be coming within two hours. He’s one of the only people who don’t have a problem with my eyes. Pixie’s never seen my new eyes. I hid them away as soon as people started to get freaked out by them, which was five hours after they came. They did, after all, appear while I was far from home. The gray contacts help with keeping things normal because that’s the colour everyone knows them as.
I walked out of the bathroom and walked over to my laptop. My room is pretty huge. In fact, it could be an apartment more than anything. I fired up my laptop before heading to my radio. I love different genres of music, with my motto being ‘if it’s good, then I’m listening’.
I danced around as I made myself a sandwich. As I mentioned, my room is big enough to be an apartment. I don’t like the idea of people doing things for me (aka the live-in staff), so my dad had a fridge installed into my room, together with a cupboard and a microwave.
The only thing I don’t have is a stove, so I can only prepare sandwiches and meals that can be cooked via the microwave. This setup guarantees fewer interactions with people since I just stay in my room the entire time.
SHAY'S POVTurkey sandwich and mango juice in hand, I headed back to my laptop and fired up the search engine. I’m not active on social networks anymore, but I do keep up with the news. I was looking at random things when I accidentally clicked on the wrong link and an article popped onto my screen. I was about to ignore it and press back, when the caption of the article caught my attention. It read ‘AREA ALPHA 101 BEWITCHES YET ANOTHER VICTIM’.I was curious so I sat there and went through the article.The article was about a man who had apparently been brave enough to approach this Area Alpha 101, despite the warning against human presence. Apparently now the man is insane and won’t stop talking about a beacon.I was fascinated by this place and that’s how I came to know that while it is an area, no-one knows how large it is, or what lies behind the ‘barriers’. I learnt so much about what people had been saying over the last few years. It was crazy how everyone had their suspicions
SHAY'S POV“She served me with divorce papers this morning. I’ve already signed them,” he informed with a sigh. It was my turn to hug him tighter. I’d already seen my mother in the tabloids with her ‘new beau’.It can’t be easy for him.“I guess it’s just you and I left huh?” I smiled.“It’s us against the world baby girl,” he said before kissing my forehead.“How’s work?” I asked.“Eh, same old, same old! They’re bringing in a piece of equipment that they found. Apparently they think its alien, but they’re not sure,” he replied.That had my attention. “When is it coming in?”“Day after tomorrow! Do you want to come with me?” he smirked.I rolled my eyes. “Uh, duh! It’s better than having to hand in seven pages of trig that I probably don’t even understand.”“Alright! I’ll arrange for a pass for you, on one condition,” he bargained.“Uh oh,” I groaned.“It’s nothing bad – or at least in my books it isn’t. You have to spend the whole of tomorrow with Pixie and make peace with her, and
SHAY’S POVI shot up with my sweaty body, breathing as though I’d just run a marathon. My hair was stuck to my face. I could feel my heart thumping in my ears. I didn’t understand why I was in the state I was in since I didn’t exactly have a nightmare. A mug was thrust my way and I looked up to see Pixie looking at me with worried eyes.“It’s your favourite,” she offered a small smile.“Thanks,” I sighed, taking the mug from her.“Are you ok Shay? You were sleeping just fine before you started thrashing around a little,” she asked.“I wish I could say I had a nightmare, but I didn’t. I just had a strange dream, but nothing that would cause me to panic,” I replied.“Well, let’s not focus on that then! I’ve missed you,” she smiled, sitting beside me.“I’ve missed you too, more than you will ever know,” I ended lowly.“Let’s just forget about it and move on?” she suggested.I nodded with a smile. “I’d like that.”“Good! Now, what are we going to do today? We have a lot to catch up on,” s
SHAY'S POV“Cyrus! He’s totally crushing on you right now,” she pointed out. I turned to look at the blonde hair, green eyed boy and he was already smiling our way. He’s extremely cute, but Pixie was seeing things.I blushed once more. “You’re speaking rubbish!”“Uh huh! Look at the blush on your face! You totally like him too,” she squealed.“Shut up!” I groaned, banging my head on the table.“Have you guys gone through the menus yet?” Cyrus asked, making my head shoot right back up. He looked amused by my antics, to which I blushed.What the hell is wrong with my cheeks?“Uh, not yet! What would you suggest we have?” Pixie smiled.“Everything here is honestly good,” he admitted.I raised an eyebrow at him, amused. “You’ve had everything here?”“Guilty as charged,” he chuckled.“Well Cyrus, a triple cheeseburger with double fries and a large bubblegum milkshake sounds good to me right now,” Pixie smiled. Cyrus’ eyes widened.“And I’ll have a double cheeseburger, single fries, two pie
SHAY'S POV*FLASHBACK*“Shay! Would you get up already?” my sister jumped up and down on my bed.“What sorcery is this?” I groaned when I saw the time. It was 02:36 and this freak was as hyper as a four year old on sugar.“Come on! I want to show you something, but that actually requires you to get up,” she giggled.“Kay, it’s two in the morning! Can’t this wait?” I whined.“No! Now come on!” she dragged me out of my bed.She was dressed in jeans, boots, a thick jacket and a beanie. I decided to copy what she was wearing for my own safety. We tiptoed downstairs before going outside into the chilly air. We didn’t have security at our gate back then, so leaving was easy. We ran down the streets like the lunatics that we are. I always loved being like this with Kay.I didn’t know where she was taking me since it felt like we’d been walking forever. We finally made it to some woods that looked familiar. I’d never gone into the woods, but we’d driven by them a couple of times, which made m
SHAY’S POVWe left the cemetery after spending some time there. The three of us were definitely happier and the mood was lighter. It brought me joy to have gone to visit my sister’s supposed grave, and I was grateful to my best friend for suggesting it.“Would you girls love to eat dinner out?” my dad asked.“Sure,” we nodded.He led us to a restaurant and we went in with everyone looking our way. It’s not often that my dad is home as I’ve mentioned, and everyone knows who he is. We were led to a table and sat down before our waiter took our orders.“Mr M, what did you mean when you said that you guys have lost Mrs M?” Pixie asked curiously.“She’s shut Shay out and now we’re getting divorced because she’s moving on with her life,” he explained.“Oh my God! I’m so sorry you guys!” Pixie said sadly.“It’s ok Pix! It’s just my daddy and I against the world now,” I smiled. He returned the smile with a wink.“Well, it’s nice to see the duo back together,” she smiled.“Yes it is,” my dad a
SHAY'S POVI woke up bright and early on Monday since I was leaving with my dad at eight. I got ready, getting dressed in my camouflage pants, a black tank top, a black leather jacket, combat boots and my sister’s dog tag which my dad had made us when we were younger. I tied my hair up in a ponytail before heading down for breakfast.“You look like you’re going to address my soldiers,” my dad teased when I got downstairs. He was dressed in his General uniform.“I must look the part. My dad is one of the most feared people around, so I must follow in his footsteps,” I argued.“Touché! Well, eat up so that we can get out of here. I’m actually eager to see this equipment,” he said excitedly.“I know! This is you we’re talking about,” I teased.He stuck his tongue out at me. “You’re just as excited and you know it.”“Yeah, yeah,” I shrugged indifferently.I tortured him by taking extra long to eat. He kept groaning the whole way, not getting the fact that the more he groaned, the slower I
SHAY'S POV“Damn Shay, you’re so tiny, but you inflict such heavy damages,” one of the guys chuckled.“That guy needed his ass handed to him. He’s very rude,” I commented.“Trust us! We know!” another one of the guys replied.“General Montgomery, do we also have to fight your daughter?” one of the guys asked with a hint of fear.“No! I’ll spare you the injuries. What I want is for you to learn from this. I want you to learn how to treat a lady, and I want you to train to be as good as my daughter,” my dad told them. They actually looked relieved.“How long did it take you to be that good?” Jimmy asked me.“I started when I was fourteen, and I was already good a year later, but took two to be really good at it. I then moved onto weapons training, and it took a year to master that as well. For the last year, I’ve just been going through what I already know and getting better at it,” I replied. The guys looked even more impressed.“Well, this was fun to watch, but I have somewhere to be