As soon as the bell rang she was hidden deep within the folds of her hoodie again. Kyle had already left with his gang of airheads and Neanderthals, allowing her to become a shadow once more. It was a relief actually that he wasn’t around her anymore, she could hardly breathe when he was around , plus she was dangerous. She couldn’t let anyone come close to her. She was a hazard to everyone here. She flew from class to class for the rest of the day, compelled to take her hoodie off every lesson, exposing her hideous gash. She longed to stay a shadow forever.
?

He watched as she darted around people, tables and food to find a suitable seat. She was a shadow barely noticeable in the black hoodie, he was sure if you didn’t try to look for her you would never even see her. Not that he was trying. His eye just seem to catch her every time she moved. She was strange to him.
“Did you see her scar?”
“Isn’t it hideous!”
“It’s a shame, she’d be really pretty if it wasn’t for that…that…thing on her face.”
“How do you suppose she got it?”
“Some freak suicide accident.”
The (what he liked to call) Airheads, spoke between one another, erupting a laugh from Geoffrey every now and then.
“Ugh look, she’s looking for a table.”
Every head at the table turned and true to their words, the new girl stood in the side middle of the lunchroom searching for a place to sit. Without even thinking Kyle lifted up his hand and called her over. Everyone looked at him then at her then at him again. He could feel her eyes widen under the hood but then she examined the people around him, shook her head and crept to a seat in the furthest corner in the room, near the dustbin, hidden. When he turned back 10 accusing eyes sat on him.
“What?” he shrugged innocently.
“Why did you even think of inviting that beast here?”
“It would ruin our rep.”
He looked around non-believing at his supposed friends. Were they serious? He couldn’t tell, but before he could study them long enough to determine their motives they turned back to each other and disappeared into gossip. He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She read the same book she had just before history. It looked a bit old and worn out. Jackie she said her name was. Funny. She didn’t look like a Jackie. But then again people said he didn’t look like a Kyle. He shrugged and ate his lunch before the end of the period.
?

She entered the deathly silent house. Once, not so long, there would’ve been noise everywhere. Music , laughing , talking but all of that was gone now. For a moment panic rose like bile in her throat. What if they had found them? What if they had taken her mom? She dropped her school bag and ran upstairs to her moms room. Her mom sat there on the bed, frozen. Slowly she walked over to the bed and dropped next to her mom. They were pictures of her dad that kept her mom frozen, slowly she eased them out of the stony fingers and placed them on the dressing table. Together they sat side by side staring into blankness.
“How was school, sweetie?”
For a moment Jackie stared at her mom then she started crying.
“Shhh, shhh. Its going to be ok. Don’t worry. I’m here. Shhh, its all going to be perfect again.”
She was crumpled against her mothers chest, tears burned her cheeks. Her mother wrapped her arms around her daughter and kissed her head in silent affection. In a few seconds she pushed her away and wiped the tears from her face.
“I’ll make some pancakes tonight, you can sit and do homework in the kitchen. Lucy should be here any moment. I got someone to drop her off.”
Jackie nodded, it was all she could manage.