Jack

“Hey, new guy!”

“What?”

“Feel up to a dare?”

Wow. My fist day at a boarding school and people have already acknowledged my existence. I walk up to the boy. He has short brown hair, and more freckles than a jaguar.

“What kind of dare?”

“See that girl at that table over there? Ask her what she’s writing.” I look at the girl in question. She’s sitting at the back of the mess hall, deeply engrossed in writing in a red spiral-bound notebook. She’s dressed in black, all over, even though the school has uniforms. She has long, straight black hair, and black eyes.

I have never seen a more beautiful creature.

“What’s the catch? She writes porn or something?”

“No, we don’t know. It’s tradition, the new guy asks what she’s writing, and if he lives, he’s cool enough to sleep freely with any girl in the class.”

“Ah. Anything I should know about this girl?”

“Which one, the one you’re gonna ask or the one you’re gonna sleep with?”

“The girl I ask.”

“Yeah, there is something you should know. She’s dead.”

Niko

Oh, lord. They’re sending another newbie to pester me. Why can’t they just let me be?

Here he comes. Out with the lighter, keep camera on hand. Keep writing. Bring it.

“What are you writing?” Don’t answer, blank face, glance fleetingly at him.

“Um, did you hear me?”

“Yes.” Get fuzzy, newbie.

“So, um, what are you writing?” Is this worth answering? Let me see… no. Aww, he’s getting flustered. Isn’t that cute.

“The guys, over there…” he points, like I don’t already know. “They said you were dead.” Oh, they did, did they? I’ve only been here about two years, nice to know there are still people in the world that inept to only just have noticed that.

“I am dead.” I love the looks these guys get on their faces. Without a warning, he grabs my hand. Just as I flick open the lighter, he drops it.

“You have a pulse. You can’t be that dead.” What do I do now? Anyone watching has just seen a total stranger touch my bare skin and not die.

“If you ever touch me again,” I say quietly, coldly. “I swear to everything I will set you on fire when you are asleep and have no way to defend yourself.” Keep the face blank, let him see that you have a lighter. He’s scared. Good. Now I can go back to my notes.

Jack

“Well? What’s she writing?” I look at him. His face is alert, really wanting to know the answer to his question. Wanting to know my answer. Dammit, this is not the time or place to get all insecure!

“I don’t know. She didn’t say anything.”

“She said something. We could see you.”

“Yeah, she said, ‘If you ever touch me again I swear I will light you on fire,’ or something like that.”

“You touched her?”

“Just her hand!”

“She must have the hots for you.”

“She threatened me!”

“That’s nothing. Hey Sam!” He calls over one of the other boys at our table. “Show the new guy your hand.” A tall, redheaded boy gets up and comes to where we are sitting. He doesn’t say anything, but he shoves his left hand in my face. The ring finger is missing the last joint; it just ends in a blob with a tiny bit of bone showing.

“She cut that off, man. She’s always armed, but I have no idea how the teachers don’t notice.” I am kind of stunned.

“You might have told me she was insane.” And that she was armed, and that she didn’t like being touched, and that she did not have a working social gene.

“Nah. You wouldn’t have believed me. I’m James, by the way. This is Sam with the missing finger bit, that’s Robert over there kissing that girl, Dominic is the big guy behind me and Michael is the Asian guy at the end of the bench there. Welcome to the community.” He has me shake hands with everyone close enough to reach.

“I’m Jack. Who’s the girl?”

“The crazy one? That’s Niko. And whatever she’s writing is some kind of plan, that’s all we know. I’ll tell you about her later, if it comes up.” Her beautiful, expressionless face is focused on her notebook again.

“Be careful around her, man. She’s dangerous.”

Niko

No, I think this plan is too simple. Too much like #73, and anyway I still don’t know how I would do this without making the school smell like a goddamn barbeque or something. It also seems too quick. I can do better.

The boys are watching me again. They pretend to want to know what I’m writing, but it’s obvious that James wants to feel me up. Sam has tried, but I still have his finger, so ha ha ha. Come to think of it, I have some bit or piece from everyone in the school, except from the teachers. Oh well, they’re next.

Damn, I forgot to get something from the new boy! Not even a picture… oh, he’s looking at me. I spy with my little eye, something that won’t leave me alone. He’ll be back, and I’ll get something next time.

Notes on new boy: blonde hair, brown eyes, med. height, surprisingly strong grip. I don’t know why I didn’t kill him when he grabbed my hand; maybe I just wasn’t ready for it. I can’t wait to see if he’s as superficial as the others when he catches a glimpse of the evil known as Jillian. I’ll have to watch and see if he’s as worthy of a slow and painful demise as the rest of humanity.

Oh, humanity… you disappoint me.

Jack

“Well, now you know the guys, let’s see if you’re queer.”

“Come again?”

“Come on.” James leads me to a table near ours, to a gaggle of girls that’s eating and laughing in—very—short, school-issue skirts. The leader of the group has a cascade of blonde hair and an angel’s face. That’s it; she’s an angel on Earth.

Sort of.

I hear a snippet of what she’s saying before she notices us.

“So she changed her hair color, right? It looks awful! Be sure to tell everyone, OK Beth? Anyway, I’m sure a tramp like her can’t afford to get a decent dye, so she’ll be bald by tomorrow, just watch! And if it isn’t, I can still have some fun in getting it to fall out!” She laughs until she nearly falls over backwards on her bench. James walks up to her.

“Jillian, say hi to New Guy Jack.” She smiles at me with perfectly straight, white teeth and looks me over thoroughly.

“Hi there, cutie. Just in case you’re a sweetie, my room is 5C, third floor.” James gives me a look that says, ‘Big deal! I get that all the time’. But I’m not that interested. What I see here is more dangerous than Niko, whatever James may say about either girl.

“Um, thanks…I think.” She winks and goes back to talking with her friends.

The bell rings for the end of the dinner hour. Everyone stands up and goes to either the boys or girls dorms.

While I unpack, Dominic starts talking to me. “Well? You gonna do her?”

“Kind of early to tell, isn’t it?” Kind of gross too, but that is the unspoken thought.

“No. She’ll want you over there around midnight.”

“What, tonight?”

“What did you expect?”

“I’m not going. Dude, I haven’t even been here for three hours! I don’t know where 5C is.”

“We’ll take you then. Make it a party.”

“Don’t bother. I’m not going.” Dominic stares at me.

“Faggot.” And he walks away before I can say anything.

I’m not gay. I am not.

Niko

Strange, he didn’t go all googly-eyed over Jillian. I thought that siren could seduce a rock, and human males have no chance at all. This just doesn’t prove anything, of course. He could be gay. He might have the attention span of pond scum. Superficial or not, he is still a member of our oh-so-glorious human race.

I like this plan. Silencers are so easy to make, but Dex the Dealer says if he sells me one more weapon, he’ll go to prison for the rest of his life. I guess that means he still hasn’t found all the bugs the cops put on him. Kind of a shame really, because I would have gotten a free case of dynamite with my next purchase of 50$ or more. That said, it’s off to bed for another night infused with rhythmic pounding, groans, and light jazz coming through the walls on both sides.

No wait, my mistake. It’s unusually quiet tonight. Hurray, hurray. Now I can stare at the ceiling in the dark while I devise Plan # 83.

Or not. My chest is hurting tonight, so I think I might just put some aloe on it and go to bed. Yes, aloe is good for tonight; tiger balm only works on those nights when I’m in a bad enough mood that only pain can take my mind off of things.

Jack

I’m lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Michael and Robert went out the window a few minutes ago. I have an idea they’re headed for the girl’s dorm. Michael was packing a lot of condoms into his pocket before he left.

I keep thinking about Niko. Why is she so sullen? What did she do with Sam’s finger? More important, why is she alone? At dinner, everyone, even me, was sitting with someone. Niko had had her own table. Actually, it seemed like she’d had an entire corner of the mess hall to herself.

I wonder where she sleeps.

I wonder how you get there.

Niko

It’s snowing again. Tomorrow in P.E. I’ll have to be sure to pile some ice where someone could trip over it, preferably into the gym where the cheerleaders practice, but how am I going to keep it from melting?

Also, I have only one week left before Christmas vacation to break my record of hours spent in total silence. 59 hours so far, but the year isn’t over yet! If I start at 8:00 tomorrow morning, I can break it by 4:00 AM on Thursday, provided that a) I don’t slip and b) everyone leaves me be. a) will not be a problem.

Jack

The layout of this school is strange. It was an all-girl school before they made the mistake of letting boys in, so all the girls get their own rooms. The boys, however, have to share one room with three other guys. The dorms are at opposite ends of the school, but that doesn’t even put a dent on the amount of traffic between the two every night. It turns out that everyone is screwing everyone else, except for:

Well, I guess one out of four isn’t so bad. It could be worse. It could be, for example, one out of one.

Niko

These drapes are a fire hazard.

Especially considering the chemicals I have in here. And the explosives.

Jack

If only I had some friends.

Niko

If only I had a gun.