Chapter One

                                    

                                          
Chapter One
                          
Flare in Avernus.
                          
Anna
                          
San Francisco, California
25th of November.
                          
Highway to Hell by AC/DC playing on my phone, I watch as everyone rush into the school building like an army of ants. I look up at the cloudy grey sky through the glass lenses and sigh. Another day, another bunch of useless crappy hours in my life. 
                          
I fix the white beanie on my head and join the others. I walk straight to my first class, not bothering to stop at my locker. I just head straight to class with my earphones still on, to block all the sounds and the unnecessary comments that gets thrown at me by Jennie and her so called friends. 
                          
Jennie refers to me as the 'Asian freak'. I don't even know why she calls me that or why she hates me so much. I didn't really do anything to her. 
                          
But I overheard her talking to her friends about how she doesn't 'appreciate' people from other ethnicities being in places they don't 'belong' in, aka California. It didn't take a genius to know she was talking about me. I'm pretty sure that she knew that I was eavesdropping though.
                          
Her words didn't really affect me because I knew she was doing that so she can get on my nerves. I was never bothered by her in any way. It's not like everybody is going to automatically love me once they meet me and that was fine by me, to be honest.
                          
Jennie's goal has always been the same and that is to turn everyone against me, but right now, the only people who're actually against me are her and her friends.
                          
Before people have any thoughts, she's NOT the most popular girl in the school. She's just one of the 'cool' and popular people. The most popular girl in this school is actually nice, unlike Jennie. 
                          
I make it to my class and go inside, only to be attacked by my best friend, Riley.
                          
"Anna!" She shouts so loud, that I can hear her over the loud music, blasting in my ears.
                          
Everyone in the classroom turns around and looks at her.
                          
"Whoops," she laughs nervously. "Too loud."
                          
"Just a bit," I tell her, taking off my earphones and putting them in the small pocket of my backpack. 
                          
"Sorry, guys." She apologizes and then she turns back to me. "I ate lots of sugar for breakfast," she shrugs.
                          
"That's clear," I say.
                          
"I told the girls that we have a performance tonight," She tells me, as we both walk to our seats.
                          
Riley, Sophie, Colette and I (my other friends) are in a band called The Night Chicks. Sophie was the one who named us. She actually wanted to name us the Catfish Club from The Little Mermaid and that's due to her obsession with Disney movies.
                          
I'm the lead singer. Riley is the main pianist. Sophia is the lead guitarist and Colette is the drummer. Sophie actually thinks we're the female version of 5SOS, which I guess is kind of cool, since I'm a big fan of them.
                          
"Great," I reply, taking a seat.
                          
"What are you doing after school?" She asks me, dropping in the seat next to me.
                          
"Sleep. Eat. Homework," I reply.
                          
"So, nothing?"
                          
"It's not...nothing. It's something," I tell her logically.
                          
"No, that's pretty much still nothing," she insists.
                          
"Shut up," I mumble and she laughs, knowing that she is right.