Elena crossed through the middle school doors at school, feeling confident with her mini backpack and trendy clothes.  But as soon as she stepped through the doors, London's hard gaze fell on her, and she shrunk. It was useless. She would never be as pretty as them. But she had Evan, Yamilia, and even Elora. They would be her friends.

Elena slunk to class, trying to blend in and not be noticed by London and her gang. She sighed, and got to work on her morning work.

The day dragged by slowly, and then finally, it was 3:30. The bell rang, and Elena resisted the urge to scream with joy. She rushed out of school, in a hurry to catch up with Yamilia and Evan, who were walking to the bus together.

"Hey," said Evan in his light voice.

"YO!" yelled Yamilia.

"Hi, Evan, hi Yamilia, also Yamilia, could you turn the volume down a notch?" Elena jogged to catch up with her friends' fast pace. She was out of breath and panting.

"YEAH, I CAN BE QUIETER! WHAT'S UP?" Yamilia shouted. She gave a wide, brace-toothed smile, and sped up her walk.

"As in," Evan corrected with a grin, quieting his voice, "What's going on?"

Elena quickly glanced around to make sure no one was listening. Sharon, a girl she had met in choir, and became friends with at first, liked to eavesdrop on her conversations, and give suggestions. Elena quickly separated herself from Sharon, as she found Sharon's behavior creepy, but somehow, Sharon was always there. Luckily, Sharon was not there at this moment.

Elena's eyes flicked across her line of vision one more time, before she responded to Evan. She dropped her voice to a whisper, and slumped so as to be less noticeable.

"Did you see the news this morning?"

Evan's face turned grim. He fidgeted nervously.

"Wait," he whispered back, leaning towards Elena, "Do you mean the story about the lady who was running around at night?"

Elena nodded.

"I NEVER WATCH THE NEWS! HOW CAN YOU STAND THAT BORING STUFF?" Yamilia blurted loudly. She bounced along, oblivious to the stares that her volume was attracting.

Elena walked closer to her friends, squeezing in between them, and putting her arms around their shoulders. She pulled them close, filling Yamilia in on the story that had forcefully showed up on everyone in the mountains' TV.

"Yamilia, you need to whisper. Basically, a person was breaking into homes and trying to tag people. Marva Hatyrov was that person. She tagged Jolon, that kid from first grade. After that, she crumbled to ashes, apparently." Elena explained.

"No one knows what is happening or why it is happening. I personally wonder if Jolon got some chemical on his skin that was overly acidic. But that doesn't explain why everyone else was able to touch him, why he didn't crumble, and why Marva was trying to tag people." Evan added, with a hypothesis of his own. He brushed his blond hair out of his face, and his ocean blue eyes sparkled. Elena admired the way they caught the light. She stared dreamily, until Yamilia's loud voice dragged her out of her trance.

"Woah. That's, like, so weird. I mean, wow. So, what, should we investigate?" Yamilia said in a somewhat quieter voice.

Evan looked at Elena in surprise.

"You didn't mention that earlier." he commented worriedly. The bus drew nearer.

"Meet at my house after school. I'll text you guys when to come over." Elena told them. She then walked to the back of the bus, trying not to draw attention, and stay separated from her friends so they wouldn't be tempted to talk. Yamilia went off with her friend Avora, but Evan followed Elena to the back of the bus. This was alright. They couldn't talk without Yamilia.

Elena sat down in a seat close to the back of the bus. There was no one older than them on this particular bus, so the ninth graders got free reign.

Evan looked at Elena straight in the eye.

"I'm worried that Yamilia isn't taking this seriously." he said, concerned. He wrinkled his brow.

"Me too. This is serious. I mean, Marva died." Elena emphasized. "And... I'm scared." She looked down, ashamed.

Evan pulled her close and squeezed her shoulder. He smiled sadly.

"Hey, we'll figure it out." he gently reassured her. Elena's heart fluttered madly. Feeling the warmth of his body next to hers, and the flower of their friendship, she knew it would be okay. They would figure it out. They just had to get some clues.

A/N: So, I know I told you readers that read the book before this chapter came out that Elena and her friends were in eighth grade, but for something coming in the later part of the story, ninth grade seemed to make more sense in my opinion. Those of you who started reading after this chapter came out, please ignore this. For you readers who read this book before this chapter came out, just a heads up. :) Also, story time, the whole explanation about Sharon has happened to me before, so that's why I put that in there, and also, it will be important later in the book, though it seemed pointless in this chapter. And I think that's all. Bye!